Do I even have a chance as a SNA?

[snaorbust]

To start things off, I am waiting till junior year to speak to an OSO, and I am new to the forums after lurking around to find very little information about the situation I am in.

When I was 13 years old, I, along with a group of friends, made the idiotic decision to play around an abandoned quarry with bulldozers and excavators, which culminated in us causing 20,000 dollars in damage to construction equipment. I ended up getting charged with a class D criminal mischief felony and a court date, which, as far as I or the DoD is concerned, is equivalent to getting arrested even though I never got detained or fingerprinted. I was officially convicted of it and plead guilty, which led to deferred adjudication/diversion with me doing 40 hours of community service and being on probation for 6 months. My disposition was expungement of my record after completion of community service and probation as well as paying 100 dollars in restitution (thank god for insurance companies). This was obviously very dumb and taught me a valuable lesson about picking the right friends that represent your moral character. I have had a clean criminal and traffic record ever since then, and my actions as a juvenile do not represent my current self.

For context, I am 19 years old and currently a sophomore at university studying mechanical engineering, holding a 4.0 GPA. I am the officer of two engineering extracurricular organizations and have an engineering internship under my belt.

From what I've read, after disclosing this information with the utmost honesty to an OSO, I will need a moral waiver to apply for any position in the Navy. Even if I do well on my ASTB, do I even have the chance of scoring an SNA slot with my past juvenile criminal record? Do the boards differentiate between juvenile non-violent/sexual/drug felonies when they look at who will fill their coveted SNA slots? If so, what can I do to make myself competitive?

 

[exNavyOffRec]

To start things off, I am waiting till junior year to speak to an OSO, and I am new to the forums after lurking around to find very little information about the situation I am in.

When I was 13 years old, I, along with a group of friends, made the idiotic decision to play around an abandoned quarry with bulldozers and excavators, which culminated in us causing 20,000 dollars in damage to construction equipment. I ended up getting charged with a class D criminal mischief felony and a court date, which, as far as I or the DoD is concerned, is equivalent to getting arrested even though I never got detained or fingerprinted. I was officially convicted of it and plead guilty, which led to deferred adjudication/diversion with me doing 40 hours of community service and being on probation for 6 months. My disposition was expungement of my record after completion of community service and probation as well as paying 100 dollars in restitution (thank god for insurance companies). This was obviously very dumb and taught me a valuable lesson about picking the right friends that represent your moral character. I have had a clean criminal and traffic record ever since then, and my actions as a juvenile do not represent my current self.

For context, I am 19 years old and currently a sophomore at university studying mechanical engineering, holding a 4.0 GPA. I am the officer of two engineering extracurricular organizations and have an engineering internship under my belt.

From what I've read, after disclosing this information with the utmost honesty to an OSO, I will need a moral waiver to apply for any position in the Navy. Even if I do well on my ASTB, do I even have the chance of scoring an SNA slot with my past juvenile criminal record? Do the boards differentiate between juvenile non-violent/sexual/drug felonies when they look at who will fill their coveted SNA slots? If so, what can I do to make myself competitive?

Disclose it and see where it goes from there, each issue is looked at a bit different and how it is looked at today may be different than tomorrow.

So you are aware "expunged" is not a thing when it comes to the federal government or any civilian employer who's employees hold federal licenses. I had a young man who was about the same age as you were when he shoplifted from a locally owned grocery store and it was deferred then expunged, this popped on a background check and he was surprised as his attorney had said since it was expunged he would never have to disclose it to anyone and it would never show on a background check, which is false.

 

[Rtjenkins]

Disclose it and see where it goes from there, each issue is looked at a bit different and how it is looked at today may be different than tomorrow.

So you are aware "expunged" is not a thing when it comes to the federal government or any civilian employer who's employees hold federal licenses. I had a young man who was about the same age as you were when he shoplifted from a locally owned grocery store and it was deferred then expunged, this popped on a background check and he was surprised as his attorney had said since it was expunged he would never have to disclose it to anyone and it would never show on a background check, which is false.

I’ve always hated when a record is expunged when trying to submit a waiver, such a hassle.

 

[JTS11]

When I was 13 years old, I, along with a group of friends, made the idiotic decision to play around an abandoned quarry with bulldozers and excavators, which culminated in us causing 20,000 dollars in damage to construction equipment

I'd say press on. It sounds like you're doing good in your studies. Knock out the ATSB and apply. I don't have expertise on how a board would evaluate the actions of a 13 yr old knucklehead, but I'd be we willing to believe that if all your other stuff was tight you'd have a good shot.

If not, go forth and do great things in your civilian career. Bottom line is that in 30 years, you can tell stories of the jackassery as a 13 yr old with bulldozers.

There are a lot of dudes on here with jackassery in their background at that age, including me.

Good luck!

 

[JTS11]

I'd also add, you need to address the issue with your OSO like you stated in your initial post. Let the chips fall where they may.

 

[Griz882]

I agree with @JTS11 just disclose and apply. Most likely the final adjudicator will consider it a “youthful indiscretion.”

 

[Uncle Fester]

Agreed with the above. Come clean. “Failure to disclose” can screw you even if what you didn’t disclose might have not been otherwise considered all that a big a deal.