what the hell is SWO-Intel

[josiebloom]

Pretty much what the title says.
I took the OAR for intel yesterday only to find out my board in January was cancelled since they've filled intel slots for the FY. I'm a senior in college and was really hoping to start pretty quickly after graduating (less than a year if possible) so I'm thinking about potential other options. I've heard of SWO-Intel before but I have no idea what that even means to be completely honest

 

[ausername]

From what I understand you will start as a SWO, and will have the option to lateral transfer to intel at some point, someone said after two divo tours as a SWO.

 

[FormerRecruitingGuru]

Pretty much what the title says.
I took the OAR for intel yesterday only to find out my board in January was cancelled since they've filled intel slots for the FY. I'm a senior in college and was really hoping to start pretty quickly after graduating (less than a year if possible) so I'm thinking about potential other options. I've heard of SWO-Intel before but I have no idea what that even means to be completely honest

Google the Intel program authorization. It tells you towards the back end of it.

Similarly if you have follow on or other misc recruiting questions use the search function.

 

[josiebloom]

From what I understand you will start as a SWO, and will have the option to lateral transfer to intel at some point, someone said after two divo tours as a SWO.

that makes a lot of sense, thanks so much.

most places I’ve looked sorta answered the question but weren’t entirely clear so this is great!

 

[HSMPBR]

that makes a lot of sense, thanks so much.

most places I’ve looked sorta answered the question but weren’t entirely clear so this is great!

Phase 0 of Intel candidate selection is to see if the candidate can independently go out and gather relevant useful information—usually it’s information that already exists because someone else did it and hung it on the internet. Don’t self-select yourself out.

However, maybe you’re actually a HUMINT expert and got me to cough up the answer because I’m now curious how it works. Here it is:
Anyway, I wonder if PERS-41 weaponizes this by sending SWO-IWC options to ships stuck in the yards where it can take longer to qualify.

 

[BigCityCop]

Look into the selection rates for the SWO-Intel option, or lack thereof. When I was doing research into designators, I found that there is rarely ever a selection for SWO-INTEL. I think I read that it’s really only been used for academy grads. Like the Guru said, follow up with a recruiter and see.

 

[Hair Warrior]

SWO-IWC options are rare now. I think SWO-OCEANO or SWO-IP were the most common, previously.

You can think of the hyphen as a substitute for the word “to”: SWO to Intel, SWO to IP, etc. The program is designed to fill needed SWO DIVO positions, provide meaningful offramps for former SWOs, and bring useful URL experience into the IWC. Sometime after earning your SWO pin, the Navy would allow you to switch to the IWC designator you’re slotted to. There, you’d attend your primary designator school (NIOBC in this case) along with all the ENS who joined straight into intel. You can also just apply to lat transfer from SWO to Intel, but this program makes it more or less an automatic chance of success, whereas a lat transfer request from a “regular” SWO (i.e. no IWC option) can be rejected by the Navy.

 

[FormerRecruitingGuru]

Phase 0 of Intel candidate selection is to see if the candidate can independently go out and gather relevant useful information—usually it’s information that already exists because someone else did it and hung it on the internet. Don’t self-select yourself out.

However, maybe you’re actually a HUMINT expert and got me to cough up the answer because I’m now curious how it works. Here it is:
View attachment 41198 Anyway, I wonder if PERS-41 weaponizes this by sending SWO-IWC options to ships stuck in the yards where it can take longer to qualify.

Meh... I wouldn't expect or even direct a civilian applicant with zero Navy/military experience to a MILPERSMAN.
Concerning PERS-41 and detailing, I do know, at least for USNA/NROTC service assignment they set aside certain ships for any of the SWO-Options like EDO, OCEANO, IWC, etc. But I don't think they're ships in the yards and such.
For OCS, I believe the SWO options pick ships just like any other conventional SWO option.

 

[exNavyOffRec]

Pretty much what the title says.
I took the OAR for intel yesterday only to find out my board in January was cancelled since they've filled intel slots for the FY. I'm a senior in college and was really hoping to start pretty quickly after graduating (less than a year if possible) so I'm thinking about potential other options. I've heard of SWO-Intel before but I have no idea what that even means to be completely honest

It is on the PA but haven't heard of anyone being picked for it in a very long time, it was removed from the dashboard as well so I wouldn't consider it an option. I have heard of USNA grads getting it but no one else.

 

[josiebloom]

It is on the PA but haven't heard of anyone being picked for it in a very long time, it was removed from the dashboard as well so I wouldn't consider it an option. I have heard of USNA grads getting it but no one else.

the only one I know of graduated from USNA so this checks out! most sites and forums have almost no mention of it so I kinda wondered if this was the case…

 

[josiebloom]

Meh... I wouldn't expect or even direct a civilian applicant with zero Navy/military experience to a MILPERSMAN.
Concerning PERS-41 and detailing, I do know, at least for USNA/NROTC service assignment they set aside certain ships for any of the SWO-Options like EDO, OCEANO, IWC, etc. But I don't think they're ships in the yards and such.
For OCS, I believe the SWO options pick ships just like any other conventional SWO option.

hahaha yeah I did see the MILPERSMAN but a lot of Navy resources can be really difficult to understand if you’re not from the background! I did work for the DoD this summer so I have a slight background but even then it’s still hard to understand everything I’ve come across. considering I’m debating signing my life away I’d rather ask a stupid question and know I’m right than be wrong and screwed over because I was too proud to ask!

 

[FormerRecruitingGuru]

hahaha yeah I did see the MILPERSMAN but a lot of Navy resources can be really difficult to understand if you’re not from the background! I did work for the DoD this summer so I have a slight background but even then it’s still hard to understand everything I’ve come across. considering I’m debating signing my life away I’d rather ask a stupid question and know I’m right than be wrong and screwed over because I was too proud to ask!

Being that you're in touch with an officer recruiter, it doesn't hurt to ask them. That's their job, right?

 

[AllAmerican75]

Phase 0 of Intel candidate selection is to see if the candidate can independently go out and gather relevant useful information—usually it’s information that already exists because someone else did it and hung it on the internet. Don’t self-select yourself out.

However, maybe you’re actually a HUMINT expert and got me to cough up the answer because I’m now curious how it works. Here it is:
View attachment 41198 Anyway, I wonder if PERS-41 weaponizes this by sending SWO-IWC options to ships stuck in the yards where it can take longer to qualify.

SWO-XXX now have to complete 2 DIVO tours (About 4 years of sea duty) before they are redesignated. There's a NAVADMIN somewhere that made the change plus gave SWO-XXX the option to decline their redesignation if they loved being a SWO. I don't know anyone who ever chose that path.

SWO-IWC options are rare now. I think SWO-OCEANO or SWO-IP were the most common, previously.

You can think of the hyphen as a substitute for the word “to”: SWO to Intel, SWO to IP, etc. The program is designed to fill needed SWO DIVO positions, provide meaningful offramps for former SWOs, and bring useful URL experience into the IWC. Sometime after earning your SWO pin, the Navy would allow you to switch to the IWC designator you’re slotted to. There, you’d attend your primary designator school (NIOBC in this case) along with all the ENS who joined straight into intel. You can also just apply to lat transfer from SWO to Intel, but this program makes it more or less an automatic chance of success, whereas a lat transfer request from a “regular” SWO (i.e. no IWC option) can be rejected by the Navy.

Yes, the IWC reached peak strength a few years ago and has a solid enough recruiting pipeline that they don't make as many SWO-INTEL, SWO-IP, or SWO-CWO options as they used to. I haven't seen one in the wild in a long time but they are still picking up lateral transfer applicants. They may have even started making IP and CWO officers out of the Academy and NROTC. They were talking about it a few years ago.

Right now, the only two viable SWO-XXX paths I know of are SWO-EDO and SWO-METOC (Formerly OCEANO).