Hello all.
Been a member here since getting picked up for OCS back in 2007, barely ever posted. Always loved the community though.
Just wanted to share some of my career experience in case anyone else was interested in a similar path. Didn't see a forum dedicated to it so this seemed the most appropriate place to post.
I'm currently a LCDR with the Dental Corps and I got here through a highly unconventional path. I majored in political science in college and never took any biology or chemistry. This will be relevant later.
I applied for and went to OCS (Class 13-07) in 2007 with the designator of SNFO. Did the whole shebang, OCS, API, primary, wanted P-3s desperately and didn't get them, ended up selecting E-2s and got my NFO wings in 2009. Assigned to VAW-123 and deployed twice. While some aspects of it were amazing overall it wasn't a great experience or a good fit for me for a variety of complicated reasons and my tour there wasn't exactly stellar. I made CICO and escaped the FNAEB, but left with no NAM, highwater MP, below-RSCA detaching FITREP (though it was at least an EP), and I went to NROTC for my shore duty. I was definitely seemingly on an inescapable path to civilian life, and no mistake. But in the end I managed to hang on to a full career as a naval officer.
While on shore duty I finally decided I wanted to be a dentist when I grew up. The great thing about being an NROTC instructor is that you can take classes for free on the side. The typical expectation in that job is taht you will leave with a graduate degree, though what I did was take all of my biology and chemistry prerequisites so that I could attend dental school. I applied for dental school while concurrently submitting a contingent resignation for acceptance to attend medical training under the HSCP. It all worked out, and I finished up my time at the NROTC unit, went to dental school on a Navy scholarship, recommissioned in 2020, and just came back from my third deployment during which I promoted to O-4.
Because I did HSCP and not HPSP, all four years of dental school counted as active duty time. The difference between the two programs is that HPSP pays 100% of tuition and fees as well as a monthly stipend, but the time in school is IRR time and counts for nothing. HSCP does not pay tuition, but you are on active duty accruing full pay and allowances (as an E-7) and, most importantly, time towards retirement. Because I did HSCP instead of HPSP I now sit at 16 years of service instead of 12. Also, since I had earned the Post 9/11 GI Bill from my prior time, it paid 100% of my tuition since I went to dental school at the in-state rate at UF. Truly the best of both worlds.
So if your JO fleet utilization tour doesn't go well it doesn't necessarily spell the end of your career. All kinds of doors may still be open to you if you do some digging.
Been a member here since getting picked up for OCS back in 2007, barely ever posted. Always loved the community though.
Just wanted to share some of my career experience in case anyone else was interested in a similar path. Didn't see a forum dedicated to it so this seemed the most appropriate place to post.
I'm currently a LCDR with the Dental Corps and I got here through a highly unconventional path. I majored in political science in college and never took any biology or chemistry. This will be relevant later.
I applied for and went to OCS (Class 13-07) in 2007 with the designator of SNFO. Did the whole shebang, OCS, API, primary, wanted P-3s desperately and didn't get them, ended up selecting E-2s and got my NFO wings in 2009. Assigned to VAW-123 and deployed twice. While some aspects of it were amazing overall it wasn't a great experience or a good fit for me for a variety of complicated reasons and my tour there wasn't exactly stellar. I made CICO and escaped the FNAEB, but left with no NAM, highwater MP, below-RSCA detaching FITREP (though it was at least an EP), and I went to NROTC for my shore duty. I was definitely seemingly on an inescapable path to civilian life, and no mistake. But in the end I managed to hang on to a full career as a naval officer.
While on shore duty I finally decided I wanted to be a dentist when I grew up. The great thing about being an NROTC instructor is that you can take classes for free on the side. The typical expectation in that job is taht you will leave with a graduate degree, though what I did was take all of my biology and chemistry prerequisites so that I could attend dental school. I applied for dental school while concurrently submitting a contingent resignation for acceptance to attend medical training under the HSCP. It all worked out, and I finished up my time at the NROTC unit, went to dental school on a Navy scholarship, recommissioned in 2020, and just came back from my third deployment during which I promoted to O-4.
Because I did HSCP and not HPSP, all four years of dental school counted as active duty time. The difference between the two programs is that HPSP pays 100% of tuition and fees as well as a monthly stipend, but the time in school is IRR time and counts for nothing. HSCP does not pay tuition, but you are on active duty accruing full pay and allowances (as an E-7) and, most importantly, time towards retirement. Because I did HSCP instead of HPSP I now sit at 16 years of service instead of 12. Also, since I had earned the Post 9/11 GI Bill from my prior time, it paid 100% of my tuition since I went to dental school at the in-state rate at UF. Truly the best of both worlds.
So if your JO fleet utilization tour doesn't go well it doesn't necessarily spell the end of your career. All kinds of doors may still be open to you if you do some digging.
