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FY16 IDC DCO Board (Jan 16)

If you applied, select the designator(s) you applied for

  • 1805 METOC

    Votes: 2 5.9%

  • 1815 IW

    Votes: 17 50.0%

  • 1825 IP

    Votes: 16 47.1%

  • 1835 INTEL

    Votes: 26 76.5%
  • Total voters
    34
F

Fleet_saile

Member
rjsj38 said:
OK -- I don't want to turn this into a Coast Guard thread -- i'd recommend http://www.uscg.org/Forum/aff/9.aspx for any Coast Guard commissioning discussions. But real quickly, I applied for the Coast Guard Select Reserve Direct Commission (SRDC) program, NOT the Direct Commission Intel Officer (DCIO) program. The main difference is that SRDC is reserves and DCIO is active duty ONLY, so DCIO is out. In SRDC, you apply to be a Coast Guard reserve officer and can basically fill ANY job in the Coast Guard. In your application, you submit your top 3 preferences for jobs (and by jobs, i'm talking actual vacant open billets in a unit at the time of the board that you will fill), and then after you're selected, a Coast Guard assignments officer will call you and offer you a specific job, and you can also negotiate another job if you don't like the one offered and you have a special skill that would justify the change. The Coast Guard runs the reserves a bit differently as there are no reserve units, you actually belong to an active duty unit as a reservist, so you will directly augment that active unit as a reservist, if you ever mobilize you will mobilize with that unit, etc. etc.. Further to this, a minimum requirement for applying for a Coast Guard direct commission is you must be a prior service E-5 with at least 5 years TIS. Something to consider if the Navy isn't succesful, but like the IDC, the Coast Guard only does SRDC boards once a year in December with an application deadline of October....which is great timing because it allows you to apply for both direct commissions at the same time. Also, the Coast Guard accepted my medical clearance from the Navy, so no need to do everything twice. If you have a CURRENT medical clearance from the Navy and you do not get picked up on this Navy board, the Coast Guard will accept your Navy medical clearance and recognizes it for two years. Makes the process super easy. Regardless, I hope this is all moot and the Navy PROREC's me!
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Great info. Just curious, did you work in IW/IP/Intel in the Navy? Do you have any civilian experience? What do you think was your strength while you applied for USCG? Is it Ph.D/Prior service/language skills? Anything that your interviewers mentioned as a strength about you?
 
Crippy011

Crippy011

You live by the gouge, you die by the gouge
rjsj38 said:
Found out I got picked up for the Coast Guard's reserve direct commission program today for an intel officer billet. Always good to have a contingency plan! Nice safety net if the Navy doesn't come through with good news, and I don't have to sign any paperwork until March for the Coast Guard, so plenty of time for the Navy to come through and deny the Coast Guard commission if that's the case. If I hopefully get selected by the Navy, then everyone wins because some unlucky fellow on the "alternates" list will get a call to take my Coast Guard dircom slot!
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Congrats
 
R

rjsj38

Member
Fleet_saile said:
Great info. Just curious, did you work in IW/IP/Intel in the Navy? Do you have any civilian experience? What do you think was your strength while you applied for USCG? Is it Ph.D/Prior service/language skills? Anything that your interviewers mentioned as a strength about you?
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I was an enlisted IS for 10 years and got out as an IS1. Civilian wise, I did advising to foreign navies on behalf of the Dept of the Navy's international programs office subordinate to the Undersecretary of the Navy.
 
Hair Warrior

Hair Warrior

Well-Known Member
Contributor
rjsj38 said:
I was an enlisted IS for 10 years and got out as an IS1. Civilian wise, I did advising to foreign navies on behalf of the Dept of the Navy's international programs office subordinate to the Undersecretary of the Navy.
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Your experience is phenomenal. If you don't get selected for the Navy (although your package looks super competitive), it's awesome to know America will keep your skills in use as a USCG officer.

P.S. You mentioned something about the Coast Guard giving your billet to an "alternate" if you decline it and go Navy. What happens if the Navy IWC DCO Board recommends PRO REC Y for someone, and that person declines to commission or otherwise doesn't end up commissioning? (I heard they had a problem with some MEPS DQ's, but I think they fixed it by requiring MEPS up front.) Does a billet open up right away? Or, do they just wait til next year and +1 the available billets?
 
R

rjsj38

Member
Hair Warriors? said:
Your experience is phenomenal. If you don't get selected for the Navy (although your package looks super competitive), it's awesome to know America will keep your skills in use as a USCG officer.

P.S. You mentioned something about the Coast Guard giving your billet to an "alternate" if you decline it and go Navy. What happens if the Navy IWC DCO Board recommends PRO REC Y for someone, and that person declines to commission or otherwise doesn't end up commissioning? (I heard they had a problem with some MEPS DQ's, but I think they fixed it by requiring MEPS up front.) Does a billet open up right away? Or, do they just wait til next year and +1 the available billets?
Click to expand...

From my understanding in conversation with my OR, there are no "alternates" for the Navy and the billet is simply lost for that year. Doing it any other way would require the whole board process to completely restructure the way business is done to be able to choose a cohort of mid-tier alternate selections and the Navy board process has no mechanism to choose which of the non-selects to offer a slot to in that circumstance.

The way the USCG does selections is that selections fall into 3 categories: 1) primary; 2) alternate; 3) non-select. The commissions are then OFFERED to the primary selectees, and if declined the slot goes to an alternate. On this years USCG board, there were 35 primary, 42 alternates, and 120 non-selects.
 
E

exNavyOffRec

Well-Known Member
rjsj38 said:
From my understanding in conversation with my OR, there are no "alternates" for the Navy and the billet is simply lost for that year. Doing it any other way would require the whole board process to completely restructure the way business is done to be able to choose a cohort of mid-tier alternate selections and the Navy board process has no mechanism to choose which of the non-selects to offer a slot to in that circumstance.

The way the USCG does selections is that selections fall into 3 categories: 1) primary; 2) alternate; 3) non-select. The commissions are then OFFERED to the primary selectees, and if declined the slot goes to an alternate. On this years USCG board, there were 35 primary, 42 alternates, and 120 non-selects.
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The USN can and does do alternates when needed, sometimes they push people to the next FY.

I will say 42 alternates indicates to me that they historically have a large drop off for one reason or another.
 
R

rjsj38

Member
NavyOffRec said:
The USN can and does do alternates when needed, sometimes they push people to the next FY.

I will say 42 alternates indicates to me that they historically have a large drop off for one reason or another.
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Totally correct (and hopefully i'm one of the drop offs! Ha!) -- My USCG OR explained to me the reason for the large drop off was because of the lack of control over job selection by the candidates. Someone who wants enforcement/intel/etc. doing a traditional USCG mission may be very disappointed when offered a billet as a maritime safety inspector or supply officer. Imagine the Navy commission denial rates of 1835 selectees that were instead offered PAO or Supply (not that they are not important or desirable jobs, they are and I would accept a commission in either of them, but from speaking with many of my applicant peers, I think many 1835 candidates are applying to be Navy intel officers and not just Naval officers per se)
 
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