Enlist or OCS?

[cmanley]

Hello all,

I am a 22 year old college graduate with a BS in environmental science and chemistry and I am seriously looking into joining the navy. I am most interested in special operations, such as EOD, UMCM, and fleet divers. My question is, if my end goal is to become an officer in one of these divisions would it be more beneficial for me to enlist and learn the EOD etc. skills then go to OCS or do I stand a chance of getting into OCS w/o prior experience?
Some random info, I have a 3.4 GPA, was treasurer of my rugby club, have been in a leadership position managing a kitchen camp which serves 350-600 people a week (unrelated to diving, I know, but still) for the past two summers/falls, and have my open water PADI cert amongst other things. I have not yet taken any of the aptitude tests or talked to a recruiter (I work in a isolated part of British Columbia), but plan to upon my return to the states in two weeks. I am just looking for any helpful opinions! Thanks!

 

[croakerfish]

When I was at OCS I knew a couple non-prior candidates who were selected for SEALs, but that seems to be a "purple unicorn" situation. One of them spoke fluent street Arabic and the other was a D1 football player. AFAIK there are no non-prior EOD officers. So I guess it depends on your priorities. It sounds like you'd be competitive for OCS in most designators. IDK about SPECWAR though.

 

[BigRed389]

Hello all,

I am a 22 year old college graduate with a BS in environmental science and chemistry and I am seriously looking into joining the navy. I am most interested in special operations, such as EOD, UMCM, and fleet divers. My question is, if my end goal is to become an officer in one of these divisions would it be more beneficial for me to enlist and learn the EOD etc. skills then go to OCS or do I stand a chance of getting into OCS w/o prior experience?
Some random info, I have a 3.4 GPA, was treasurer of my rugby club, have been in a leadership position managing a kitchen camp which serves 350-600 people a week (unrelated to diving, I know, but still) for the past two summers/falls, and have my open water PADI cert amongst other things. I have not yet taken any of the aptitude tests or talked to a recruiter (I work in a isolated part of British Columbia), but plan to upon my return to the states in two weeks. I am just looking for any helpful opinions! Thanks!

If an officer recruiter thinks you have the creds to have a decent shot at an EOD OCS spot, that would be Option 1. They'll know best if you have a good shot...and if they do, they'll likely set you up to start talking to people in the community who'll further guide you. EOD and NSW tend to pick up most of their non-prior (which usually means prior enlisted EOD/NSW) O's through USNA/NROTC, but that also means your odds are based on how things worked out for them in a given year and that should trickle down to the recruiters knowing whether or not the community is interested in taking any applicants.

If not, and you still want to do the EOD thing, enlist, do well, then apply for OCS. That'd be Option 2.

 

[Popo Jijo]

Hello all,

I am a 22 year old college graduate with a BS in environmental science and chemistry and I am seriously looking into joining the navy. I am most interested in special operations, such as EOD, UMCM, and fleet divers. My question is, if my end goal is to become an officer in one of these divisions would it be more beneficial for me to enlist and learn the EOD etc. skills then go to OCS or do I stand a chance of getting into OCS w/o prior experience?
Some random info, I have a 3.4 GPA, was treasurer of my rugby club, have been in a leadership position managing a kitchen camp which serves 350-600 people a week (unrelated to diving, I know, but still) for the past two summers/falls, and have my open water PADI cert amongst other things. I have not yet taken any of the aptitude tests or talked to a recruiter (I work in a isolated part of British Columbia), but plan to upon my return to the states in two weeks. I am just looking for any helpful opinions! Thanks!

Which is your first priority, being in the special warfare community, or becoming an officer?

If your first priority is to do SPECWAR (EOD, SEAL, SWCC), then you have a better chance succeeding by getting an enlisted contract for one of those options.
If your first priority is being an officer, then try straight for OCS.

Personally, I think it would be much easier to go the enlisted route and enter one of those communities. I did recruiting for three years and I saw WAY MORE people go that way. I only happened to actually see one person go the OCS route. Talk to the Dive Motivator for the recruiting district and listen to their advice. They know what they are talking about and will give you the best guidance.

 

[exNavyOffRec]

If you want to be EOD your only option is to go enlisted, they have changed and no longer take non priors for EOD, and from a guy I sent to SEAL training EOD is now plucking officers who are dropped from the SEAL pipeline to be EOD officers.

SEALS does not yet take women, and to be blunt when I would watch the PST (they would test EOD and SEAL candidates) there were some women who excelled in several areas, but overall they had lower scores, and from what I saw it was pull ups and push ups, they like to see pull ups in the high teens low 20's and push ups greater than 100

If your number one goal is to be an officer then go for SWO, Pilot or NFO, those have high numbers of spots and you have a good GPA for that, you just need to take the ASTB to figure out the rest of the puzzle.

 

[cmanley]

Thank you all so much for your input! It is super appreciated and I will be talking to recruiters as soon as I can to figure out next steps. Lots of food for thought.

 

[FormerRecruitingGuru]

EOD is closed for civilian applicants. I'd highly recommend speaking to an officer recruiter and show you what other programs are available. If you're still sold on EOD and only EOD, then yes I would highly recommend to pursue the enlisted route.