Questions

[navyhopeful]

I am scheduled to see a recruiter on Tuesday but had a few questions I wanted answered now.

Once you sign up, can you go straight to boot camp or do have to do the DEP?

What happens if you do the DEP? Do you continue with daily life or is there any kind of military involvement?

When do you start getting paid?

When do you receive a sign on bonus?

Im in my second semester of college and im doing fairly well but not what one would call exceptional. I am a very intelligent person but i am also very lazy (which i planned on changing when not only i join the navy but when my expecting fiancee gives birth :P)In high school i did less than acceptable but i still passed. I know when i take the asvab i will do very well, as i always have on tests, but i wanted to know whether or not my high school gpa and or current college gpa will hinder my chances. (my dad was a nuke for 18 years and made a lot of money and i know im just as if not smarter than he is so that was one of my possible plans.)

answering one or even all of these would be helpful thanks in advance(tips on the asvab would help too)

[Fubarjonny]

1. Everyone who joins the Navy right now is put into the Delayed Entry Program. Your time in DEP varies because it depends on what rate you pick and the availability of an open spot at an technical school("A"SCHOOL)

2.Well when you join DEP your only real responsibility is to maintain your eligibility for joining the navy. Which means you staying out of trouble, being in shape and other such things. But At my recruiting office we have 1 official DEP meeting on the second Thursday of every month and were required to have 80% attendance and we also have to see our recruiter for PQS qual and a few other things.

3. You start getting paid the first day you arrive at RTC in Great Lakes.

4.Most jobs but not all aren't offering bonus's at the present time. But you said you want to sign up for nuke and i know that offers a signing bonus.

I thought i was gonna completely bomb the ASVAB.But i took these practice test on Military.com and they help me out alot i got an overall score of 73. Which is pretty decent.
http://www.military.com/ASVAB

Hope I helped out a little bit and good luck.

[MacSteve]

being a nuke you get some of your bonus right out of bootcamp.
BUT DONT SPEND IT.
if you drop out for any reason, they take it right back.

[sweetmtn]

being a nuke you get some of your bonus right out of bootcamp.
BUT DONT SPEND IT.
if you drop out for any reason, they take it right back.

Not quite true..my son is a nuke and he got PART of his bonus AFTER completing his A School, then another portion after completing Power School, then the last of it after he completed Prototype training. Your signing bonus will vary greatly on how bad they want you or need you. PLUS when you leave for boot.
Yes you will be paid when you start boot camp..BUT your first pay check may be up to a month or longer depending on the day and week of the month you get there. It also wont be very big for all the stuff they will take out of it to start off with.

There are many rates that are closed right now..always have openings for SWCC, SEALS, and the Tech fields..but still expect to be in DEP for a while. This will give you time to get your run to passing, sit ups and push-ups to acceptable numbers as well.

Have you looked at the many rates there are in the navy?

[BoatsBM1]

There are only 9 "rates" in the Navy.

[bigadam5]

Not quite true..my son is a nuke and he got PART of his bonus AFTER completing his A School, then another portion after completing Power School, then the last of it after he completed Prototype training. Your signing bonus will vary greatly on how bad they want you or need you. PLUS when you leave for boot.
Yes you will be paid when you start boot camp..BUT your first pay check may be up to a month or longer depending on the day and week of the month you get there. It also wont be very big for all the stuff they will take out of it to start off with.

There are many rates that are closed right now..always have openings for SWCC, SEALS, and the Tech fields..but still expect to be in DEP for a while. This will give you time to get your run to passing, sit ups and push-ups to acceptable numbers as well.

Have you looked at the many rates there are in the navy?

What this lady says is true on the rates being closed. I am not sure on the bonus structure, but as a future NUKE i will let people know. There are still some openings in cryptology, spec ops, and Nuke. The bottom line is most are full and will be for some time because there are so many right now with a lack of a job that when Oct. 1 rolls around they will fill a lot of openings.

Also you will spend quite a bit of time in DEP. I am in till May. I had a DEPer meeting today and most that are out of high school usually waited 6-9 months for their ship dates. Wish ya the best in the future though.

[MacSteve]

There are only 9 "rates" in the Navy.

Orly? http://www.ocf.berkeley.edu/~jskong/orly.gifhttp://www.andykinsella.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/07/owl_orly.png

[BoatsBM1]

I will restate my post above...." There are ONLY 9 "rates" in the Navy."

I would suggest you learn the difference between "rates" and "ratings".

BoatsBM1

[MacSteve]

Indeed you are correct. Thank you for sharing your vast amounts of knowledge about the navy, and truly correcting our atrocities of mistakes by referring to Navy Jobs as Rates.