• Please take a moment and update your account profile. If you have an updated account profile with basic information on why you are on Air Warriors it will help other people respond to your posts. How do you update your profile you ask?

    Go here:

    Edit Account Details and Profile

DOR Outcome Question

Geauxnavy326

New Member
I am currently in IFS and am considering DORing for several reasons that really boil down to not remotely liking the act of flying (motion sickness, a ton of anxiety when flying, etc.) and a mixture of family issues (essentially a desire to be able to separate in 5-8 years if need be and move to where I can be of more direct assistance to my parents and child who live several states away). My commissioning source was NROTC and I have been on active duty for almost a year (stashed for most of that time).

During the latter half of my senior year, my parents developed some serious health issues and I became the father of the aforementioned child. I want to stay in the navy very much as my wife and child rely on my health insurance and I really do believe that I would enjoy another job in the navy (preferably intel but I wouldn't turn down anything in the reserves or active duty) as well as just wanting to make good on my contract.

Ultimately what is stopping me going forward is the thought that I will end up being discharged if I DOR, putting my family in a very bad place, financially. I would rather puke my way through a job I am not crazy about than voluntarily leave my family scrambling for income. Is there anyway to confirm/disprove this thought before going through with DORing? I get the feeling that just asking my Military Adviser is a bad idea as it will immediately send the message that I want out even if it means being discharged. The only confidential person I know of is the chaplain but I don't think they could answer my question. Does anyone know the answer to my question or know of a way I could find out without shooting myself in the foot? Thanks very much.
 

nittany03

Recovering NFO. Herder of Programmers.
pilot
None
Super Moderator
Contributor
Don’t make that decision lightly. You can’t unring that bell. I’d put a plug in for Chaps; they may not have been SNAs themselves, but people are their job, and they are the one resource on base with absolute confidentiality. If nothing else, it’s another perspective on your issues, and if they can’t help you themselves, they can at least offer advice on who else to talk to.
 
Last edited:

FormerRecruitingGuru

Making Recruiting Great Again
Based on my experiences, I don't think I have seen any Flight School DOR able to re-designate to other communities, especially Intel. I have even seen folks NPQ from aviation sent home.

If you do decide to DOR, I hope you have a plan for the civilian sector...
 

Jim123

DD-214 in hand and I'm gonna party like it's 1998
pilot
You never know, the kick people out/keep people in tide is finally coming back in (message late last year suspending early outs and other similar deals, you can't kick people out for failing PRTs anymore now, etc.), so the odds of lateral transfer out of aviation are better now than they have been in a long, long time.

BUT, read and heed what @nittany03 and @RUFiO181 are saying. Just because big navy decided it's time to keep people in doesn't mean that you'll be retained.

From the sound of it, and knowing what I know about naval chaplains and chaplains in the training command, I think you will be amazed at the information and resources that chaps is plugged into in terms of your circumstances- and while you might not see yourself this way, your who/what/when/where/why circumstances are far, far from unique in the small world of flight students.
 

Flash

SEVAL/ECMO
None
Super Moderator
Contributor
Based on my experiences, I don't think I have seen any Flight School DOR able to re-designate to other communities, especially Intel. I have even seen folks NPQ from aviation sent home.

Depends on the needs of the Navy, when I went through ages ago everyone who DOR'd got redesigned while just a few years before and after they were usually discharged. Not sure what the current practice is.
 

FormerRecruitingGuru

Making Recruiting Great Again
Depends on the needs of the Navy, when I went through ages ago everyone who DOR'd got redesigned while just a few years before and after they were usually discharged. Not sure what the current practice is.

At my NRD, we've had two folks DOR flight school within the past 2 years and both got sent home.
 

MemphisBell

Well-Known Member
pilot
If you recieved a NROTC scholorship there is a high probability they will let you re-designate. All the academy and NROTC kids I know that didn't make it through flight school got re-designate. If they Navy paid for your school, they want theirs money's worth out of you. Now, if you were OCS then probably not. Very few OCS DOR/attrites get to stay in the Navy.
 

DanMa1156

Is it baseball season yet?
pilot
Contributor
If you recieved a NROTC scholorship there is a high probability they will let you re-designate. All the academy and NROTC kids I know that didn't make it through flight school got re-designate. If they Navy paid for your school, they want theirs money's worth out of you. Now, if you were OCS then probably not. Very few OCS DOR/attrites get to stay in the Navy.

This is not great gouge. There may be some truth to it, but this has been the rumor for at least 10 or more years. There is a POCR board he would go to which would redesignate him based on - most importantly - needs of the Navy, but also what the member wants. I've seen people literally reassigned to almost every community in the Navy except maybe Nuke, SEAL, and JAG: PAO, SWO, AMDO, Intel, Crypto, you name it... Plenty of my USNA classmates either failed or DOR'd in flight school. Many were released from their obligation.

We recently had a DOR select "General Aviation Officer," and will be a TAO on a ship for his next set of orders. I suspect if they are doing this kind of thing, there is definitely some truth behind the messaging of not being released early from commitments.
 

Hopeful Hoya

Well-Known Member
pilot
Contributor
I have had several friends attire at different stages of flight school within the past year for academic failures, flight adaptation issues, and medical issues, and most have successfully redesigned to other communities (biggest taker has been Supply). You do have to go to a board but at least from what I have seen and heard about the process if you're a good officer and put together a good package you have a great shot of being picked up for another community.

However I would caution you going into flight school thinking about redesignating. Flight school is stressful (and meant to be) and I have seen several people think themselves in circles to the point that they were getting in their own way. I would encourage you to at least see the flight doc to take care of the airsickness first and see how you do, you might find that you actually start enjoying flying. Secondly think about why you are having anxiety: is it the airsickness causing it? Is it not knowing the procedures? Is it your family situation? There are resources available for all three, so like @nittany03 said make sure to explore all of your resources because once you DOR there is no way to take it back.
 

nittany03

Recovering NFO. Herder of Programmers.
pilot
None
Super Moderator
Contributor
We recently had a DOR select "General Aviation Officer," and will be a TAO on a ship for his next set of orders. I suspect if they are doing this kind of thing, there is definitely some truth behind the messaging of not being released early from commitments.
If that was involuntary, that’s one thing, but THIS IS A STUPID MOVE IF YOU HAVE ANY SAY IN THE MATTER. The 130X designator is a holding tank, not a career path. It will not get you promoted. It will not keep you on active duty. And even if you get separated and decide to affiliate with SELRES, you’d be better served finding a new home there, too. General Aviation is what you get after losing flight status at a FNAEB (if winged) or a TRB (if a stud). No flight pay, no future unless you redesignate to something else.
 

exNavyOffRec

Well-Known Member
If you recieved a NROTC scholorship there is a high probability they will let you re-designate. All the academy and NROTC kids I know that didn't make it through flight school got re-designate. If they Navy paid for your school, they want theirs money's worth out of you. Now, if you were OCS then probably not. Very few OCS DOR/attrites get to stay in the Navy.

we saw several DOR's and some that just plain failed flight school that wanted to stay in that were sent home that were from NROTC and USNA commissioning sources who on their way out went through our NRD.
 

DanMa1156

Is it baseball season yet?
pilot
Contributor
If that was involuntary, that’s one thing, but THIS IS A STUPID MOVE IF YOU HAVE ANY SAY IN THE MATTER. The 130X designator is a holding tank, not a career path. It will not get you promoted. It will not keep you on active duty. And even if you get separated and decide to affiliate with SELRES, you’d be better served finding a new home there, too. General Aviation is what you get after losing flight status at a FNAEB (if winged) or a TRB (if a stud). No flight pay, no future unless you redesignate to something else.

I agree with you 100%. It wasn't on his "top 5" list of redesignation hopes he had. He was given it. I was stating that if they are sending a flight school drop out to TAO which is a job normally reserved for 3rd tour LTs, I think the Navy is keeping to CNP's word of "everyone stays until your commitment is up."
 

Gatordev

Well-Known Member
pilot
Site Admin
Contributor
You've got plenty of good advice above, but something to be aware of if you think you can gut (literally) your way through this to keep your paycheck/health insurance going... You can't keep puking your way through flight school. I've seen some stealth puking, but at the end of the day, I've still seen it. At some point, your training will stop if it keeps happening. Assuming you even made it that far, airsickness is going to stop you from soloing and will trigger going to the Spin and Puke for training.

Don't hide your issues. We don't know what's driving your anxiety since we're not you, but like was posted before, airsickness probably isn't helping. Let someone know so they can help.

If, at the end of the day, you still aren't excited about flying, so be it. But just make sure you've exhausted all the resources available to you to make that a good decision.
 

MemphisBell

Well-Known Member
pilot
This is not great gouge. There may be some truth to it, but this has been the rumor for at least 10 or more years. There is a POCR board he would go to which would redesignate him based on - most importantly - needs of the Navy, but also what the member wants. I've seen people literally reassigned to almost every community in the Navy except maybe Nuke, SEAL, and JAG: PAO, SWO, AMDO, Intel, Crypto, you name it... Plenty of my USNA classmates either failed or DOR'd in flight school. Many were released from their obligation.

We recently had a DOR select "General Aviation Officer," and will be a TAO on a ship for his next set of orders. I suspect if they are doing this kind of thing, there is definitely some truth behind the messaging of not being released early from commitments.

I understand this may be bad gouge but I'm just letting the guy know what I saw as of a year ago. Needs of the Navy is #1 but if he had a NROTC scholarship it should help him out with the board. Good luck with your decision but make sure it's want you really want before you do it.
 
Top