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Short answer, it depends. Some reservists do a bunch of active duty time, and do exactly the same jobs as their active duty counterparts. Others do more of the weekend NKO thing, and get called up for a couple weeks to support an exercise or something. If you take one-year active duty orders...

I never saw my final select letter. The orders are the important thing.

Well, why have Intel at all, then? (Haha, don't answer that...) Seriously, though, the issue isn't really that the AIOs are 1830s, it's that they're 1830s who, with a few exceptions, have no experience doing intel work, and barely know how to be in the Navy. If new intel ensigns spend their...

Generally yes, but I've also seen a handful of LTs going to squadrons, which isn't a bad thing. The squadron AIs are really on their own, with less training on aviation-specific stuff than they should have, and that can be tough on a new ensign. Now consider a squadron that's had a few...

1) PRTs generally don't matter, as long as you pass. Some programs (e.g., SPECWAR/SPECWAR support) want you to have good PRT scores, but in terms of promotion, the only thing that matters is that you're within standards. 2) Can't speak for the aviation side, but Intel and SWO are picky about...

That's not how it worked out, if that was the original intent. They're not Intel guys for that first tour; they're SWOs, and they do normal SWO ensign tours, however the detailer wants to assign them. It's just that they have the option to switch over to Intel if they want to after that first...

They have those in some countries. I was in Sweden a couple of years ago, and there was one that was basically two bays, one half male, one half female, and another that was just mixed. What's the difference, as long as there are stalls for everyone? It's a different story if people are...

I just don't get why anyone would want long hair at OCS. Figure out how to make a damn bun before you report. It can't possibly be difficult, and there's no reason in the world to have a hairstyle that makes you take longer to get ready, unless candidates get more than a couple minutes to...

Yeah, it's a fairly new program; 2009 or 2010 sounds about right. I wish they'd had it back when I was applying (in 2006). I got picked up for both SWO and Intel, and would have loved the chance to do a SWO tour with a guaranteed switch to Intel. As it was, I considered going SWO and taking...

It can't hurt to apply, but they're at least as competitive as intel, and I'm pretty sure there are fewer billets. For IW, they're going to want a strong math background, which you don't mention having (or not having).

I'll add that just because most people on an aviation-centric site don't have great things to say about SWOs, that doesn't mean it would be a bad fit for you. If you haven't checked out the SWO/other communities section here, do that. One thing you'll often hear is that SWOs eat their young...

In that case, belay my last. I know they don't have all that many spots to begin with, which is a shame. The intel community could do with better understanding of blue force operations.

SWO is a good second choice, and you could also apply for the SWO-Intel option, although that's also very competitive. One thing to consider, though, if you go the officer route the Navy isn't going to be terribly interested in your Russian language skills (says the intel LT who studied Russian...

Nope. The only thing that's required is that you not send in paperwork turning it down. At least, despite some admin glitches when I got promoted, the Navy is indeed paying me as an LT.

I was just going to say, we got issued gloves at OCS... in Pensacola... in the summer.

As far as delaying PCS moves, I had a sailor whose move was delayed a bit so that his wife could give birth, so yes, it can happen. I believe that's the sort of thing you would work out with your detailer. Since OCS isn't a PCS move, your best bet is probably to let your recruiter know the...

I hear that sometimes in the civilian world, people sometimes need to go ahead and come in on weekends...

Yep, that's the advantage to OCS (well, that and the greater flexibility you get in terms of college). Of course, plenty of my fellow intel officers started their careers in flight school and ended up redesignating for one reason or another, so there are never any real guarantees. Aside from...

Speaking as someone who's been assigned to a carrier in the yards (but not during refueling), if that's a prime assignment for an aviator doing a disassociated sea tour, I hate to think about the worst-case scenario.

No. There are spaces where you can't have a phone, but it's not like a sub.

We did... back in 2007. We had our gouge books in a plastic bag, and kept them in our socks. Not during PT, though. That wouldn't have worked all that well.

this thread is awesome, and so that i can be sure to see it continue, i'm donating all the capital letters i should have used in this post to halstead et al.

You're overthinking it. If you're routinely getting an outstanding for your age group, you're going to be fine, and you won't stand out. You can always shoot for your maximum if you need a goal with actual numbers.

Apparently the SWOs like to see SWO as applicants' first choice these days. It's a change from eight years ago when I was applying and got picked up for SWO with that as my third choice out of three, and a motivational statement about how awesome I'd be as an intel officer. :)

I never saw anyone just wearing their top three. It may be allowed, but it definitely wasn't done.

Not necessarily. There's a higher expectation for someone who's had a few years in the fleet than for the non-priors, but if you a) don't act entitled to anything as Mr Spenz points out and b) set a good example and help out the non-priors, you aren't going to be singled out due to being a...

Welcome back!

Good riddance. All I'm going to say about Snowden here is that I hope he's enjoying Moscow as much as Kim Philby did.

Yes and no. Understanding and being familiar with threat systems is the bare minimum you need to be credible at your job--but the operators are going to be pretty familiar with the capabilities of a platform/system that might well be used to try to kill them. You don't add value by reciting...

At my last command, I built/reviewed three briefs a day for a while. Powerpoint is a popular (and sometimes even effective) way to convey information, and conveying information and providing analysis is what we do. Right now I've got a bit less powerpoint in my life, and I am completely OK...

In general, the enlisted guys do more intel work, if by intel work you mean research, crunch numbers, build briefs, and give briefs. The officer might say, "Hey, that's interesting that the Russians are doing X. IS3 6strings78, can you go through message traffic and some of our old products...

"As much as possible" and "at least six months of living expenses" might not mean the same thing to the young junior guy counting down the days to his EAOS, though. I read your original post as saying that a single guy who doesn't own a home or have child support obligations doesn't need to...

Sure, but it takes time to build up that savings account, and it can take a lot longer to find a decent civilian job than people might expect. For someone who's planning on staying in, it might make more sense to focus on investments more than just a savings account, but for a guy who's even...

Overseas (in Europe), we weren't allowed to wear the uniform to travel, as a force protection measure. For a brief period, that included the commute from home to work; that got lifted. In the US (almost typed INCONUS...), you can fly in uniform. I don't like to, but that's a personal choice...

And, just to demonstrate that the plural of anecdote isn't data, I was interviewed for... I think four periodic reviews in the last several months (there was a whole cluster of them), and the only questions the investigator asked were about alcohol use and taxes. Not sure how I was supposed to...

Or before they get that great deal on a Mustang.

Anything at OCS that isn't run by the DIs is pretty laid back. They aren't going to be screaming at you. Although, side note, part of my pistol qual before deploying to Afghanistan involved a stress test--basically, getting your heart rate up and seeing if you could still hit the target--so at...

They don't make you wear what you wore when you checked in. Bring extra stuff; you can store your things in your car or a classmate's car until you need it.

They were inspection items when I went through. Whether that's the case now or not, use them. My feet got messed up enough without catching diseases in the shower.

I wouldn't say none of it is fun. I don't want to do it again, but if you go into it with the idea that it's going to be awful, it's probably going to be awful. And going into it without knowing what to expect is not the same as risking getting rolled. My 12 weeks (and no more) were mostly...

Actually, that's how I did it. I think that not knowing what to expect was fine. Probably better than dreading everything people on the internet will tell you is coming up.

Bad credit and bad financial decisions (with no effort to pay the debt), unexplained foreign contacts/travel, excessive drug use--basically anything that would make a reasonable person think you could be vulnerable or susceptible to a foreign agent. Someone with excessive debt might end up...

On their own, I doubt it. That's the whole point of having the interview--confirming and clarifying the info on the form. As long as you're honest and not actively trying to hide things, most of the interviewers are actual humans and understand that you might make mistakes on paperwork. If...

@vladivostok391, I don't think your situation is all that unique in terms of pay purposes--OCS is basically like any other Navy school that's short enough for you to be TAD rather than PCS there (i.e., you're temporarily assigned rather than permanently moving), so it shouldn't be that different...

I can't imagine why female candidates would want to have long hair at OCS, but yeah, if they no longer have to look like 12-year-old boys, what's the justification for the guys getting their heads shaved, as long as their hair is also within regs? Everyone gets to be special, no one has to get...

There's not a separate clearance, it's just that the process might not be complete by the time you commission. I didn't get my final clearance until eight months after commissioning, but they initiated the investigation before I submitted my package for OCS. The "separate clearance" thing...

Doubt it. I had mine before OCS, but didn't get my interim or final clearance until well after commissioning. If there's nothing in your background to worry about--e.g., massive red flags like drug/alcohol abuse, outstanding debt that you're not paying off, suspicious foreign contacts...

All good gouge on clearances. The only thing I will add is to remember that the people doing the investigation are actual people, who will ask you questions and give you the chance to explain things if there's something you're concerned about or something that wasn't clear when you filled out...

Thanks, I stand corrected.

If I'm remembering correctly, we only had to do moboards in Nav. Seamanship was more "rules of the road"-type stuff and seemed mainly geared towards the SWOs (which made sense, because they were all headed straight to their ships after OCS). Nav was more "set a course for Point X given Y and Z...