Accepted for third choice SWO. Have a few Qs. Final Select Letter?

[GregGreek]

Hey guys,
I applied to the July 2012 board for Pilot(1), NFO(2), and SWO(3) and was accepted for my third choice Surface Warfare Officer. I suppose I had my hopes up a bit for Pilot even though I only found out that it was an option for me immediately before applying and rushing to submit my package in less than one month from scratch for the July board.
I am a bit impatient and would like to get started on a Navy career immediately, but I just wanted to come on here and ask a few questions before I go speak to my recruiter monday for some paperwork.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.
1. When is the next Pilot board?
2. Will I be able to use the same package for another application (LOR's etc etc)
3. How long is the Navy offer valid for? (Will I have time to apply for Pilot, hear back, and if not picked up go in for my current SWO offer?)
4. Recruiter tells me I can apply for a lateral transfer after about two years SWO, any more info about this? Better trying for Pilot from within Navy, or as I am?
5. What should I be speaking about/asking for, with my recruiter Monday when I see her about putting together the final select letter? Can I get in writing that I want to ultimately end up in a specific base? I am Cretan Greek, speak Greek fluently, and have many friends/family who live near Souda bay Nato base in Crete, would like to live there if possible. What else to include/sign for?
6. Any fun facts about SWO life?

Cheers guys, thanks for reading Cant wait to serve.
Heres some info,
22 M
Non Prior
3.7 GPA B.S Business/Finance
LOR's from New York State Senator, USN Captain, Army Major, USN Lt Commander, and a few more.
ASTB 5/6/5 45 (Not too good I know, took it less than one week after finding out about the test's existence)
Was told they were picking up Pilots with 60+OAR on ASTB so I was no where near competitive.

 

[allstar]

All I can say is that swo life suck they work 18 to 20 hours daily and constantly. its a hell of a lot work

 

[BigRed389]

OK, nobody actually works 18 to 20 hours daily. Think about how stupid that sounds.
Inport working hours are usually more like 0700-1600. Sometimes you'll work late into nights. If your command sucks you'll just have to do it more often than others.
Underway, you're usually standing 5-10 hours of watch a day on top of normal daily admin.

As for the lat transfer thing..all I'll say is in the last 4 years or so, literally 1 person has successfully transferred SWO to aviation. There were very few quotas on the aviation side and SWO doesn't really like to let people go. Also, aviation requires the most "stuff" you need to wrap up in a package prior to a board and the window of opportunity is very tight.
So if you're dead set on aviation, I wouldn't recommend trying from the inside.

 

[BackOrdered]

4. Recruiter tells me I can apply for a lateral transfer after about two years SWO, any more info about this? Better trying for Pilot from within Navy, or as I am?

Latxfers are very difficult to get these days. Superior performance and the recommendation of the CO is required to succesfully latxfer out of SWO (not to mention the needs of the Navy). What catches alot of JOs I have witnessed is they never perform up to the ability nessessary to be the best SWO JO competitively because they never wanted to be a SWO in the first place.

A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush. If you are only about being an Officer and serving, take that SWO slot!

6. Any fun facts about SWO life?

Only fun facts huh? Conning the ship once you get a good handle and appreciation of it, can be fun. Some of the mid-watches were the most fun I had on the ship. But get your pin first and worry about fun afterwards.

 

[Aquonox]

I have no experience with how these boards work; however, I do know that Souda Bay is designated as a Naval Support Activity (NSA). I don't believe that there are any U.S. Navy ships or aircraft squadrons permanently stationed there.

You probably can be stationed there for a shore tour though (or have a liberty visit or something if deployed to the Med), but that isn't something you would probably talk about at a board since it is far down the road.

Good luck with becoming an aviator! I hope it works out for you.

 

[Uncle Fester]

4. Recruiter tells me I can apply for a lateral transfer after about two years SWO, any more info about this? Better trying for Pilot from within Navy, or as I am?
5. What should I be speaking about/asking for, with my recruiter Monday when I see her about putting together the final select letter? Can I get in writing that I want to ultimately end up in a specific base? I am Cretan Greek, speak Greek fluently, and have many friends/family who live near Souda bay Nato base in Crete, would like to live there if possible. What else to include/sign for?

Don't go in thinking you can negotiate anything...this isn't like a job in the outside where the terms of employment are open to haggling, and you certainly won't get any guarantee of being based anywhere. You sign up, you go where the Navy needs you to go, though they'll at least ask you your preferences.

I lat-xfered from SWO to NFO, but that was over 11 years ago and it's a different budget and manning environment now. If you want to try a lat xfer into anything, first decide to be an awesome SWO for at least until you get your pin. Millington won't even consider you until you have your warfare qual, and they will look at your CO's endorsement. As mentioned, there have been quite a few reluctant SWOs who pissed and moaned about how it wasn't what they wanted, did a half-assed job, made no secret to their command about their contempt for SWO life and how they couldn't wait to leave. And then they whined and cried (in one case, on Air Warriors) about how unfair it was that the command wasn't helping them get into Aviation. Get your pin as fast as you can, get good paper on you, THEN and only then tell the Captain you want to go do something else.

There is something you might consider called Foreign Area Officer (FAO). It's a lat-transfer-only community. I'm no expert on it - I'm sure someone on AW is - but at least as I understand the job, it's basically moving into the defense attache' world, and as the name suggests, you specialize in a particular region. Language ability is a must, so being a fluent native speaker would be good. Although, operating on Navy logic, they'd probably send you to DLA to learn Farsi and station you in Karachi.

 

[GregGreek]

Thanks for the help and reality check. It will be a long weekend deciding on my path.
My recruiter of course is telling me that I will be able to lat transfer after two years, not informing me of the extreme difficulty of it.
Big red- Is that really true about the single lat transfer in the past 4 years from to aviation from SWO?
Uncle Fester- Thanks for the heads up, and I always will put my best into any path I take in the Navy, I suppose if I go SWO I will do my best and try to Lat transfer if I still want Pilot, but its looking as though the odds are against any hope of a SWO to Pilot lat transfer.
PS, I wanted to be an Officer in the US NAVY in the first place, not be a Pilot, so if I go SWO I will still be motivated to excel, even though its not the specific career I wanted in the Navy.

 

[SynixMan]

So my question for you is this. Do you want to be a pilot or a SWO? If you don't really want to be a SWO, then I wouldn't take the offer. I'd actually study for the ASTB, retake it, score well, and reapply. If you just want to be in the Navy and don't care where, go SWO, make the best of it, maybe transition later. However, know that it's a low likelihood. I'll also add that I think that doing something you don't really like for 4 years is stupid, but I'm not a SWO so clearly there is some bias.

Don't worry about "what looks good to the board". You cant and wont have insight into what they're thinking. I applied only to the Pilot board and got picked up.

 

[exNavyOffRec]

It isn't your OAR that killed you it is your AQR and PFAR.

If you want to go to Pilot board again you will have to decline SWO, I have seen a few people do this ONE of them just was accepted for Pilot after 2 years of trying to get picked up again, and he had 9's.

If you decline know that you may wait a while to get picked up again IF you do get picked up again.

The basic thought is that is you didn't want it why did you put it down? you should have been prepared to take ANY designator you were picked up for, there are many people that would take that spot in a heartbeat, and NRC way overselected due to the dropoffs recently, if most of the people selected from this board take their spots, they have enough to meet ALL FY13 goal so even more waiting.

I would tell all my people, if you are putting this designator down as an option would you be happy doing it.

 

[BigRed389]

Yup, only one. SWO was actually letting the bodies go, but aviation only had 2 quotas in. Only 1 guy picked up for it. After your year group hits 4 years of service, I don't think you can go to ANY line communities at all.

I don't actually think the "competition" was even that stiff because the only guy didn't even get picked up until the last possible board.
It's just the aviation process was pretty hard to balance against doing well enough at your day job for your chain of command to support you. Throw deployments and underways into the mix and it gets a lot tougher.
Guys that went SEAL/EOD almost had it a bit easier, if their command was willing to support them, some would get time to go Mudpup at nearby units, and they got a lot more support on getting walked through their specific requirements.
Most SWO transfer requests I knew of from my peers were for the support communities, possibly because their entry requirements are a lot simpler (no flight/dive physical, PST, nuke exam, etc.)

That said, there are opportunities for fun as a SWO. Boarding teams can be pretty cool. If you've actually got an interest in naval warfare and weapons systems (and you would be amazed how many SWO JO's have no interest in the "warfare" part of SWO) you'll find opportunities to do some interesting stuff on a cruiser or destroyer.
You still get to travel the world, go to some cool places, meet some interesting people.
Location opportunities are great as well. If you're smart, you stay the hell away from Norfolk, and enjoy being in Japan, the West Coast, or Florida. Almost all SWO sea tours are in good locations.
Some of the unconventional 2nd tour (2nd half of your initial commitment) jobs are real unique opportunities.

 

[PenguinGal]

if you are putting this designator down as an option would you be happy doing it

This. I might not be in (yet) but my husband is a SWO. I agree that if you simply want to be in the Navy then accept the offer and become the best SWO you can be. If being a pilot is truly your passion then decline and try again. I will agree though that you really need to work on your scores.

Finally, the initial SWO commitment goes sea duty-sea duty-shore duty. As said before, the base that you would want to go to is not really an option for sea duty unless as a port visit during a cruise/deployment. You will find that the base locations for most SWO sea duty billets are pretty cool. I've lived in Jax and San Diego now with my husband for sea duty and have enjoyed both. Remember that it is ALWAYS needs of the Navy first and your desires second. Oh, and even if you get the orders you want they can and will change.

As for fun stuff? Big bases sometimes have Surface Warrior Balls, San Diego's is coming up in only a couple of weeks. Not sure if you are married or dating or what, but it is a fun time to dress up and is a great way for your wife/girlfriend to see the pretty side of SWO life.

 

[BackOrdered]

If you're smart, you stay the hell away from Norfolk, and enjoy being in Japan, the West Coast, or Florida.

That goes for any community...

 

[Spekkio]

If you decline a position for swo, you can all but kiss your career as an officer goodbye.

Don't even think about lat transfer for another 5 years. Get qualified, kick ass, and when you are eligible weigh your options.

 

[exNavyOffRec]

Yup, only one.

to clarify, the one I was talking about was the one person I have seen decline a designator and actually picked by the board to get another shot at OCS.

 

[exNavyOffRec]

If being a pilot is truly your passion then decline and try again. I will agree though that you really need to work on your scores.

At his point what his passion is has gone out the window, it is a matter of do you want to be an officer or not, in this ecomony with the candidates we get for 99% of the people it is a one shot deal.