Unfamiliar Territory

[waiting4chris]

Okay, so first off I just want to apologize for my ignorance. I asked a lot of questions in the months leading up to this and did some reading on the Navy website, but there are still many things I don't know about. Also, I want to be upfront about the fact that I didn't instantly warm up to the whole idea of him joining the military. While I highly respect those who serve, I also selfishly wanted to keep him out of danger.

That being said, my fiance Chris has just joined the Navy as a Nuke, and he's been in basic training for 24 days (or I guess only 17 since he said the first week would be intake). I am going to graduate school in Japan, so we decided it was best that his first call go to his sister in the US and she could contact all the rest of his family including me. Luckily, I did get his second call just yesterday in the wee hours of my morning.

His call only lasted 60 seconds, as I'm sure you can imagine, there were a few heartfelt words exchanged before he gave me his news. Apparently he had just been informed that he didn't get Top Security Clearance because he has 'too much family in China.' His mother is a Chinese born naturalized US citizen, and both of his Chinese grandparents also migrated as soon as he was born and are now legal US citizens too. The fact that he has extended family in China is something his recruiters and the people at MEPS were aware of up front. Because he can't be a Nuke if he doesn't have that security clearance, I'm concerned. He said briefly that he was going somewhere with someone to figure out what job he can do, and I don't know what that means or what kind of position he could end up in. 

He tested very high, he's a smart guy and physically fit. I'm honestly scared about where he could end up - I mean I know he signed up for this, and I know for him he would be willing to serve in another capacity (he originally wanted to be a coreman anyways, as he wants to go to med school someday), but at the same time he was really aggressively recruited to be in the Nuclear program with promises of how safe it is, the great sign up bonuses, and how he'll get a higher pay grade etc. He sold me on his enlistment with these kinds of promises, and now I feel like something kind of bogus is taking his safety away from us. I'm not the one joining to serve, but being a Navy spouse is something that affects the rest of my life too. I'm agreeing to be willing to give up my spouse for 3, 6 or 9 months out on a boat with limited communication. I guess I'm not really entitled to feel this way, but I still have this awful feeling like I've been duped by a bait-and-switch.

I have nowhere to put these questions during the time it will take for our precious letters to reach each other. (Not only do I live in Japan, but I live in a very rural area so our mail has taken a painfully long time to go either way). I realize some of my concerns may be a bit unreasonable because I've only just found this out, I have almost no information, and let's face it I missed the sound of his voice so much I didn't know what to do with myself.

Here are some of my questions:

- What happens when you enter slated for one job and it has to change for something like this?

- How does this security clearance thing work? Is this final or is it a hiccup that will change when they look closer?

- Do sailors have any recourse when they were promised a job at a higher pay grade or rank only to be knocked down a few?

- When is it final - when is he locked in to a particular job?

- What do you do to keep from worrying when your sailor is at boot camp or deployed?

Thanks in advance for your patience.

[Anti M]

Sorry to hear it, but it does happen. More often than people realize, and for many reasons. The clearance isn't a hiccup, they won't change their minds from what I've seen (I had a TS as an ET). The recruiters don't always know what will happen with the extensive background checks, so they can't truly be blamed. Nuke's a tough clearance to get and keep if there are any irregularities.

In boot camp, they will reclassify him for something he qualifies for, something which requires a lower clearance. Hard for me to say what that might be, too many variables for me to guess. However, they don't like to waste potential! He has no recourse as to paygrade or bonuses, that's in his contract. "Pending clearance" is the phrase, and I promise the contract says if he doesn't qualify for the nuke program, he'll be assigned according to the needs of the Navy. Sounds harsh, but that's the fine print. It will be final in boot camp, they must find his job before graduation so he can be sent to the proper training right away. LOL, where he will hurry up and wait for school to start. There is a slim chance he'll go undesignated, and he can work until a rate and school are available to him. That also has advantages, although right now that may be hard to see as valuable compared to nuke.

Boot camp is when you don't need to worry about them quite as much, he's safe, being kept busy, fed, and paid. Deployment? You just make it through however works best for you. Communicating with others in the same situation is a great start.

What part of Japan? I was stationed in Yokosuka for 12 years. Not that I spoke Japanese well, working on base, and neighbors who wanted to practice their English!

I hope that was helpful.

[waiting4chris]

Thank you for your advice. I can at least feel grateful that he's at least not as likely to get hurt in boot camp, but it doesn't feel awesome to hear that their bait-and-switch was fine print justified. Even though it is pretty much exactly what I expected, I really needed to hear it from someone.

I live in Niigata, directly north of Yokosuka on the Sea of Japan side. It is so true that so many people here just want to practice their English with you. It is more challenging to practice Japanese in Japan than one would presume!

Thanks again, it was really helpful.

[ChrisAmo]

My son lived and worked in Taiwan for 2 years so had to submit a ton of info about that. He had a real scramble trying to come up with all the names and addresses of the Chinese people he worked for and with. It did eventually get sorted out and he got his clearance but it probably wasn't such a high clearance as your mans.

They'll sit down with him at boot camp and figure out another job that will use his potential but not require such a high security clearance. If he has a college degree he'll come out of bootcamp as an E-3 regardless of his job, and that will mean extra pay.

I know this must be hard for you but you have to accept the fact that everything is according to the needs of the Navy. They'll put him where they need him to be.

[waiting4chris]

Thanks. Even though your comment just confirms what I feared, somehow it is helping me to feel a bit better about it.

As for the degree, that was one of the things that bothers me. He left school only 6 weeks away from his bachelor's degree because of how aggressively they recruited him. They told him that his pay grade in Nuke would be so good it wouldn't matter, and that he could just finish off those two credits while in the Navy. I guess he still can, but the image that had been painted for us of what his Navy experience would be like is quite different from reality.

But that is life, and the point was to serve in the first place so I guess it will be okay in the end.

[waiting4chris]

UPDATE: He was offered 20 different jobs by the classifier, and ended up being a Corpsmen after all. Since that was what he wanted to begin with, we're all pleased with this result.

Also I wanted to share some words that came from a friend, for anyone else who may end up in a similar situation.

"Now, don't give up. He may be in the middle of the process or even toward the end. As I said, even my daughter required a year for her clearance, so if he's not deeply into the process by many months, it's just too soon to get frustrated. Her central message was: They are on their own timetable. We all want things to happen RIGHT NOW, and some things can't be rushed. Tell him to relax and see how it all plays out. He should be doing something now to prepare himself to be ready to hit the ground running when/if the clearance comes. Can he be taking some classes in his spare time where he is?
I think it's too early to give up. Tell him to be patient."

I also needed to remind myself to be patient. The difficulty in communicating with my recruit has been frustrating, and led to more worrying than perhaps was necessary.