Is this a viable way to get in a plane?

[Integer]

A friend has just entered boot camp from DEP last month. The enlisted recruiter told him to go nuke since it's the hardest program. Here's an e-mail excerpt:

If things happen along the way that interfere with my becoming a pilot, at
the very least I'll have the best paying entry-level job in the Navy and
I'll have a better chance of some sort of leadership position later on down
the line. I'll be an E-4 in less than 8 months from now and an e-5 by the
time I'm finished with initial schooling. That's the same rank as my
recruiting officer right now, who is making 64,000 a year. And then the
jump to officer status is almost granted to Nuclear Field graduates.

Does anybody know how the recruiter could possibly make 64 grand when E-4 maxes out at 22 grand base pay? For a recruiter to make 30 extra grand a year, he must be recruiting a lot of nukes, which is why it sounds fishy (he wanted me to go nuke also) which is why I ask.

Also--E-5 after nuke school, does that make sense? This is probably NUPOC he's talking about.

But let's say it is fact. So another question--what's better, E-5 or O-1? I know O-1 pays more base pay, but are there any valid reasons why someone would want E-5 over O-1 if they could go either way? Two reasons I can think of is that an E-5 has less responsibilities and is half-way up the enlisted ladder. Could my friend really become a 20-21 year old E-5?

 

[Goliath112]

????? Do you know anything about the Navy? ????

 

[NuSnake]

uuuhhhhhh?????

If a frog had wings he wouldnt bump his ass all the time

 

[Integer]

Thanks for two rude responses. I've done tons of research and every day, every post and google search, I learn more. I know there's BAH and more things that add up to base pay. I also know that recruiters get bonuses for nukes. I also know recruiters can lie.

To clarify, that e-mail was from my friend to me. What he said in his e-mail is the way he's going at becoming a pilot, and he has entered boot camp. That was also the way suggested to me.

Thanks

 

[Spin]

With regard to becoming a pilot or any officer .... I would also talk to a Orricer recruiter. Tell him u had an idea (the whole thing your enlsited recruiter told u) and see what he says. He too might play with you but I've found that Officer recruiters are more honest when it comes to tallk about the enlisted route. Just my experience1

 

[AZSkegee]

Integer, I think you might be a little misinformed about the recruiter's pay, here are my facts to back up my reasoning, If you go to this website Defenselink.mil, you will find information on military pay and bonuses, we even have bonuses for veterinarians, but none for recruiters. also my former chief was a enlisted recruiter in alabama he told me that they do get special points etc for recruiting college grads. thats just the information I know, you might want to ask some more shipmates and gather their opinions about this

 

[NuSnake]

you are welcome for my rude response!!!!, haha jk

If a frog had wings he wouldnt bump his ass all the time

 

[mbeaser]

I would ask the officer recruiter for an opinion as well. Be sure you are talking to someone wearing khakis that have something besides anchors on the collar, then you know you are talking to an officer. I will give you my opinion as an enlisted person. I would never go nuke. They have an attrite rate of something like 90%. I scored a 99 on the ASVAB twice (my two years was up on the test I took in high school when I decided to leave college to join the Navy) and didn't even need to take the nuke qual test because of my scores. I was warned by a friend that nuke isn't as great as they make it sound, so I went IT (well, it was RM back when I went RM). I was first in my class in A school, so I got "push button" to 3rd class (E4) and was getting paid for it 3 days before my year mark (normally after passing an advancement exam there is a 6 month wait to get paid for it during which the person has the responsibility and wears the crow of the higher rank but doesn't get paid for it, called being frocked). I got paid for E5 with 2 years 5 months and 20 days (I scored high enough to get paid 3 months earlier than average) and for E6 with 6 years 6 months and 20 days (average was 10 years 6 months when I made E6, its a little lower now that they offer the 1 year waiver for Early Promote evals that started right when I was first eligible for the E6 exam anyway). As for nuke being "the best paying entry level job in the Navy," I doubt it. Nuke school is long. Very long. So, many will have advanced up to the same level anyway. They do get some honking big bonuses, but mine aren't shabby either. You could choose a rate where you were an aircrewman and get flight pay before a nuke even though about finishing school (or sea pay, or sub pay). I can tell you with my paychart in front of me that being an officer is going to pay a lot (A LOT) more. OwhateverE pay isn't shabby, but more money would certainly be made as an officer.

 

[mbeaser]

Oh, and your friend said the recruiter was an E5. If the E5 recruiter was a nuke (pretty common) without about 8 years (2151.90/mo--25822.80/yr) and was getting reenlistment bonus payments (about 3k per year), living in San Diego (1303/mo housing), sub pay (they can get that on shore duty for up to 3 years if they are going to go back to subs, 250/mo), comrats (food allowance, about 3k per year) and recruiting pay (375/mo) then they'd be getting around 47k a year (the Navy likes to value intangibles, like commissary, medical, dental and how much you'd have to save for retirement to get the same payout, which would total to 64.5k for our hypothetical recruiter, as figured by staynavy.navy.mil). So, while it could be said that the recruiter is making the equivalent of about 64k a year, there is a lot of smoke and mirrors being employed here. I'd take it all with a brick of salt. And, just a friendly word of advice from your local "I got screwed out of the Navy College fund" IT1, if it isn't in the contract that you sign then you didn't get it, no matter what was said to you by whom. Good luck,
Missy

 

[jaerose]

If you want to be a pilot, there are much better ways to get there. Do you have any college? If you have some, then look into BDCP and other programs (I'm paid E-5 and haven't been to any school yet)! If none, then maybe go NROTC...if done, then just try to get an OCS contract with the job you want. You might have to wait a bit for pilot, though. If you want to be a pilot and you could go to OCS, then straight to flight training, the why would you go through enlisted boot camp, an extremely difficult school and spend x number of years doing that before going to OCS when you can take a direct route? Unless you're flying a nuclear powered aircraft (unlikely...at least right now), then really it's not that advantageous to you...unless you, or your friend has bad grades and cannot get qualified for the position you want. Your friend might have gotten suckered into enlisting so the recruiter could fill a quota (hate to say it, but not everyone has good ethics). If you want to know all of your options...contact an officer programs recruiter.

Good luck,
JR