Questions regarding the enlisted to officer path for Naval Aviation

[exNavyOffRec]

It sounds like you are between a rock and a hard place, no money, no place to live, supposed to ship soon, low GPA, and you may or may not get qualifying scores on the ASTB.

I hope you have been PT'ing constantly to get ready for BUDS.

 

[choochlp]

It sounds like you are between a rock and a hard place, no money, no place to live, supposed to ship soon, low GPA, and you may or may not get qualifying scores on the ASTB.

I hope you have been PT'ing constantly to get ready for BUDS.

Well, when you put it that way things don't sound so bad.....

 

[Gatordev]

Would an OCS board look unfavorably on backing out of enlisting in order to apply?

I have no idea. I guess it's something that could be explained in your personal statement.

I get your comment on the challenge programs. I just wanted to clarify for the the OP about what "going rescue swimmer" actually means. And if you go AWR (and seriously, I don't know why you wouldn't over AWS), the time to train is about the same length as the non-TACAIR tracks of flight school.

 

[taxi1]

no money, no place to live, supposed to ship soon, low GPA, and you may or may not get qualifying scores on the ASTB

 

[AllAmerican75]

Do you want to be an enlisted SEAL or a naval aviator / officer more?

If you drop BUDS, you’ll likely be an UNDES sailor (or any other undesired rate) and it’s going to be a few years until you get the support of your chain of command to submit an OCS package.

This is the ultimate truth. You either need to cancel your contract right NOW and begin the process of getting your officer application together or accept that you're going to Great Lakes and and eventually BUD/S.

If I had to say right now, I want to be a naval aviator/officer more. Is that after two years as undes? I thought that undes rate could strike out at that time. I was also told by a few DORs that there are decent chances I won't get an undes rate.

You seen wrapped up in the "book answer" and what is possible, not what is probable. We are explaining what the most probable eventuality is. I knew of 1 (One!) BUD/S dud who got a good rate and that's because he did really well at BUD/S and won the respect of his instructors but had a medical issue that forced him out of training. Understand that if you DOR from your SO contract at any point after you arrive in Great Lakes, you WILL go undesignated and you WILL spend at least 3 to 4 years living that life before you can strike a rate or get your command's support to put in an OCS package. That would likely put you out of the running for aviation anyway due to your age.

Ok assuming I went for an OCS SNA application I have a few questions. My DEP timeline so far has gone Start DEP (I think this was really early November 2021, just dont remember the exact day)>my initial ship date was May 2022 for nuke but I had that extended to pass the PST> I passed in may and had a ship date of June but had that pushed out to august as I was already having my doubts about the SEAL program at this point. So my question is, will having my contract pushed out so many times jeopardize my chances of gaining an aviation contract if I went that route? Additionally, I would need about 2-4 weeks to study for the ASTB. I'm confident that I could get phenomenal scores on it (skipped grades growing up), but I have a BA in political science and need some time to brush up on my formulas and so forth for those sections. Would needing this time also mess me up at all?

I guess I mainly don't really even know where to go from here if I decided to go the OCS side right now. I'm not sure if I would just back out of my contract or if that would stop my chances of gaining a commission. If I'm unable to commission I still want in the navy, and I don't want that to be screwed up because my recruiting district thinks that I just have cold feet and am wasting their time.

You would need to start the application process from the beginning which means months or a year before you'd be up for a selection board.

 

[choochlp]

This is the ultimate truth. You either need to cancel your contract right NOW and begin the process of getting your officer application together or accept that you're going to Great Lakes and and eventually BUD/S.



You seen wrapped up in the "book answer" and what is possible, not what is probable. We are explaining what the most probable eventuality is. I knew of 1 (One!) BUD/S dud who got a good rate and that's because he did really well at BUD/S and won the respect of his instructors but had a medical issue that forced him out of training. Understand that if you DOR from your SO contract at any point after you arrive in Great Lakes, you WILL go undesignated and you WILL spend at least 3 to 4 years living that life before you can strike a rate or get your command's support to put in an OCS package. That would likely put you out of the running for aviation anyway due to your age.



You would need to start the application process from the beginning which means months or a year before you'd be up for a selection board.

Well I took the hard plunge today and talked to an officer recruiter and asked them to push out my contract or attrition me from the program. Life going to get very hard for the next year or so since I now am back at square one and need to get a job quick and study really hard for the ASTB. But I figure its better than getting stuck doing something I might hate for the rest of my life. Family isn't happy with me either, and there is a little bit of a bruise to my ego/pride for dropping from the special warfare program, but life goes on right? I appreciate everyone's input on this all, it was an eye openner to know how hard things would be if I tried to go the enlisted to officer route instead. I guess this way I'm only delaying my contract and possible future by about a year versus delaying it by 4-5 by going enlisted first.

 

[Ken_gone_flying]

Well I took the hard plunge today and talked to an officer recruiter and asked them to push out my contract or attrition me from the program. Life going to get very hard for the next year or so since I now am back at square one and need to get a job quick and study really hard for the ASTB. But I figure its better than getting stuck doing something I might hate for the rest of my life. Family isn't happy with me either, and there is a little bit of a bruise to my ego/pride for dropping from the special warfare program, but life goes on right? I appreciate everyone's input on this all, it was an eye openner to know how hard things would be if I tried to go the enlisted to officer route instead. I guess this way I'm only delaying my contract and possible future by about a year versus delaying it by 4-5 by going enlisted first.

It's your life, your family will get over it. They should be supporting your decision either way. Good luck to you.