Comment

Comment by Anti M on September 24, 2012 at 1:38pm

RamseyFam... you can be moved to Great Lakes after he is through with boot camp.  He'll need the number on his orders for you to use to sign up for a packout (they move you) or to get the details on a DIY move (renting a truck). If you leave anything behind in storage, it will not be eligible to be moved to C school/first duty station.

Are your kids school age?  You may or may not want to move them during a school year.  Depends on the kids and the schools.  You'll likely be renting if you go to Great Lakes.  His C school will not be there, so if it is too short for a move, you'll be in Great Lakes alone.  Six months is the rough cut off for paid moves, not nine.  

At the very least, start sorting your things now.  Toss, sell or donate.  The more you do now, the happier you will be later.  

Comment by ssbeach on September 24, 2012 at 1:03pm

Ramseyfam, I wonder if your husband and my son are going to be in the same class?  My son reports on the 12th.  I wish I could help you with the relocation question, but my daughter and son-in-law were married just after nuke school, and even then, their move got completely screwed up.  It seems like everyone they asked gave them a different answer, and it even happened a second time when they were transferred a few months ago - half of the people on their boat had their moves screwed up.  Whatever you decide to do, research it to death so the same thing doesn't happen to you.

Comment by ssbeach on September 24, 2012 at 12:55pm

I'm the USAA and Navy Fed Realtor in my market (Myrtle Beach), so I deal with a lot of the older recruiters when they transfer and buy or sell a house here.  I don't think I've met a single one yet who wanted to be a recruiter because of the pressure, particularly Army and Marines.  They tend to be really nice, well-meaning people from some of the less technical rates, who know a lot about what their own rate, but absolutely nothing about anything else.  You'll not find a nuke, ET or FC as a recruiter - they're too highly trained in what they do and simply needed more elsewhere.  We actually had a Marine recruiter call the house here for my daughter - my son answered, they chatted for a few minutes, and he gave the recruiter my daughter's cell number.  My son thought it was ridiculous, since my daughter is a real girly-girl professional actress and singer, and definitely not interested in the Marines!  He called her anyway, and when he realized he had actually seen her in a couple of local shows, asked her out, which is a huge no-no.   I had his boss' house listed at the time, and they did a bit of 'retraining...'  Eek!

Comment by Kelli (9/173) on September 24, 2012 at 12:47pm

I wanted to get some advice on wether I should move to GL or stay where I am, my husband leaves in march for BC and I know that's 9weeks then I've read that he will go to ATT for a few weeks then to A school. Which it sounds like will either be 7-9months then a possible waiting period. I have been told by his recrutier that the navy will move me and my boys to GL if his school lasts longer then 9 months, which with ATT would be close to that if not more. Would anyone suggest moving once he is done with BC or wait until he gets his orders for C School? I'm just so confused about it

Comment by Concernedad on September 24, 2012 at 12:37pm

I've got to wonder how many recruiters actually want to be recruiters? It seems like most of the ones I've met are leaving the Navy and they are recruiting in their home town waiting to accrue enough time. Their job is to bring in recruits, and it seems most don't bother using facts to do it. My son wanted to be a SEAL and it seemed every recruiter we talked to was about to be a SEAL but then something happened to change it. My son did well on the ASVAB, the recruiter told my son he did better. And as Anti pointed out, if they weren't an ET or FC, they probably know little about what it takes.

I don't know how much training goes into the job, but I certainly hope other ratings get better training than recruiting does. I had seen everything from outright lies to manipulation and intimidation used to bring in recruits.

The worst we had was the Marine recruiters. One told my son he knew how to manipulate parents so he could handle me (yeah, that worked out well for him). The other told my son Marines sat around playing video games all day (as if that's what my son was looking for?).

Anyway, for the person who asked, I believe A School for FC's is 7 months and ET's have 9 months. I thought ATT for my son lasted about 2 weeks, but I may be wrong, but I believe it is go at your own pace (within reason). My son's C School I believe will be about 4 months, but he had tried to take an additional one that lasted about 2 weeks. So I guess they can vary widely.

The problem is, there is a lot of wait time right now. So it can be Go to GL, wait a couple weeks for ATT. Finish ATT then wait a month to start A School. Finish A School then wait 6 months for C School. Or it can be much less. And this would be why whatever the recruiter may have told you cannot be accurate. He may just have a book that states basic info.

Comment by ssbeach on September 24, 2012 at 12:28pm

My son's not going to boot camp until March, but we've been very lucky with recruiters - my son-in-law is a nuke on a sub, so he's not a whole lot of help with AECF info.  Last year, before my son's senior year, the recruiter wouldn't even sign up my son and told him to enjoy his senior year and take the SATs - both recruiters in the local office at the time had kids in high school.  After he graduated and it was clear that he still wanted to join, they promised him nothing and referred him to friends and colleagues for answers.  When they don't know something, they are at least confident enough to tell us they don't know, which I really respect.  I've heard too many horror stories about recruiters, though...

Comment by Anti M on September 24, 2012 at 12:20pm

LOL,  LIVE with their spouse.  One can only hope the loving comes along too.....

Comment by Anti M on September 24, 2012 at 12:19pm

Sometimes the recruiters just plain are not up to date, or they weren't married when they entered the service and don't know what to tell young wives... and so on.  Some know how things are in the fleet, but are not up on the changes at the training commands.  You'd think they could google some of this stuff, we sure can.

An example: a married sailor can love with the spouse... but not at the shorter A schools, not overseas in some cases, and not if they get isolated duty.  Yes, sailors get liberty... but not until they earn it at A school.  So many tings are true... but the recruiter glosses over the exceptions.  Like spouse co-location... yes, it exists, not available to first term sailors.  And paternity leave... yes, but only for married sailors and not for the birth of the baby.  On and on.

Comment by Mary, Proud Mom of Nick on September 24, 2012 at 11:39am

Recruiters are salespeople and will tell you what you want to hear - they have quotas to make BUT not all of them are bad :-)   Our son was lucky when he enlisted, his dad was an FC "C" Instructor so the recruiter might  have felt the need to be more ...factual in our case.

That being said ---- they do get automatic advancement to E4 without taking an advancement test.  Then after E4 they will have to take the advancement tests that are held twice a year to advance to the next rate.

There is also a time requirement - for example to take the E6 (1st class test) you must be an E5 (2nd class) for 36 months.  A CO can make an exception to this policy and allow a sailor to test earlier (24 months) but it doesn't happen often.  If I remember correctly to take the E5 test there was only a six month wait from E4.  But taking the test and advancing are two different worlds!

For those that are curious about the different FC systems, I posted a couple of discussions above for your reading pleasure above.  We have lots of AEGIS and CIWS moms and wives so don't hesitate to ask if you have questions.

Some of the AEGIS C classes run almost one year (10 months +) in Dahlgren, VA.

CIWS and Tomahawk classes are in San Diego.  Although at one time, there was some shorter CIWS classes held in DamNeck.

FC Gun systems such as the 5" guns are taught in DamNeck.

I<3MySailor --- is your training on one of the gun systems?  Which one?  You must love being close to Virginia Beach at this time of the year!

Comment by Vickyrun on September 24, 2012 at 11:10am

Recruiters are stupid. I would go with what Anti M says.

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