Pre- Boot Camp

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by E.G. - ND's Creator/Admin on May 28, 2012 at 11:40am

Jack, your timeline is pretty accurate. Recruiters should have the test scores the next day if not that day once a potential recruit takes their ASVAB test. Once the recruit chooses between their options and picks a rate is usually when their ready to sign into a contract with the Navy.

 

Delayed Entry Program ( DEP ) - A program that allows you to join the Navy but not report for active duty for up to a year later.

 

I'm guessing the reason your son is on wait is because the rating is overmanned at this time. If that is the job he wants in the Navy, he is better off waiting. If he can't wait and wants to leave as soon as possible I'm sure the Navy can find him a rate to do that. My advice is for him to make sure he's taking a job that he wants to do for the next four years and to also take advantage of the wait time to prepare for boot camp. Keep us posted on his progress.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Jack Flash on May 28, 2012 at 12:10pm

Thanks guys,

You even answered my next question-- which was- How can we know if there is a demand for the rate he is most interested in?

I apologize for getting the cart ahead of the horse a little-- he is writing his test tomorrow and so has not chosen a rate yet. He's interested in becoming a Rescue Swimmer so hopefully he will score high enough to have that as an option. In the event he doesn't score high enough, my understanding is that he could try again in a month or two?

If he does well on the test and qualifies for the AW rate, then does his start date depend on the needs of the navy, in terms of whether he gets delayed entry or not? It seems the DEP is for the benefit of the sailor recruit that needs time to prepare, or is it more a device the Navy uses to delay entry until there is actual need for a particular rate.

Here's my concern, and I don't mean to be one of those hovering helicopter Dads trying to over watch the whole process--- I just don't want to see him fired up with his heart set on one particular rate for which there is little demand and having to wait out a long delay interval before he begins training (Boot Camp).

On that note, how much involvement should I be having? I went with him once ( the first time ) to the Recruiter, but he's had a lot of interaction on his own since then. The Recruiter seemed pretty straight up when we first met--- how much should old Paps be involved with this entry process? My son just turned 18, and to my eyes he's still a pup.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by E.G. - ND's Creator/Admin on May 28, 2012 at 1:24pm

Jack, like you said he can always retake the test and it's never to earlier to start learning about this new journey. It's always "the needs of the Navy" but you are right in DEP is usually not for someone wanting to get started right away. If he scores high enough to be a Rescue Swimmer they will get him to boot as soon as possible. The one thing the Navy is always in demand for, is recruits!

 

As far as him getting fired up, that's what it will take for him to become one of the Navy's Elite. Click this link for a short description on what a Navy Rescue Swimmer does.

 

Now for involvement, as much as your son will let you. My sons recruiter came to my business twice to go over questions and concerns my wife and I had. He also made it to our house twice and we meet with him at the recruiting office once. He was more than willing to answer any questions we or our son had. Your son can set up a meeting involving the parents if he chooses and the recruiter will be more than happy to meet.

 

The recruiter has your sons best interest at heart and will do whatever he can to get him the rate he qualifies for. Just make sure the contract reads what he wants to do, nothing less. The Navy will honor what is written in that contract. If he is promised something and it's not in the contract, he's not getting it. 18 is a young pup and as parents it is still our job to help them make the right decisions as much as possible. Stay involved!

 

 

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by NavyDads Admin (Paul) on May 28, 2012 at 1:31pm

I'd spend some time in our Career Planning group (at this link: http://www.navydads.com/group/careerchoices ) as there are many tidbits of info I've tried to post there....somewhere in all that stuff are some links to the quotas for the various ratings

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Jack Flash on May 30, 2012 at 11:43am

E.G. - ND's Creator/Admin said:

Jack, like you said he can always retake the test and it's never to earlier to start learning about this new journey. It's always "the needs of the Navy" but you are right in DEP is usually not for someone wanting to get started right away. If he scores high enough to be a Rescue Swimmer they will get him to boot as soon as possible. The one thing the Navy is always in demand for, is recruits!

 

As far as him getting fired up, that's what it will take for him to become one of the Navy's Elite. Click this link for a short description on what a Navy Rescue Swimmer does.

 

Now for involvement, as much as your son will let you. My sons recruiter came to my business twice to go over questions and concerns my wife and I had. He also made it to our house twice and we meet with him at the recruiting office once. He was more than willing to answer any questions we or our son had. Your son can set up a meeting involving the parents if he chooses and the recruiter will be more than happy to meet.

 

The recruiter has your sons best interest at heart and will do whatever he can to get him the rate he qualifies for. Just make sure the contract reads what he wants to do, nothing less. The Navy will honor what is written in that contract. If he is promised something and it's not in the contract, he's not getting it. 18 is a young pup and as parents it is still our job to help them make the right decisions as much as possible. Stay involved!

 

 

Great advice and much appreciated!

I never knew that the Recruiter might make himself available for a visit at our home. I think this would be a big benefit for Mom's mental health! She's a little antsy about the whole idea of her little boy leaving the nest. A visit might help quell some of her maternal anxiety (no mention of mine!). We've been surprised by parents and teachers alike who seem to think ( and don't hesitate to share ) that joining the Navy is a lesser road that he is taking. I'm sorry, but I just don't see it like that.

I'm very proud of our son and pleased that he is charting his own course and doing something he believes in, despite the "opinions" of others who can't see past their turned up noses. He doesn't even flinch when he hears from detractors, and I told my wife the only Mom's opinion that matters is "his" Mom's. We will encourage and support him no matter what he chooses to do.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Jack Flash on June 2, 2012 at 2:47pm

I thought I'd take a moment to share a bit about my son's recruitment experience...

He's young, just a high school senior, and we have spent several months shopping colleges and visiting the half dozen schools on his short list. He's a basketball player, Team MVP and was really hoping to land a spot on a College team, but he soon discovered that good as he is, he was in a way, a big fish in a somewhat small pond having come from a small schools environment. He would have had to crack a squad and likely Red Shirt or play Junior Varsity ball. When this became more apparent to him and the big basketball recruiting Vegas tournaments came and went without serious offers, he maturely started focusing more on educational programs and trying to figure out what he wanted to consider for career choices.

Out of the blue a few weeks ago, during one of those Father/Son chats about plans for September, he floated out the idea of joining the Navy. "Dad, I was thinking about talking to a Navy Recruiter." ----Oookay--- This was a whole new direction the conversation was going. His teeny high school had been visited by every college under the sun, but not by any branch of the military. I hadn't thought it was even anywhere on his radar screen, but I was intrigued by this sudden interest.

He shared his reasons for looking at the Navy, and they were solid. I was impressed by his thought process, chief among them was this... He told me that while he was thinking about school and trying to decide where to attend his thoughts turned toward what his friends were all doing. Every single kid in his graduating class is college bound, so the natural course for him would be to do the same. His best chance at playing basketball was a college in Iowa that is loosely affiliated with his high school (by denomination) but as he considered this, he was having trouble imagining himself in the middle of Iowa this Fall, just because a bunch of his pals would be there too. (no offense to any Iowans!) It just wasn't lighting his fire.

Unbeknownst to me, he'd been having conversations with the High School football program Coach, himself a former SEAL, as well as a neighbor of ours, a retired SEAL team Air Operations Dept Head. My son was doing covert recon!!! His own due diligence. With piqued interest, based on these interactions with strong, well-respected Navy men, he asked me if I would go to the local Recruiting Office with him. Ummmmm... Yep. Just as soon as I wipe this amazement of my big fat face.

So we went and said hi-howdy, and he's been back on his own several times, all culminating with the trip to write the ASVAB the other day. I guess many young men and women write this test at their schools (?) but he did not, so it meant piling into a van to go down to MEPS (?) to write, along with about 80 others by his estimation -- Recruit Candiates across all branches of the military. I was surprised to hear that there are so many writing this test on any given day. It's much more competitive than I had realized, perhaps a sign of the times. He got through the test, having prepared only a week or two or three using one of those Test Prep books from Barnes and Noble. The guide had included a CD with test simulations, that didn't work, so he missed out on that opportunity to pre-test, and after the fact he said there were sections on the actual ASVAB that the guide didn't even mention or cover at all-- things like coding (?) that he'd never seen before as a result. Maybe there are some guides better than others, he used the Barron's 10th Edition, and in my opinion it was lacking, particularly because of the defective CD issues and lack of complete preparation example of all areas, but I can't complain too much, because he still scored well.

He said he also had to take a Personality Test, that he called "weird" because it asked questions that seemingly had no good answer... Like - "Which are you, lazy, or dishonest?" he asked me-- how would you answer a question like that? I said I had no idea, but the truth was I was too lazy to answer honestly and put that much thought into a response. Lol...

So here we are... Next thing seems to be a trip to a Navy doc for a physical, yet to be scheduled. It's a wonderful adventure! He graduates high schol this week and the only gifts he's asked for are boots and BDU's so he can do some PT like the big boys. --oh and maybe a pair of those sexy and I know it Navy SEAL swim trunks that he thinks he will rock. HA! That's my boy. My young son, of whom I am so proud.

I'll keep y'all posted as he progresses toward Boot Camp. Funny thing-- we never realized... His mom always mentioned that she was born in Chicago, as her Dad was in the Army, and so she told everyone that she'd been born at the Army Hospital in Chicago. Tyler had to produce his Mom's birth certificate before writing his ASVAB (because he himself was born in Canada). Grandma had to run over to the Recruitung Station with the certificate because both Mom and I were at work, so Gma came to the rescue and happened to have the original birth certificate. We were amazed to look at it later and discover that in fact my wife had been born at the Naval Medical Center, Great Lakes, Illinois.

So it seems the circle is unbroken and the stars are aligned.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by NavyDads Admin (Paul) on June 2, 2012 at 2:55pm

sometimes our kids do amaze us.....had much the same reaction when my daughter said she had enlisted....Oooooookay ?!

• ▶ Reply

▶ Reply to Discussion