New to the forum

[spinspilot]

Hey everyone,

Im new to the forums and I tried reading many of the posts for information before asking. A lot of information is spread throughout the site and so far has been very informative. Most of the information I wanted was bits and pieces here and there, so I'll just ask anyway. (sorry)
Vision- Not great, dont know what my vision is, have to ask an optometrist. I just wear glasses or contacts, nothing serious like stigmatism. just not great vision. I heard, and read, a lot about PRK though info on the site is sorta everywhere and scattered, just curious about the Do's and Dont's of the procedure, when to get it, etc.
Right now im 19 and i have half a semester of college done. I was accepted to University of North Florida in jacksonville FL for August. They have NROTC so ill probably begin ROTC classes. Is this a good idea? or just go through recruitment after college? I have some flight experience , Private pilot with Instrumetn rating and commercial single checkride soon. I know the qustions are very basic and you guys probably here them all the time :sleep_125 , sorry about that. thanks for any info,
Anthony :icon_tong

 

[VarmintShooter]

Eyesight ...
see an optometrist and bounce your eyesight against the requirements for flight, NFO, or whatever else you're considering. You can have 20/40 vision and wear glasses, so surgery may not be required.

As for commissioning methods ...
You may or may not be able to just "begin ROTC classes." It is up to the Skipper whther or not to accept non-scholarship students into the classes, so your best bet is to go and speak to the staff at the ROTC unit (probably a LT). If it were me, I'd try like hell to get the Navy to pay for my college (oh wait, I did get them to pay), but you could just wait and talk to someone when you're done. Not sure why you'd want to pay for it if you didn't have to. Talk to the unit for a more comprehensive list of your options.

Good luck and welcome to AW!

 

[zippy]

I would absolutely contact the UNF unit and talk to them about joining as a non-scholarship mid- then you can compete for a scholarship if you want, or an andvanced standing slot- provided you decide that NROTC is for you. Someone at the UNF unit should be able to go through the ins and outs of getting PRK with you as well.

 

[spinspilot]

interesting

Learn something new every day. Wasnt aware that i might not be able to take ROTC classes. I will definitely look into that and speak to someone at UNF about it. If they can pay for it, even better. Do most people in the forums agree that ROTC is the preffered route in, or enlistment after school?

 

[zippy]

Learn something new every day. Wasnt aware that i might not be able to take ROTC classes. I will definitely look into that and speak to someone at UNF about it. If they can pay for it, even better. Do most people in the forums agree that ROTC is the preffered route in, or enlistment after school?

Wheter or not you can take ROTC classes is dependent on the academic policy of the school and unit. At my school there was only one, maybe two, NROTC courses that the school would accept for credit (the others were listed as non-credited overloads or something), and those were the only ones that non NROTC students could take if they wanted to.

As for ROTC or enlistment being the "preffered route in", they are different routes entirely- with different end products. NROTC produces officers and enlisting/bootcamp route produces enlisted personnel. Perhaps you are refferring to OCS??? There are priors on the board who can talk a lot more about it, but I would say that if your goal is to become an officer and you are in college now and plan to continue, seek an accession program that produces officers (NROTC, BDCP, OCS) and do not finish school and enlist- you would be doing so for the "wrong reason".

 

[Steve Wilkins]

Right now im 19 and i have half a semester of college done. I was accepted to University of North Florida in jacksonville FL for August.

Do you not like women or something? Any self-respecting Floridian would be going to UF.

Go Gators!

 

[webmaster]

Hey everyone,

Im new to the forums and I tried reading many of the posts for information before asking. A lot of information is spread throughout the site and so far has been very informative. Most of the information I wanted was bits and pieces here and there, so I'll just ask anyway. (sorry)
Vision- Not great, dont know what my vision is, have to ask an optometrist. I just wear glasses or contacts, nothing serious like stigmatism. just not great vision. I heard, and read, a lot about PRK though info on the site is sorta everywhere and scattered, just curious about the Do's and Dont's of the procedure, when to get it, etc.
Right now im 19 and i have half a semester of college done. I was accepted to University of North Florida in jacksonville FL for August. They have NROTC so ill probably begin ROTC classes. Is this a good idea? or just go through recruitment after college? I have some flight experience , Private pilot with Instrumetn rating and commercial single checkride soon. I know the qustions are very basic and you guys probably here them all the time :sleep_125 , sorry about that. thanks for any info,
Anthony :icon_tong

Anthony, welcome to the forum. Great example of a well thought out post, asking for help. Seems that others have already answered. But I will throw in my 2 cents. Take the time out, and go talk to the NROTC unit. The Officers there, and the recruiters out in town have all the up to date information that we (for the most part) on this forum are lacking. If something has you confused about what they are saying, we can gladly shed some light on it, and raise any BS flags. As many will tell you on here, gotta throw yourself into the process, and you are at the perfect age and time in college to start laying out your plans. NROTC vs OCS, there are so many pros and cons to each. In my opinion, you would be best served going the NROTC route. You would gain insight into the Navy, participate in Summer cruises, all the built in support and experience from the NROTC staff to assist you in your decisions, and finally, the opportunity to get your education paid through scholarship. I think one item that doesn't get as much attention on here is the support an NROTC provides to you, and your college education. They are there to counsel and help you through college, and over any rough spots, above and beyond what the school is doing for you.

Finally, I think the best part of NROTC for you, is the service selection, and I wouldn't say "BETTER" chance of getting aviation, but as the Needs of the Navy dictate, when you graduate if you were trying OCS, and there weren't any pilot slots, well, sorry you are **** out of luck. Whereas with NROTC, at least you have some to compete for.

Looks like you are on the right track, have fun in school (though I agree with Steve, you need to be over at UF instead)... read as shameless plug for our school.

 

[spinspilot]

Well, ROTC sounds good, ill be calling UNF after the holiday weekend. By the way, I'd rather go to UF too, but have you checked their entrance requirements lately, aint gonna happen for me. Besides, iv been up to the school and I dont think ill have a problem with the women. ( than again I never do :icon_wink ) The information so far has been great, i really appreciate the help. another question, does having flight experience add any value to the chances of getting a pilot slot? Just wondering.

 

[flynsail]

Do not call UNF because that will be a waste of a phone call. The NROTC unit is located at Jacksonville University. Probably a good idea to call before noon as well, since it is summer break there.

Plan to have some reliable transportation, should you plan to attend UNF and be involved with NROTC. As was the case in the past, not all NROTC classes were offered at UNF. Therefore, you might have to drive to JU 2-3 times a week for your Naval Science class. It could have changed though, since more and more Midshipman are choosing UNF over JU.

Just send me a PM if you have specific questions. I can even give you the name of a civilian Doctor who has performed PRK on many of us SNA's coming out of Jax.

 

[webmaster]

does having flight experience add any value to the chances of getting a pilot slot? Just wondering.

Read:

• thread 140 (dude, that was A LONG TIME AGO) post I made on flight time...
• pre OCS flight time...
• Flight Experience A Plus??
• Is this true? Flight experience necessary?
• Prior flight experience vs. IFS

 

[squeeze]

Do you not like women or something? Any self-respecting Floridian would be going to UF.

Go Gators!

ya... just not the ones that are any good at baseball.

OOOhhhhh

Hook 'em

 

[spinspilot]

Gotcha

Webmaster,
Thanks for the links, very useful.

 

[ACurry]

I went to Jacksonville University and the unit there also includes UNF. You should be able to take the classes as a civilian since thats how I did it at first, and you'll just register for them through UNF and take them at JU I believe. Although, I will warn you that scholorship doesn't include room and board but JU will cover the cost for you instead of it being out of your pocket later on. So you may want to trasfer there later on if you decide to. Good Luck!! PM me if you have any questions since your interested in the Unit I just left.

 

[hornetframer]

the website for JUNROTC is http://nrotc.ju.edu/NROTC Unit Staff.htm You will need to talk to LT Purvis. He is the Freshman and scholarship recruiter for the unit. He can give you any information you need. As long as you meet the requirements, there should be no reason why you can not get in. You can still take ROTC Classes even if you are not in the Unit. There have been plenty of people that have taken the classes that were not even in ROTC. Like ACurry and I believe flynsail, I graduated from JU as well.

 

[spinspilot]

Called UNF

Ok, I made the call to Lt.Purvis. He informed me that I had three options for ROTC. 1. Register for an Intro to Naval science course, and the lab (Drill), If I like how it goes, I can make an application for College program student. If accepted, I am then part of the unit. Though I pay for tuition.
2. Initially send in the college program app. and be part of the unit from the get go. I will be emailing him for this application though i might take option 1 to start with.
3. After the first year (or semester, cant remember) I can send the app for the scholorship.
For those that have done this, sound fairly normal? He also said that I would have to pay for PRK and have it done before my junior year before selection.
I think i might just go with option 1 so as to raise my gpa before i send in the application for college program.

Anthony