New to the site--hello :)

[LdyKat1971]

Good afternoon. My name is Kathy, but everyone calls me Kat. I'm glad to have found the group as my son is now leaning strongly towards the Navy, and I have quite a few things I'd like to investigate while he's deciding.

Up until I guess a couple months ago, he'd made up his mind and was going to be a tanker in the Army. His dad was in the Army 15 years, his sister leaves for basic next month, and so I think for him, he knew he didn't want to do college straight out of highschool, wanted an exciting career he could get into right away, and the Army was obvious.

He talked to a Navy recruiter at the career fair in November, got to looking at the info. for EOD Tech and Diver, and has decided that since he loves the water, the Navy would fit him better.

I've been looking through the posts and noted that as with the Army, just because you want/are promised a certain MOS, doesn't mean you'll get it. He decided not to join the Army because he realized that the progression of a tanker starts somewhere he doesn't want to start. He wanted to go straight to shooting things with it lol. I read the descriptions for both EOD tech and diver, and based on what I read about how intensive and rigorous the training is, while he's very competitive and determined, it may be too much for him.

Say he goes to the recruiter, does well on his ASVAB, and does well in DEP. What are the chances he'll be able to go and try and qualify for either of these programs? I think he'd change his mind again, if he found out there would be little chance he could at least *try* for EOD or diver.

And just for my own curiosity's sake, what is a new recruit in the Navy called? Personally, I don't care, but one kid told him Navy personnnel were called Seamen. Well, you can imagine that as a kid, he kind of....winced at that.

Thanks in advance for any advice/insight, and thanks for letting me join the site. :) Sorry for the length of my post.

Kat

[Paula]

Hello, only advice I can give you is it has to be your son's decision. You can do the ressearch for him but ultimately he should be the one doing this. He will have the questions and coments that we as parents do not.

Welcome to the site, I am sorry I am not more help but I learned the hard way. This is a decision that can last 4-6 years if not the right one...

[Kathy (AOMom)]

I believe he qualifies for these programs based on his ASVAB score and then and only then get into them if there is an opening for it. He could be in DEP for a while if there are no openings for the job he wants. Also be sure he gets whatever they promise him in writing, dont leave it to chance. You may want to see if there is a group for EOD/Divers on here, I am sure they are a wealth of knowledge. Navy personnel are Seamen Recruit,but its a very brief time, when they get to A school they change to Aviation Recruit (or whatever job) then when they are working in their rate they are referred to as Airmen, Ordy, or whatever, amongst each other they go by last names only, or shipmate/headmate/bunkmate, but almost always by their last names.

[ChrisAmo]

What about Rescue Swimmer? That's what my son does. The training is very rigorous and takes 18 months to 2 years altogether. He gets to fly in helicopters and jump into the ocean and all kinds of fun stuff......the first time my son got to jump he remarked that he couldn't believe they paid him to do it, it was so totally cool. My son made Petty Officer 2nd class in less than 2 years so there's a chance of advancement if you work hard.

They're referred to as "Seaman Recruit" for the duration of boot camp then they move on to A school where they're Airman (I know, sounds more like the Air Force than the Navy). Or as Kathy says, it depends on what their rate is ("rate" means job) as to what they're called, but ultimately they're all called "sailor."

[Kathy #1Fan]

Here is a quick overview of how it went down for my son who has an EOD contract and leaves Feb. 2.

Contacted recruiter.
In late August 2009, went to MEPs, got 92 on has ASVAB and passed Physical.
Of the jobs he was offered he took the job of IT with a ship date of May 2010
He let everyone know up front that he was interested in Spec Ops.
Immediately started working out with a Spec Warfare group 4 times a month on top
of regular DEP PT. He also found a training buddy with a Spec Ops contract to work out with.
Started taking the PST test (the physical tests you have to pass to be eligible for certain jobs) By his third testing he passed the minimum SEAL PST requirements and started discussing EOD with his recruiter and Spec Warfare Chief. He was awarded the EOD contract late November with a new ship date of March 2nd. Continues to train hard and is the DEP RPOC (leader of his DEP Group). This past Monday his ship date was moved up To February 2nd. His recruiter told him that they are experiencing a shortage of EOD in the pipeline. So it may be a really good time to try for EOD if that is what he is truly is interested in.

Hope that helps in some small way.

[katydids61]

Good information on the EOD. My son is just at the  "talking to the recruiter stage." We just bought a ASVAB study guide so hopefully in the next month he will go and take the ASVAB and get things rolling. He is so excited at the thoughts of joining the Navy. I just told him to have lots of ideas of jobs he was interested in if there was not a demand for what he wanted. Good luck to your son.