New Contract

[NavyDEP]

the Navy offered me a new contract They want me to ship out early.The contract I have at this moment is FTS (full time support) Reserve Engineman TEP 4 year enlistment and ship out May 01. The other contract is Active duty My choice of EN, MM, GSM, DC ratings. 4 years enlistment , Navy college Fund. It basically is the same contract but I am on the Active duty USN side instead of the Reserve side. Now I am leaving 2 weeks early April 15 which is not that bad. Same job which is EN (engineman) or my second option is MM (machinists mate). The only guarantee you get is the job training not the job correct? On the FTS contract it said tep engineman school guarantee . I made the decision to leave early and change my contract because I first wanted to do AD because you get to go on more deployments 95 % of the time unlike FTS Reserve 50%. any advice on the guarantee job situation? the classifier said that when I go to boot camp I will meet with another job classifier which will assign me to a job maybe not the one I want but a similar job that requires the same training at the same engineering school. ????

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[Retired Navy Chief]

The job you signed up for is the job that they will train you for and the one that you will be doing. Very slim chance that you would be trained as an engineman and then assigned to some other obscure duty .... unlike some other services.

Choice of duty station location is possibly what they were talking about. Normally, you don't find that out until you are almost finished with your tech school (A-school).

I think you did the right thing by going AD ... you wanted to travel and this is definately the way to do it.

Good luck in everything you do,
PISTOL

[matt's mom]

My son is an AD He loves it

[Retired Navy Chief]

My son is an AD He loves it

I believe he meant AD as in Active Duty ... vice the reservist status that he originally signed up for.

Your son's rating is AD ... Aviation Machinists Mate, which is a fantastic career when he decides to get out !!

I don't think the Navy could survive without all the confusing acronymns :biggrin:.

N.A.V.Y.
Never
Again
Volunteer
Yourself !!!

Cheers,
PISTOL

[Kristie]

N.A.V.Y.
Never
Again
Volunteer
Yourself !!!


OH MY GOODNESS.....I love it.....lololol.....Brandon told us you are voluntold....lol

[NavyDEP]

yeah what is the difference between FTS RESERVE and AD?

[Retired Navy Chief]

I believe ... (and I'm shooting from the hip at this point because I haven't read into it yet) ... but I think FTS is basically a full time reservist status just like active duty, It's just that their operational money comes from a different pot than the active duty folks and their mission is slightly different as well.

I came in under the TAR program (Training & Administration of Reservists) which made me a reservist on full time duty. Our job was to work at the Shore Imtermediate Maintenance Activity / Naval Reserve Maintenance Facility on base through the week and train reservists on the weekends. I reenlisted Active Duty the first chance I got.... advancement was better.

TARs had our own "training ships" which at the time was hand-me-down frigates and deployed just like the Active Duty (AD) sailors did.
Just another way to beef up the navy's personnel and ship numbers I guess ...

I will look into the FTS program some more and see if I can find out what the deal is.

Cheers,
PISTOL

[Retired Navy Chief]

Ok .... from what I can find, FTS is as I said before ... the newer version of the TAR program.

I'm sure there are fundamental differences, but basically the same thing as active duty in that you are working in the Navy full time (not one weekend a month, two weeks a year) just like you would as part of the AD component.

In my opinion, and this is just MY opinion ... if they offered you an active duty position, TAKE IT !! My reasoning behind this is mostly financial.

There are fewer people in FTS than on AD ... so your chances for advancement are proportionate. Bottom line ... advancement means more money in your pocket.

To break it down further ... as part of their mission, FTS folks generally spend more time filling shore duty billets at reserve centers throughout the USA .... which for the higher paygrades is more favorable to raising a family & establishing roots in their community.
This means that they will be staying in the Navy much longer (30 years is not unheard of) and not making room for YOU to advance. Thus ... you are stuck in your paygrade longer. Make sense ??


If I were in your shoes (which I was at one time), I would sign the AD contract and hit the high seas !! The uniforms & the food are the same but the advancement & scenery is MUCH better !!!

Cheers,
PISTOL