Thanks for the serious advice!
I'm not freaking out, I started this thread trying to find out if there was a legit reason my recruiter (who is not an officer) was telling me "pilot is closed". Given that others are still working on pilot apps as normal, I was wondering why I was being treated differently. I have a pretty high up contact who is willing to help me go over my recruiters head but I did not want to do it unless I first tried to get as much info as possible. Id rather be "wrong" on here than go above my recruiters head blindly and be told the same thing. Hence this thread. I'd really like to work with the guy who the NRD secretary put me in touch with so as to not seem like some elitist who thinks he is too good for an E-8 who works OCS packages in my area since I'm 500+ miles from the closest NRD.
I asked my recruiter to clarify exactly what he meant by "pilot is closed" and he is now singing a different song and saying "we can go ahead with submitting for the 23 Jan pilot board". I don't know if he is misinformed or just has some magical info that nobody else seems to get. Id go with the former with no offense intended, he just does not seem super familiar with the process and I'm having to bring up components of the app the he does not even know about.
I've got a thick skin for the entire process and anything that goes with it, Ive been through this once with the AF and was selected then bounced for a hernia which has since been repaired. I know how it is. Trust me, I'm not putting all my eggs in the SNA basket, anyone would be stupid/elitist to do so. I don't know where you got that impression of me. I'm not sitting with my thumb in my rear waiting for the Navy to come grab me and throw me in a cockpit.
That said, you are all acting like I was entirely crazy and out of line for posting a thread about a bombshell that my recruiter dropped related to the board. I did preface it with "my recruiter said" should often come with a can of salt but I still thought it significant gouge that was worth following up on as I weighed my options. If somebody was telling you that you can't submit a package and you are watching others do it just fine, would you not reach out to other applicants, find out whats really going on and then adjust accordingly to make sure you get the same opportunity (not hand out so save the USN does not owe you anything comments) as anybody else who is qualified? Food for thought.
When the deadline comes, I just want to be able to say that I pursued the opportunity as vigorously as I could have and did everything in my power to try to get selected. I'm motivated to meet every SNA board I can because I'm 24 and not getting any younger. With the reality of today's commissioning timelines, I have very few shots left to apply. So sorry if I'm a little anal about being told I can't apply when clearly that's not the friggin case as of now. I understand boards get canceled but that would be news that people on here would have which, again is why I asked.