Navy Reserves to Active

[AndyTCurry]

I leave for rtc june 16th, 2010 and I am a seabee with 20k bonus but what I was wondering is if I like the navy life is there a way to switch from reserves to active after boot camp and A school like when im just doing my one weekend a month?

If I like it I wanna go active but if I dont ill just stay reserves and do my one weekend a month.

[Retired Navy Chief]

Since you got a sizeable bonus ... you will need to complete your initial obligation to the reserves before you convert. You could put in to convert but may end up losing much of the bonus.

They obviously need reservist Bees more than active duty ones based on the bonus.

Cheers,
PISTOL

[MacSteve]

wooow. I wonder how he got a 20k bonus being a Seabee; thats awesome!

[Seth]

Well your bonus is what every reservist gets, so what youll probably have to do is lose your whole bonus and see what they want to do.

MacSteve : every reservist gets 20k now lol.

[MacSteve]

whaaaat??? damn that is nuts.

[Retired Navy Chief]

They need people in the reserves. In many cases, they look for those who already have skills .... and they will pay for those skills.

That's how the SeaBees came to be in the first place ....


Cheers,
PISTOL

[AndyTCurry]

My recruiter told me I can get my contract switched to active duty before I even ship but I won't get the bonus prolly and I wouldn't get to pick the job, any truth to this?

[Seth]

If you dont get to pick your job even before you ship out, thats pretty shitty.

[Retired Navy Chief]

Won't get to pick the job ?? Not even a choice of 2 or 3 ??

Well ... guess you got a decision to make. Personally ... I like all the jobs the SeaBees have ... so it would be an easy one for me.

Cheers,
PISTOL

[MacSteve]

if I had to choose a Seabee job, definitely EO.. get to drive all sorts of cool stuff.

[Retired Navy Chief]

Equipment Operator (EO) or Builder (BU) ....

Cheers,
PISTOL

[AndyTCurry]

My friend is usmc infantry and told me its the same for all branches, like I dont care about my bonus really cause id rather go active but he said after boot and your schooling you can put in papers to go active duty and it takes sometimes 6 to 12 months.

I really like my CE job but if I have no hope of being active i will switch my crap and take a random rate thats active.

[Retired Navy Chief]

SeaBees cross-train .... so you will pick up a LOT of skills if you don't get CE as an active duty sandcrab !!

Cheers,
PISTOL

[DK3]

Originally Posted by AndyTCurry

I really like my CE job but if I have no hope of being active i will switch my crap and take a random rate thats active.

Have you thought about possibly staying reserve but requesting deployments (if any are available) if you like the CE job?

Just a thought...

[Seth]

From what I heard it takes a yr - yr and 1/2 go to active.

[AndyTCurry]

Yeah well after goin on several dep meetings to a base around me I am almost sure ill like active. I just hope and pray a active seabee job is offered to me or that I will be guarenteed that I can transfer after rtc and a school from reserves to active duty.

[ABH Oldtimer]

every reservist gets 20k? my buddy went reserves about the same i enlisted active and he asked about a bonus, they said that there werent any for him. is it rate specific at least? he went Hull Maintenance Tech

[Critic101]

Yup, your rate has to fall in either a Tier-1,2 or 3. Basically, you get a bonus if your rate may be in high demand due to future needs. Tier-1 rates i.e. MA's will always get 20,000 BUT you have to enlist for 6 years to get it!

[MacSteve]

MA's just got bumped down severely. talking with a few friends it seems they went from 99 to 60% this year.