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FY 21 IWC DCO Reserve Board

Bchris27

Member
Have you worked with different recruiters each time? Any indication why you haven’t been picked up yet? I know the designators you are going for are more specific than Intel and take less people, but as someone with so much service and technical degrees I am really surprised you haven’t been selected. It makes me wonder what they are truly looking for. I am not suggesting for a second you don’t t have leadership skills but I wonder if as officer selections they consider those aspects more than actual experience. ??‍♂️

My first OR was horrible. I started in Feb '18 in hopes of hitting the September board that year, I would call or message every couple weeks and ask what I needed to do next etc. and he would say "I am working on another board and will get back to you", finally in August he started to work on everything but missed the deadline because he didn't get everything done. I didn't even get my interviews until after the deadline. I was put in for the March '19 board but was not selected. Then he went back to regular reserve duty and did not let anyone know. I finally found out who took over for him (someone out of state), in late June and it was too late to try for the August board, and again by time the new guy got around to working on my packet, everything had expired, I had to redo my interviews and what not, and we thought everything was good to go, but my MEPS expired the Monday the packet was due and they wouldn't accept the packet unless I went to MEPS and I couldn't get in there until a week later so they never accepted that one, which is why I am now in this board. It is frustrating because I have been at this for almost 3 years, and I have been in 2 boards.

You can only do so much, I have always turned items around within hours when asked, and I would message every couple weeks, but it always ends up everything being rushed because the ORs work on whatever board is next and forget everyone else until their board is next. Reading these posts I wish I would have had some of the ORs that post on this board because they seem to be much better, or at least more knowledgeable about everything. Don't get me wrong though, I like my current OR, and he has had several people selected. I just hope I am one of them.
 

My9iron

Member
My first OR was horrible. I started in Feb '18 in hopes of hitting the September board that year, I would call or message every couple weeks and ask what I needed to do next etc. and he would say "I am working on another board and will get back to you", finally in August he started to work on everything but missed the deadline because he didn't get everything done. I didn't even get my interviews until after the deadline. I was put in for the March '19 board but was not selected. Then he went back to regular reserve duty and did not let anyone know. I finally found out who took over for him (someone out of state), in late June and it was too late to try for the August board, and again by time the new guy got around to working on my packet, everything had expired, I had to redo my interviews and what not, and we thought everything was good to go, but my MEPS expired the Monday the packet was due and they wouldn't accept the packet unless I went to MEPS and I couldn't get in there until a week later so they never accepted that one, which is why I am now in this board. It is frustrating because I have been at this for almost 3 years, and I have been in 2 boards.

You can only do so much, I have always turned items around within hours when asked, and I would message every couple weeks, but it always ends up everything being rushed because the ORs work on whatever board is next and forget everyone else until their board is next. Reading these posts I wish I would have had some of the ORs that post on this board because they seem to be much better, or at least more knowledgeable about everything. Don't get me wrong though, I like my current OR, and he has had several people selected. I just hope I am one of them.
Wow, what a nightmare! That makes me really value my OR. She has been amazing and I feel we have each given equal effort along the way and she is so transparent about what is coming up next and what the deadlines are. I’m sorry to hear about your debacle.
 

Bchris27

Member
I am not suggesting for a second you don’t t have leadership skills but I wonder if as officer selections they consider those aspects more than actual experience. ??‍♂️

I have really good evals (a lot of EPs) and I had really good interviews with the Intel officers at my NOSC (which with STRAT we have a lot), I picked up E6 in '17 but was always put in leadership spots as an E5 because of seniority, so I would assume my leadership is ok. I emphasized leadership in my moto statement. I would hope that isn't what is holding me back.
 

My9iron

Member
I have really good evals (a lot of EPs) and I had really good interviews with the Intel officers at my NOSC (which with STRAT we have a lot), I picked up E6 in '17 but was always put in leadership spots as an E5 because of seniority, so I would assume my leadership is ok. I emphasized leadership in my moto statement. I would hope that isn't what is holding me back.
Yeah it doesn’t sound like that is holding you back at all. Packets like yours make me wonder what they could possibly see in me, but let’s hope we both get selected!
 

Bchris27

Member
Wow, what a nightmare! That makes me really value my OR. She has been amazing and I feel we have each given equal effort along the way and she is so transparent about what is coming up next and what the deadlines are. I’m sorry to hear about your debacle.

My new one has been like that. Once I finally got ahold of him and got working on my packet for March, he was right there the whole time. The only issue was I kept telling him that I went to MEPS in Feb '18 and may need to go again, but he thought we would be fine until he submitted the packet and we weren't. They gave him 2 days to delay turning in the packet but we couldn't get in that quickly.

One saving grace is I have a strong faith, so I have always looked at it as, if I am destined to do this it will be done, if not, then there are other plans for me, and I accept whatever the outcome is.
 

Bchris27

Member
Yeah it doesn’t sound like that is holding you back at all. Packets like yours make me wonder what they could possibly see in me, but let’s hope we both get selected!

That's all you can do. Just remember every board is different, so one time they may focus more on education the next they may focus more on military exp etc. That is why you just keep applying each time. It would just be nice if you could see why they didn't select you, so you could fix that. go get another cert, or redo your moto statement, whatever it is.
 

bldalton

Member
Bchris27, I had a similar experience for the board last July and this March. My original OR retired in May 2019 and passed my packet onto a guy she was training. He forgot about my packet for the July board and when I contacted him, he said sorry, I was couple days too late since he didn't realize I wanted to go to the board, but I had talked with him not even a two weeks before and asked him if my packet was complete. He said it was. Grrr...! In his defense, he did get in touch with the unit OIC and see if there was anything that could be done. Then for the March 2020 board, he didn't put me in for the correct age waiver and my packet got to Millington and got kicked back. He said his processor didn't give it the once over it needed. It was complete except for the one waiver. I think both of them had a hand in that one. So, I missed two boards in a row. And yes I'll take some blame for that as I should've been on more involved and not assuming my packet was where it should be and when. My previous OR was on the spot and kept me in the loop on everything. We are in different cities three hours apart, so all comms are electronic or via phone call. I told him I'll drive to him if it'll help with signing documents, QA'ing the package or whatever. I did that a couple times with my previous OR. I'm just stating what happened and have taken this lesson to heart and am making a better effort to keep an eye on deadlines and communicate with him as best I can. Like others, I do my best to turn around any paperwork, needed files and documents within a couple hours. I understand I'm not his only candidate. He's a decent recruiter, but I need to make sure I'm not forgotten in all the other goings on. With all that being said, I hope I'm selected. Good luck to you all!
 

Bchris27

Member
bldalton, that is the biggest difference with going for DCO. You have to rely on someone else getting the correct info to you so you can get all the paperwork done. At least on the enlisted side my advancements have been pretty much on me. As long as there was at least 1 quota you had a chance, study hard, get good evals, and do well on the exam (all something you can control). With DCO you can do everything asked of you and still fall short of getting your packet submitted because someone forgot something.

Very frustrating, but hey it is good training for when we do get selected because we can learn from it and learn to deal more effectively with the things we cannot control. That is the stuff that can make a great future leader!
 

trakanon

Member
Contributor
I've been in this process for a quite a while I remember first contacting my OR in December 2019 and it took me until July 2020 to finally get the appointment for MEPS I'm not sure why it took so long I think the delay could have been due to COVID so I missed the August/Sept board there was not enough time to get all the other steps done in time. I appreciate you all sharing your experiences.
 

My9iron

Member
I've been in this process for a quite a while I remember first contacting my OR in December 2019 and it took me until July 2020 to finally get the appointment for MEPS I'm not sure why it took so long I think the delay could have been due to COVID so I missed the August/Sept board there was not enough time to get all the other steps done in time. I appreciate you all sharing your experiences.
I started in October 2019 and went to MEPS on June 19 of this year. MEPS and my interviews all happened very close to one another and everything was wrapped up by the end of July. Packet was then submitted to processor here in Phx for review in July/Aug and then sent to big Navy in late Aug for final review before board submission Sept 21.
 

RajinCajun

New Member
This went silent - I assume that's because we're all waiting for news and not because everyone popped over to a separate forum? Thanks - the info on here has been very helpful.
 
This went silent - I assume that's because we're all waiting for news and not because everyone popped over to a separate forum? Thanks - the info on here has been very helpful.
Yep I think we are all just waiting on results and jumping on when we get that notification that someone commented. Hopefully we hear soon!
 

Bchris27

Member
Just got the call - results were released a few hours ago. Super excited to be selected. Best of luck to all of you and thanks for your insights and thoughts over the past couple months. Anyone else in the Bay Area?

Congrats!! Which designator did you get selected for?

I think I will wait a little bit before pestering my OR to see if he heard anything. Hopefully, we can get one of the ORs on the board to post the number of selected for each Des once known.
 
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