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Advice for OCS
- Thread starter gtown1
- Start date
Thisguy
Pain-in-the-dick
Different strokes for different folks. It doesn't matter what I would take, it's what you would take. Those are 3 very different choices.
THat's why he's asking "why."
Probably depends on your education, long-term goals and current desires. For starters - don't go SWO !!! Unless of course you have an uncontrollable desire to spend a LOT of time on ships (both in port and underway). Supply has the potential of setting you up nicely for a career outside of the Navy when your commitment is finished. Intel is pretty decent and keeps you involved in the cutting-edge issues that are affecting our Navy (Chinese submarine OOB, Iraqi insurgents and terrorists, air to ground target list for CVW squadrons, etc). Recommend talking to as many people as you can before making your choice.
Me personally, I would probably take intel out of the three, but look long and hard at supply for the career benefits later on in the civilian world. I've got a question for you, though--which, if any, of those three do you think that the Navy will choose YOU for? Have you already been offered any/all of them? Is there any you wouldn't want?
mts4602
Registered User
I'll second that. I thought SWO would be a great career and an exciting one at that. But when I got to talking to people, it doesn't sound like so much fun. On the other hand, many people are SWOs. Most of them probably love their job and are fantastic at it. Just make sure you talk to people and find out what really goes on before you make up your mind.
Thisguy
Pain-in-the-dick
That's a little misleading. The reason there are a lot of SWOs is because it's the largest community, and ROTC and USNA grads are required to go URL unless they're NPQ.
boobcheese
Registered User
I had thought ROTC Mids were required to go URL as well but I know we had at least a couple that were going nurse corps and not as a result of NPQ.
SWO gets a bad rap for a lot of reasons. Biggest couple reasons is that they work very very hard. They also spend more time underway then any other designator (duh, ship drivers). If you are not afraid of hard work and think you would enjoy being at sea, SWO may be for you. It is a very tough career path and work environment. The up side is the leadership challenge, generally greater then aviation and certainly more so then Intel. And if you hang out long enough you get to command a ship. Vast majority of aviators never command a ship and when they do it is as a very senior officer. Friend of mine, post squadron command was XO of a CV and commanded a deap draft auxilery (AO). He said it was some of the most fun he had in the Navy. He said it was a blast standing on the bridge and deciding where to take a 80,000 ton ship. I am a dedicated slacker aviator type. I'm not the SWO type. But I have to admit, there is something about commanding a US Navy vessel, especially a combatant. It is a little bit of sovereign US territory and the skipper is like God. No where else in the US military can men be put on bread and water except in the Navy. And a ship's CO has that authority. Deep down, I always wanted to be able to order someone on to bread and water.
The Navy is involved everywhere, but Intel guys don't really deal with languages, so if you pursue languages, do it because you're interested in them, not to get some kind of foot in the door with the Navy.
Brett
Dude,
I am a SWO. Not by (first) choice. I chose EOD, then Supply, and last but not least: SWO. It is not as bad as everyone says. It is a hard job and you do not get much sleep and you are guaranteed at least one balls to the wall crappy tour in the beginning, but the job satisfaction is through the roof. The leadership knowledge that you acquire right off the bat is second to none. Bottom line, if you want to be a leader right away and are not scared, then SWO is for you.
My two cents.
I am a SWO. Not by (first) choice. I chose EOD, then Supply, and last but not least: SWO. It is not as bad as everyone says. It is a hard job and you do not get much sleep and you are guaranteed at least one balls to the wall crappy tour in the beginning, but the job satisfaction is through the roof. The leadership knowledge that you acquire right off the bat is second to none. Bottom line, if you want to be a leader right away and are not scared, then SWO is for you.
My two cents.