OCS as a summer cruise?

[jollygreen07]

Jolleygreen - Okay bad post on my part. Let me try to convey myself a little better.
First I wasn’t trying to get in a pissing contest with the commissioning sources. I do not think one is better than the other and they all have their strong points as well as faults. ALL of them produce good officer and BAD officers. However, I will stand by saying that there are WAY too many ensigns running around looking like a bag of ass and are an embarrassment. If you look like sh!t in uniform, do not know how to say "yes sir" to an instructor and are late to classes constantly then yeah, I will say that you probably are not going to make that good of a JO. Call it a... hunch... I am not saying spit shine your shoes and keep a high and tight. Just don’t have hair growing over your ears standing outside with your cover off, sunglasses on top of your head and your khaki shirt nearly coming un-tucked in the back. You are an officer, set the example. If you think I am a “douche” or a “dick” for thinking this so be it but it’s the truth.

Wasn't necessarily calling you anything. If you want to assume things, that's your deal. Just telling you the first thing that came to mind when I read that post of yours.

Okay, you mentioned you are prior enlisted. When you see these squadron mates of yours, or when you saw those jacked up ensigns in A-pool did you stop them and give them a friendly reminder to shape up? I've had a couple of prior enlisted guys give me hell about a haircut. It was in regs, and in jest, but I got the point. I needed a haircut.. big freakin deal.

As I said in my last post, appearance can be improved. Instead of coming here and bitching about how terrible us non-OCS ensigns look, why don't you take it upon yourself to school everyone on how an officer should dress and compose himself? Maybe you can save the Navy from this flood of sub-standard officers.

 

[loadtoad]

Wasn't necessarily calling you anything. If you want to assume things, that's your deal. Just telling you the first thing that came to mind when I read that post of yours.

Okay, you mentioned you are prior enlisted. When you see these squadron mates of yours, or when you saw those jacked up ensigns in A-pool did you stop them and give them a friendly reminder to shape up? I've had a couple of prior enlisted guys give me hell about a haircut. It was in regs, and in jest, but I got the point. I needed a haircut.. big freakin deal.

As I said in my last post, appearance can be improved. Instead of coming here and bitching about how terrible us non-OCS ensigns look, why don't you take it upon yourself to school everyone on how an officer should dress and compose himself? Maybe you can save the Navy from this flood of sub-standard officers.

Okay shipmate

 

[tlord82]

Ever since I finished up NROTC, I felt that the Navy-types needed something else for their summer cruise. This is particularly true for the 1/c cruise. Time and time again I saw my friends go on vacations that were disguised as military training. They would go to a surface ship that would just be going port to port (if going out at all) and getting drunk the entire time. good times, right? hell yeah, but not if you're telling me that his cruise is helping them get ready for a combat career. My ex-girlfriend went to a destroyer docked in Singapore. During the 3-4 weeks she was with the ship, they went out 4 days. 4 days!!! You can't tell me she learned that much about leadership and the tough life of the SWO while boozing it up in the Far East. Then there are the aviation cruises. Go to a squadron, fly a couple times and otherwise you're on your own program.
I know that these cruises are designed so you get out what you put in, but I do not believe that they are helping to prepare young mids to become young ensigns and leaders. (mini-BUDS being a huge exception)
I don't know how to improve on this. One idea is for those mids going Surface should do SWOS (surface warfare officer school) during this summer. I know that they don't select until senior year, but maybe this can be changed. All I know is that very few of the Navy mids learned much of value on their senior year cruise except how to improve your tolerance.

Of course, maybe I'm just bitter because I spent my summer in the paradise of Quantico.