Ahh yes, recruiters can be a bit of a pain sometimes. They also forget to delete stuff out of their database as well. For example, I still to this day get things in the mail trying to get me to join the nuclear navy. Geez, I finished the nuke pipeline in 1994. On occasion, I have thought about calling up the recruiter to ask him/her about what life for a nuke is like....in school and elsewhere. Tell you what, it's certainly no joyride in school for a nuke, but those recruiters sure make it sound nifty.
Here's a couple things off the subject. First: John, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but you are not eligible for a SWO pin. I realize you were looking so forward to it. You can qualify OOD(U/W), CICWO, TAO, and EOOW, however. And of course these all go in your service record. Here is what it says right out of the OPNAV 1412.2G instruction.
4. Eligibility
a. The following are eligible to attain
designation as “Surface Warfare
Qualified”:
(1) Commissioned officers permanently
assigned to a commissioned U.S. Navy surface
ship; specifically, Surface Warfare and Special Operations trainees (116X/1 19X), lateral transfers into Surface Warfare, limited duty officers (LDOS)(61XX, 621X, 623X, 626X, 628X, 629X, 640X,641X, 648X,), and chief warrant officers (CWOS)(71 1X, 712X, 713X, 714X, 716X, 718X, 719X,720X, 721X, 723X, 724X, 726X, 728X, 729X,740X, 748X) 116X/1 19X designated officers and lateral transfers into surface warfare are required to qualify; LDOS and CWOS in the above designators are encouraged, but not required, to qualify.
An officer pursuing qualifkation as a SWO
must:
a. Be a graduate of the Surface Warfare
Officer School Division Officer Course of
Instruction. Graduation validates equirement to complete Fundamentals and Systems (100/200
series) portion of SWO P@.
(1) Surface LDOS and CWOS who are not
graduates of this course are required to complete the Fundamentals and Systems (100 and 200 series).
Next, I find it quite humorous that John is talking a lot of these big ships being juicy targets for his beloved submarines. John, you are moving along beautifully in the track to becoming a big juicy target yourself in those P-3's. Don't forget, no parachutes!