Hello!

[Frank!]

Hello everyone, I'm 25 and am currently considering signing up for the Navy. I was talking with an Air Force recruiter for a couple months prior to the start of July, but due to me being charged with (but never convicted) of a DWI 3 years ago I was told I'd have to wait for a waiver to even get in. I did, however, take the asvab and scored a 98 on it, which I'm told is a nice score. So now I'm speaking to a Navy recruiter up here in good old Albany, NY about possibly signing up for 6 years entering as AECF. I'm ready to do something serious with my life. I've already spent 8 years out of high school without even finishing my associates, I don't want to spend even one more just hanging around working at a dead-end job. Also, I'm hoping that if I can get into AECF and excel, that the experience I might get as ET or FC may help me be motivated to complete a BS in computer science or electrical engineering and get into a robotics career field once I'm in my early 30's. But I guess one step at a time, haha. Sorry for the extremely long post.

[ADz]

98 is awesome considering you can only get up to a 99.

You'll have to have a waiver in the Navy tho too for that. All it is tho is you fill out a peice of paper that says what you did and when it happend. Then talk to a Chief most likely about it. And he'll ask did you learn your lessen and what not and obviously you did. But I wouldnt worry about it

[Frank!]

Hey, thanks for the info. Yeah I actually had a rough draft of the applicant statement for the USAF waiver all set to go so it sounds like it'll be the same type of deal. I was told that, like when I was thinking about the Air Force, in the Navy I also won't qualify for top secret security clearance. I believe this is why the recruiter I spoke with immediately ruled out anything with nuclear engineering, I'll have to ask him about it the next time we speak. Is it true that in AECF, your ET or FC rating is chosen for you before you even leave boot camp?

[MacSteve]

I dont know why you would be ruled out, but you havent listed other things you have done.
I believe in AECF you go to a school for ET & FC, and then your split up.

[Retired Navy Chief]

Welcome ... sounds like you have a pretty solid plan.

Yes, it's true that you will have a guaranteed job BEFORE you go to bootcamp. Actually ... in most cases, you will know what you are going to do before you sign the contract ... which is the way it should be. The "career field" programs may be a little broader than that ...

Let us know what you pick !!

Cheers,
PISTOL

[Frank!]

Hey guys. I also have a slew of fines and suspended licenses due to not showing up to court to pay tickets. The Air Force didn't like it and I'm sure the Navy won't either. I mean it isn't that I've done anything bad, but I'm sure they may worry about how responsible a worker I will be. This is all in the past of course, but I guess I'll see what I'm told about it.

[Retired Navy Chief]

AAAAAAGGGGGHHHHHH .... you guys are KILLIN ME with doin' the crimes but not paying your fines !!! :eek::eek:


You are like the 3rd or possibly 4th person in the last couple weeks .... :eterollll:

I apparently offended the last young man by pointing out his obvious lack of good judgement in multiple offenses ... he didn't want to hear the truth and decided not to come back.
While I still think this is knucklehead behavior (especially for someone like you who is smart enough to damn near ace the ASVAB), I guess I will be a little nicer to you .... IF you promise to pay off the fines, not drink and drive (ever) and ultimately get your "crap" together. Fair enough ??


Unfortunately for you ... the Navy is going to have a problem with this behavior as well. If you were looking for an alternative to paying off your fines .... the military ain't it. Gotta face the music, knuckle down and pay the stuff off ... THEN come join the service of your choice. Just that simple.

Like you stated in your earlier post ... you clearly understand WHY .... "they may worry about how responsible a worker I will be".

Absolutely. Responsible, accountable, trustworthy .... etc.

Plus ... as a defender of our nation, you need to hold yourself to a higher standard than anyone else. America didn't get to be the Top Dog by doing things half-assed. We would be speaking Japanese or German if that were the case because those were both extremely hard fights to win.
Getting into trouble and not manning up to your debts does not scream "Best of the Best" ... does it ?? Past is past and doesn't dictate your future ... unless YOU let it.

Ok ... I'll get off my soapbox rant-fest. Keep asking questions, get your information and if we can help you attain your goal of joining the Navy, don't hesitate to let us know !!

Cheers,
PISTOL

[Frank!]

Nice, thank you, appreciate it. And that definitely makes sense. I have a couple questions actually, one about educational benefits, and the other about annual leave time. If I do AECF and become either ET or FC, how much opportunity will I have during a 6-year enlistment to earn credits toward an associate and eventually bachelor's in either computer science or electrical engineering? I currently have just 16 credits from a nearby community college toward a math and science A.S. which could most if not all transfer into a bachelor degree program at a 4-year college. Is there really enough free time at night to take online courses steadily? There was a site I found that talked about a navy program that allowed you to choose from a list of participating and reputable colleges, making a "home" school to transfer any applicable credits toward a bachelor's. I can't seem to find the site again, and have yet to find the list of colleges.

Wow, that was a long question. But the other thing I'm wondering about, since 6 years is a decent amount of time...definitely more time than I've ever committed to thus far in my life...is about leave time. You get around 4 weeks of leave a year? I'm guessing this is chosen for you, and if so, is it usually given as a single chunk, or in pieces? I don't expect to have trouble with being at sea for months at a time, and I'm sure docking in foreign ports will be an experience. Actually, to add onto this question, how frequently would I see different countries? I'm sure it depends what type of ship I'm assigned to. As AECF are you usually on the move, or would I tend to stay in foreign countries for extended periods?

Thanks for any help and all the help so far. Sorry about the 10-million word post, haha.

[Retired Navy Chief]

The American Council on Education (ACE) gives recommendations for college credit for all of the training that you will receive starting with bootcamp and continuing with subsequent formal schools. You will also gain some credit just because of the rank that you hold.

Please note the operative word ..."recommendations". Colleges are not bound to honor these credits and will pick and choose as they see fit. However ... it is a pretty safe bet that is you are working on a degree from a college that participates with the military education system and honors ACE recommendations ... you will get a fair shake.

Check here ... may answer some questions.
https://www.navycollege.navy.mil/


Will you have time for school in the evenings ?? Can't give you an answer on that one because there are too many variables. It depends on the workload of the command that you are stationed and availablility of the resources.
Education is a VERY big part of what the Navy is about, so if there is a way to do it, you will be afforded that opporunity.
Keep in mind that they expect that the normal job comes first ... so if your division is standing extended watches or something ... you will have to arrange your schedule to suit.

Leave .... 30 days a year. Your choice of the days within the guidlines of the command that you are assigned to. Between duty assignments is your best bet to get a large, uninterrupted leave period. Not uncommon for people to take 15 - 30 days at a time.
Most deploying ships do not allow you to take leave during a cruise. There are genereal blocks of days when everyone on the ship is allowed to take a couple weeks off at a pop ... normally around the Christmas / New Year holidays and upon return from a long cruise.

Shore duty is another story ... you can take leave pretty much whenever. **Subject to approval, just like any civilian job.

As for seeing the world .... the type ship does play into this. My recommendation is to take a cruiser, destroyer or an amphibious ship. These ships have a shallow enough draft to get into a lot more ports than say, a carrier.

Carriers have to anchor out a lot and contract liberty boats to get the crew to the beach ... while I loved the ride, I always hated waiting on the liberty boats. Cuts into the sightseeing time !!

Cheers,
PISTOL

[MacSteve]

Carriers have to anchor out a lot and contract liberty boats to get the crew to the beach ... while I loved the ride, I always hated waiting on the liberty boats. Cuts into the Drinking time !!

Cheers,
PISTOL

who are you tryin to fool Pistol? :P

[Frank!]

Nice thanks, that answered a lot. So I just got off the phone with my recruiter, I'm going in tomorrow after work to begin filling out paperwork. He told me that my situation is not as bad as he thought it might be, and that he doesn't think there will be any limits on careers opportunities for me. So this means that the nuc program may be open to me. I'm going to have to start doing research on what I thought I wouldn't have a chance at doing. Has anyone here been in, or know anyone that has been in, the nuclear engineering field in the navy? Thanks again, everything so far has been incredibly helpful.

[MacSteve]

theres 1 or 2 people on here that just graduated the 1st nuke school.
All im going to say is from what I understand, Nuke school is VERY hard.

[Frank!]

Yeah that's what I've been told and have read. I'd really like to do something that would give me as much experience with computer programming and electronics as possible, so that I might be able to pursue a bachelor's during or after my 6 years in computer science, computer engineering, or electrical engineering. I guess I just need to search more on the different types of ratings and what I'd actually be doing.