Please Don’t Do This

[villo0692]

I got picked up for SWO before I got picked up for Pilot....thought it would be really nice as well...but my fellow SNA and rodent lover friend here is right, most of our instructors at OCS were SWOs and most of them spoke real badly about it...so much that a good amount of candidates that were SWOs actually DOR'ed since they didn't want the kind of life they painted

 

[Griz882]

I got picked up for SWO before I got picked up for Pilot....thought it would be really nice as well...but my fellow SNA and rodent lover friend here is right, most of our instructors at OCS were SWOs and most of them spoke real badly about it...so much that a good amount of candidates that were SWOs actually DOR'ed since they didn't want the kind of life they painted

Good Lord…

 

[jmcquate]

Aren't the overwhelming majority of Naval officers SWOs? Why would the Navy have OCS staff officers that badmouth their communities in front of the candidates? Sounds pretty unprofessional.

 

[exNavyOffRec]

Good Lord…

When I was going on the Nuclear VIP tours for potential NUPOC's we didn't go to LCS's, they went once and the SWO's on the LCS bad mouthed the entire LCS program to the point most of that group dropped out before going to interviews.

 

[Mouselovr]

Aren't the overwhelming majority of Naval officers SWOs? Why would the Navy have OCS staff officers that badmouth their communities in front of the candidates? Sounds pretty unprofessional.

Immensely.
At the end of OCS, it was one of the biggest points of feedback we had when our class was asked about our experience. Our priors were especially vocal about the negative perception and fear mongering the LTs were creating to non-prior SWO candidates.

All our SWOs were a bit nervous until they got to BDOC and started interacting with the instructors and hearing the funny stories/ encouraging experiences.... but that was after 13 weeks of being told how awful your life would be if you commissioned SWO.

 

[Brett327]

Probably because we don't send our best to be class officers at OCS. Those folks need to get jacked up if they're causing people to DOR. Absolutely unacceptable behavior.

 

[Flash]

Aren't the overwhelming majority of Naval officers SWOs? Why would the Navy have OCS staff officers that badmouth their communities in front of the candidates? Sounds pretty unprofessional.

Believe it or not I don't think that is even close to being the case.

A quick search found that an Arleigh Burke-class DDG has ~24 officers and 300 enlisted and a VFA squadron has ~20 or more officers, depending on if it is an E or F squadron, and ~200 or so enlisted personnel. Add up the all carrier, maritime patrol/recon and helo air wings (whose squadrons usually have A LOT more aviators than VFA) along with the large training wings as well (that SWO's don't have) and you get quite a few officers.

 

[exNavyOffRec]

Believe it or not I don't think that is even close to being the case.

A quick search found that an Arleigh Burke-class DDG has ~24 officers and 300 enlisted and a VFA squadron has ~20 or more officers, depending on if it is an E or F squadron, and ~200 or so enlisted personnel. Add up the all carrier, maritime patrol/recon and helo air wings (whose squadrons usually have A LOT more aviators than VFA) along with the large training wings as well (that SWO's don't have) and you get quite a few officers.

I bet there is a breakdown of each designator if someone is so inclined to take the time to search.

 

[Skywalker]

Probably because we don't send our best to be class officers at OCS. Those folks need to get jacked up if they're causing people to DOR. Absolutely unacceptable behavior.

I never felt the urge to DOR, but on the drive from Newport to Pensacola (which ended up being a straightshot drive due to a paperwork SNAFU) I thought I may have ruined my life by joining the Navy. Fortunately, after pulling Gs in the T-6 I'm certain I'm doing exactly what I'm supposed to be doing with my life.

But nobody, and I mean nobody, hates the Navy more than OTCN. When I was there all of the class-Os were ruthless cynics and the triad were tyrants, always looking for chances to seawall people. If there's any training value to that entire program, it's to leave newly minted ensigns with such a pessimistic view of their service that they're pleasantly surprised when they actually start training.

 

[jmcquate]

Is Navy OCS Officer considered a tour? USMC PLC Officers were mostly O-3s waiting to class up for a school at Quantico. For the most part they stayed out of the way and let the NonComs run the show (although that was 35 tears ago).

 

[johnboyA6E]

don't know about the Navy at large, but Academy class of '22 broke down like this:
Navy 829
USMC 279

Of the 829 that went Navy:
Pilot/NFO 310 37%
SWO 278 34%
Sub 141 17%
SEAL/EOD 51 6%
others 49 6%

Factor into that the 5 year service obligation for SWO vs closer to 10 for pilots, and the percentage in the fleet is probably less. I'm assuming the accession percentages are the same in ROTC and OCS but I don't know

 

[Skywalker]

Is Navy OCS Officer considered a tour? USMC PLC Officers were mostly O-3s waiting to class up for a school at Quantico. For the most part they stayed out of the way and let the NonComs run the show (although that was 35 tears ago).

It's a tour, and not one that high-quality officers end up in.

Class officers there when I went through included:
- one who went to NPS, had to "pick up a shit detail" to pay it back
- one who wanted to be an SNA, NAMI'd into SWO, just wanted out
- a SWO who had somehow been an ensign for four years before picking up JG
- an O-4 convicted of DUI
- did I mention most of these Class-Os were somewhere between overweight and obese?
- two naval aviators who were med-down

 

[WannaFlyHigh]

So can anyone elaborate on why exactly people think going SWO is horrible? My guess is that you're on the boat a lot more . I can be wrong.

 

[Skywalker]

So can anyone elaborate on why exactly people think going SWO is horrible? My guess is that you're on the boat a lot more . I can be wrong.

Citing the SWO class-O's I've been dumping on for sources (so take it with a grain of salt and some asterisks), their work-life balance is less than ideal, not all ships are created equal, not all home ports are created equal, not all deployments go smoothly. I have a feeling that people who are into naval stuff, driving ships, and leadership opportunities probably enjoy it. I do wargaming with some SWOs who swear they're doing God's work. But people who go SWO because that's all they could get, because they got the NAMI whammy, or because they wanted to do their service commitment in the shortest, "easiest" way are probably disappointed.

 

[WannaFlyHigh]

Citing the SWO class-O's I've been dumping on for sources (so take it with a grain of salt and some asterisks), their work-life balance is less than ideal, not all ships are created equal, not all home ports are created equal, not all deployments go smoothly. I have a feeling that people who are into naval stuff, driving ships, and leadership opportunities probably enjoy it. I do wargaming with some SWOs who swear they're doing God's work. But people who go SWO because that's all they could get, because they got the NAMI whammy, or because they wanted to do their service commitment in the shortest, "easiest" way are probably disappointed.

Can't their reasonings go for anyone in the navy? Like their issues with work life balance, homeports, deployments, etc.