NFO to Army WO questions

[plosky1]

So with the risk of this pissing some people off, I am hoping that someone can help shed some light on my thought process here. Currently I am an NFO in a non-tactical aviation job. I am currently growing where I've been planted, and doing well, but I am interested in doing something more tactical.

I came across the blue to green program which seems right up my alley. From researching this board and others, it appears the process is as follows for officers:

Get conditional release approval from CO.
Get conditional OBLISERV release approval from PERS. (DD-368)
Get accepted on the army side to WO aviation program.

And all the forms that go along with that. My current questions are regarding step two, which is getting OBLISERV release approval. I am currently 2 years into my 6 year contract from flight school, and from everything I've read people have said there's been no approvals, but there's been no information or comments from anyone who's actually tried. The most recent I can find are posts on this forum with a guy in the IRR from 2018 and one for an aircrewman who hasn't updated if he was ever approved or not.

I also read the recent NAVADMIN 142/22 which has removed early separation policy.

My current thought on the matter is its unlikely, but I would still like to follow the road all the way to its end. The critical line in the NAVADMIN that I'm seeing is this:

Service commitments such as enlistment contracts, service obligations for accepting permanent change of station orders, advancements, bonuses, training, etc., will be fulfilled.

However, it doesn't state that it must be fulfilled in the Navy (this is a stretch, I know, but hear me out). DoDi 1304.25 states under 3.9. INTER-SERVICE AND INTER-COMPONENT TRANSFERS. the following:

Obligated military service performed before and after an authorized transfer counts toward fulfillment of the MSO.

Also, DoDi Instruction 1300.04 states under 1.2 Policy subsection D. the following:

Release of a commissioned officer, warrant officer, or enlisted member for a transfer in accordance with this issuance will not constitute a release from fulfillment of the military service obligation established by Sections 651, 10145, 10146, 12104, or 12208 of Title 10, U.S.C.; an active duty obligation in accordance with DoD Instruction (DoDI) 6000.13; any other active duty obligation; or any agreement, law, regulation, or policy of the losing uniformed service. Additional military service performed after such transfer will be counted toward fulfillment of a previous obligation.

Is there any truth in the matter if I'm reading this right? Can this be used in a memo to work with the current NAVADMIN? Has anyone heard of someone doing a green to blue recently (in the past 3 years)? What are my next steps, I'm assuming call PERS, but is there danger in doing that? I don't plan on staying in the Navy past my minimum OBLISERV, but I'm sure my command wouldn't be too pleased if they got a call from PERS stating that a NFO is looking to leave, right?

Thanks.

 

[TyKing]

Why not just stay Navy and do a Warfare transition and become a WSO or EWO? Or you could just do NFO to Pilot and shoot for Jets that way. Pretty sure you can apply for both those programs by the end of your first sea tour.

 

[Mos]

Have you looked at SECNAVINST 1000.7 and MILPERSMAN 1300-081? Those are the service instructions for ISTs. Unfulfilled MSO incurred from flight training is listed as a basis for denying IST applications.

 

[FormerRecruitingGuru]

Most recently coming from the PERS world, I can essentially assure you your IST will be disapproved if you have an unearned service obligation including MSR. You ultimately signed paperwork obligating yourself to serve 6 years post winging as an NFO, not "serve 5 years and attempt an IST after...".

For early outs, the following "circumstances" are the occasions in which I've seen an officer early resignation be approved:

1. Hardship.
2. COVID-19 vaccine refusal (when the mandate was in place).
3. Co-lo.
4. Pro sports athlete in which it was decided he had potential media/recruiting exposure.
5. Marine officer turned Navy officer who was a BUDS Dud. Had no potential for re-designation for USN (was already 1x FOS for O-4) and was accepted into NG.

If you see the trends, it really comes down to extenuating circumstances.

 

[plosky1]

Thanks for the info, I wasn’t expecting it to happen from what I’ve seen but I figured I’d find all the dead ends just in case.

In response to TyKing, I’ve been heavily looking at options like that but I’m particularly interested in flying blackhawks so I may just have to apply once my time is up in the Navy and have an age waiver.

 

[IKE]

I went through the HTs with an NFO retread. Is that no longer a thing?

 

[cfam]

I went through the HTs with an NFO retread. Is that no longer a thing?

It is, but it’s a total crapshoot (less than 10 slots a year for the entire fleet), plus you need both timing and your first sea tour FITREP to work out. Typically they don’t take anyone who was not a first tour EP, and the NFO to Pilot message is usually highly year group specific, so you might only have one chance to be considered. People usually get picked up coming out of their first tour.