Active USMC to Reserve Intel DCO

[jason0231]

Absolutely. The DCO boarding process is complex and deeply flawed. Hard copy packets are presented to the board and if a single sheet of paper is missing or incorrect, the whole packet gets trashed. In my case, one of my DD-214s went missing between my recruiter's office and the board. Rather than reach out to my recruiter (or me) and request that the missing document be re-sent, they just put my packet in the 'dump' pile. I know of another DCO candidate whose packet was mixed up with that of another applicant's who had been treated for glaucoma. Rather than try to correct the obvious error, the board just dumped both packets.

Why does this happen? Because the DCO recruiting and boarding process is both (a) understaffed and (b) swamped with qualified candidates. The Navy has no incentive to fix the process because they fill all their slots with their top choices every year ... and they always will.

To echo Hair Warrior's words, manage your expectations and make sure your packet is 100% ... and then make sure again. If you're not hounding your recruiter, you're probably forgetting something (or s/he is).

Good Luck and S/F!

 

[Hair Warrior]

@jason0231 ...gah that's depressing. And it rings so true.

The once yearly board coupled with the 365 day expiration on most DIRCOM paperwork (everything except MEPS?) makes it a high stakes exercise.

 

[jason0231]

I got a lot of great mentorship from a senior LCDR who shook his head over how difficult the process had become when I started my packet in 2011. My first attempt was successful with the exception of the lost DD-214, but my recruiter (and his successor) worked with Millington to get everything squared away and I finally commissioned in 2013. Despite everything, however, it was totally worth the pain. I have paid it forward by helping several qualified applicants ... and by steering a few duds toward other ventures.

 

[FormerRecruitingGuru]

I got a lot of great mentorship from a senior LCDR who shook his head over how difficult the process had become when I started my packet in 2011. My first attempt was successful with the exception of the lost DD-214, but my recruiter (and his successor) worked with Millington to get everything squared away and I finally commissioned in 2013. Despite everything, however, it was totally worth the pain. I have paid it forward by helping several qualified applicants ... and by steering a few duds toward other ventures.

Would you get the same sort of mentorship had he has been... a JUNIOR LCDR?

 

[Hair Warrior]

... and by steering a few duds toward other ventures.

Such as? Merely curious. Feel free to PM if you don't want it in the open.

 

[jason0231]

Without getting too specific ... While the extra money and better retirement are great incentives, they should never be the driving force behind the quest for those butter bars. And while the money motive will be enough to get such people through the DCO process, NIOBC, etc. their true colors will come out by the time they make LT (if not well before). Greed makes for a great candidate but ultimately a crappy officer.

While the DCO selection process certainly weeds out a fair number of these losers, I am afraid it also drives away some really smart and qualified people who would make outstanding Navy officers. I think there are some fixes we could make in recruiting and I think the problem is a systemic one because while the individual recruiters I worked with were (mostly) terrific, the process is clearly broken or at least highly dysfunctional.

I hope that in a small way I have helped a few of the good ones on their path to a commission while discouraging a couple of the jerks, by which I mean people who lack an understanding of leadership as a form of servitude or who just want to go officer in order to feed their narcissism, their retirement or both.