Explanation of "scroll" process and Timeline of events until receipt of COMDOCs

[ladysailor]

Can y'all tell us what you did for your commissioning? My recruiter is at Great Lakes working on his retirement paperwork. I'd hope to have him involved in some way, but am not sure he will still be Active Duty. I spoke to his replacement today, who emphasized I should start thinking what I want to do for my commissioning. I'll be the first military officer (or non-drafted service member!) in my family (ever) and have no ideas. Not sure how much they will want to be involved/be interested in attending, regardless. What's the general way of approaching this?

Thanks -- as always -- for all the help!

 

[dephyler]

I commissioned on the USS Constitution, in my Summer Whites, surrounded by family and friends. My recruiter had a family issue pop up the night before, so he had a friend of his come out to issue my oath. My wife and my mother each put a shoulder board on. I got a commemorative silver dollar from the mint (~$30) and right before the ceremony, asked the sailor on watch to perform the first salute, and gave him the dollar coin.

The wetting down (most important part ) was at a bar nearby and we had munchies and beer.

My wife and I planned 100% of it. We sent out invitations about 2 weeks before hand because almost everybody was coming from out of town. One thing that might be resonant in your case is that I only invited people that I felt would be supportive of my decision. I didn't invite any friends that I felt would either disagree with my decision, or not be supportive of it.

 

[bucki4lyfe]

A friend of mine (now an O-2) gave me and another selectee an idea...The O-2 had a formal ceremony at the Navy Memorial in DC. He said the navy helped him set it up and he had a few speakers, the formal pinning on, etc. He also said that (and I don't remember why this happened) a bunch of old navy veterans showed up--some even from WWII to sit in the ceremony and congratulate him.

I imagine doing something similar in the mid-August timeframe. Because of my difficulties over the past 7 years to commission in SOME branch of the military, I've developed a lot of friends in the various commissioning programs in which I've been...so I have a lot of people coming in from out of town as well.

In regards to guidance on a ceremony, I think if you set it up and take care of the logistics, there shouldn't be a problem for doing it anywhere...I just happen to know of some other selectees who wanted to do it on the USS Intrepid and were going to be charged $5,000 by the navy for some reason...

 

[FlyinSpy]

Can y'all tell us what you did for your commissioning? My recruiter is at Great Lakes working on his retirement paperwork. I'd hope to have him involved in some way, but am not sure he will still be Active Duty. I spoke to his replacement today, who emphasized I should start thinking what I want to do for my commissioning. I'll be the first military officer (or non-drafted service member!) in my family (ever) and have no ideas. Not sure how much they will want to be involved/be interested in attending, regardless. What's the general way of approaching this?

For DC area people, two popular spots for commissioning ceremonies are the Navy Memorial (downtown DC) and the USS BARRY (at the Navy Yard). There is a scheduling process that goes with reserving either one of them, but I don't think it's terribly complicated. Either would be memorable and would result in some good pics.

An indoor option would be at the Navy Museum at the Navy Yard; I was killing time between meetings that way a few weeks ago and forgot how many cool things they had inside.

 

[bucki4lyfe]

I commissioned on the USS Constitution, in my Summer Whites, surrounded by family and friends. My recruiter had a family issue pop up the night before, so he had a friend of his come out to issue my oath. My wife and my mother each put a shoulder board on. I got a commemorative silver dollar from the mint (~$30) and right before the ceremony, asked the sailor on watch to perform the first salute, and gave him the dollar coin.

The wetting down (most important part ) was at a bar nearby and we had munchies and beer.

My wife and I planned 100% of it. We sent out invitations about 2 weeks before hand because almost everybody was coming from out of town. One thing that might be resonant in your case is that I only invited people that I felt would be supportive of my decision. I didn't invite any friends that I felt would either disagree with my decision, or not be supportive of it.

A few things...

I'm getting ready to do a formal commissioning ceremony, probably sometime in late August and I'm thinking about the details right now.

Dephyler - in your post you mentioned that you set up the whole thing...what did you have done? I can't imagine bringing in all my military friends from out of town just to watch me put some rank on and take another oath.

I've read some posts on people having guest speakers and stuff...what are people's thoughts on that? Who did you have speak? What else did you have at the ceremony? Obviously I'm not looking for a 30 minute deal but something more than 2 minutes...

I'm thinking of doing it at the Navy Memorial in DC...if I had a short enough ceremony, do you think I would need chairs (I can't imagine so)...but if I had some sort of speaker (I have a few Navy O-6 friends) would I have to have a podium?

Basically...I've waited 11 years to be commissioned and I want to make a formal ceremony the greatest thing ever...

Thoughts?

 

[dephyler]

what did you have done? I can't imagine bringing in all my military friends from out of town just to watch me put some rank on and take another oath.

I had to reserve a time slot on the boat, so I had to call and fax some stuff to the site. I found someone to deliver my oath. Had it not been my recruiter, I would've made up a script for them. My wife made invitations at some office supply store. I worked with the events coordinator at the restaurant to make sure they could handle our group at the bar. That was about it

 

[bucki4lyfe]

I had to reserve a time slot on the boat, so I had to call and fax some stuff to the site. I found someone to deliver my oath. Had it not been my recruiter, I would've made up a script for them. My wife made invitations at some office supply store. I worked with the events coordinator at the restaurant to make sure they could handle our group at the bar. That was about it

But for the ceremony, what exactly did you do? Just the oath? : )

 

[dephyler]

Yup. Said my oath, bars put on, salute given, done. Took about 5 minutes

 

[bucki4lyfe]

Yup. Said my oath, bars put on, salute given, done. Took about 5 minutes

Ah, very good. I'm thinking of maybe a little bit more, having a friend of mine (Navy O-6) make a few remarks, maybe even say some myself, play the star spangled banner...etc....

though I have to admit, a nice 5 minutes wouldn't be too bad : )

 

[bucki4lyfe]

Explanation of "scroll" and Timeline of events

Hey folks,

I'm starting this thread with a little bit of emotion...so for that I apologize, but hear me out because I have a few questions. First, for some background, many of you know, through my previous posts, that I have had some problems in the recruiting process. After it took 6-7 months to finally get all of my medical paperwork in (and that was only after going around my recruiter and talking straight to my processor) I finally was medically cleared on 30 June.

Well, from all of my other friends/selectees, it took them about 11-12 total days until they received their final select letters. I've looked at some other posts on here and it's about that same timeline. A friend of mine with the same recruiter as me took 24 days for our recruiter to inform him the letter had already been signed and the commdocs were on the way.

Well, for me it's now 25 June, and have no hope to get the letter before Monday, 27 June...27 days since my medical clearance. I've been bugging my recruiter a lot recently to see what the hold up is...and I get vague answers like "I'm calling today" or "I'm going to email them."

Well, this past Tuesday I spoke with my recruiter for about 15 minutes while he checked the system to see if my letter was there. He told me to "not worry because my name already came back on the scroll, it's just a matter of putting an electronic signature on the final select letter...everything's fine."

Ok, onto the questions:

Am I really fine? Have other people had similar experiences of 4 weeks from med clearance to FS letter? Am I freaking out over nothing?

What is the "scroll"? I tried looking it up on google and here and couldn't find anything...any explanation would be appreciated so I can know what he's talking about (of course, I asked him what it was in an email and he didn't respond to it)

I noticed SavvyPR's timeframe from about med clearance in February to "on the scroll" in late May...a whopping 3 months (and here I'm only worried about 1 month)...is that a normal timeframe?

Basically, what the hell is going on with my process and does anyone have any details on how this crap actually works?

Thanks fools. I hope everyone has a good weekend...for me it's baseball and gun shows. Peace.

 

[kinger]

Not usually a poster, but I understand your frustration as I'm in a similar boat and I may have some answers... so I figured I'd let you know what I know. (but I'm no expert).

You need four boxes checked to get your final select letter signed. Pro Rec from the board, security clearence started, medically cleared and scrolls signed. Scrolls usually take the longest... (you may also need to be assigned to a unit, not sure)

The scrolls are the papers sent to the President or Sec Navy to be "approved" and signed and I think take 9 to 12 weeks.

So being med cleared doesn't start your final select letter, having all boxes checked does.

I'm my case, I had my security clearence started, Med clear and unit done right after My Pro Rec on April 15th. However, my recruiter never got the scroll process started until mid June, I think. So I think I'm waiting on the scrolls, but my 9 to 12 weeks is a guess based on what I've gathered. If anyone has any insight I love it. Sometimes I'm amazed by how difficult it is to get a commission in the Navy, what back door did these recuiters go through?

Sorry if I got anything wrong, but I think I'm pretty close.

 

[skim]

I was in a similiar situation and it took months for my completed paperwork to be even looked at at millington. I kept calling an was told that it will be looked at next month and so on. Turns out it was all sent to an inactive account so it was shown as received but no body was looking at it. It finally took a call to someone higher to light the fire under my recruiter to get the ball rolling. Turns out I wasn't the only one having issues with him.

 

[bucki4lyfe]

Not usually a poster, but I understand your frustration as I'm in a similar boat and I may have some answers... so I figured I'd let you know what I know. (but I'm no expert).

You need four boxes checked to get your final select letter signed. Pro Rec from the board, security clearence started, medically cleared and scrolls signed. Scrolls usually take the longest... (you may also need to be assigned to a unit, not sure)

The scrolls are the papers sent to the President or Sec Navy to be "approved" and signed and I think take 9 to 12 weeks.

So being med cleared doesn't start your final select letter, having all boxes checked does.

I'm my case, I had my security clearence started, Med clear and unit done right after My Pro Rec on April 15th. However, my recruiter never got the scroll process started until mid June, I think. So I think I'm waiting on the scrolls, but my 9 to 12 weeks is a guess based on what I've gathered. If anyone has any insight I love it. Sometimes I'm amazed by how difficult it is to get a commission in the Navy, what back door did these recuiters go through?

Sorry if I got anything wrong, but I think I'm pretty close.

Thanks for this info. For me, I have all 4 of those done...the Pro Rec, sec clearance, and med clearance, and my recruiter TOLD me I was on the scroll (though I have no proof)...so maybe it's coming soon. Who knows...maybe the scroll just came back and the guy is signing it tomorrow?

When my recruiter told me he talked last week with the commander who signs the FS letters, he said the commander was going to sign them "asap". I guess asap meant signing for those which cleared all 4...and maybe I'm not on it?

Ok, I'm going to try to NOT freak out anymore and hopefully everything will start soon...maybe the letter will come tomorrow. What's driving me crazy--my recruiter told me the letter was written, it was just a matter of signing it--so if the guy hasn't done it yet...it makes me think there is a problem. Anyway, thanks to the guys for explaining that stuff. :sleep_125

 

[bucki4lyfe]

Email with my recruiter today:

I asked him to confirm the 4 criteria listed above are, in fact, what you need to get the letter signed. He said yes, and that you also need billeting information, but that he did that "months ago."

He said the hold up may be because the person who signs them wants to personally check everyone's completion of all of the hurdles. Makes sense to me...anyway, I thought folks might like to know that.

For DC area Intel selectees (maybe elsewhere) you need the board's selection, medical and security clearance, name on the scroll, and billeting information for the commander to sign the letter. That letter may come in 2 weeks...or 2 months.

 

[bucki4lyfe]

Sorry for my whining...I received an email last night (for some reason at 2230) that the letter was signed. Hopefully those commdocs will come soon!