When to Walk a Marine Versus Send Them

The Decision Table

When in doubt, walk. The cost of walking is your time. The cost of sending wrong is the Marine's package.

What Walking Looks Like

• Schedule the trip with the S-1 contact ahead of time.
• Arrive with the package complete.
• Introduce the Marine and the package to S-1 staff.
• Hand off with a named contact and a follow-up date.
• Walk the Marine through what comes next.

The Marine sees the routing, the S-1 contact, and the follow-up cadence. The Marine repeats this process independently the next time.

What Sending Looks Like

• Marine knows the office and the named contact.
• Marine has the complete package.
• Marine has the time slot if S-1 takes appointments.
• Marine reports back after the handoff.
• You verify the next step.

A Marine sent without these pieces is a Marine carrying your debt.

Senior NCOs and SNCOs

You walk junior Marines through their first three or four packages of any given type. After that, the Marine has the muscle memory. Send instead of walk. Build independence.

The Marine who PCSes to a new unit having never walked into S-1 alone is the Marine the new section has to retrain.

Officers and Senior SNCOs

Walk for any package touching command authority. Page 11s, adverse FitReps, NJP routing, separation processing. The Marine carrying these alone reads as unsupported.

Walk for any cross-billet ask. Coordinating between S-1, PAC, and S-3 is your job.

Where to Go Next

• Package checklist for what to bring.
• Processing timelines for what S-1 takes.
• Follow-up cadence for after the handoff.