New & Full of Questions!

[beewoman]

Hey! I am new to this website and Navy journey! My fiance and I have been together for over a year and he just left for basic November 19th. I would have to say it is defintely one of the hardest things I am doing in my life and have done! I am leaning on God for full strength because by myself I would just not be strong enough! Planning a wedding by myself is not what I have always planned to do, but when you love someone so much you are willing to do whatever it takes to be supportive. I am full of questions as far as when PIR comes what do I need to expect? I do know he will be leaving for Florida for his A School; therefore, I am not sure if I will get to spend much time with him following graduation? When he is done with graduating from my understanding I can give him his cell at the airport before he leaves for A school in order for us to communicte, correct? How is life afterwards it is hard, fun, exciting, scary? I am just open for all advice and ears are open!

THANKS!

[howarda14]

Pass in Review was seriously one of the best experiences of my life! Pretty much anytime someone mentions anything I relate it back to PIR weekend lol... but it was great, you're going to have an awesome time! Expect a lot of laughter and tears :) (I'm a sorority girl so of course I cried ALL of the tears lol). For my sailor and I, A school has been hard, fun, exciting and scary. It's hard because he's away, it's fun watching him make new friends, and scary because you never know what's coming next. But overall I wouldn't trade it for the world :)

[beewoman]

@sammi93v that is exciting he just got done, congrats! Since you have been through the whole proccess, you did get to have a wedding? Did he get his orders before yall got married? Did you get married after A school? That is what i would love to be able to do; therefore, i am praying all this hard work i am pouring into the planning will pay off. Just remember just because you are in a new place does not mean you want make friends within time. I think you are brave enough as is just allowing yourself to support your sailor. Be proud. What is your husbands job and rate?

Thanks!!

[Anti M]

Just a little clarification... undes is not a rate... that's why they are called undesignated, they don't have one. The three weeks of training is not A school (although on the same base which has some of the A schools). Then they go to the fleet for ONE YEAR. After that, they may do one of two things: take the exam for a rate they are striking for or go to A school for the rate they are striking for. Some rates can be attained without going to A school at all, other rates absolutely must have the school.

It is not very likely he will get leave after those three weeks. That's because he will already have orders, and unless those orders include "may take leave en route to duty station", he can't take leave until he gets to his new command and finds out the schedule.

I can explain how leave and liberty work if you would find that helpful.

[Anti M]

Okay... even little details can make one sailor's path a lot different than the path for another. That's why giving advice here can be so tricky! So please take anything posted with a grain of salt, knowing it is general advice. Thanks for being understanding.

(Ma'am? I used to be an enlisted sailor, so ma'am isn't really comfy for me ... but thanks for being polite!)

Liberty is normal time off such as evenings and weekends and federal holidays. Liberty has a limit on how far away they can travel, for example, PIR weekend is 50 miles, while Great Lakes A school students must stay within 300 miles. The fleet has this also, it is so if something happens, all sailors on liberty can be recalled. Liberty can be "secured", that is taken away either as punishment or if the sailor is needed to work. There is no liberty on duty days. Liberty cannot last more than 3 days/72 hours without special permission, and must never exceed 96 hours. Leave and liberty are not supposed to be combined.

Leave is earned, paid time off. They earn 2.5 days each month for a total of 30 days. Leave is requested in writing, and can be denied. When transferring, the orders will state whether leave is authorized. Sometimes it is, sometimes not. (There will also be travel days on the orders, those do not count toward leave). If a sailor wants to take leave, but has not earned enough, they can borrow their yet to be earned days. Up to ten days is the normal amount.
They can have up to an extra five days off in conjunction with their transfer leave working with a recruiter, but they can't use that during A school or the holiday stand down.
During A school, about the only time leave is granted is during the holiday stand down, or when the sailor is transferring to their new command. In the fleet, leave depends on many factors ... what the ship/command is doing, who else can do the job, are there other sailors who asked first or have been waiting longer to take leave, and so on. Leave can be granted, then denied as the situation changes. Sailors can be called in off leave, but that depends on their job and command. It isn't common, but happens often enough you need to know about it.
They can have up to 60 days of unused leave on the books. More than that, their command must certify they could not give the sailor the time to use their leave. That's why so many sailors may have 30 days on the books, but can only take two weeks at a time. They can't be spared for a full month.

Please ask for more details if you ned them.

[beewoman]

Hi @AntiM6! Thanks for sharing! I see where you are coming from with the undesig.;however, my fiance scored very high of the asvab test which could have landed him any job, but that was open at the time. It sounds good because he gets to shadow different jobs according to the pamplet I was given. His papers do say he is already ranked E-3 going into bootcamp. He did get in the 900 divsion which I feel is great! His papers say he is in the PACT program for airman and active duty service is November 19, 2012. Therefore with all of this new information are you saying that while in bootcamp he could get offered to select an actual job. That he will graduate not going into the PACT program but have a path of specifc? With the 3 weeks he will be in Florida that means it is more so a crash course or what the PACT is about? Then it is possible he can request time off or it may not happen?
Thank You!

[Anti M]

There's also emergency leave, paternity leave, convalescent leave, and EML leave. You dont' need to worry too much about those yet.

[Anti M]

So many variables! No, they usually do not pick a school for them in boot camp, although it could happen, especially with a high ASVAB. The training in Fla is not A school, is is simply an "crash course" on what airmen do. A schools are rate specific. A minor detail, but the Navy is detail oriented.

As to whether or not he gets leave after his A-PACT course, I've been digging around old posts and see it is sometimes yes and sometimes no. Argh! Not helpful! Sorry, I can't pin that down. But the more I research, the more I think he can get that time off. Just stay flexible.

What most commonly happens is they are sent to the fleet after their three weeks, they do the coursework while working (there are course books available to them plus hands on task lists to sign off) and then take the advancement exam to make it into a rate. If they are not into a rate in a certain amount of time, they may be sent to A school. Some rates require A school, but not all. There is a discussion of this on Navy for dads, so that may help you with details.

http://www.navydads.com/forum/topics/question-about-airman-pact-tra...

Every effort will be made for PACT Sailors to enter a Navy job or rating field through the Navy-Wide Advancement Examination process. PACT Sailors which are not designated into a specific rating or job within 24 months onboard the First Duty Station will be offered the opportunity to attend a Navy “A” technical school provided they maintained PACT Program and “A” technical school eligibility.

[beewoman]

Thank you so much! When you say go out into the fleet what do you mean by that?

[beewoman]

Thanks again I read that description and it helped some. Since my fiance is already an E-3 going in that seems like it only helps him a lot by cutting out some extra time he would spend doing other work. It says then after that he will get his order on where he will be sent. That is great thanks again!

[Anti M]

(I was an ET, so I know much more about Great Lakes and the AECF field than I do about PACT and P-cola. My nephew is a nuke on a sub, which has even more differences. This is why recruiters are sometimes wrong, they know their own rating more than the ones they're signing up recruits for.)

(for some reason I can't edit my posts)

[Anti M]

Oh, you weren't rude or disrespectful at all! You are doing great.

There's a lot to learn, and a lot of variation even of you do have solid information. And things change all the time. I joined this group because my sailors were in programs I knew about and I knew the details had changed.

Rank... technically not correct for sailors. That's for officers, but many of us use it and we all know what we mean. There's paygrade/rate (E-1, E-2 and up to E-9), there's rating (job specialty). But again, when we say rate, we mean the job the sailor has learned.
http://www.navy.mil/navydata/ranks/rankrate.html

Advancement is another huge topic, and evaluations, and more.

When I joined the Navy, I was only in DEP for one week. A seat opened and I left right away. Not in shape and didn't know the General Orders and other things you must memorize. I honestly thought boot camp was the easiest part of the Navy, you just show up, shut up, and do what you're told without talking back... and pay attention to detail. Much harder when you get to a command and have to deal with new shipmates, have to live with them, and you're not going to like them all, and they all won't like you.

A dual military couple? That's extremely difficult, you'll spend a lot of time apart, and new sailors don't qualify for co-location. Please ask questions, there's several of us around who were dual military. The money is outstanding though.