How common is it for a someone in the Marines and Army to not have at least a secret clearance?

when I was in, I was given a Secret Clearance when I was F.A.P.'d out to the U-Drive section of Base Motors. This was because their were a few times I had to Drive for Visiting Generals and I might over hear something deemed Secret or higher while driving for them. It is not completely M.O.S. Specific though it is a if necessary thing. It is given to those that they deem may come in contact or over hear Secret or above information or materials. BUT all Military Personal do get the confidential security clearance. after I E.A.S'd it was taken away, but it did make it very easy for me to get a new Secret Clearance when I was working Security at a Government contracted Aerospace Company. There I learned that just because someone has a Secret, TS or above Clearance (There are many Levels of TS) if it was deemed you do not have a need to know about a certain subject or Project you were not given access to the project area or information regardless of clearance level.

TSgt Joshua Copeland
Nothing like Air Force overkill? "Need access to an Unclassified system? You'd better have a Secret clearance!!!" :)

I think in the Army & Marines security clearances are MOS specific whereas the Air Force requires all Airmen to have at least a Confidential.

TSgt Joshua Copeland It is very common. Only certain MOSes and duty positions require a security clearance. If you are not in one of them the Army will not pay to get you a clearance.

I'd bet its like the Navy and very few actually have a secret clearance. Us ET's and CT's had Secret and Im not even sure every ET in my division had Secret. Frequencies of Radar gets secret, IFF and CIC are all secret areas, but after that I'm guessing a very large part of my ship didn't have even confidential.

I was assigned Security Clerk as a collateral duty on board ship. Every Chief and Officer had a Secret or above. Most E-6 and below had at least a Secret, except for Deck Division, most of Engineering and Supply. I wish e-QIP had been around then. At least i was able to talk them into sending me to SSO school.

Not that common but it is possible for lower enlisted E-1-E-5 to possibly get away without having a secret clearance, but E-6-E-9 more than likely have that to be the least of clearances.

When you are being considered for a clearance you may not even know it. I certainly didn’t. I saw that it was completed 12/6/1973 --- but not until I got a DD-214 in 1977.

Also when I was a lieutenant some NIS guy came around and asked me about another lieutenant in my unit. I guess he was getting a top secret clearance or something.

Walt

I had a secret clearance out of boot camp. I often think that is why I didn't get set back a phase. Lord knows the DI's would threaten that constantly.

I was already slotted into some follow on schools. That said, I think few junior enlisted, especially in the combat arms, have clearances.

Walt

MOS dependent and a matter of rank.

That said, I was a lower enlisted Army grunt, one who generally does not need such a clearance, but I received one. The testing unit I was in--I suspect--required more individuals with such clearances. That's the only reason I can think of as to why, one day out of the blue, I had Secret clearance.

Many MOSs do not require it. 88M off the top of my head. Don't know how you put a fill in a radio, but there it is. They get a background investigation but not a clearance.

Most people just don't "need" one. The vast majority of what we do is Unclassified.

When I was still at BN Level, the S2 processed Clearance Activation's (as opposed to actual Clearances), and unless you were in H&S, an Officer, or SNCO chances are you didn't have one. Most folks in H&S didn't either. 600 people, and probably had 150~ folks with clearances (including a Comm PLT and a Scout Sniper PLT).

Its quite normal at least for Marines. A lot of Marines don't know their clearance level due to it never applying directly to their job sometimes. A lot of people found out they didn't have secret clearance once when i was on ship and we went into a modified river city where only people with secret clearance or higher could utilize computers for any reason. Honestly I've never known why I hate always had a secret clearance but I've also never questioned it.

How does the rest of the Air Force without a clearance get access to a computer? NIPR is the Unclassified network at least that's how it is in the Marines and Navy.

Very common, especially for Reserves. It a "need" driven thing. If their billet requires a clearance (as my top secret did) they go through the process (background, etc). Otherwise, no. I needed it as battalion staff. An E-1 grunt may not.

Pretty common. If your particular job required clearance, you would go through the process.

Goes to need to know. I know that many Sailors don't get a security clearance unless they are going into a billet that requires one. Even if a Sailor is cleared for a security clearance, their command has to grant that clearance.

There are two reasons - one their own doing and the other above their level - that most soldiers and Marines do not have even a secret clearance: bad credit/financial decisions and a failure on the part of their leadership (Company level and above) to provide them the opportunity to. Every E-5 and above should have one and if their leadership or their own fiscal irresponsibility is not facilitating it then it is something the unit needs to address and rectify.

Even with eQIP, I still tell folks to keep an e-copy. Never know when they are going to change the system.

No NIPR access without a Secret Clearance? Silly AF! ;)
Are you still allowed to use the latrine?