Age related question

[liquidhelium]

Hey everyone, long time reader first time poster.

I had been looking around in the ARCO .pdf and the SNA age requirements caught my eye; "Must be between 19 and 27 years of age at the time of commissioning."

When exactly is the date of commission? Is it referring to the Navy Reserve commission you get at the end of API, or something else?

The reason I'm posting this here is that I'm planning on starting college come spring and am looking to enroll in NROTC, and I am trying to get a timeline of sorts worked out. The thing is, I'll be 21 in a month or so, so I want to make sure I won't be starting too late to be able to shoot for SNA. Four years, plus however much training time there is between graduation and commission. That's pretty much at least 25, which seems kind of close to the upper limit.

Anyone able to help me straighten this out? (thanks in advance)

 

[BACONATOR]

There is no such thing as a reserve commission these days. You are commissioned as an ENS in the USN. So when you commission at ROTC after you graduate or at OCS when you put up your right hand, you're good to go. If you're 21 now, I imagine ROTC is going to put you WELL below 27 before commissioning (21+4 = 25).

By the way, thank god this was not another thread asking if you could be an aviator when your vision is 20/400 and you're 29. I was about to have an e-aneurysm.

 

[liquidhelium]

Hah, good to know. I didn't think that the material in there would be so dated, since it had pay grade stuff relating to 2004.

On a somewhat unrelated question, does anyone know how ROTC detachments handle students who start in the spring semester? Or should I probably just call my local and see what they have to say?

 

[BACONATOR]

Hah, good to know. I didn't think that the material in there would be so dated, since it had pay grade stuff relating to 2004.

On a somewhat unrelated question, does anyone know how ROTC detachments handle students who start in the spring semester? Or should I probably just call my local and see what they have to say?

I was OCS so I can't really help you, but I'd say your best bet is to call and hear it from the horse's mouth as opposed to the possible horse's ass (here on AW). This applies to pretty much anything in life.

 

[Swanee]

I know it's apples and oranges but my Brother started AFROTC in the Spring semester of his Sophmore year at Miami-Ohio.

 

[MIDNJAC]

I was a couple months from being 21 when I started NROTC, and I ended up doing a 5th year in school as well......so it worked out okay for me. You shouldn't have any problems in terms of age.

 

[IKE]

...does anyone know how ROTC detachments handle students who start in the spring semester?

I was STA-21, but it's not really any different. I don't think the ROTC unit cares what semester you start or finish, if it doesn't take you too long to graduate. My ROTC unit had people start in the spring/summer and others who finished in summer/fall/winter - it doesn't really matter. If you finish in the winter, you just have a really small commissioning ceremony.

 

[liquidhelium]

I was STA-21, but it's not really any different. I don't think the ROTC unit cares what semester you start or finish, if it doesn't take you too long to graduate. My ROTC unit had people start in the spring/summer and others who finished in summer/fall/winter - it doesn't really matter. If you finish in the winter, you just have a really small commissioning ceremony.

That's certainly encouraging to hear. I was afraid it was going to be some big ordeal.

edit: Out of curiosity, is anyone familiar with the detachment at NC State?

 

[Gatordev]

Hah, good to know. I didn't think that the material in there would be so dated, since it had pay grade stuff relating to 2004.

On a somewhat unrelated question, does anyone know how ROTC detachments handle students who start in the spring semester? Or should I probably just call my local and see what they have to say?

The appointment (there still are reserve commissions) to a reserve commission was nixed in '05-ish. As for starting in the spring...if you have 8 semesters remaining, it probably won't matter, however if you have 7 or less semesters remaining, you will probably have to double-up on a ROTC class at least one semester. Not a big deal.

 

[liquidhelium]

Rather than creating a new thread for another of my questions, I'll just put this in here:

Is LASIK considered at all for SNAs? I've tried to dig through the NAMI website, but the only thing I found was for a study group. I could have sworn I'd read something about lasik recently being approved (may 07 or so?), but haven't found any horse's mouth sources to go off of. Any info?

 

[Spekkio]

I was OCS so I can't really help you, but I'd say your best bet is to call and hear it from the horse's mouth as opposed to the possible horse's ass (here on AW). This applies to pretty much anything in life.

And even then, you're usually better off finding the instruction instead of relying on someone's word.