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Can you apply for Air Force and Navy OCS at the same time?

jrice15

New Member
I am slightly leaning towards becoming an Air Force officer if chosen, but would also love to be a Navy officer so I want to apply for both. My Navy recruiter told me I can apply for both so I have both packets almost ready except for physical testing. Now my Air force recruiter is saying you can only apply for one at a time. The Navy board selection is first, but I don't want to be stuck with the Navy without trying for the Air Force. (No offense at all to any Navy Officers! I would love to be in your shoes, but i'm just thinking I would rather be on base then at sea if I had a choice.)
 

exNavyOffRec

Well-Known Member
I had many applicants apply for several services at the same time, the reason the AF only wants you to apply with them is to ensure you have only one option.

also.... you are under no obligation to tell any of the other services you are applying for another.
 

paddybh1583

OCS 6 OCT 2013
Before I chose to stick with the Navy I ran into an issue involving MEPS paperwork. When applying for Army WOFT, my MEPS medical info was with MEPS in Los Angeles. This was an issue because my Navy OR used MEPS out of San Diego. It was a process to have the information transferred. Something to keep in mind.
 

picklesuit

Dirty Hinge
pilot
Contributor
Even if you get accepted into the Navy, you don't have to accept that contract. But, and NavyOffRec can correct me if I am fucked up, I think you have a small window in which to accept, and if you say no to an open spot and then reapply later, it may be less likely to get another spot. If you really want to go Chair Farce I would apply to them, get accepted/shot down, then apply to the Varsity team....
Pickle
 

LFCFan

*Insert nerd wings here*
My AF recruiter was totally cool with it, and even said that due to the competitive nature of officer selection it would be selfish of him to ask us to only apply to one branch. Someone at OCS was telling me his AF recruiter was really nasty about him going Navy. YMMV. I do recall my AF recruiter saying that once you swear into one branch that you have to pull your package from another or something like that.

But yeah, apply both. Just don't think that the timing of selection is going to line up such that you get into both services and get to actually choose between them.

Just a pro and con side to each application process: AF will give you a flight physical up front, Navy does not. So if you are NPQed for Navy, you can get a new designator. If you get NPQed for AF, you'd have to reapply. But once you show up at OTS, you are good to go and don't have to be worrying about all that crap (NAMI letter) during training or going to 1000 medical appointments.
 

exNavyOffRec

Well-Known Member
Before I chose to stick with the Navy I ran into an issue involving MEPS paperwork. When applying for Army WOFT, my MEPS medical info was with MEPS in Los Angeles. This was an issue because my Navy OR used MEPS out of San Diego. It was a process to have the information transferred. Something to keep in mind.

This is one of those circumstances that can happen because the way the USN and the way others do physicals is not the same, the way to avoid this is do MEPS first with the USN, then once they get a copy take care of the others.
 

exNavyOffRec

Well-Known Member
Even if you get accepted into the Navy, you don't have to accept that contract. But, and NavyOffRec can correct me if I am fucked up, I think you have a small window in which to accept, and if you say no to an open spot and then reapply later, it may be less likely to get another spot. If you really want to go Chair Farce I would apply to them, get accepted/shot down, then apply to the Varsity team....
Pickle

This brings up a good point, you need to see what the USAF timeline is, and coordinate so both applications should have results about the same time, but I will tell you I have seen guys waiting and waiting to go to a board for the USAF, not sure what was going on it may have been a region thing, but the guys that wanted to apply with engineering degrees seemed to get pushed right to the front.
 

RiseR 25

Well-Known Member
As a former AFROTC cadidiot i'll weigh in my 0.02. I've pretty much gone through both application processes, granted they were close to 5 years apart.

The Air Force:
Wonderful organization that takes care of their pilots, when and IF they become pilots. There are a ton of officer jobs that are not pilot, and a lot of those guys end up in fields that are as far away from aviation jobs as they can get (I know, counterintuitive, it is the Air Force after all). Whether or not those guys ended up liking their jobs or not, I'm not sure I don't talk to them as much anymore.

Yes the Air Force does give you a flight physical before showing up to OTS in Maxwell AL, but take it with a grain of salt. A buddy of mine got the flight physical, got selected for CSO (NFO equivalent in Navy), passed OTS with flying colors, then washed out at IFS in Colorado. He's doing alright now, but they are keeping him for the next 4-5 years and he's trying to get into the Space side of the Air Force. Air Force IFS has been known to have a bad reputation.

As far as my experience goes, did AFROTC for one year, but still disqualified vision-wise due to nearsightedness. Could have stayed in to fight the good fight towards pilot, but that would have involved A TON of paperwork as my plans were to take LASIK for them.


The Navy:
Not perfect, but also not bad so far. It's kind of a pain because I've been waiting some time to even know if I've been selected or not, but the experience with my OR (Officer Recruiter) has been very professional, up front, and honest: you really cannot beat that. All my paperwork was done in about 6 months spread out, and what I can take comfort in is knowing that the board WILL review my application and consider it, and ultimately give me a thumbs up or thumbs down.

Another buddy of mine did the NROTC route, he's flying right now. Still in the training pipeline so he doesn't have his wings yet, but nevertheless still flying. From what I've gathered the Navy will work with you if you want to become a pilot, but you have to work your tail off for it.

My motto lately has been Fly Navy, or Go Guard. PM me if you have any questions about either process. Good luck
 

RiseR 25

Well-Known Member
This brings up a good point, you need to see what the USAF timeline is, and coordinate so both applications should have results about the same time, but I will tell you I have seen guys waiting and waiting to go to a board for the USAF, not sure what was going on it may have been a region thing, but the guys that wanted to apply with engineering degrees seemed to get pushed right to the front.

OffRec is right on his gouge. The Air Force guys who apply with engineering degrees are highly sought for the flight training pipeline, or sent to Wright Patt if they don't meet the med Quals.
 

ryan1234

Well-Known Member
I am slightly leaning towards becoming an Air Force officer if chosen, but would also love to be a Navy officer so I want to apply for both. My Navy recruiter told me I can apply for both so I have both packets almost ready except for physical testing. Now my Air force recruiter is saying you can only apply for one at a time. The Navy board selection is first, but I don't want to be stuck with the Navy without trying for the Air Force. (No offense at all to any Navy Officers! I would love to be in your shoes, but i'm just thinking I would rather be on base then at sea if I had a choice.)

If you get selected by the Navy first, I'd probably go that route... especially if you don't have any age issues. Each service sorta has it's good and bars... many of us in the AF wish we were doing the Navy program across the street. However, we don't fly on weekends (unless an XC) and it only takes a year to get your wings. Are you looking for pilot or NFO/CSO?

AF IFS isn't hard, it's just takes work. I'm not sure why / how people wash out. I understand Navy IFS to be something like flying in flip flops, debriefing at Hooters and then going to the beach. Washing out of AF OTS is an anomaly.
 

jay_navy

New Member
Has anyone recently gone the route of applying for both services at the same time? If so, did you use the same LORs and just changed the AF to Navy? did you tell both recruiters? I will be taking my AFOQT (AF ASTB version) test next week and after that, I would focus on studying for the ASTB to hopefully submit in time for the next Pilot/NFO rolling board.
I will be 28 years old this June and this is my only shot at the AF for being a pilot. I know that in the Navy, you can be an SNA as long as you commission by 29 so I have to be in OCS by February next year. Does NRC also give 'Age Critical' folks expedited shipping to OCS like the AF does if selected? I also hope being 'age critical' doesn't negatively affect my board selection ranking with other SNA applicants.
 

Cody Stansell

New Member
Hey, guys. I know this is an old thread, but would really benefit on some knowledge of this subject. Would love to be able to apply for both branches, but I have no idea how to make that happen. Would love to go to MEPS soon and see if I even qualify for the military soon, but I want to make sure I give myself the best chance of becoming an officer (NFO, CSO sound cool to me right now).

I mentioned to my Navy recruiter I was still highly considering EOD and he seemed kinda upset that I didn't have my mind made up. Really trying to do my due diligence and research, but I don't want to piss any recruiters off and screw myself of any chance before I even get in.
 

Griz882

Frightening children with the Griz-O-Copter!
pilot
Contributor
Back in the Stone Age when I was a grunt, I applied to AOCS, MCECP, and AFOCS at he same time. I did not tell one service about the others. I got passed by the Corps, picked up by AOCS, and AF, but the the AF wouldn't promise a flight school seat. Long story short, AOCS!
 

Cody Stansell

New Member
Thanks, Griz. The impression I get is that if you go through the process with one branch you are kind of blocked from going through with another branch. Maybe they are just trying to pressure me, I don't know.

It would absolutely incredibly helpful to set a phone conversation or pm someone that kind of knows the process and could hopefully walk me through it. I have friend in Navy Supply and my dad was a Navy Seabee reservist, but they can't help with a lot of my questions.

And like I said above, my Navy recruiter wasn't too pleasant to talk to last time, so just trying to get some unbiased help, I'm waiting to tell him I'm ready to go to MEPS because I don't want to do anything to mess up my chances.

I've done well on my tests so far, but I know jack shit about the military process as a whole and making a 99 ASVAB, plus doing well on the Navy officer test has opened a lot of doors, but in the meantime really overwhelmed me with how much research I need to do. I tend to want to know every little detail before committing to something, especially considering I would be offering 4-8 years of my life.
 

Griz882

Frightening children with the Griz-O-Copter!
pilot
Contributor
Please....please keep in mind that I did this way back in 1985. Things may have changed. There is at least one officer recruiter on AirWarriors and they are the real experts. In fact, the language of officer recruiting is vastly different than when I applied. Back then there were no limits anyone told me of when I applied. Another way to look at it is like this...several young people apply for all three major military academies every year. Your best bet is to check with a recruiter.
 
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