Navy Dads

Good morning!
I hope someone may have some insight/thoughts on the selection letter timeline and staying motivated. My son received notification that he was selected back in march, but has not received a selection letter or start date. How long does it take or can it take to get that report date/letter. My son is so excited and ready to start, it is tough waiting. Also, while he is waiting for this, any suggestion on a good workout strategy and mental preparation outside of memorizing the navy gouge items? His chief (recruiter) has been non existent through this process......no help at all except submitting his package. My son wanted to meet to go over what to expect and he said no.....any thoughts if he is missing out on anything with this recruiter? Thank you in advance for any and all comments! We are so proud and excited for our son and want to help him prepare for this amazing adventure :)

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Brian, our son was selected and waited appx. 6 months before reporting to Newport and graduated in November of last year. As far as keeping in shape, push-ups, sit-ups and lots of running will get him to the physical finish line. Let your son know although the instructors/drill sargents are tough, there is a purpose in everything they do to shape our sons/daughters into officers in 13 short weeks. Knowing this, and posssessing a positive attitude and mindset going forward should set him up for success.

Good luck to your son and your family.

If you are on facebook, there are closed groups for most classes. It, as well as Navy Dads is a great source to get information and ideas during their OCS experience. Ours was Navy OCS class 02-17 Family

Officer Training Command Newport is another face book group that's a must. They display pictures of your son's class every week of their training!

Brian,

My son was just commissioned recently. I'm sorry to hear that you sons recruiter is not as helpful as he/she could be.

I agree with Joe,

Push ups, sit ups and running should be focused on, make sure the mechanics and form are correct for the push ups and sit ups. It is much harder with correct form.  And run as much as possible, my son was a varsity soccer player so running was no big deal for him, he said it was painful for many who were not used to it.

Oh and details,details,details pay attention to details LOL


It will be demanding, tiring and at times seem frustrating but it is by design. As Joe says keeping a positive attitude is a must.

The Officer Training Command Newport facebook site has photos of many classes and would be a good spot for your son to see snippits of OCS.

Good luck to your son and your family.

Thanks for the great comments! Details/memorizing, running and push-ups/sit-ups is what he is focused on. Should the recruiter be more involved, let it go, or should we push him to get more involved? I know from an enlisted standpoint the recruiter is overly involved until you ship off to boot camp. Guess that was what I was thinking would happen. Just want to help him be prepared for what is coming! Thanks again.

I dont have any advice on the recruiter issue, My sons recruiter seemed responsive and helpful, but I have a feeling his situation is a bit out of the ordinary.

The actual OCS web site has a lot of information, have your son review the web site, if he hasnt all ready.

http://www.ocs.navy.mil/ocs_program_requirements.html

http://www.ocs.navy.mil/ocs_requiredpaperwork.html

There is medical paperwork you should be looking into now, vaccination history is good to have to avoid redundancy in vaccinations,  read the required paperwork sections etc.

Get two pairs of good running shoes and break them in before reporting

We are in the same boat (pun intended). He was told "June or July" by the recruiter when he was told he was selected SWO also in about March. Seems pretty loose in terms of time. Also recruiter is somewhat similar - answers questions but not what you might call proactive. Perhaps that is what they are told to do? Maybe they will be in the same class? He is doing the exercise regime as noted here by others. He also got the book "Newly Commissioned Naval Officers Guide" by Commander Kacher. I read it too. Seems full of useful stuff. At the back it has a guide for further reading. That's in addition to the stuff on the OCS web site. We live close to the Great Lakes Naval Station, and I know some people there. One of them put him in touch with a relatively new SWO LT who he met to talk about the process. It was helpful. 

Great advice and information! Andrew, they may be in the same class since his said that too....June to august ship dates. Thanks again everyone! Look forward to more discussions

Brian

Brian - My son is currently at OCS. His recruiter was very involved and helpful through the process.  Are you saying his recruiter was a Chief (Chief Petty Officer)?  That's strange because usually Officer recruiters are always LT/LCDR. 

I would agree with the recommendations above about the physical conditioning, it's on target. In addition, the Facebook groups are great, mostly moms or wives, but, excellent information.

As a side note, anyone attending OCS should be psychologically prepared to roll back through week 8. It may be due to lack of physical conditioning, inspections/knowledge, Fast Cruise, academics, or as in our case - injury.  There are a lot of rollbacks, most will say it was a needed break and helped them get it together to complete the program.

Good luck to your son!

Thanks....great info. I too thought it was a little weird that a chief was the lead recruiter and disappointed in his lack of involvement. How long did it take for your sone to get his selection letter/date to report once he found out he was selected. This wait is stressful for my son!

Greg Ilkka said:

Brian - My son is currently at OCS. His recruiter was very involved and helpful through the process.  Are you saying his recruiter was a Chief (Chief Petty Officer)?  That's strange because usually Officer recruiters are always LT/LCDR. 

I would agree with the recommendations above about the physical conditioning, it's on target. In addition, the Facebook groups are great, mostly moms or wives, but, excellent information.

As a side note, anyone attending OCS should be psychologically prepared to roll back through week 8. It may be due to lack of physical conditioning, inspections/knowledge, Fast Cruise, academics, or as in our case - injury.  There are a lot of rollbacks, most will say it was a needed break and helped them get it together to complete the program.

Good luck to your son!

Sorry Brian! I can't help you with the wait time question...my son is in the NUPOC program, so he was technically in the Navy as of last July, had to graduate with his engineering degree last December, then he hung out about a month and started OCS 29 Jan. I'm not sure when he got his orders, but it was after he graduated.

If it was a Chief as a recruiter that explains why he didn't want to meet to discuss what to expect - he has no idea! Just really strange that it was a CPO, IMO.

First off thanks very much to your son for volunteering to serve, and to your family for supporting him.  I have no service background personally.  My son Mike does all the sacrificing, while I fly the wing chair in the chicken hawk squadron.  Anyway, I do recall how this went and will tell you the advice you have here from others is spot on.  Mike said people had problems because they were out of shape, they didn't have the gouge memorized and a few did not listen to or follow the rules.  The only other thing I would add is that you all must remember he is going to belong to the Navy.  Sounds obvious, but I have heard some people in different online venues complain about things that sounded like they thought they were picking a dorm room.  Find and follow some of the recent classes ahead of him and you will get a feel for it all.  He will feel plenty.  Your job is to write, early and often, get to Hi Moms and Graduation.

Best to him and to you, and to all that serve and support. 

Brian;

Things move slow when it comes to OCS which is the fast track to becoming an officer as opposed to the academy or ROTC. So they have limited resources and space at Newport which is where he will go. With the new President stating that he will add money and more personal to the military hopefully this will make things move faster. But it took my daughter 10 months from the first day to get to OCS.
As for the recruiter some are good at their job and others well---it happens. My daughter didn't know that I called my congressman after 9 months out of a lack of patience and everything started moving quickly. If she knew I called she would have died. But it worked! I would give it more time but if it starts to drag on, do what ever you feel you need to do. Because in the end result your doing a good thing for your son and the country.
As for exercise--he needs to arrive there in Tip-top shape! Especially push-ups.

Good Luck!
Tony Belmont
Veteran USMC

Thanks! He is so anxious to go I hope his isn't 10 months


Tony Belmont said:

Brian;

Things move slow when it comes to OCS which is the fast track to becoming an officer as opposed to the academy or ROTC. So they have limited resources and space at Newport which is where he will go. With the new President stating that he will add money and more personal to the military hopefully this will make things move faster. But it took my daughter 10 months from the first day to get to OCS.
As for the recruiter some are good at their job and others well---it happens. My daughter didn't know that I called my congressman after 9 months out of a lack of patience and everything started moving quickly. If she knew I called she would have died. But it worked! I would give it more time but if it starts to drag on, do what ever you feel you need to do. Because in the end result your doing a good thing for your son and the country.
As for exercise--he needs to arrive there in Tip-top shape! Especially push-ups.

Good Luck!
Tony Belmont
Veteran USMC

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