Age challenged...
Don't worry abut your age. My recruiter told me when he went to DCO school there was a non prior service man who was 50 in his class. He said his narrative was the compelling reason he thought he got in because his son died in service and wanted to honor him by also serving in the Navy as an officer. If they Navy thinks they can use you, your age will be a minor factor. I know for me this time, if I make it they are going to have to kick me out at age 60. I have heard many other stories of selecties well in their late 40's.
An interesting observation. Like you, I'm pretty deep in both academics and professional industry experience. I'm presently 48, prior service USAF, and applied for the IP community last March at 47 but was out of PFA spec (much better this year - BCA is within spec, weight is close). I'm applying again this year for the same community (since I'm an InfoSec professional, a critically manned community), but the community manager initally said no to the age waiver (need 4+ now). I discussed it with them, and shared some of RADM John Cotton's (former CO Naval Reserve Forces until 2007) comments on how he believes age should not be a factor, so long as there is a relevant and useful skill set, and the candidate passes PRT. Got them to agree to 'kick it upstairs' to be reconsidered. Haven't heard anything, and have requested a face to face in Millington to present my case. Still waiting. And I'll have to waive retirement, since the best tenure I can make (if accepted this pass) is 14 years.
The general response by MEPS (to me) has been that even with all my credentials, I'm supposedly not competitive against a 20-something with a Bachelor's degree and little to no experience, simply because they don't require a waiver. Period. My thought process has been, if Navy instructions on age were carved in stone, there wouldn't be a waiver process in the first place. And the DON CIO's office is set on acquiring READY skill sets and industry credentials. So - once more, unto the breach...
Unless that 50 year old was Legal, Medical or Chaplaincy, I'd like to know how they pulled it off.
R/
John M. Schneider, M.Sc. CINS, CISSP, ITILv3
Naval Education Training Command / N6
Information Assurance Officer
NS Great Lakes
Great Lakes, IL
