Trying to decide if becoming A SWO is what I really want

[jrice15]

With my grades and scores my recruiter thinks I could qualify for Surface Warfare Officer.

My main reason for wanting to join the Navy is to get a career started. I have a degree in Bio Medical Science but have had no luck in finding a job using it. I was thinking If I don't like it in 6 years I can get out and have job experience but I dont know if SWO is meaningful experience for the civilian world. I did well enough on the ASVAB that I should be able to have a wider career choice for the Army. I'll be honest...I was leaning towards Navy or Air Force because they seem safer from IEDs and getting shot at. Is this true if war breaks out and I am a SWO? Do they fight in on the ground combat often?

Also I feel like I might be signing my life away... from the brochure: OCS 12 weeks, then Initial Sea tour 27 months , 2nd division sea tour 18 months, Shore tour 24 months Dept head of Sea tour 36 months...is this about 9 years straight on the ship? I'm 28 I want to get married and have kids and a life!! I believe I could easily adapt to and might like military life for the most part but I am close to my family and I am single but I have a friend that would probly be more serious if I had a good career and we could be together and I dont want to feel trapped on a ship for 9 years.... it seems like that could feel like jail. What do you guys think? My recruiter if trying to sell me and I don't know anyone who has been in the Navy. Thanks!

 

[BigRed389]

Sea tours don't actually mean you're out to sea the entire time. 6-9 months are pretty typical for a deployment, and it usually takes at least a year between deployments (depending on other stuff like what kind shipyard work the ship has done to it between deployments), so you can figure that one out pretty easily.

You also don't have to LIVE on the ship...that's pretty much unheard of for an officer to do barring unusual circumstances. You're only signing 4 years of your life away. You can get out after that without penalty, but read the rules on the paperwork/timing of it...basically you need to plan ahead, we don't do 2 week notices.

Shore tour is like the name implies...you generally work on some shore installation somewhere. Can range from post grad school, being a gofer for a big staff, an instructor, or many other oddball options.

Highly unlikely you'll ever be in ground combat, and it's not hard to cherrypick your way out of the really dangerous (or fun) stuff that the community has to fill. Enough guys are wired wrong and think it's fun that you're not likely to get forced into it. That said, on a sea tour, if a major war breaks down, you're in a big steel box floating around that is a very appealing target to an enemy. Read up on the Falklands War to see what can go wrong. Or see what a torpedo does to a smaller ship. Or USS COLE, USS SAMUEL B ROBERTS, USS PRINCETON, USS FIREBOLT, among many others. Unlikely, but shit can get real.

If you did well in bio medical science and have (or can knock out) the med school prereq's, you could also lat transfer over to Medical Corps after the 1st (or 2nd) sea tours and get picked up to go to USUHS to become a doctor if that catches your interest. There are other communities as well, but with a biomed degree, that would probably be right up your alley.

At times, a single day on the ship can feel like jail. You get your good days and bad, some ships are better or worse than others. I've had some great moments, and some that made me want to punch something...except I was surrounded by nothing but people and metal.

 

[BusyBee604]

What do you guys think? My recruiter if trying to sell me and I don't know anyone who has been in the Navy. Thanks!

I'd like to take the time to share my thoughts on your situation. but I know little about you. You didn't take the time to properly fill in your profile as required upon joining AW, so I haven't the time, (or any info on you), to give a meaningful response.
BzB

 

[exNavyOffRec]

lots of words

Given your age you probably have one shot to get picked up, so decide fast, you have to be commissioned by age 29, which means you need to be in OCS 3 month before that.

 

[jrice15]

Thanks Big Red that is useful information. My gpa is not that high....about 2.6 and I scored 52 on the ASTB OAR so ill be lucky to make it in and would have to probably get reallly lucky to get transferred to Med corps. thanks

also u said it can sometimes feel like jail. Any regrets?

 

[Picaroon]

Based on the fact that many very motivated SWOs end up bitter and that you already seem bitter about the inherent commitment in something you haven't applied for yet, I'd venture that it would be unwise for you to join the military.

I am single but I have a friend that would probly be more serious if I had a good career and we could be together

Geez dude

 

[zab1001]

You don't belong in the military.

 

[exNavyOffRec]

My gpa is not that high....about 2.6

That is very low, low enough that some NRD's would do a field reject letter.

 

[sevenhelmet]

It sounds like you aren't sure what you want out of life, so I would suggest re-visiting why you wanted that biochem degree in the first place. You say you want to start a career- in what? The military COULD be an avenue for job experience and even higher education, but you need to be 100% sure you want to join, regardless of community, as you will have YEARS of service to earn (and pay back) that experience and training. Most folks who join the military as officers really want to be there, so you will be competing with a lot of very talented and motivated folks, regardless of what community/branch you enter.

Family is a possibility, but conditions are harsh. Long stretches away from home while in probable danger, and frequent moves are just a few of the challenges faced by military families. It takes a special kind of gal to put up with those stresses and still love you when you come home at the end of the day- or year. Lots of us have wonderful family lives, but, unfortunately, some do not. On the flip side, you will definitely make friends whom on most days you are closer to than your own siblings, gain numerous intangible benefits that come with service, and ultimately wind up having the most difficult, stressful, interesting, and rewarding experience of your life. There are two kinds of people- those who seek the path of least resistance, and those who seek the path of most reward.

Bottom line, if you have to ask...

 

[jmcquate]

I'll be honest...I was leaning towards Navy or Air Force because they seem safer from IEDs and getting shot at. Is this true if war breaks out and I am a SWO? Do they fight in on the ground combat often?
Go out in the world and get a job. Why should the Navy or Air Force pay for your résumé enhancement. The men and women on this site take their professions seriously.

 

[Renegade One]

With my grades and scores my recruiter thinks I could qualify for Surface Warfare Officer.

My main reason for wanting to join the Navy is to get a career started. I have a degree in Bio Medical Science but have had no luck in finding a job using it. I was thinking If I don't like it in 6 years I can get out and have job experience but I dont know if SWO is meaningful experience for the civilian world.

Tough love time. Others (see above) have said the same thing, probably in a more gentle way than I can muster. But here's my $.02:

A commission as a Navy Officer…REGARDLESS of designator/career specialty, is just not the last off-ramp before welfare, unemployment, or taking an alternate career/job that you didn't really imagine during your undergraduate years. Pretty small "niche" in the Navy for whatever it was you envisioned then.

Pick your MSR…4? 6?…8 years?…Naval service is "varsity employment". Long hours…lots of responsibility…flexible and ever-changing schedules…lots of time away at the beginning (training pipe and first sea tour, to be sure)...lots of associated BS along the way (but probably only slightly less than in any corporate environment).

It's "varsity hard" on marriage and families. Other threads on this forum discuss this chapter and verse. Go read them.

My bottom line: If you lack a "fire in your belly" to do this thing, don't. You won't be happy.

 

[A_Longo88]

I'm loving this discussion. Hopefully the message welcoming me into the SWO life will be out soon.

 

[BackOrdered]

Also I feel like I might be signing my life away... from the brochure: OCS 12 weeks, then Initial Sea tour 27 months , 2nd division sea tour 18 months, Shore tour 24 months Dept head of Sea tour 36 months...is this about 9 years straight on the ship?

In order to be a successful SWO, you MUST be motivated to be one. The qualifications alone will kick your butt if you can't build yourself up to cover ALOT of dry material (Granted there are some fun topics). All the guys I saw who were epic JO SWOs came to the ship starving for knowledge and put forth the time like they had nothing else to think about (even the married ones who do think about the home life and push forth swinging). The guys who struggled the most were worried about what you are describing over what they came there to do.

 

[Steve Wilkins]

My main reason for wanting to join the Navy is to get a career started.

Wrong answer. Being a naval officer isn't a fall back plan. Do not join. If you finish OCS, which I don't think you would, I will make it my mission to find the ship that you get assigned to and then I'll have a nice conversation with your department head and CO.

Just reading your post I can tell you that the military is not the right place for you. You will not be happy and the people who have to work for you will be even unhappier.

 

[picklesuit]

Go away.
I can't tell if you are a troll, a pussy, or really confused. Either way, you are asking the wrong people the wrong questions the wrong way. Maybe the Peace Corps or McDonalds is hiring, but looking to occupy the safest job you can weasel into with the least amount of time from home just to get a paycheck because nobody hired you out of college sounds like the worst kind of wrong.
Please, save yourself the trouble, and go away.
Pickle