Considering joining the Navy...

[Bryan G.]

Hello,

Like others that have posted here, I'm seriously looking at joining the ranks of the Navy enlisted, and don't know whether or not I should.

I have put in 4 years of college (about 100 hours) and seem to have burned out during the last couple of semesters. I would need at least another year of classes to complete my bachelor's degree in History, and do not think that I am mentally or financially capable of finishing at this time. However, I do wish to finish off these last few classes at some time.

I have had an interest in the military, especially the Air Force and Navy for some time. Perhaps the reason that the Navy has taken the lead is because I have an interest in large machines, which was fueled further by visiting the U.S.S. Alabama this past winter. After looking through the ratings taking the "Accelerate Your Life" quiz and looking through the ratings , the one that seemed best for me was MR (Machinery Repairman).

I realize that this is premature, but I also considered the ships and stations, and thought that I would prefer to be on a smaller surface vessel (DDG, FFG, or CG) in the Atlantic/Gulf area. The reasons for those preferences are that I believe I would be more comfortable as part of a smaller crew on a smaller vessel. Preferring the Atlantic over the Pacific is mostly because it would be slightly closer to home. But I don't know how many DDs and other smaller ships need MRs (waiting until after classes end to talk to a recruiter), know that the Navy's needs would come first, and haven't firmly decided to join the Navy yet. So it's really just me planning for a possible choice.

The main reason that I am not certain about joining is that my parents don't like the idea of me joining any military branch, especially one that would cut me off from home for months at a time. My father's family has avoided the military like the plague. The only person who served since they came over from Germany in 1870 or so was in the Spanish-American War. My mother's family has viewed service as being to the church. Despite this, they have said that they would support me if I chose to enter the Navy, though they would prefer for me to do nearly anything else.

Apart from my parents, most of the friends and acquaintances I have talked to have supported joining the military, though some thought it would be best to enter as an officer and others thought I should join the Air Force. The reasons behind both of those alternative ideas was primarily that individuals in both those categories were thought to have easier, better lives in the service. Despite seeing merit in the arguement for joining as an officer, it is not what I would prefer. My current thought is that if I joined and found that I wished to become an officer, the STA-21 may work out decently for me, due to not needing many more credit hours.

I hadn't intended to type this much, but apparently it was on my mind. I'll try to post some questions within a few days, but would also welcome any responses to what I have written.

Thanks for your time,

Bryan G.

[Retired Navy Chief]

Hello Bryan,

As a prior MR, I believe I can answer a few of your questions about the job and give you some insight to the advancement possibilities.

Before I do ... I want to tell you that I think you are approaching this crossroad in your life in a very productive way. I can't tell you how many people your age and in the same situation... just give up and walk away. Nothing wrong with taking a break from school to live life a bit and then attack it again when your mind is clear enough to absorb it all. Not to mention ... fatten up that checkbook a little too :biggrin:.

Ok ... back to the topic of Machinery Repair. Bottom line is that you will be a machinist. Yes, there are MR's on most of the smaller ships and they are a part of the Engineering department with the welders, firefighters, enginemen, electricians, Machinist Mates (MM's) etc ... but the majority of MR's work at repair facilities or on repair tender ships.
On the smaller ships, you would more than likely be part of the Auxillary Division taking care of the winches, boat davits, air conditioning & refridgeration and things like that along with all machinist work that may pop up. The smaller ships usually only have one MR onboard ... sometimes more if someone is trying to learn the rate after they get to the ship.
Either way ... a good MR can write their ticket on the ship ... because there are times when they are the ONLY person who can fix something to get the mission done and the ship back to home port. (which leads to some darn good awards :cool:).

The repair facilities is where you would really learn your trade. Working with all different types of metals & composits ... CNC (computer numerically controlled) machines, heat treatment, precision grinding, electro-plating .... lots of cool stuff.

This job would give you several excellent trades to take with you after the Navy ride is over ... because unlike a civilian machinist you not only repair machinery but you operate them as well. A plain machinist in the civilian world doesn't pay that much these days in my opinion ... unless they can offer MORE and you would have that part covered. A good friend of mine just retired from the Navy in February and applied for a job as a machine shop supervisor at a very good company called Oceaneering ... they ended up offering him a position as a senior manufacturing engineer at an abnoxiously higher salary than what he was looking for. (on a side note, I am interviewing for a job there next month ...different type job though :biggrin:).

There is a considerable amount of math (measurements, angles, formulas, right-angle trigonometry) to be a good MR.
What kind of math background do you have ???? I hated math in highschool and was worried about how I would do in this job but they make sure that you understand everything you need to know about math BEFORE you get on a lathe or milling machine. There are some real good follow on C-schools also.


Now the down side ....
The advancement possibilities after E-6 (first class petty officer) are slim to none. There are just too many old MR's hanging around and not retiring or moving on to make room for the new guys. This is probably because the job is pretty sweet hehehehe.

I did 10 years as an MR before I cross-rated to Damage Controlman in order to overcome the advancement stall. Unfortunately. not much has improved in the 11 years since then.

All in all ... it is one of the best jobs in the Navy for giving you a leg up after you get out. You'd still have all the officer programs available to you and the college money as well ... just like any other rate. Ask your recruiter about any sign on bonuses ... might sweeten the deal a little.

Hey ... I wrote more than you did :laugh:. Any other help I can offer ... just hollar.

Cheers,
PISTOL

[glennsmom]

Welcome (I wrote the least, lol)

[NavyMomx2]

Bryan,
Thank you for joining us here at the Cafe'. Sounds like you have a good head on your shoulders and are thinking this through from all angels. Good job. Pistol said all the stuff you needed to hear about the rate you are thinking about. When you approach the subject again with your folks, please tell them about his website and invite them to join us. We'd love to encourage and answer any questions they may have.

Good luck in your final decison and please keep us in the loop.

[Bryan G.]

My apologies for being so late with a response; thanks again PISTOL.

I did alright with math (College Algebra was the last course I took, though I did get through Saxon's "Algebra 2" in high school) though I sometimes run into problems when there are more letters than numbers in the problems. Calculus caused problems for me when I attempted it. I did well with basic geometry/trig and could probably relearn or learn more, given the chance.

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I just talked to a recruiter for the first time. Unfortunately, I didn't remember what to ask (or didn't have much to ask) him. So I took the mini-ASVAB at the office, and scored a 95 on it. Apparently (based on reading another post) this means that my recruiter's recommendation that I consider being a Nuke is normal for that score range. I'll be talking to him via phone (recruiting station is about 1 hour away) Thursday afternoon, and am hoping to figure out some questions by then.

Incidentally, I intended to ask him about the "MR" rating, but instead tried asking about the "MRE" rating. *slaps self on forehead head* The response that I received from one of the other Navy recruiters there was that "You don't have to eat those." I don't think that I'll confuse "Meal Ready to Eat" 's acronym with "Machinery Repairman" 's acronym again after that...

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Finally, I've discussed the Navy with my parents and relatives more. They don't understand why I would voluntarily want to enter the military. One of their concerns is that it is essentially tying myself to the military for four years in which I would be bound to follow the orders of others, and could not leave it, if I wanted to, during those years. The other main concern they had is that I could not return home quickly and easily if there was a death or severe illness/injury in the family or among my friends.

Thank you for all the previous responses, and if you'd like to comment/advise me on anything here, please feel free to do so.

Bryan G.

[Retired Navy Chief]

Finally, I've discussed the Navy with my parents and relatives more. They don't understand why I would voluntarily want to enter the military. One of their concerns is that it is essentially tying myself to the military for four years in which I would be bound to follow the orders of others, and could not leave it, if I wanted to, during those years. The other main concern they had is that I could not return home quickly and easily if there was a death or severe illness/injury in the family or among my friends.

Thank you for all the previous responses, and if you'd like to comment/advise me on anything here, please feel free to do so.

Bryan G.


Bryan,

I want to address the statements that are hi-lighted in your previous post because these are concerns that many people have about joining the military ... for whatever reason.

"Bound to follow the orders of others" ..... Yes, you will be. You will be bound to uphold the Constitution, the President and those appointed over you and those orders are governed by specific written rules (ie: UCMJ- Uniformed Code of Military Justice, ROE- Rules Of Engagement are just two of them). The important thing to note about this is that no matter where you work, you will answer to someone. I personally feel that it is better to know that the orders that I am given are do***ented, authorized and governed and not just something coming from the senior fry cook at McDonalds who just happens to be my supervisor !!

"Couldn't leave it(job) if I wanted to" .... I fail to see the logic in this statement. If you have done the research, weighed the pros & cons and decided to VOLUNTEER to meet the challenge, then why on earth would you want to leave ?? The military in general is not in the business of hiring quitters and bootcamp is where they weed out those who have the quitter gene.
However .... there are times when you may not agree with the purpose of your assignment (war in Iraq as an example) and then you would have some tough decisions to make. That is something that can be addressed in a PM if you choose.

"Couldn't return home quickly if there was a death in the family etc ..."
In the event of a death or severe medical emergency of an immediate family member, the Red Cross ensures prompt notification of the service member and takes steps to get that service member home ASAP. I have even seen times when people have gone home for the death of other relatives ... they were raised by their grandparents in one particular instance.
As for close friends ... that would have to come from your normal leave and not a guaranteed thing.

SIDE NOTE: The Navy-Marine Corps Relief society and help you with airfare to make it home if you find yourself unable to make it happen at that time.

I was out at sea when I got word that my grandmother died and even though it they weren't required to do anything ... the CO asked if I needed to go home. Case by case I guess.

Hope this helped ... I'm here if there is any other concerns.
Cheers,
PISTOL

[NavyMomx2]

That is a great organization. You can read more about what they do here: http://www.nmcrs.org

I give monthly to them through our local United Way.

[KYmom]

Even in civilian employment you are not guaranteed to get off for friends or extended family funerals. Only Immediate family in most work places. So military is no stricter on that then civilian jobs.

[allen]

KYmom that is true when I worked for BB&T they wouldn't let me off when my great-grandmother died in April. They told me that they were short handed because another teller had requested a vacation day. If she hadn't let me have the day (they made me use a vacation day) I wouldn't have been able to attend her funeral.

[Retired Navy Chief]

Of course you would also need to consider that you might be a half-world away when things like that happen. There are just some places that even the Navy can't get you out of at the drop of a hat. (No airports, no land, unsafe area ... etc) you get the picture.

Luckily .... things like that don't happen very often in life so I really think it is counter productive to worry about things like that. I prefer to concentrate on the positive things that the Navy can do for you :biggrin:.

Cheers,
PISTOL

[Bryan G.]

PISTOL-

What I had meant by "could not leave it, if I wanted to" was that my parents are concerned that I would change my mind about serving after signing on, and still be bound to serve for at least four years. I am not too concerned about that, but it is something that my parents have worries about.

EVERYONE-

Thank you for all the responses!

(After I posted, I heard similar things from my recruiter about the Navy both allowing and assisting travel home if a death occurred in the family.)

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I think that most of the reason for these objections and others is that my parents simply do not want me to be in the military. Because of this, it seems that civilian jobs are viewed in a better light than what I have experienced personally and heard about from others. However, I think they are beginning to change their view as they hear answers to questions such as those I posted above.

Thanks again!

-Bryan

[Sirhcrod]

To me, the whole idea of not being able to quit if you change your mind is a very good thing. Too many people take jobs and then try it out for a little while, then just walk away when they don't feel like doing it anymore. These same people wonder why they aren't paying their bills on time. The military will give you a discipline that will translate into everything you do as a civilian, or when you retire.

[NavyMomx2]

Bryan -

Please ask your parents to join us here. We'd love to welcome them and answer any questions they have and helped them with any concerns. Sometimes it is better to hear from another parent going through the same kinds of worries.

[Bryan G.]

My apologies once more for being slow to reply.

I am a DEPer now; I took the ASVAB, physical, and enlisted as a MR, though I might end up changing to a Nuc MM. My current ship out date is May 19, 2009.

My parents seem to have a better view of the Navy now, though I wouldn't say that they like me spending some years of my life in the military.

At the moment, I really don't know what they could be told that would make them feel better about the Navy, but I expect that when my shipping date gets closer they would appreciate support from others who have had a child (or several) who joined the Navy.

Thanks again for all the answers to questions thus far, and I will try to keep visiting the forums somewhat regularly.

-Bryan G.

EDIT:
I just thought that I would mention that I have been pleasantly surprised with the (generally low) amount of pressure that my recruiter and the Navy personnel at MEPS have placed on me, especially when I talked with the classifier. I was quite pleased that they let me join as a MR, and didn't try to force me down another path.

Just thought I should add this after seeing another post.

[Kristie]

Congratulations....

[Retired Navy Chief]

CONGRATULATIONS .... from a former MR !!

Cheers,
PISTOL

[Bryan G.]

Ach, sorry to disappoint you Pistol. After a fair amount of thought on my part, discussion with Senior Chief Peterson and my parents, and some additional time to think, I have decided to switch over to the Nuclear field, and intend to get into the MM portion of Nuclear.

My main worry in this field that I am afraid I will not stay focused enough on my studies to do as well as (what I understand) the Navy would expect of me, I would expect of me, and what my parents would expect of me. However, I think that having a more regulated life than what I have had in college ought to help greatly. It really would be quite amazing to be qualified to work/with a nuclear reactor; I just never have been certain that my math/science abilities would be adequate.

I don't really know what else to say, other than that it would not really change my ship date (still sometime in late May) and that I have not yet made the calls or signed the papers to make this switch; I intend to do that on Monday and Wednesday respectively.

Thank you for your congratulations; I don't know of anything else to say or ask at the moment, but thank you all for your help and support thus far.

[RightHereWaiting]

We have the same ship date as of right now. :]