Want to be Naval Officer

[spidie]

I am an environmenatl engineer, graduated with my B.S. degree last January along with my E.I.T. certificate. I am currently attending Drexel University for my M.S. My bachelors degree GPA was not great but am hoping that the Navy will look at my M.S. program GPA more than the B.S. By way of physical fittness I am slightly above average but just learned how to swim about 3 months ago. I can swim freestyle 500 yds in about 18 minutes I practice everyday to get better, I mention this because the officer recruiter that I am speaking and working with told me that I need to be able to swim 500 yds in 11:00 min or less. Not as a requirment for the PRT but rather as an evaluation test before attending OCS.
I am interested but less enthusiastically interested in CEC now that I found out that they do not ever go to sea. Do you know if there are any jobs other than nuclear engineer aboard ship. Also my vision (distance) is poor I keep hearing LASEK, or PKR sorry if I spelled any of them wrong but what are they and with poor vision and an asthigmatism should I even think of Pilot NFO or SEAL as far a combat services go. Other than the distance and asthigmatism my depth perseption and peripheral vision is excellent, what are the stats needed for these fields?
Also does anyone know what Crypto or Intel officers do, I absolutely hate (to the point of having nightmares) cubicals. Are there any careers that would place me in a dreaded cubical?
As you can see I have many broad questions any contact information or sites or articles, or even just answers that anyone has would be helpful and greatly appreciated.

 

[Grandmaster235]

Do you know if there are any jobs other than nuclear engineer aboard ship.

Are you kidding? Are there any jobs other than janitor in a hospital?

I absolutely hate (to the point of having nightmares) cubicals. Are there any careers that would place me in a dreaded cubical?

The last CEC officer I met worked in a cubicle. Those kinds of jobs are a possibility for any designator.

 

[spidie]

Thanks but I would like more information as to what jobs the engineers do aboard shipe stuff like that.

 

[Thisguy]

If you hate cubicles, I couldn't really recommend Intel. When we're inport, our squadron Intel O basically sits at his desk all day.

As for CEC, if you haven't checked out www.cec.navy.mil, do so. Just because they don't serve at sea, doesn't mean they don't deploy.

As for what engineering majors do on ships, tons of different jobs, but there really isn't an "engineer" designator on ships.

 

[spidie]

Thanks I will look at that site that you mentioned, do you know anything about the swimming requirment I was told I needed to do 500 yds in 11:00 minor less not as part of the PRT but as an evaluation to be able to attend OCS. But thanks again for your response and your time.

 

[Thisguy]

500 yds in 11:00 is more than enough. In fact, that's quite ambitious. Really, you just need to get comfortble in the pool. The 3rd class swim test (which is given at OCS) is pretty easy. You need to drop off a platform (I forget how high it is), surface, then swim the distance of the pool. You need to swim 50 yds (?) using any stroke (I don't think it was timed). You need to be able float for 5 minutes, and then you need to do some crazy tricks by making a flotation device out of the pants you're wearing...that part caught me off guard.

If you're going NFO, you'll want to exceed these standards, but I'll tell you right now, I couldn't swim 500 yds in any time limit before OCS, and I did fine on the swim test.

 

[spidie]

Thanks I just learned to swim about 3 months ago and can do 500 yds in around 18:00 min I will keep working at it just because I like to max things out and be prepared for anything. Do you know anything about vision standards for pilot or NFO. I heard sometime ago that Navy accepted Laser surgery. I definately don't have the money for that how does anything like that work?

 

[Thisguy]

For pilots its 20/40 correctable to 20/20, PRK waiver available (up to diopters of -8.00).

For NFO its correctable to 20/20 as long as your diopters are -8.00 or lower. I know this because my diopters were -9.00 when I originally applied (needless to say, I ain't an NFO), and if you are outside the limit for diopters, getting PRK won't help anyway, because they look at your pre-op and post-op diopters. Unfortunatley, if you want to have PRK before you apply, you're going to have to foot the bill.

 

[spidie]

Thanks but now a stupid questions - What is a diopter is it the same as an asthigmatism because I know I have that? Also do you mean that the Navy would be willing to pay for PRK?! Along with this do you know if you need 20/20 vision for Marine Gropo officer, and are their pilot standards the same for vision allowing for PRK?

 

[Thisguy]

No, the Navy won't pay for your PRK just for you to apply.

A diopter is your prescription for your glasses. It's not the same as astigmatism. See if you can find a prescription from your last eye exam. That should answer it for you.

I don't know what a Marine Gropo is, but I'm pretty sure the aviation vision standards are the same.

 

[spidie]

"I don't know what a Marine Gropo is"

Sorry going by what some of my friends enlisted in the Marines call themselves from titme to time, Gropo is an infantry marine I think it is supposed to be short for Groundpounder.

"No, the Navy won't pay for your PRK just for you to apply."

I figured it would be when I am active duty not just for applying I should have clariffied that in my original post.

Thank you for all your time and attention and the information that you passed along to me, I appreciate it.

 

[Thisguy]

In that case, I'm pretty sure you can go Marine ground without having uncorrected 20/20 vision, though be careful, you can't apply for infantry, you can only apply for ground, and your specialty will be decided after The Basic School (TBS).

The Navy does have a program where you can get PRK after active duty, but I'm not sure how much funding they're putting into that anymore, or how long the wait is.

 

[spidie]

Thanks for all the help this site is great

 

[chris1982]

I know on the enlisted side of the Navy you can get PRK done, like I had it done. Take a trip to Bethesda, MD for a week and get it done there. I had to run a chit up the chain of command to get it done. I waited for about 4 months after I sent the chit down to Bethesda. The best part of it I now have 20/20 vision and it was free. Cant beat that.