Navy JROTC Moms

the 1st trophy of the 2011 Drill season!

Arwen - My son is standing right behind your daughter in that picture.

Lori, what division (type of drill) is the trophy for? And wow, he's earned a lot of ribbons. Is he a senior?

Arwen, that was the 2nd place overall for an All Service Drill Meet. We did 2 intersvc meets just for practice and to get some experience for the newbies. He's a junior but he lives & breathes NJROTC. He's Bn Ops Ofcr & made Lt Cdr at the end of his sophomore year. 

Lori- outstanding! My son is a sophomore and also lives and breathes NJROTC. He participates in teams. Loves PT team . I thought he had lots of ribbons, but looks like your son may topple over with his.

We tease him a lot and call him "Patton". We always joke about how he's always looking for someone he can 'save' so he can earn the Meritorious Achievement ribbon. That's the only ribbon he won't have earned by the time he graduates next year. He's on Armed (Cdr) & Unarmed Basic, Armed Ex, PT (Cdr), Academics (Cdr), Color Guard (Cdr), Orienteering (Cdr). They won't let him do rifle on a regular basis and it irks him terribly! They had Annual Inspection this am. We had 10 cadets fall out, but he got his 3rd perfect 10.

Your pictures bring back memories.  I always wondered how my son didn't topple over.  My son was XO his Jr year. 28 ribbons, 12 with multiple awards; 21 medals, 12 of which are academic, one rifle.  All by end of Jr year.  Left the program by Christmas his Sr year due to academic schedule conflicts, just not enough hours in the day.  He also lived NJROTC for 3.5 years.

Erin has a grand total of one ribbon so far. LOL.

My oldest just graduated from bootcamp last Friday, and my next younger son is NJROTC.  He wore his service dress blues to his brothers PIR ceremony - (very competitive with brother and loved being in an officers uniform while his brother was in enlisted dress blues - lol) and boy did he get a taste of military as an officer!!!  He was greeted all morning by his rank and with respect..... he was floating he loved it so much!  If any of you are in the same position make sure they wear their uniform to the siblings ceremonies...... it really makes them feel a part of the military family in a special way!

Lori- Our AMI was awesome and the unit earned an outstanding Naval Unit with Honors which they have had for 7 years now. He got a 10 in his personal inspection as well. He wishes they had an orienteering team. He was on PT B team in his freshmen year and they have not completed this years try-out yet. He made colorguard B team this year. He also participates in a Judo team not related to NJROTC which he has participated in Judo since 3rd grade. He just lettered in Academics. So thankful he is loving highschool and has found a wonderful niche.

@Leanne, congrats to your son on the circle 10!!!

Our team has their 1st qualifier meet this Saturday! Praying for safe travel and for God's blessing on all the hard work that's gone into preparing for this. Son is commanding Academics, Color Guard and PT. He's missing the 1st orienteering meet of the season though. 

Getting packed for a Comp for tomorrow morning. This is the units first Comp of the year. My son will be competing in both PT and Colorguard.

bergquis...JROTC is the high school level program.  ROTC is the Univ program at select Univ's.  Pay is based on being enlisted or being an officer.

Enlisted go to boot camp, their trade school called 'A' school, and then to the fleet.  Depending on rate they may have 'C' school and possibly add'l schooling.

ROTC is one way into the officer ranks.

To answer your question, enlisted make less than officers, but as far as suggesting that he go enlisted or ROTC...he will need to know what he wants to do in the Navy.  My son had his 'number' to go to the academy, but chose to go enlisted.  Your son will want to research all his options, consider what he believes he wants in the future, and then go for what he feels is his best option and fits his personality and needs.

True, but you need to check the Nuc option with ROTC.  I don't know how many officers are chosen from the ROTC ranks from a given Univ or if they all come from the Academy.  Has he been accepted into a Nucleer Engineering program at a Univ with an ROTC unit.

Yes, they can make more money going the officer route. Technically. But money isn't everything. Officers have a mostly paperwork/supervisory role, while enlisted are hands-on. If your son wants to actually work with the machinery and run the nuke plant, he needs to go enlisted, whether it makes less money or not. If he's more of an organisational kind of person, going NROTC is better.

After the Navy, it entirely depends on what their field and speciality is. My brother-in-law retired from the enlisted Navy in the computer/data field five years ago and stepped directly into the exact same job in the civilian world that pays six figures. I've known officers who get out and, doing the same job they've been doing in the Navy in the civilian life, barely earn $60K.

From the Nuke standpt...I would go enlisted, and work my way into the officer line if he decides the military is for him, if not then go for finishing his education and work in the civ field. Many of the older nukes my son has met have done exactly what Arwen and Susan have said...they are out and making money.

"Uniform of the day" tomorrow: Something festive.

LOL

Cheapest hotel is the Navy Lodge ($65/night), it is by far the closest, it is on base. For flights, try Southwest Airline's "getaway" fares on their website. $99 fares each way, if you're lucky.

Happy Solstice to everyone! May your winter be bright with the love of family and friends.

@ Berqquis, I suggest you ask your question on the NROTC forum. My daughter is NROTC @ Auburn and I would definitely suggest that any qualified student pursue NROTC!!! It would be the best thing he could do if he wants to go Nuke Eng. and yes he'll make more money. There is the possibility of being sent to OCS from enlisted ranks, but ROTC or the Academy is the most direct route.

My daughter is only a freshman, so she's not to that point yet.

She's not interested in the academies (she wants a more relaxed college experience), and plans to go NROTC at either U Colorado or U Washington.

thanks Susan R for the information

I will let my son know

thanks

Erin is struggling in her NJROTC group. She's thinking of quitting at the end of this year. I am encouraging her to stick it out for all four years, but I'm not going to force her to do so. She has a lot of demanding (honors) coursework, and it's just going to get more stressful next year, when she has to add a foreign language to the core academics for her sophomore year.

She has also fallen into a circle of friends who, while they aren't anti-military, are not supportive at all, especially her boyfriend who is mad because they can't do PDAs when she's in uniform.

She gets along with all the other cadets, but hasn't become friends with any of them. She has also made no friends among the other honors students either.

All of her friends are remedial to average-level students, and are considered "at risk" for everything from drug use and dropping out to early pregnancy. They see her as odd for her interest in academics (especially science and the military), and kinda ignore it. Any time she takes time away from them for academic pursuits they act like she's abandoning them. These are the same kind of kids she was friends with at her middle school, where we moved from. I don't know what to do about it. Any advice would be appreciated.

Arwen- I hope she sticks with the program. Jordan loves it. He just got a school  award for Acedemic Excellence. NJROTC has a great group of kids. Maybe if she was able to go to Competitions she would become more involved and make friends more easily. Is she on any teams? PM me anytime if you want.

Anyone else headed to the Area 8 SuperMeet at Southern University this weekend?  

@lori4629  we won 1st place in academics did not qualify for Nationals either.  My son is CO of his Unit at Brother Martin High School. Our Cadets were disappointed also but the competition was incredible. 

We had the same feeling - they had been working hard to prepare for this meet and  he is also ready for a break. 

I thought the top 3 teams went to Nationals?  I remember seeing your son get the award - Pine Forest?  Congrats 

Wow! small world! We go to a lot of meets together. Congrats on the A team win! yes, that was my son. :-) thanks! I know I've seen your son at a few meets this year. Is he a senior? What's next for him?

Do they have a formula for calculating PT scores for Bro. Martin or do they just forfeit all their PT points since they don't have any girls? I always wondered about that and thought it would be unfair for them to get no points in PT. They seemed to have a really competitive team this year. I don't know who lit a fire under Neshoba this season, but they came from nowhere!

As far as I know, only the top 2 from each area are invited to Nationals, but some years there are schools that cant come and so in order to have 26 teams they have let the #3 schools from area 7 and 8 go because we are geographically close. I'm not sure if our team will or should go though. I have very mixed feelings. I'd really like for my son to get to compete in academics. The last 2 times he has tied for the 10th highest score- but finished out of the medals bcuz of tie scores at higher places. 

One of the guys in my daughter's unit did good.

http://www.peninsuladailynews.com/article/20120313/NEWS/303139993

@Arwen  wow!  That is awesome!. @Lori4629- They are penalized a certain number of points for PT- not sure how many though.  So we do get points for PT.  And yes Neshoba did come out of nowhere this year.  

Eric will be attending LSU in Baton Rouge on an NROTC scholarship.  He will cross campus to Southern.  So it was great to get to see Southern's unit in action at the Meet.  

Sorry I did not find this site sooner- we could have met. 

awesome young man in your daughter's unit, Arwen!

@gmwrdh, there are 4 MIDN at LSU/ SU unit from my son's njrotc unit. i dont think we'll have any freshman there next year though. good luckand congrats to your son!

Does anyone know where I can pick up an extra uniform for Erin? She really needs a second one, but they only issue one. Since Chris got out of the Navy, I no longer have an easy source for uniforms.

I checked it out, it's kinda like ebay, but just for uniforms. None of those currently being offered are what Erin needs, but I'll keep an eye on it.

Erin's master chief said that maybe next year the NW region will approve digis (NWUs) for everyday wear for NJROTC. I really, really hope so, they are so much more comfortable.

Battalion Commander for 2012-2013! Yay! Getting ready for an exciting summer here. My son heads out to spend a week at each of the 3 military service academies and then a week at Boys State and then JLEAD at N.GA military college. How many have cadets attending Leadership Academy or Basic Leadership Training for their area? Our last summer in NJROTC.

Erin will only be a sophomore next year, so it's a while before she will get some kind of responsibility. We're just hoping she makes petty officer at the end of the year.

Great news for my daughters unit!

May 08, 2012

Port Angeles, Wash. - The United States Navy recently awarded the Port Angeles High School NJROTC with the Navy’s highest award, the Distinguished Unit with Honors for the 2011-2012 school year.  The unit placed in every category of competition in Military Drill, Color Guard, Physical Fitness and Air Rifle against other Junior Reserve Officers Training Corps (JROTC) units in Washington State and Western Region championships, and the unit won the Division Championship title.  

During its annual military inspection, the unit received the Navy’s “Bravo Zulu” award for meritorious achievement in all areas of Personnel Inspection, Operations, Administration and Academics. 

The unit performed over 2,000 hours of community service and helped raised over $25,000 for nonprofit organizations.  Only the top 10% of the JROTC units across the nation receive this distinction. This is the unit's seventh year in a row receiving the award. 

Arwen- You beat me to the post LOL!  So excited for the unit ! My son is also in this unit, and he competed in Regionals in both PT and Colorguard.

Our unit NJROTC awards are on June 1, and the NJROTC Ball on June 2.

Does anyone know exactly how formal this ball is? Should we be doing a floor length gown for Erin (the invitation says uniform of the event is girls wear dresses, boys wear uniforms) or will a shorter "party dress" be okay?

Well I will be moving on the NROTC group now.  My son graduated this week and will be at LSU in Baton Rouge this fall. 

Their unit also received Bravo Zulu this year.  It was a good year for my son as Commanding Officer, so now on to new adventures!

Okay, we went all-out and got her a mermaid-style dress. Ouch. It's not too bad now, but when she's a junior/senior, and has both the NJROTC Ball and the Junior/Senior Ball (aka prom), it's going to really, really hurt.

Who's ready for a new year of NJROTC?

Looking forward to an exciting year. My son is a senior and the Battalion Commanding Officer. He's very anxiously awaiting word on his applications to the 3 Academies and 3 ROTC scholarship  programs. The waiting is hard!

Hi everyone. I am new to the naval jr rotc but NOT to the Navy. My son Cory enlisted in 2011 and left for Japan from A school last September 11th...2011. He just came home for the first time since leaving...a great visit. And is now back in Japan. We just moved to Florida and his two brothers (14 and 16) have just joined the jr rotc program at the high school here. Port Charlotte High. They are both very excited about this...as are his Dad and I. This is a whole new thing for us as in Michigan ROTC programs are few and far between and the Navy program is non-existant that I know of.

Looking forward to this year...and the years ahead.  

http://www.peninsuladailynews.com/article/20130117/news/301179996/r...

If any of you live in South Dakota, you are getting an amazing Senior Naval Instructor next year. Major Leo Campbell is leaving our unit (one of the top units in the US, mostly due to his efforts) and will take over the program at Lincoln High School. He led my daughter's unit to seven straight Distinguished Unit with Honors awards, and their drill and flag teams are "feared" by their rivals.

You will soon have an amazing unit of your own.