Thinking about ROTC

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Well since I have a particular hatred for most officers and you aren't considering the Marines, I can only give you this about the navy.



That was taken on ship. No matter what you do in the navy you obviously will find yourself on ship for long periods at a time. This picture shows all of your personal space, not the boot of someone stepping down. The recruiter probably wont show you something like this. Or tell you what happens when your out at sea and your boat cant produce any fresh water. The one good jod that I know of (because of job opportunities when out) would be a missile tech.

 

Hope you like Powerpoint.... seems like everytime I turn around officers are always daoin a powerpoint slide of some sorts..

 

By all means I appreciate the input. My family doesn't like the idea of me being in direct combat, but that's ultimately something I need to decide, that's really the only reason I hadn't considered marines. It's still and option. Heck I live next to pendleton

 

This IMO is the best option. Finish school. Then if you want to still serve enlist for the student loan repayment. Then once your re-enlistment is up weight your options and consider officer. You will get more experience and respect this route.

 

this picture is what you get to sleep in when you are on a ship. its called a rack and underneath is a coffin locker thats where all your stuff goes and then you get this small stand up locker like in high school to put more stuff. if you do become an officer then you get way more space. you get a stateroom that you only have to share with one other person instead of a bunch of people, its like a small bedroom.

 

however, in his case, he wants to go officer....MUCH better living quarters/conditions...you'll share a space with about 4 other officers (until you make O-4)

 

If you are not in it to possibly end up giving your life for your country, I would suggest looking elsewhere. This is always a possibility.

Make no mistake, when you sign on the dotted line you swear to defend this country and our way of life with your life.

I would suggest talking with a close friend or family member who has served, that you can trust and get their prespective. You will hear many stories on a public forum such as this, some true, some fiction.

I am an Airforce veteran who served proudly and with honor in Desert Shield, Desert Storm, and Desert Calm. 90-91. I had a great career in the AF, but its not for everyone. After the war, I took the SSB (special separaton) bonus and entered civil service. 32 years later, looking back I am very happy with my decision.

I wish you the best of luck with your choice, if your heart is not in it, don't join, as you will eventually resent the move. Your attitude will determine you altitude. Best of luck!

By all means, if you can go ROTC do it.

 

Thanks for all the replys guys. I do understand signing the dotted line, and would be proud to do it. I got a lot of thinking to do

 

I commissioned out of ROTC and I'm currently working as an Army ROTC recruiter for UCLA and CSUN, well at least for one more week before I PCS.

On top of what the others have said, I really want to emphasize that if you intend to be a good officer, you need to understand that that means putting yourself last. There are definitely perks to being an officer, but there is also an enormous level of responsibility.

Feel free to fire away with questions.

 

I do NROTC at Cornell University. I don't know what year you are but you are going to need to look for options on scholarships. Without a scholarship you can't join NROTC basically. Or at least its not really suggested I would say.

That's not entirely true however. I seems this way at Cornell because most of the guys that come out of Cornell are engineers and scientists and join the Navy to build ships or research things like that. At Cornell, the Navy looks for the best and brightest. We are the only Ivy league school left with ROTC so most of our guys get positions.

I'm in for SEALs so I'm thrown back in with all the enlisted men. Where most positions (aviation, surface warfare, etc.) are filled 70% GPA, 20% recommendation, 10% physical, for Special Warfare it's more like 50% physical, 40% recommendation, 10% GPA.

I don't know if any of what I said really helped. Just kind of rambled. But ask away. I hope I can answer some of your questions.

 

I did Army ROTC for two years, it was soo fun, all expense paid trips to Fort Hunter Hunter Liggett to shoot guns and run around in the forest. I didnt slack either, had top PT scores and highest GPA. I just didnt want to sign my name cuz they couldnt guarantee me a flight spot with the local national guard. To think I could be flying helicopters right now....

 

Nothing is a guarantee, but with a good PT score and GPA, you could've had it - especially in the guard.

 

yea i know what you mean. I was doing it for fun mostly, they kept wanting me to sign to give me a full tuition scholarship, but i was already on academic scholarship, so i guess i lacked the initiative. If i ever get bored at my desk job, i'll probably go to OCS and try to fly again. I have my private pilot's license but cant afford to fly privately LOL

 

Also keep in mind some branches, like the Navy atleast, is slim pickins. Meaning they aren't hiring much due to being overmanned. My wife chose Navy nuclear because there wasn't much to offer, and she loves physics.

Also the military mainly cares about your gpa unless you was applying to a technical field such as nursing, scientist, etc.

Like I said, my wife is getting 48,000 of her student loans paid off and thats not to mention the re-enlistment option after 2 years of being in. Its somewhere around 75-90k for re-enlistment for nukes.

 

another option to ROTC is the OCS program. im not sure what its called for army or navy or air force but i know they have similar programs. I am doing that for the Marine Corps. basically you go to the officer version of bootcamp over summer time and get paid. it is not as intense as enlisted bootcamp because they have different missions. On the enlisted side they are trying to turn you into a basically trained soldier where as officer they are attempting to screen and evaluate the candidates and pick the ones that they feel would be best suited to lead. If you want more info on this feel free to shoot me a pm and i will let you know what my experience has been

they all offer options to help with paying for college. im not too sure on that stuff though because with my scholarships i had most of my school paid for as it is so i opted out of financial assistance. your local OSO would be the one to talk to about this

 

well i picked up a navy scholarship half way through college, best decision of my life. I am now flying jets for the navy. I was an engineering major but i had friends that were history, business, arabic, etc majors get scholarships. I also know people that picked up scholarships and had to go to different colleges than their first choices because certain units were full. now to get a scholarship you need higher GPAs for navy and airforce and lower, but still good GPAs, for army (not knocking on army just a fact when i was looking). good PT scores are a must, every branch has a different test and most are easy to max with a little work. letters of recommendation always help the cause. picking a branch all depends on what you are looking to do. if you go navy you have to choice between aviation, surface warfare, nuclear warfare, and SPEC OPS. army and airforce have many more options than the navy, to many to name. pm me for any info, i am not a recruiter either so i will give you straight up answers

 

If you like austere conditions, high morale, and hand me down equipment then you should look into my Marine Corps.

 

Thanks for all the input guys. It really helps to hear the positive and negative. I'm taking the ASVAB for army next week and will probably be seeing what my chances are with navy with a business degree soon. I know for army your degree does not really dictate what your career field, but rather your test scores. For navy would I be limited to something in the business degree field?

 

Not as long as you chose a non-technical job. My wife has a BA in Psychology and had many options but the slrp had more pros than commission.

As far as OCS (couple posts above) they don't offer student loan repayment for officers for some stupid reason (atleast a year ago). In the Army they have this program called Green to Gold which you wouldn't qualify for because you will have a degree.


Good luck man and remember, you are an asset not the other way around.