Retired Chief - Subs Son trying to obtain an OCS slot

[ChiefLiam]

My son is a graduate of FSU with a BS in Finance. Honors. Worked in Az for 6 months in Finance/Accounting for a fortune 500 firm. Back at home in Florida. Trying to find a way to get into Navy OCS. Jock.Soccer player. 3.5 cum need some help. I am an ex recruiter and the local one is giving my son a lot of BS.

Help

FCC(SS) L.M., USNR

 

[webmaster]

Chief, welcome to the website.

I moved your post to a thread of its own. There should be some members on here with current information to help you out.

Anything in particular that the recruiter is making you leering of? It appears that your son is very competitive.

Wink, Ea6bflyr, RockyMtnNFO, any comments or thoughts?

How about you any of you that were recently selected for OCS? Chime in and help out.

John

 

[Steve Wilkins]

Chief, welcome to the website.

I moved your post to a thread of its own. There should be some members on here with current information to help you out.

Anything in particular that the recruiter is making you leering of? It appears that your son is very competitive.

Wink, Ea6bflyr, RockyMtnNFO, any comments or thoughts?

How about you any of you that were recently selected for OCS? Chime in and help out.

John

Dude, we taught you better than that. Don't feed the Noles man, don't feed the Noles.

 

[webmaster]

Dude, we taught you better than that. Don't feed the Noles man, don't feed the Noles.

LOL, yeah, my first thought was FSU? But, you see, us Gators can help that "other FL school" alumni/graduates out at times. You know, not everyone is lucky enough to be one of us, no? [/threadjack]

 

[Steve Wilkins]

I don't know. I might have to dig deep for this one. My recollection of FSU is of those b_astards....oops sorry, I mean students...throwing beer bottles at us on our way back to the vehicle after the game in Talahassee. So I guess I'm still kind of bitter.

Good thing this guy's a retired Chief, or I might just keep on clicking through.

So Chief, what's the problem that your son has?

 

[HighDimension]

My recollection of FSU is of those b_astards....oops sorry, I mean students...throwing beer bottles at us on our way back to the vehicle after the game in Talahassee. So I guess I'm still kind of bitter.

If this was after the last UF/FSU game in tally then sorry if we hit you ;p I was having a good ole time tho =) j/k... sorta...

 

[Steve Wilkins]

If this was after the last UF/FSU game in tally then sorry if we hit you ;p I was having a good ole time tho =) j/k... sorta...

Actually, I think it was before you were in middle school.

 

[ChiefLiam]

Retired Chief (subs) Son trying to obtain OCS slot

Thanks for the quick response.

Here is the deal:
1. Recruiter had him fill out a direct ship package. Scheduled a PRT and was trying to ship him to boot camp before end of month.
2. I am a former Recruiter myself---I know the April/May recruiting goals pain.
3. My son was told once in bootcamp he could apply for OCS and would certainly get picked up.
4. He said the Navy's policy was to recruit Officers from within the current ranks
5. After my son was in the recruiting office for 90 minutes the Chief visited this young recruiter and I started to ask pointed questions.....that ended the discussion.
6. It left a bitter taste with my son---first time he had talked with a recruiter

So how much of this is true.? Does one need to sign up as a deck seaman to have a chance at OCS? If so my son will probably opt for law school

My son took his LSAT in Feb and is waiting on law schools. He also is very much interested in the NAVY Officer programs.

He is a sharp Kid. A student/athlete.... but my "Golden Wreath" recruiter let him/I down.

25 years ago to win a "Golden Wreath" meant something as was Dolphins and the "Hat"

Need some advice on how Sean should start the process of application/recruitment without some vulture only concerned about his own goals

Thanks

ChiefLiam

Chief, welcome to the website.

I moved your post to a thread of its own. There should be some members on here with current information to help you out.

Anything in particular that the recruiter is making you leering of? It appears that your son is very competitive.

Wink, Ea6bflyr, RockyMtnNFO, any comments or thoughts?

How about you any of you that were recently selected for OCS? Chime in and help out.

John

 

[webmaster]

1. Recruiter had him fill out a direct ship package. Scheduled a PRT and was trying to ship him to boot camp before end of month.

Chief, I am completely dismayed by this, and glad that you were there to help provide your son with guidance.

I am NOT a recruiter, but I am a Mustang, and know full well some of the shennanigans that recruiters can pull. You and I both know that trying to go the enlisted to officer route is NOT a sure bet, and is a difficult and more time consuming road to go. For some, like me, it was what I needed, and what worked best (ie I didn't have the right attitude/aptitude, nor $$ for college after highschool). Your son sounds like he is doing great, and has set himself up to achieve any of his goals, whether it is a commission or going to law school.

To answer your question, he does not have to enlist to be competitive for OCS.

Now, the current selection rates for OCS, I do not know. Maybe Wink or some others here on the website do know. In particular, what is your son interested in getting selected for? Aviation?

I would say that there are good recruiters out there, as evidenced by a lot of young men and women on this website that have been picked up for that program, and that you got one that was trying to pull a fast one to meet a quota.

Is there a regional recruiting office you can go through? Or a local NROTC that could point you in the right direction to seek assistance?

It appears you fall under NRD Miami, here is their website:
http://www.cnrc.navy.mil/miami/default.htm

Also, here is a list of contact numbers for their other stations:
http://www.cnrc.navy.mil/miami/EPO/NRS%20Listing.htm

 

[Sabre170]

There were a couple of guys in my OCS class who has crappy recruiters. They basically did all the work, with very little guidance from their recruiters. They were selected but frustrated with the process, then having to wait almost a year before going to OCS. With your help and initiative on your son's part, you should be able to get the paperwork (SF86, PRT, Testing, and other info to put together a package for subbittal, and if the recruiter was still being an idiot, I would go to his boss and request help.

 

[Wankertank]

You know...this same exact thing happened to me when I first walked into the recruiters office in Tally. These enslited recruiters only seem to want you to join the enlisted ranks first and then try to get into OCS. Anytime a straight shot to OCS was mentioned by me I got some BS about how my grades werent competitive (3.2 gpa...not that bad), or chances are much better if currently enlisted.

After being a bit discouraged and finding out about these message boards, I found the officer recruiters phone number on Navy.com and gave him a call. Low and behold..I found the right person to talk to. Very knowledgeable about the process and very encouraging as well.

I CAN'T stress enough how necessary it is to talk to an Officer recruiter if you are looking to become an officer.

Oh yeah...go Noles!

 

[Ex Rigger]

Here's another site where your son could get more gouge.

www.usnavyocs.com

 

[flynsail]

Chief,

Hopefully, with the links Webmaster provided, your son will be able to talk to an officer recruiter. You also mentioned his interest in law school. There is a program out there for law students. Check out the JAG Corps site at http://www.jag.navy.mil/Careers/CareersSP.htm

There should be no reason why he has to enlist before going to OCS. Let us know how everything goes. Good luck to you and your son.

 

[HeyJoe]

Flesh-peddling

Chief,

Hopefully, with the links Webmaster provided, your son will be able to talk to an officer recruiter. You also mentioned his interest in law school. There is a program out there for law students. Check out the JAG Corps site at http://www.jag.navy.mil/Careers/CareersSP.htm

There should be no reason why he has to enlist before going to OCS. Let us know how everything goes. Good luck to you and your son.

From the posts above, it appears to be a somewhat common practice to "seduce" young aspirants seeking a commissioning path into enlisting first. This is flesh-peddling and driven by pressure to make quotas/recruiting goals. While some bright-eyed youth could use some seasoning (mentioned by at least one poster), it is a shame that some recruiters don't give the full picture and try to divert youthful and sometimes naive teenagers into thinking that their best option is to try to get a commissioning path by way of boot camp. Let me say some of the finest officers I have served with indeed went that path and make superb leaders because they have seen the "downstairs and upstairs" side of the "Nav".

That said, the flesh-peddling doesn’t stop at the recruiting hurdle. It shifts to Millington where the Detailers and Placement folks ply their trade (no apologies, you know who you are and what you do…needs of the Navy!). Once you get to the fleet, they control the horizontal and the vertical. Only gouge I found that works there is to know where you want to go, get that command to request up the Placement side so your Detailer has to make it happen for you. Otherwise, there’s always those great deals the Detailer is trying to work with Placement to fill with nobody’s name on them. Learn all you can about the process, talk to a former Flesh-peddler (although I always got the feeling that they have some sort of secret handshake or oath and don’t tell all). They always seem to get the primo assignments coming out of their world, too. No ax to grind on my part, just a heads up to work your own destiny.

 

[huskerfan5]

I am currently talking with an officer recruiter. I contacted the local enlisting office and got the number to the nearest officer recruiter. You might want to go directly to the horses mouth so to say.
Once I called the officer recruiter, I had absolutley no problems.

Good luck