Going the Enlisted Route?

I thought about that and the enlisted recruiter told me that officers and enlisted do the same thing but officers get paid more. I thought to myself...then why would I go enlisted?

For the privilege of wearing dungarees?

OS1 B****.. Very Nice guy... And yes He will break his back to help anyone who needs it...

What he told you was a mass generalization at best and a lie at worst.

Sounds like he/she isnt happy about the pay scale. If you need to know the difference, ask the Officers here what they do.

. . . . or, you could say just flat "wrong."

The only time where this can be somewhat true, from what I've been told by my uncle who served as an enlisted nuke in the 90s, is when talking about enlisted nukes and junior nuke officers. To quote what he said "when you're in the engine room, everyone is working together. No one really cares about what rank you are; they only care how good you are to the squad. Outside the engine room everyone will salute you and call you sir and whatnot, but things are different down there."

Even still, from what I've gathered on this site, nuke officers have to earn their SWO qualifications as well so that they can one day command a ship, and my uncle probably wasn't privy to that area of their jobs.

I agree TOTALLY!! This couldn't be more true in the Nuclear Community.

In every warfare specialty and platform, there are simularities in basic levels of knowledge required by both Officer and enlisted personnel. An example would be basic Damage Control knowledge. And yes, there are times and places where some folks perceive that everyone is an equal. Wrong assumption. Being an Officer is more about leadership and accountability. The Navy Times is filled with stories about Commanding Officers being relieved of command due to "loss of trust & confidence" for a host of reasons. While Enlisted members of all ratings bring a level of technical expertise and knowledge that the Navy has to have in order to function, it doesn't make them equal with members of the wardroom.

Thats him, I just didn't want to drop his name on the web without his permission. Great guy. I felt bad once cause I was talking to him on his cell phone when he was actually at the doctors with his wife... Definitely bent over backwards to help out.

It may be true about nukes and what not, but the air side is totally a different story. I would say that officers are treated as if they were kings and queens, as enlisted is treated as work horses. That being said, there is a very defined line between officer and enlisted in some areas of the Navy.

Your probably right as I can only speak as of my experiences...

I've been told that the line between officers and enlisted military personnel is very distinct, and is there on purpose. The nuke community, if it's the way my uncle said, is an exception, not the norm.

I agree with you. Also a lot of the nukes are just as educated as a lot of the officers, so it would be somewhat dumb to develop differences in the officers and enlisted. Most air type maintainers have little to no education so the differences there is education and pay. I think this about sums it up: :icon_wink

To input from some of you comments, The line from Officer to enlisted is not drawn due to pay and education, it is drawn for Rank and Respect, if we didn't have a rank structure, the military would be chaos.

Really? How so? The "differences" you refer to are many and varied. While true that education is a prerequisite for entry into the Officer ranks, there are many other traits and skills that must be learned & developed.

"Nothing in the world can take the place of Persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent."

I don't think that is a very accurate statement, but I guess it really depends on your definition of "little to no education." There were numerous maintainers that I was stationed with that were either in college, already had a degree, became A&P certified, or pursued education in some other form. The way the Navy is heading these days education is not an option anymore.

That is a negatory good buddy!

It is true that a BS/BA degree is most often required for entry into the officer ranks. And usually, not always, a BS/BA degree is an indicator of an education.

In my time, I have met many Naval/Marine Corps Officers that did not hold a BS/BA degree, but none without an education.



:icon_tong:icon_tong

not to mention that an LDO doesn't have to have a degree...

I guess I was meaning a generalized officer in the pilot range of officer. The difference between maintainers in mostly education. I know that some maintainers have degrees or are obtaining their degree, but still the majority of maintainers do not have degrees. Some of our enlisted members make more money then the officers as well, but again the majority of them still don't make as much as the officers. I am not sure why this is since not to long ago members who don't have their degrees could become officers and pilots, but I guess somewhere the Navy figured out that you had to have a college degree to fly planes... like in some way that made you dependable and a responsible person. I cant really fight with that since I believe education is important... maybe not a college degree but education itself none the less.

I thought I would update what is happening now. I decided to apply for OCS with the Marines and they want to schedule an interview when they have someone I can talk to in Pensacola. I want to thank everyone for their suggestions and support.