Junior enlisted needing advice

[Shakeel Alleyne]

Good morning,

I am avionics technician airman drilling at nosc Atlanta and I'm looking for some guidance regarding my reserve career. I'm new to the navy and the reserves. I originally wanted to join active duty but at the time I went to MEPs it was only reserve contracts so my recruiter advised me to take one and I would be able to switch once I got to boot camp. So now I'm in the reserve and I'm trying to make the best of it but I really don't know anything about the reserve and its not much guidance when it comes to aviation at my nosc or my unit because alot of the older aviation guys are getting ready to retire. I really just want to be assigned with a squadron that works with it reservist. Go on deployments, ATs, and IDT. Can you guys recommend some squadrons to join and career advice?

Thanks in advance

 

[roflsaurus]

I'm active duty so I'm not 100 percent on how the process works. But I would imagine it's something like this. You should have a career couselor at your NOSC. He/she should be the first person you contact. After that you would have to get in contact with the squadron that you want to transfer too. I'm not too familiar with the locations of all the reserve squadrons, but I believe the closest ones to you are in Jacksonville and New Orleans. The best advice I can give you is to get on it now. Big navy is cutting down on active duty ATs big time, and a lot of us are coming for those reserve billets.

 

[vxc961]

Well, one thing you can do is go to the BUPERS website and look into the two/three year recall for recruiters. If you're just starting off, you might be too junior for the job (or it might not interest you), but if you're at all interested, I think it's a good way to learn about how the Navy works, and how to take advantage of some of the good deals available. Plus, there's a chance that once you talk to somebody at BUPERS about that program, they can refer you to another person who might help you. A quick look at the site makes it seem like all the rates except PS and YN are CLOSED for recall, but who knows.

Roflsaurus is also right that you probably have resources closer to home too. Your reserve unit should (in theory) have a career counselor, but odds are he/she doesn't know much more than you. The NOSC one may be more helpful, but for some reason I've found them worthless (maybe because I'm an officer, and they're geared toward the E's?). I've found that digging around the bupersonline website and calling people, getting transferred a million times, then finally getting an answer. Also, serving as a recorder on a Cheif's board (I looked quickly, and it seems like you can be a recorder as a Bluejacket, but I didn't do an exhaustive search) is a nice 2-3 weeks of ADSW that will really show you what you'll need to make CPO in a few years. Good luck! The more guys like you who want to mobilization means more guys like me can stay at home with the kids! Seriously though, good luck!