Thinking about NROTC rather than AFROTC

[A.E.]

Hi,

I am thinking about NROTC over AFROTC for a few reasons.. Number one: the guys at baseops.net give me a bad feeling about the Air Force. Number two: apparently in AFROTC your detachment's commander ranking is 50% of your ranking when you apply for a pilot slot... I don't want to kiss ass just so that I can have a chance at flying. Is there anyone that had to decide between the two? What did you go with?

 

[CommodoreMid]

You shouldn't do either AF or Navy ROTC if you aren't OK with the fact you aren't guaranteed anything. You join both programs to become an officer, not necessarily a pilot. I don't know how AFROTC works, but in NROTC if you have good grades, do your required midshipman activities decently, don't suck at PT, and do decent on the ASTB, you have a pretty good shot at getting aviation as long as you're medically qualified. That being said, you need to decide what's important to you. If you end up deciding that you only want to be in the Navy as an aviator and don't want to risk getting SWO, for example, ROTC probably isn't the best route. Nothing necessarily wrong with your desire, considering at the end of the day it's your life, but if you want to be guaranteed a job in the Navy, apply for OCS.

 

[AJTranny]

I was AFROTC in college but went to navy ocs because of medical issues. I can honestly say everyone that got a flight slot in my time was a strong cadet and student. Ass kissers were cut from the herd and the cadre didn't care for them much either. The question you really need to ask is whether you want to be a navy guy or af guy. Both have their goods and bads and you are going to have to be a top performer to fly either way.

 

[A.E.]

Thanks for the advice. Also is it true that if you do too well in your academics then you are sent to nukes?

 

[CommodoreMid]

Not quite true, but you are more likely to be "strongly encouraged" to look at going nuke if you did really well in technical subjects. While there are cases of people being forced into going nuke, shooting for lower grades to avoid getting nuke and trying to stay aviation is a good way either to not get commissioned in the first place, or, if you do, get SWO, since aviation is competitive.

 

[jtmedli]

I'll echo what the other people said. Don't do ROTC if you're not ok with not being in an Aviation MOS. There's no way for you to know what you're going to get (outside of commissioning and even that's not guaranteed). All you can do in ROTC is work hard, do your best, and hope things go your way.

 

[Yardstick]

AE, what schools are you looking at? try to talk to some mids/cadets at the schools you're looking at to try and get a feel for what its like there...also, like everyone else said, pick the service that you'd want to serve in if something prevented you from being a pilot, since you're an officer first...i had a similar situaion and chose navy...just work hard no matter what path you choose and you'll be fine

 

[A.E.]

AE, what schools are you looking at? try to talk to some mids/cadets at the schools you're looking at to try and get a feel for what its like there...also, like everyone else said, pick the service that you'd want to serve in if something prevented you from being a pilot, since you're an officer first...i had a similar situaion and chose navy...just work hard no matter what path you choose and you'll be fine

I'm looking at U of Rochester, Rutgers, U Conn, and similar ones on the East coast. I'm not really sure about which service I'd like to serve in but the members of this forum who serve in the Navy seem to be a lot more mature than those over at baseops.. At baseops they try to find sexual innuendos in every thing and just seem to be huge tools

 

[Treetop Flyer]

At baseops they try to find sexual innuendos in every thing and just seem to be huge tools

Huge tools. Haha

 

[eddie]

I'm not really sure about which service I'd like to serve in but the members of this forum who serve in the Navy seem to be a lot more mature than those over at baseops.. At baseops they try to find sexual innuendos in every thing and just seem to be huge tools

This part makes me laugh.

 

[magnetfreezer]

At baseops they try to find sexual innuendos in every thing and just seem to be huge tools (so to speak)

Fixed that for you.

If you have a problem with sex, alcohol, profanity, or getting corrected in a very direct manner Naval Aviation probably isn't for you either. Not that you have to do any of that - have known Mormons, etc who made great aviators and bros; nobody pressured them to partake but they didn't use it as an excuse to not hang out with/criticize their fellow O's.

 

[HackerF15E]

Seriously? You're making a career decision based on the impression of a service you got based on what you read on an internet forum?

Even worse, you're drawing some kind of parallel between locker room talk and the actual culture of a service?

Dude, where to even start on this one. At a minimum, you have made several errors in judging the USAF based on what you read at baseops.net.

 

[dirtydog]

I transferred from AFROTC to NROTC. This decision was mostly based on missions and bases, but in the end it is true that a lot of commander's score goes into AFROTC selection. This is not a bad thing. The commander is usually for helping you get what you want.

NROTC has the majority of surface score going for grades. Take this how you want, but one way or another you are going to have to perform.

Just do your best and take the initiative to get what you want. It is all about trying to cover all of your bases including getting all the CURRENT information you can from your OIs and developing yourself into an outstanding cadet/midshipman.