Top 10 pieces of advice for a kid headed to MEPS?

[navyboundkid (Class 1210MT)]

My son's recruiter, who we just met last week, is taking him to MEPS next Monday/Tuesday.  He seems really excited about my son (which I realize recruiters are supposed to be) and his options in the Navy.  My son is now also excited, and I want him to keep his feet on the ground.  I don't want him to be disappointed if there's nothing for him when he goes, which I understand is a real possibility.  

 

My son is a senior in HS, just turned 18, 6'4", 200 lbs (so within weight guidelines), and scored well (90something) on the practice asvab the recruiter gave him.  Is it just me hoping that the recruiter is excited about him because he has good chances of "getting in", or do kids have a better chance with a better asvab?   

 

I am going to make sure he understands that he might come home empty handed.  

I am going to make sure he doesn't take a job he doesn't want, just so he doesn't come home empty handed.

 

What else can I tell him?  Any great advice?  

 

 

[TN Navy Mom (Stennis Nuke Mom)]

If he does get what he wants (job wise) make sure he gets everything IN WRITING.  There will be a contract signed and if it's not in the contract, it's not guaranteed.

 

When they ask questions, don't fudge, some recruiters have been known to tell a kid that if something happened a long time ago, or they were on meds a few months or years ago, to just "don't say anything".  Wrong!  Now is the time.  Some issues can be "waivered" and if he's in DEP, there is time to get the waivers BUT once he get heads to bootcamp, or even before, they will find out.

 

Those are my 2 biggies.  Other moms can chime in.  Good luck!!!!!!  And thank your son for his willingness to serve us.

[navyboundkid (Class 1210MT)]

 He is not familiar with all of the jobs, but does have a list of what he thinks he's interested in.  I want him to strike a balance between letting the aptitude tests steer him toward what would be a good fit, and not letting the classifier talk him into something that needs to be filled but isn't going to make him really happy.

Here's his list:

 

NF

IT

CTT

CTN

CTM

CTR

CTI

AT

AG

ET

 

TN Navy Mom: thanks for the reply and advice.  He has never been on meds, and has not been in trouble of any kind.  I hope there's nothing that will pop up to cause problems.  I will remind him to be honest in order to avoid future issues.

Lady Hamilton:  I was looking for that link!  Thanks!  I wanted to see what scores were needed for each rating.  I knew I had seen it somewhere, but couldn't seem to find it again.  

Thanks.  Feedback helps so much.  

[Danno]

As for the honesty part... I just finished recruiting and here are tips with that...

 

-Be honest with the recruiter and if he wants your son to hide something, get a new recruiter. 

-Get any waivers done PRIOR to going to MEPS

-If you son discloses things at MEPS, this will sometimes make things take longer than if it was taken care of prior to MEPS (MEPS is definitely not the best place to disclose things, also a good way to test the recruiter's morals)

-Disclosing or "remembering" things at MEPS before telling the recruiter about them is not a good way to build relations with the recruiter who will work with your son for many months after joining. 

[LAW415]

Make sure he wears a decent pair of underwear for the MEPS exam. Nothing worse than realizing you have to duck walk across the room and you're showing the doctors your crotch. :-)

 

Other general advice: be patient. It's a long process and a long day. Tell him to drink plenty of water the morning of MEPS- he'll have to pee in a cup, and it's awkward to be that kid who just can't (I speak from experience). My recruiter told us to not wear contacts- it can show up as a refraction during the eye exam. Whether or not that's true, I'm not sure, so I just wore my glasses anyway.

 

And good luck to both of you.

[jacketfan24 (corpsman mom)]

My son went to MEPS about 3 weeks ago; he is also 18 and scored high on his ASVABs.  At first, they told him that he was 'qualified, no job' but the recruiter called his commanding officer, who in turn called someone else, and a job became available...don't know how that worked, but my son ended up with the job he really wanted but it's DEP, which works for me!  He has a ship date of Sept. 6.  I hope your son got what he wanted.  Mine was willing to look at other options and the recruiter said they particularly want high school seniors right now over other candidates, so yours has a good shot at it. 

[Debralindsey]

I'll be leaving sept 6 as well

[navyboundkid (Class 1210MT)]

Thanks for the very good advice.  I thought I'd update on how things went, and where they stand now.  He enjoyed MEPS, I think.  He did very well on the asvab, and all of the physical stuff went well.  No issues.  

 

We had told the recruiter that he did see a counselor for a while when he was a junior in HS and his grades took a dive. The recruiter told him not to mention it, but he DID.  When the doctor asked him, he told the truth.  The doctor asked why he was seeing the counselor/therapist and my son told him it was because he got some bad grades and his mom freaked out and took him to get him back on track (guilty! :) ) .  The doctor said it wasn't a problem, and wrote something about it.  It's nice not to have to worry about that.

On that note, he had to write something for a waiver for getting a bad grade (F) in a math class.  The recruiter showed me what he wrote.  He took responsibility for it, saying it was a lack of discipline and immaturity.  The waiver cleared in one day.  

He signed a contract for AECF, but is waiting for a nuke contract, which the recruiter said will be ready to sign on Thursday.  I personally almost think he'd be happier in AECF, being a tech nerd kid who loves computers and electronics, but he is set on nuke.  

If he signs the nuke contract on Thursday, it will be just a few weeks between first contact with a recruiter and a signed contract for what he wants, with a ship date in December.   It was all very smooth and very fast.

[Anti M]

My nephew is a nuke. Tough program, but very worthwhile.  They lost most of their class to dumb stuff such as underage drinking and a lack of study in favor of computer games.  He'll have to bust his hump to get through!

[Danno]

I work in the AECF field as an FC (weapons systems, basically fixing electronics for radars/computers/guidance). In AECF you will either become an FC or an ET (electronics technician). Both do very similar work but one concentrates on fixing weapons systems while the other on more misc. systems such as communications equipment and whatnot. 

Nuke is not a bad field in the least but depending on his job goals, this might or might not be up his ally. The three jobs in the nuclear field are ET (power plant electronics), EM (electricians mate / power distribution / generators, etc.) or MM (machinists mate / anything that moves such as turbines, basically a mechanic). As long as he is equally interested in these very different jobs it should be ok for him but I wouldn't recommend it if he is set on only one or two since the Navy determines which route he will go. That was the main reason I chose AECF when I joined, a guaranteed shot at fixing electronics. I would be more than happy to answer any AECF questions though should you two have any.

Sounds like things are going great though so should be smooth sailing from here! When does he leave as of now? 

[Anti M]

I was an ET.  I just described an average day over in the AECF moms group.

 

ET is extremely versatile as for what you might work on, or where you may be stationed.