EOD officer

[BusyBee604]

Thank you for your response. I am 28 right now, turning 29 in a month or so.

Your profile says you turned 29 back in Jan.

I am beginning to wonder if my recruiter might just be wasting my time and that I might not have a realistic chance of getting selected.

First of all, you failed to address the discrepancy in your age noted above???

Secondly, whether you're actually 28 or 29, probably doesn't matter, as by the time your package is submitted, processed, boarded etc., I don't think you could beat the age limit either way.

Third, your low GPA is a huge barrier in such a competitive program. Actually GPA is a MAJOR factor in selection for any commissioning program. BTW, what is your college GPA?

You noted that "my recruiter might just be wasting my time", in actuality, you may just have been wasting his. Wanting EOD as badly as you state, carry through and submit the best package you can, there is always a chance!
BzB

 

[Barkley]

I don't know why it says my age is 29; I will have to change that. My major was criminal justice and my GPA is 2.2. I realize there is always a chance, and I plan to carry through and give it all I got. I'm not trying to sound disrespectful; I'm just trying to find out if I have a realistic chance of getting selected. I've invested a lot of time into this process, and if it was for a very small or next to no chance, I could have gone with another option. At this point in my life, I will take any active duty commission, no matter what the job. I just want to serve, and I'm not getting any younger. My situation just seems suspicious to me, especially if the goaling is application based. I'm just trying to figure that out, that's all. I talked about other options with my recruiter, but he would let me apply for only EOD and nothing else. Is that odd?

 

[exNavyOffRec]

I don't know why it says my age is 29; I will have to change that. My major was criminal justice and my GPA is 2.2. I realize there is always a chance, and I plan to carry through and give it all I got. I'm not trying to sound disrespectful; I'm just trying to find out if I have a realistic chance of getting selected. I've invested a lot of time into this process, and if it was for a very small or next to no chance, I could have gone with another option. At this point in my life, I will take any active duty commission, no matter what the job. I just want to serve, and I'm not getting any younger. My situation just seems suspicious to me, especially if the goaling is application based. I'm just trying to figure that out, that's all. I talked about other options with my recruiter, but he would let me apply for only EOD and nothing else. Is that odd?

Yes there is always a chance, but to be realistic your GPA is lower than many designators minimum GPA and while no one can say you will or not be picked up except the board, however your GPA is significantly lower than those that are picked up. You will have to pass a phone interview with an EOD officer before even they will send your application to board.

The reason he would let you apply for EOD? That is because you are below the minimum GPA for most other designators, so if he is looking for application credit that isn't odd, to be blunt you are filling a quota spot for him.

 

[Barkley]

so if he is looking for application credit that isn't odd, to be blunt you are filling a quota spot for him.

This is the info I was looking for. Thank you. I had a feeling this might be the case.

 

[BusyBee604]

I don't know why it says my age is 29; I will have to change that.

Don't know how the wrong age showed up, perhaps just a typo?

My major was criminal justice and my GPA is 2.2. I realize there is always a chance, and I plan to carry through and give it all I got.

Your GPA is what it is, you seem to be aware that it's problematic.

I'm not trying to sound disrespectful; I'm just trying to find out if I have a realistic chance of getting selected.

I didn't see anything on this thread about you sounding disrespectful??

I've invested a lot of time into this process, and if it was for a very small or next to no chance, I could have gone with another option.

Experienced AW members are here to address questions/offer advice (mentoring). Our opinions are based on our experiences, and opinions may vary... you must decide in the end; however, I doubt that anyone here could, or would ever tell you "NO CHANCE, DO NOT APPLY", that's your call, in collaboration with your OR!

At this point in my life, I will take any active duty commission, no matter what the job. I just want to serve, and I'm not getting any younger. My situation just seems suspicious to me, especially if the goaling is application based. I'm just trying to figure that out, that's all. I talked about other options with my recruiter, but he would let me apply for only EOD and nothing else. Is that odd?

Cannot comment on that, discuss with your OR.

Admire your desire to serve, especially in such a hazardous occupation. I wish I could be more optimistic; but bottom line: No submit...No chance!
BzB

 

[Barkley]

My recruiter totally downplayed the competitiveness of getting selected. He made it seem as though not many people apply for EOD officer, and that the Navy doesn't get enough applicants right now. Navy EOD is something I would love to get into, but I got offers from other services to submit packages for OCS. I would have gone with another service had I known the competitiveness. Oh well, guess I should have researched it earlier. I will see EOD through, and if I don't get selected, I will try the other services. I'm just a little pissed because I could have probably already been selected by now in another service.

 

[exNavyOffRec]

My recruiter totally downplayed the competitiveness of getting selected. He made it seem as though not many people apply for EOD officer, and that the Navy doesn't get enough applicants right now. Navy EOD is something I would love to get into, but I got offers from other services to submit packages for OCS. I would have gone with another service had I known the competitiveness. Oh well, guess I should have researched it earlier. I will see EOD through, and if I don't get selected, I will try the other services. I'm just a little pissed because I could have probably already been selected by now in another service.

You can apply to multiple services at the same time, many recruiters don't like it, but they don't have to know, none of their business.

 

[Barkley]

You can apply to multiple services at the same time, many recruiters don't like it, but they don't have to know, none of their business.

I did not know this. In fact, a recruiter told me that I cannot. Another lie, go figure. How does that work with MEPS? Would I have to go through it again?

 

[exNavyOffRec]

I did not know this. In fact, a recruiter told me that I cannot. Another lie, go figure. How does that work with MEPS? Would I have to go through it again?

No, you would just sign a form to allow the other service to pull the MEPS physical, once you have been through MEPS for the USN and are PQ, which you would be since you have taken the PST the USN doesn't need to access your MEPS physical.

If you were going to apply to another service I would look at the US Army and see what they can offer you, the USMC OSO was at the last job fair I was at and he was turning away anyone that was less than 3.0 GPA

 

[ea6bflyr]

Your GPA is going to be a big hurdle for Navy and Marine Corps spots especially since EOD is a very competitive program. Like NavyOffRec said, you might want to start looking at other services.

 

[LFCFan]

If you were going to apply to another service I would look at the US Army and see what they can offer you, the USMC OSO was at the last job fair I was at and he was turning away anyone that was less than 3.0 GPA

Also, don't marines get their job after TBS, having only an air or ground contract going in? So if he's hell bent on EOD that might not work.

I did not know this. In fact, a recruiter told me that I cannot. Another lie, go figure. How does that work with MEPS? Would I have to go through it again?

You can't do it if you're going enlisted, but for officer programs you can. If your OR is a chief with a background in enlisted recruiting he may actually just be giving you bad gouge vice lying about it. Both my recruiters knew I was applying to two branches at once and didn't give me flak about it. My AF recruiter was like "this stuff is competitive, the odds of anyone getting picked up by both services and having wasted my time are slim, I'd be hurting you guys by discouraging it" or something like that.

 

[81montedriver]

To my knowledge, the officers I know of in USMC EOD are CWO's.

 

[NCHopeful]

I was interested in some of the USMC ground jobs, but when the OSO told me about how job selection at TBS works, I wasn't so sure about going Marines. According to him, there's a quintile-based quality spread in place for TBS graduates. I won't bore you with the details, but it means that unless you're very, very close to the top of your entire TBS class, getting the job you want is going to take a lot of luck and Needs of the Marine Corps. The whole TBS philosophy seems to push being a commanding officer of Marines first and foremost harder than any of the other services. Disclaimer: This is the evaluation of a young civilian punk.
Furthermore, while I hope you get selected by another service, I've had an interest in EOD for quite some time and not found a service other than the Navy which will guarantee EOD for an officer in their initial contract. The one thing that kept me from doing anything involving Marine Ground was a retired Marine officer telling me "If you wouldn't be satisfied being in charge of Logistics, think long and hard about going for Marine OCS." (I wasn't thinking about Aviation at the time).

Are you dead set on EOD, or are there other jobs in the military you think would make you happy?

 

[jtmedli]

...According to him, there's a quintile-based quality spread in place for TBS graduates. I won't bore you with the details, but it means that unless you're very, very close to the top of your entire TBS class, getting the job you want is going to take a lot of luck and Needs of the (insert service here).....

Welcome to the military. Everything is "needs of the service" and "quality spread". Aircraft selection after primary is much the same.[/quote]

 

[NCHopeful]

Welcome to the military. Everything is "needs of the service" and "quality spread". Aircraft selection after primary is much the same.

[/quote]


Fair enough, but I hear if I do decently well they'll let me finish planes and move on to helicopters.