<p>I don’t believe they would ever assign someone to the USMC who didn’t want to be there. (I hate saying “ever” BTW, but . . .). In fact, the opposite occurs – you really have to be selected by USMC to become a Marine. </p>
<p>Generally, the “default” is surface line in that folks who don’t qualify to be or don’t want to be pilots, NFOs, SEALs, submariners, Marines, etc. end up with surface line as their selection. However, that doesn’t mean that a large number in the class don’t choose surface line as their first choice – many do.</p>