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0352E4

Anti-Tank Missileman

E-4 (Specialist/Corporal) · Marines

E1–E3E-4E-5E-6E-7E8–E9
HEADS UP

Corporal 0352 is the crew leader rank — the launcher, the ITAS, the vehicle, and the two or three Marines operating all of it are your accountability. The section leader is watching how you run the PCC/PCI before the gunnery table, not just how you fire the round. The gunnery result is the section's result; the PCC/PCI quality is yours alone.

The Honest MOS Read
Corporal in the 0352 community is where the job gets personal. You are no longer the Marine who feeds the launcher and learns the fault codes — you are the Marine who is responsible for whether the launcher works, whether the crew is ready, and whether the junior Marines under you are actually developing or just showing up. The section leader is two billets above you; between him and the trigger-puller is you. Crew leader is a role, not just a rank. You own the hand receipt for the M220 launcher and its accessories, the ITAS sight assembly, the crew's organic communications equipment, and the crew's assigned vehicle. Everything on that hand receipt is your accountability from the morning before-ops to the nightly armory turn-in. When the section leader spot-checks and finds a cable corrosion point that was not documented in your logbook, that conversation happens in front of the junior Marines you are supposed to be leading. That is the reason the good crew leader pre-walks the launcher every Sunday afternoon before the Monday spot-check — not because the section leader requires it, but because the crew leader who is never wrong on his pre-op is the crew leader who earns the section leader's trust and keeps it. The gunnery culture in the 0352 community is real and institutional. TOW gunnery qualification tables — structured like tank gunnery tables, with progressive crew drills building to live-fire table qualification — are the metric the company gunny and the battalion anti-armor officer use to assess crew and section proficiency. A crew that qualifies at the top of the gunnery table scores well on the section leader's FitRep narrative. A crew that fails a gunnery table is the crew leader's maintenance and training problem, and the section leader is the one who has to explain it to the platoon commander. The Cpl who treats gunnery as a quarterly event to survive, rather than as the job's defining performance standard, will be a Cpl for longer than he wants to be. The FitRep cycle starts at Cpl. You write proficiency and conduct marks on your junior Marines monthly — those marks feed their composite score and their promotion timeline, and your monthly Pro/Con input is the first time anyone in the chain is reading your judgment as a leader rather than just your technical proficiency. The platoon sergeant reads the marks. The section leader reads the marks and signs them. If the marks you submit are inflated or disconnected from observable performance, the section leader notices and so does the battalion reviewing officer. The good crew leader writes in observed-behavior terms: what the Marine did, in what context, with what result. Not 'PFC Smith is a great Marine' — 'PFC Smith maintained all crew-level PMCS on time for four consecutive months and trained the newest crew member on the ITAS tracking sequence without supervision.' The Corporals Course slot is the career gate you must not miss. It is gated — required for progression — and the seat that passes without your name on it does not automatically return on the same cycle. Your section chief and the company gunny are tracking which Cpls have attended and which have not, and the Cpl who is still waiting for a 'better quarter' to request Corporals Course is the Cpl who fields the same question from the platoon sergeant two cycles running. Get the slot scheduled, attend, come back with the graduate cert in the service record. The Sergeants Course timeline runs off the back of Corporals Course, and the cutting score for 0352 Sgt moves whether you are tracking it or not.
Career Arc
  • 01Cpl pin-on via cutting score — composite score built from Pro/Con marks, rifle qual, PFT/CFT, MCMAP belt, education credits.
  • 02Crew leader assumption — hand receipt for launcher, ITAS, vehicle, crew comms.
  • 03Corporals Course attendance — gated and required; the slot that passes without you is a cycle lost.
  • 04First FitRep writing cycle — monthly Pro/Con marks on two to three junior Marines.
  • 05First TOW gunnery table qualification as crew leader — the section leader's narrative is built on this result.
  • 06Sergeants Course eligibility window opens near the end of the Cpl tier — composite and cutting score must be ready.
  • 07Cpl to Sgt cutting score promotion under MCO 1400.32 — section leader's recommendation is the accelerant.
Common Screwups
  • ×NJP, DUI, or Article 92 violation at Cpl. You are an NCO now — the consequence is not a counseling, it is a page-11 entry, possible reduction in rank, and a FitRep that follows you to every board and promotion review for the rest of the enlistment.
  • ×OPSEC breach — posting engagement area data, system employment positions, or route information from a field operation. The Cpl is the OPSEC enforcer for the crew, not just a crew member subject to the rules. When a junior Marine in your crew posts something he should not have, the first question the S2 asks is whether the crew leader enforced the OPSEC brief.
  • ×Missing the Corporals Course slot because you kept waiting for a less busy period. The Marine Corps does not have a less busy period for motivated Cpls.
  • ×Inflating Pro/Con marks to make your crew look good on paper. The section leader who has to defend an inflated mark at the battalion promotion board remembers the crew leader who wrote it — and the board reads the mark against the crew's actual gunnery table results.
  • ×Letting composite score drift without tracking it monthly. The Cpl who misses the 0352 Sgt cutting score by two points and has been a Cpl for 30 months is the Cpl who did not pull the current MARADMIN in month six and did not ask the section leader to review the Pro/Con input math.

A Day in the Life

  • 0500Wake. As a crew leader, check the section chat before getting dressed — any liberty incidents, any 0400 alert formation, any maintenance emergency that changes the morning plan. Crew leader who shows up to PT formation unaware of a section issue the rest of the section knows about is the crew leader who looks out of the loop.
  • 0530PT formation. You account for your crew (you plus two or three junior Marines) and report to the section leader. A missing junior Marine is your accountability problem to resolve before the platoon sergeant asks. Do not let the section leader find out about a missing Marine from someone other than you.
  • 0545-0700Unit PT — section runs, humps, MCMAP mat days, or strength training. You set the crew's pace. If you fall behind on a hump, your junior Marines see it. The 0352 community carries heavy system components; hump fitness is a crew-leader credibility issue.
  • 0700-0830Hygiene, chow, change into utilities. Pre-walk the launcher and vehicle before morning formation — your crew should not find what you missed. Walk the cable run. Check the battery status display on the ITAS. Open the logbook to the last entry.
  • 0830Morning formation. Section leader gives the day's task; you confirm crew accountability, brief your junior Marines on the day's priorities. If there is a maintenance fault that was not in the logbook when you walked the vehicle at 0800, fix that before you brief anything else.
  • 0900-1130Work day — crew-level PMCS execution (crew leader supervising and signing, not just the junior Marines running the wrench), ITAS tracking drills in the vehicle, engagement area rehearsal on the terrain model, range coverage as crew leader on an active firing event, or section-level collective task. You are running the crew's task, not executing the task for the crew.
  • 1130-1300Chow. You sit with the other Cpls and the Sgts. Your junior Marines sit with the other junior Marines. The chow hall seating is the visible command structure — the crew leader who sits with his junior Marines every day signals he does not understand the difference between being their buddy and being their leader.
  • 1300-1500Afternoon task — finish morning's maintenance event, Pro/Con mark input for the month (if it is the month's Pro/Con cycle), counseling session with a junior Marine if the situation calls for it, Corporals Course coursework if you are enrolled, or parts pipeline follow-up with the S-4 on outstanding NMC faults.
  • 1500-1600Final formation. Section leader gives tomorrow's task. Sensitive items back to the armory — you run the crew's count and sign the section-level accountability form. Hand each junior Marine a 3x5 card with tomorrow's priorities. The crew leader who does not do the 3x5 card is the crew leader who fields 0600 phone calls asking what time the formation is.
  • 1600Liberty call if the section is on normal schedule. As a crew leader you are responsible for your junior Marines until they check back in the next morning. If one of them calls you tonight about a problem, answer. If one of them gets a DUI, your night is over too.
  • 1700-2000Personal time. Gym, Corporals Course coursework, college course through Tuition Assistance, MCMAP progression. The crew leader who uses personal time for personal development is the crew leader who makes Sgt on the first eligible board.
  • 2000-2200If a junior Marine has a problem — financial, personal, legal — he calls you first. That is the job. Route it correctly: financial counseling through MCCS PFMP, legal through legal assistance, SAPR through the SARC, behavioral health through the branch medical clinic. You do not solve it; you route it, and you follow up.
  • Field operation / gunnery rangePre-ops at 0500, brief at 0600, crews in position before first light. On a gunnery range, you are the designated crew gunner in most table qualification sequences. The section leader is watching the tracking quality and the engagement sequence execution. After the range, post-ops are done before the armory closes — no exceptions. If the section leader has to wait on your crew's post-op clean to close the range, you hear about it at the Monday morning formation in front of the other crew leaders.

Weekly Cadence

The Mon-Fri rhythm at Cpl in the 0352 community runs on the section training schedule, the maintenance status of the crew's systems, and whatever additional duty or company task the company gunny dropped on the crew manifest before Friday's release. Monday is the maintenance assessment day — the before-ops from Sunday afternoon (if you ran one) feeds directly into the Monday morning spot-check, and the crew leader who starts Monday with a fault already documented and dispositioned is the crew leader who has the section leader's attention in a positive way at the week-opening brief. Midweek is the training rhythm. When there is no range event, the section runs collective task rehearsals — crew drill, ITAS tracking practice on the section's drive range, engagement sequence rehearsal on the terrain model, displacement coordination between the section's crews. You run the crew's piece of the section rehearsal; the section leader runs the section's piece. The crew leader who runs a crew rehearsal that the section leader does not have to correct is the crew leader who earns time to work on his own Corporals Course coursework in the afternoon instead of re-running the crew drill. MCMAP mat sustainment runs on the company's scheduled mat days; do not miss them. Friday is the close-out day. Pro/Con marks are submitted on the monthly cycle — if it is the month's Pro/Con submission, those go through the section leader before the Friday final formation. Equipment inventories for upcoming field events. Logbook audit — every entry from the week reviewed, every open fault tracked against its parts pipeline status. The crew leader who hands the section leader a clean Friday audit before he asks for it is the crew leader whose name appears at the top of the Sergeants Course nomination list when the company gunny pulls it. The reverse is also true.

Key Skills — How to Drill Each

  1. 01
    Run a pre-mission PCC/PCI on the complete TOW crew system — launcher, ITAS, vehicle, missiles, comms, first aid, dismount weapons — and produce a fault sheet with disposition before the section leader asks.
    The PCC/PCI is not a formation inspection — it is a technical check of every system in the crew's combat load, executed against the criteria in TM 09151A-10/1 and the crew's mission preparation checklist. Build your own PCC/PCI card and use it every time: M220 launcher fault categories in order, ITAS optical check and battery status, cable run integrity, missile pre-ops (fin check, lot number, fuze status), vehicle PMCS (fluids, tires, lights, blackout drive), crew comms (radio check on all nets), first aid equipment (CLS bag contents against the section leader's requirement), dismount weapon pre-op. Run through the card, document every fault in the logbook with disposition, and hand the section leader a fault sheet before the brief. The crew leader who presents his launcher clean before the section leader asks is the crew leader the section leader trusts with the hardest engagement area on the range card.
  2. 02
    Brief the crew fire mission from a terrain model — sector of fire, engagement criteria, displacement trigger, immediate action for system failure, casualty plan — in a format the junior Marines can actually use under fire.
    The terrain model brief is the crew leader's test. Build it at 1:25,000 at minimum using the section leader's overlay and the company's range card graphics. Walk through it in SMEAC order: Situation, Mission, Execution, Admin and Logistics, Command and Signal. The execution paragraph names the sector of fire boundaries, the engagement area limits, the priority targets (first, second, alternate), the no-fire criteria from the OPORD, and the displacement trigger (when the crew moves, in what direction, on whose call). Junior Marines who can describe the crew's mission without the terrain model in front of them are junior Marines who were briefed properly. Brief it twice before the mission. The section leader is listening.
  3. 03
    Operate the ITAS in tracking mode at moving target speeds — hold track through a simulated flight time at 2,500 meters and beyond, call track quality to the section leader in real time.
    At Cpl, you are the designated crew gunner in most table qualification sequences. Moving target tracking at engagement ranges of 2,500-3,500 meters is the perishable skill that distinguishes a qualified crew leader from one who is technically capable but not gunnery-ready. Use every simulator opportunity as if it were a live qualification. The tracking error that looks small on the sight picture at 1,000 meters is a miss at 3,000 meters. Call track quality out loud during every engagement sequence — 'tracking, tracking, track is clean, round impact' or 'tracking break, immediate action' — so the section leader listening can evaluate your crew's command performance, not just the hit-or-miss result.
  4. 04
    Manage the crew's maintenance parts pipeline — fault sheet entry, deadline report submission, EDD tracking through S-4, controlled exchange request when appropriate.
    A deadline launcher means the crew cannot deploy in the priority vehicle and the section leader has to explain the gap on the readiness report. Your job is to prevent that gap by owning the fault from the moment it enters the logbook to the moment the part arrives and the system is returned to fully mission capable. Fault sheet into the section leader within 24 hours of detection. Deadline report to the platoon sergeant if the fault is an NMC category fault. EDD (Estimated Delivery Date) tracking — call the S-4 parts clerk personally every 48 hours on an NMC fault, not weekly. Controlled exchange request if a like-item from a depot-return system is available faster than the parts pipeline. The crew leader who owns the parts pipeline is the crew leader who never has a surprise NMC on gunnery day.
  5. 05
    Write monthly Pro/Con marks on junior Marines in observed-behavior terms — what the Marine did, in what context, with what result — not what you think of him as a person.
    The proficiency and conduct mark system under the current Marine Corps evaluation framework feeds each Marine's composite score and his promotion timeline. A mark you inflate to help a Marine who is struggling is a mark that distorts the composite score system and sets that Marine up for a Sgt board he is not ready for. Write in observable terms: attendance at all scheduled events, PMCS logbook currency and accuracy, ITAS qualification status, rifle qual score, PFT/CFT score, MCMAP belt progression. If a junior Marine's proficiency is below standard, the mark reflects it — and you follow up with a formal counseling entry so the standard is in writing. The section leader signs your marks. If the marks are consistently inconsistent with what the section leader observes, he will correct them. That correction, in front of the platoon sergeant, is a leadership credibility problem you created.
  6. 06
    Coordinate crew-level OPSEC discipline — pre-mission OPSEC brief, phone collection before range and field events, post-operation debrief on what information is releasable.
    The crew leader is the OPSEC enforcement layer below the section leader. Before every field event, brief the crew on what cannot be communicated, posted, or discussed outside the section: engagement area location, system employment methods, vehicle routes, unit signatures and call signs, named operational details. Collect personal phones at the wire for any operation where OPSEC is critical — this is within your authority as a crew leader and within the section's OPSEC plan signed by the section leader. After the operation, debrief the crew on what they observed versus what is releasable. The crew leader who runs a clean OPSEC program is the crew leader whose Marines do not generate the battalion S2 sweep.

Manuals & References — What Chapters Matter

  • TM 09151A-10/1 — Operator Manual for the TOW Weapon System (M220 series launcher)
    You are the section-level maintenance authority for your crew at Cpl. The fault-code chapter and the disposition criteria are no longer reference material — they are the standard you enforce. When a junior Marine writes a fault entry that does not match the TM criteria, you correct it before the logbook goes to the section leader. When the section leader asks why a fault disposition read 'serviceable' on an item that the TM says requires replacement, the answer needs to come from the TM, not from memory. Know chapter two (before-ops) and chapter three (during-ops and after-ops) well enough to quote fault categories without the book in front of you.
  • MCRP 3-10A.4 — Marine Rifle Platoon
    The anti-armor section integrates into the platoon's scheme of maneuver on every offensive and defensive task. At Cpl, you are briefing your crew inside that scheme — the sector of fire you brief, the displacement trigger you name, the no-fire criteria you communicate all derive from the platoon commander's plan as translated through the section leader. The crew leader who understands the platoon scheme reads the section leader's fire plan accurately; the crew leader who does not is the one who asks 'why is the sector boundary here?' during the mission brief instead of in the rehearsal. Read the offensive and defensive chapters; the engagement area development sections are what you are walking your crew through on the terrain model.
  • NAVMC 3500.44 — Infantry Training and Readiness Manual (crew-leader collective tasks)
    You sign off on 1000-level individual tasks for your junior Marines now, and you are evaluated on 1500-level crew-leader tasks yourself. The T&R Manual is the source document for every collective task the MCCRE evaluator grades your crew against. Pull the anti-armor crew tasks section and walk through it with the platoon sergeant during your first month as a crew leader. Know which tasks your crew has been evaluated on, which tasks are overdue, and which tasks require a live-fire event to close. The section leader who finds gaps in his crew leaders' T&R records at the workup MCCRE finds out about it in the evaluator's debrief, not before.
  • MCO 1610.7 — Performance Evaluation System
    You write proficiency and conduct marks under this order now. The policy section, the Pro/Con mark criteria for each scale point, and the counseling documentation requirements are your working references. Verify the current revision on Marines.mil — the system has been updated across recent revisions and the mark criteria for certain performance levels have shifted. The section leader who signs your marks and the platoon sergeant who reviews them are reading against this standard. A mark you write that does not match the MCO criteria is a mark the section leader corrects before the platoon sergeant sees it — and that correction is the section leader's read on your judgment.
  • MCO 1400.32 — Marine Corps Promotion Manual
    The cutting score for 0352 Sgt is computed from composite score components published in this order. The MARADMIN updates the current cutting score — pull it monthly and track your own composite against the published cut. The Cpl who knows his composite score to the point and knows the current 0352 Sgt cutting score is the Cpl who can have a coherent conversation with his section leader about promotion timeline. The Cpl who asks the section leader 'where do I stand?' without having pulled his own score first is the Cpl who signals he is not managing his own career.
  • MCO 3500.72 — Ground Training and Readiness
    The annual gunnery qualification standard and the T&R collective task requirements are published under this order. The crew that qualifies is the crew that deploys in the priority vehicle on the MEU manifest. Know the gunnery table structure — the build-up training phases, the crew-level standards for each phase, the qualification criteria for table pass/fail — before gunnery season starts. The crew leader who arrives at the annual gunnery table without having reviewed the table structure is the crew leader who is learning on the section leader's time.

Standards — How to Hit Each

  • Corporals Course graduate — gated and required; the slot that passes is a cycle lost.
    Get the in-residence slot. Corporals Course delivered in-residence at a regional Marine Corps NCO academy is materially more rigorous than the distance education option, and the network of Cpls you meet from across the Corps during the in-residence course is a professional resource that the CDET option cannot replicate. Request the slot through your section leader 90 days before the next available session. If the section leader does not have the calendar, ask the company gunny. The Cpl who is attending Corporals Course is not available to the section for two weeks — but the company gunny will find those two weeks, because the Cpl who has not attended Corporals Course is the Cpl who cannot be considered for the next Sgt board.
  • TOW crew qualification at the annual gunnery standard per MCO 3500.72 — crew leader who cannot qualify is a crew leader who does not rate a deployment vehicle.
    The crew qualification table runs through a build-up sequence — crew drills, procedural qualification, live-fire table events. You, as the crew leader, are responsible for having the crew technically ready for each phase before the phase starts. That means the ITAS calibration was verified before the first table event, the cable run was inspected the previous evening, the section leader reviewed your crew's engagement scenario brief and approved it, and the junior Marines can execute immediate action on a simulated misfire without being prompted. A clean qualification result is built in the 60 days before the table, not discovered on the range.
  • 1st-Class PFT and CFT under MCO 6100.13 — your junior Marines do not respect a crew leader who cannot keep up with them on a hump.
    The crew leader sets the physical standard for the crew. If you test at 2nd-Class on the CFT while requiring your Marines to hit 1st-Class, you have undermined your own authority as a standard-setter before the first maintenance inspection of the week. Run harder and ruck heavier than your junior Marines during personal PT. The crew that sees its crew leader consistently testing at 1st-Class or above is the crew that treats the 1st-Class standard as the floor, not the ceiling. That culture travels when the crew moves to a new section leader's inspection — the new section leader reads the crew's fitness data before the first brief.
  • PMCS logbook clean, current, and fault-dispositioned before every field op and after every maintenance event — a crew leader whose logbook the section leader has to chase loses the section leader's trust inside 30 days.
    The logbook discipline for a crew leader is different from a junior Marine's logbook discipline. At Cpl you are signing entries that affect the section's maintenance readiness report, which affects the company's readiness posture at the battalion Monday morning brief. Own the logbook with the same seriousness you would own a paycheck document. Every fault: date, fault code, source (before-ops, during-ops, post-operation), disposition (serviceable, deadline, send to maintenance), your signature and the section leader's counter-signature on deadline faults. No verbal fault-clearing. No 'I'll do it tomorrow.' The section leader who finds a launcher fault that was not logged does not forget it by Friday.
  • Green Belt MCMAP minimum at Cpl; Brown Belt progression before the Sgt board.
    MCMAP belt progression at Cpl signals self-discipline and physical credibility to the section. Green Belt is the minimum for the crew leader seat; Brown Belt before Sgt is what the section leader mentions to the platoon sergeant at the next composite review. Schedule belt tapes through the company's senior MCMAP instructor — the instructor is usually a GySgt or SSgt who runs mat sessions voluntarily and who reads the Marines who show up consistently versus the ones who show up when they need to tape. Consistency is the signal.

Technical Mistakes — Concrete Consequences

  • Treating the pre-op PCC/PCI as a headcount and formation check instead of a technical inspection.
    The ITAS azimuth drive problem you missed because you asked 'anything wrong?' instead of running the drive through its full range of motion before-ops is the problem that kills the engagement during the gunnery table. The section leader's narrative on the failed gunnery event names the crew leader who was responsible for the pre-op. The crew leader who runs a genuine technical PCC/PCI finds the faults before the table; the crew leader who conducts a presence check finds them during it.
  • Letting junior Marines skip the after-ops clean because the day ran long.
    Corrosion on the TOW cable connectors from one uncleaned wet field problem becomes an NMC fault inside 30 days. The section leader who finds the corrosion at the next weekly maintenance inspection does not attribute it to the weather; he attributes it to the crew leader who signed the after-ops clean as complete. The crew that skips one after-ops clean is the crew that develops the maintenance culture that produces a launcher deadlined on gunnery week — and that deadline is the section leader's readiness problem traced back to the crew leader's training failure.
  • Running a crew brief without stating the no-go criteria for the engagement — 'do not fire if X, Y, Z' — before the mission rather than calling it during the engagement.
    The no-fire criteria are in the OPORD for a reason: collateral damage thresholds, civilian presence conditions, fratricide prevention coordination measures. The crew leader who communicates them only in the brief, not in the rehearsal, produces crew members who fire the round and ask about the criteria afterward. The engagement that violates a no-fire criterion and results in a fratricide incident or collateral damage report traces to the crew leader who did not rehearse the criteria until they were automatic. The section leader and the company commander stand in front of the battalion commander explaining why the crew fired when the conditions said do not fire.
  • Mishandling a serialized sensitive item — M220 component, ITSAS, crew-assigned NVD or radio — even once.
    The first sensitive-item discrepancy on your crew's inventory is the event the 1stSgt personally investigates. The serial number that does not reconcile on the Monday morning sensitive-items count stops the entire section's training day until it is resolved. The crew leader who cannot account for a serialized item on the first count does not get the benefit of the doubt for the rest of his time in the section, and the section leader's FitRep narrative reflects the accountability incident no matter how well the rest of the cycle went.
  • Letting composite score drift by more than two months without pulling the current cutting score and reconciling the gap.
    The Cpl who misses the 0352 Sgt cutting score at the first eligible board by a margin that a single strong Pro/Con month would have closed is the Cpl who did not track the score monthly. The cutting score moves; it does not wait. The section leader has visibility on the section's collective composite but not on each crew leader's individual score components. The crew leader who shows up to the composite review without having pulled his own score first signals to the section leader and the platoon sergeant that he is not managing his own career — and that signal is the opposite of what the Sergeants Course recommendation needs.

Career Decisions at This Rank

  • Reenlist at the first window as a Cpl versus evaluating the EAS option before Sgt
    The first reenlistment window typically opens in the 36-48 month range and often comes with an SRB offer — verify the current 0352 SRB tier and bonus amount against the current MARADMIN before sitting with the career planner, because the numbers change annually. The case for reenlisting: the Cpl-to-Sgt promotion window with a section leader billet opens a career trajectory that pays significantly better and provides a materially different professional experience than a first-term separation. The case for EAS: a Cpl with a clean service record, TOW gunnery credentials, and a security clearance has real options in defense contracting, federal law enforcement, and the private security market. The decision mostly turns on whether you want the section leader seat or you want the post-service market now. Do not sign a reenlistment contract under financial pressure. See the Command Financial Specialist before the SRB offer is on the table, not after.
  • Pursue Corporals Course in-residence versus CDET distance education
    In-residence Corporals Course at a regional Marine Corps NCO academy is materially more rigorous than the CDET option, and the professional network of Cpls you meet during the in-residence course spans the Corps. The CDET option exists for Marines whose deployment schedule or section operational requirements make the in-residence timeline impossible — it is not the preferred option for a garrison-based Cpl who has scheduling flexibility. Talk to the company gunny about the in-residence availability before defaulting to CDET. The Cpl who attended in-residence Corporals Course is the Cpl the section leader mentions when the platoon sergeant asks which of the crew leaders he would recommend for early Sgt consideration.
  • Lateral move to LAV-AT (LAR battalion) versus staying in a line weapons company
    The LAV-AT billet in a LAR battalion brings the same TOW weapon system employment but on a fundamentally different vehicle platform, with a different operational tempo and a different maintenance TM footprint. The Cpl who moves to LAR gains a dual qualification — TOW crew leader and LAV crew member — that creates a broader employment profile and a different competitive field at promotion boards (LAR Cpls compete against LAR Cpls, not the full weapons company population). The trade: the LAR maintenance load is heavier, the vehicle qualification requirements are more demanding, and the garrison routine is more operationally intense than a line weapons company. Talk to a current LAR section leader before requesting the transfer — the cultural difference is real.
  • Begin college education through Tuition Assistance now versus deferring until later
    Tuition Assistance covers college course tuition at approved institutions while on active duty — verify the current semester-hour limit and cost-per-credit-hour cap at your installation's education center, because rates and limits change. A Cpl who completes 30 credits toward an associate degree before Sgt pin-on arrives at the Sgt board with a materially stronger composite score and a post-service academic foundation most enlisted members do not have until their sixth or seventh year. The cost is time — one course per semester on weeknight evenings. The Marines who start at Cpl graduate in three to four years without structural disruption to their career progression. The Marines who wait for 'less busy' are still waiting.

How the Seat Varies by Unit Type

  • Weapons company anti-armor platoon — infantry regiment
    The default Cpl 0352 billet. You are a crew leader in the anti-armor platoon of a weapons company. The HMMWV-mounted TOW system is the primary platform, and the maintenance standard is set by the section leader and the company gunny. MEU PTP workup and MEU deployment afloat define the operational rhythm. The ITX rotation at MCAGCC Twentynine Palms is the annual evaluation event where the OC/T grades each crew, each section, and the platoon — the crew leader who runs a clean crew drill during the ITX evaluation is the crew leader whose name appears in the post-ITX battalion AAR.
  • LAR battalion — LAV-AT crew leader
    The LAV-AT is a vehicle-mounted version of the TOW system on the Light Armored Vehicle — heavier maintenance footprint, vehicle qualification requirements, faster operational tempo than a line weapons company. As a Cpl, you are a crew leader for a LAV-AT crew operating in a reconnaissance battalion rather than an infantry regiment. The LAR community's integration with division operations — screen lines, route reconnaissance, anti-armor ambushes at distances beyond what infantry can achieve on foot — gives the 0352 Cpl a different tactical context than the line weapons company crew leader. The vehicle-specific skills add a T&R qualification load; the section leader in a LAR unit expects a crew leader to be proficient on both the TOW system and the LAV vehicle platform.
  • Pre-deployment training rotation (ITX at Twentynine Palms)
    The annual ITX rotation at MCAGCC Twentynine Palms is the closest peacetime analog to actual employment for a 0352 Cpl. The MAGTFTC OC/T evaluators grade each crew during the gunnery table and the combined-arms live-fire events. Your performance as a crew leader during the ITX evaluation — crew drill execution, ITAS tracking quality, engagement sequence discipline, immediate action on simulated malfunctions — determines the section's collective MCCRE rating and contributes to the section leader's FitRep narrative. A Cpl who performs clean crew drills during ITX evaluation walks back to garrison with the section leader's credibility behind him; a Cpl who fumbles the engagement sequence during the OC/T evaluation carries that result for the rest of the workup.
  • MEU deployment afloat — BLT anti-armor section
    As a crew leader on a MEU deployment, you are the accountable Marine for your TOW system, your crew's personal weapons, the vehicle, and all assigned equipment on a ship that is not equipped for M220 launcher maintenance. The MEU's organic maintenance support is limited — faults that would be routine parts-pipeline items in garrison require creative solutions afloat or must be carried forward as deferred maintenance until the ship returns to a port with logistics access. The Cpl who maintains meticulous fault documentation on a MEU deployment is the Cpl whose maintenance log is clean when the section leader inspects it at port call. The Cpl who defers documentation is the Cpl who has to reconstruct six months of fault history when the annual maintenance inspection happens six weeks after the MEU returns.

What Good Looks Like at This Rank

The good Cpl 0352 is the crew leader whose launcher is never the section's NMC problem. The section leader who does a Friday morning spot-check on all three crews finds this Cpl's logbook current to the previous evening, fault entries documented with proper codes and disposition, the ITAS battery condition logged from the morning before-ops, and the cable run signed as inspected. The section leader does not comment on it because the section leader expects it. What he does do is write it into the Section A input that he gives to the platoon commander at the next FitRep cycle: this crew leader produces maintenance discipline, not just technical compliance. His gunnery table qualification result is the one the section leader quotes to the company gunny when the section's readiness brief goes to the battalion anti-armor officer. Not because the round is the best shot of the cycle — it may not be — but because the engagement sequence is clean: pre-op done and documented, brief in five paragraphs without notes, crew executing their positions without the crew leader having to call corrections, immediate action drilled in under four seconds on the simulated misfire, post-mission accounting completed before the section leader asks. The section leader who does not have to stand behind a crew leader to ensure the crew is ready is the section leader who gives that crew leader the first section leader mentorship conversations before anyone else in the section. His two junior Marines are Pro/Con marked monthly in observed-behavior language. The marks are honest — if PFC Jones missed two PMCS events in the quarter, the mark reflects that, and there is a counseling entry in writing explaining the standard and the consequence if it continues. The section leader reading those marks trusts them because the section leader can verify every entry against what he observed. The crew leader who writes consistent, honest, specific Pro/Con marks is the crew leader who is doing the leadership job, not just the technical job — and the distinction is visible by month four in the section.

Preview — The Next Rank

Sergeant (E-5) in the 0352 community is the section leader rank — and the section leader is the tactical employment authority for two or three TOW crews, the launchers, the vehicles, and the NCOs running them. The Sgt's relationship with the platoon commander is different from the crew leader's relationship with the section leader: the Sgt is briefing the platoon commander's fire plan, not receiving it and executing it. The section leader briefs the engagement area, defends the sector of fire, and integrates the section's fires into the platoon scheme in the company back-brief. The FitRep responsibility at Sgt is qualitatively different from the Pro/Con mark responsibility at Cpl. At Cpl you write monthly marks on two or three junior Marines. At Sgt you write FitReps — the Marine Corps's formal evaluation report — on your crew leader Cpls under MCO 1610.7. FitRep Section A narrative input is the instrument through which the section leader's judgment of a crew leader's performance flows to the platoon commander, the company commander, and ultimately to the SSgt selection board years later. The Sgt who writes clean, observed-behavior FitReps on his Cpls is the Sgt whose FitReps the platoon commander endorses without redline. The Sgt who writes FitReps as wish lists is the Sgt who creates the battalion FitRep review problem the company commander has to explain. The maintenance responsibility at Sgt is the section's maintenance posture — not one crew's logbook, but two or three launchers, their vehicles, their ITAS assemblies, and their parts pipelines, all reconciled into the section's maintenance status report that feeds the platoon commander's readiness brief. The section leader who does not know his section's NMC status before the Monday morning brief is the section leader the company gunny calls directly, bypassing the section leader and creating the exact chain-of-command problem that ends section leaders' careers.
FAQ

0352 E4 — Frequently Asked Questions

Q01What does a E4 0352 (Anti-Tank Missileman) actually do?
You own a TOW crew — two to three Marines and yourself — and you are responsible for the launcher, the vehicle, the missiles, the ITAS, and the Marines operating all of it.
Q02What's the most important thing to know as a E4 0352?
Corporal 0352 is the crew leader rank — the launcher, the ITAS, the vehicle, and the two or three Marines operating all of it are your accountability.
Q03What does a typical day look like for a E4 0352?
Time-blocked day at the E4 0352 rank tier: 0500 Wake. As a crew leader, check the section chat before getting dressed — any liberty incidents, any 0400 alert formation, any maintenance emergency that changes the morning plan. Crew leader who shows up to PT formation unaware of a section issue the rest of the section knows about is the crew leader who looks out of the loop, 0530 PT formation. You account for your crew (you plus two or three junior Marines) and report to the section leader. A missing junior Marine is your accountability problem to resolve before the platoon sergeant asks.…
Q04What mistakes get E4 0352 soldiers fired or relieved?
NJP, DUI, or Article 92 violation at Cpl. You are an NCO now — the consequence is not a counseling, it is a page-11 entry, possible reduction in rank, and a FitRep that follows you to every board and promotion review for the rest of the enlistment; OPSEC breach — posting engagement area data, system employment positions, or route information from a field operation. The Cpl is the OPSEC enforcer for the crew, not just a crew member subject to the rules.…
Q05What career decisions matter most at the E4 0352 rank tier?
Reenlist at the first window as a Cpl versus evaluating the EAS option before Sgt — The first reenlistment window typically opens in the 36-48 month range and often comes with an SRB offer — verify the current 0352 SRB tier and bonus amount against the current MARADMIN before sitting with the career planner, because the numbers change annually. The case for reenlisting: the Cpl-to-Sgt promotion window with a section leader billet opens a career trajectory that pays significantly better and provides a materially different professional experience than a first-term separation.…
Q06What's next after E4 for a 0352 (Anti-Tank Missileman) in the Marines?
Sergeant (E-5) in the 0352 community is the section leader rank — and the section leader is the tactical employment authority for two or three TOW crews, the launchers, the vehicles, and the NCOs running them.
Q07What manuals and regulations does a E4 0352 need to know cold?
TM 09151A-10/1 — Operator Manual, TOW Weapon System: chapter-level fault diagnosis is now your read, not your section leader's.; MCRP 3-10A.4 — Marine Rifle Platoon: the anti-armor section integrates into the platoon scheme; the crew leader who has not read this is the one surprised by the platoon back-brief.; MCRP 3-10A.3 — Marine Rifle Squad: understanding the infantry scheme the AT section is attached to or supporting.

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Published by the Honest MOS Editorial DeskVerified against DoD/.gov sourcesUpdated May 2026Editorial standards