SNFO or SNA?

[rweakley]

Hello all. I am a MECEP student and have a flight guarantee that I am unsure of its meaning. I will quote paragraph 2 and enclose the letter as an attachment to the thread.

"You will be assigned military occupational specialty 7580 (Student Naval Flight Officer). Your initial assignment will be to the Basic School, Marine Corps Combat Development Command, Quantico, Virginia. Upon successful completion of the Basic School, you will be assigned to Student Naval Aviator training provided that at that time you are physically qualified for such duty."

I was going for a pilot slot. However, the paragraph seems to contradict itself. The first line states that I will be a 7580, then later in the paragraph says I will be assigned to Student Naval Aviator training. Another MECEP student in my unit has an identical flight guarantee except that his last line says "you will be assigned to Student Naval Flight Officer training" (i.e. his does not contradict itself).

Is the 7580 designator something that will change after TBS so that I will go into NA training or there an error on my letter. I need to know so that if I am designated as a student NFO, I can try to get it changed. Thanks in advance for any help.

Thanks,
Randy

 

[Schnugg]

I'd run that one by your recruiting command POC. It does seem like you could be setting yourself up to end up in the wrong pipeline...as a pilot god forbid.

 

[Crowbar]

That looks to me like you've already been designated a student NFO. I would dig out the training agreement you signed for your application to see what it says and talk to your MOI immediately. Since your designation letter is over a year old, you might be SOL.

Edit: Moved to Marines (USMC) forum.

 

[BACONATOR]

I'd verify. I think it could go either way in terms of the typo(s). If it's any consolation, my OCS date on my letter was a year early, and at my OCS commissioning, as I marched up to get my empty folder, it was announced that "ENS [Bogey_spotter] will begin his training as a Naval Flight Officer at NAS Pensacola". Look at me now.

EDIT: I was joking about the fact that paperwork and all sorts of junk gets jacked up. I know an announcement means jack squat. But it certainly wouldn't surprise me to find out that they put SNFO when they meant SNA.

 

[Crowbar]

As far as what pipeline you end up in, having something read incorrectly at your commissioning means exactly zilch-point-shit.
Getting a letter from the Commanding General who approved your flight contract carries a little more weight. The letter I saw said at the top:
GUARANTEE OF ASSIGNMENT TO STUDENT NAVAL FLIGHT OFFICER. Not much ambiguity there.

To the OP, did you just get this letter recently?

 

[rweakley]

As far as what pipeline you end up in, having something read incorrectly at your commissioning means exactly zilch-point-shit.
Getting a letter from the Commanding General who approved your flight contract carries a little more weight. The letter I saw said at the top:
GUARANTEE OF ASSIGNMENT TO STUDENT NAVAL FLIGHT OFFICER. Not much ambiguity there.

To the OP, did you just get this letter recently?

No, it was supposed to have been mailed to me last summer while I was at OCS, but for some reason it didn't make it through the mail. It ended up in my inbox at the NROTC unit several months later with a "return to sender" type postmark. The mistake at hand was brought to my attention by a student now applying for an air contract who was examining some of our (mine and the other guy about whom I originally posted) paperwork when he pointed out that the letter said NFO as opposed to NA. My MOI was supposed to be helping me get a NA slot, not NFO, but apparently there was some screwed up paper work in my application package. My 1stSgt is supposed to call MCRC tomorrow (the 22nd) and find out what's what. Unfortunately the MOI is in China on TAD orders.

 

[Mr. Blonde]

Hey Randy,

glad to see you made it on here, I'll give your post a bump tomorrow, I know there are some MECEP guys on here that might be able to help you out.

Larsen

 

[Crowbar]

apparently there was some screwed up paper work in my application package.

Like I said, if you signed an NFO training agreement...at least you know you'll be getting jets.

Joking aside, nobody here will be able to tell you for sure what's going to happen. MCRC will get the final say, but if you kept a copy of what you signed it might make your life a little easier.

 

[rweakley]

Thanks, Lars. Hopefully today the 1stSgt will bring some good news...we'll see.

MCRC will get the final say, but if you kept a copy of what you signed it might make your life a little easier.

Yes, I have copies of my entire flight package as well as the guarantee letter that is posted here.

 

[spitfiremkxiv]

You should be able to iron this one out as long as you signed the correct contract in the first place. It looks like a typo. There is a computer somewhere, possibly in India, that knows the truth and can back up your claim.

I recommend you check your medical paperwork as well and make sure that it says SNA not SNFO. I had issues with my med paperwork still reading "SNFO" after I had switched to SNA, which was a small glitch but had to be fixed.

Also, make copies of everything admin or medical that has your name or a signature on it. I bought a computer printer/scanner that works well for this because it leaves a digital copy on my hard drive as well. That habit has saved me more than once, and it could help alleviate future problems like the one you're having.

Good luck!

 

[FlyMikeFly]

You want to make sure your MOS is 7599 before you leave for TBS. If it says 7580, you'll be a backseater. But even then, it's not so bad, at least you know you'll be in a jet!

 

[rweakley]

Ok, so here's the deal. The 1stSgt is sending a letter to the recruiting command and I signed a new agreement for MOS 7599 to be submitted along with it (this time correctly worded). I was told that the Marine Corps is hurting for pilots, as odd as that may sound, and the new contract should be approved. Thanks for all the replies. I'll let y'all know how it ends up, hopefully it shouldn't take more than a few weeks.

-Randy