Who here is in the Navy? What do you do? Ive decided Im gonna go through the enlisted side. Grades in HS and SAT score wasnt good enough for OCS. Ive been thinking about it for over a year..

 

My brother just joined, he's in FL right now going through his 17 weeks of AIT.

If you're thinking about joining, you should hurry. The Navy is cutting 3,000 mid-career sailors.

I was talking to my buddy a week ago on skype and he was telling me he ran into someone who was joining the Army and had a 1yr MEP date. MEP is just to see if you can qualify for the Army (**** test, physical, etc). I'm with a group on this deployment who unfortunately works for the Navy. The Army and Navy are totally different. The Army has different levels of punishment (ie: smoking, counseling), as for the Navy, I've already came close to getting an Art 15 because I was doing something that was allowed on my last deployment. The Navy MP's that I work with said they don't like the Navy and are getting out, but that's just like any service, it's either you like it or you don't. I've also seen that the Navy is more of an individual thing, say you want to reenlist, you gotta do your own packet. You want to PCS to another place, gotta do you own packet, etc. But, I'm not in that branch so it's just a different life style to me.

I'm going to quit while I'm ahead, because I was going to talk more about the Army and you want answers about the Navy. So, this is what I told my little brother 'if you don't want to go to the battlefield, join the Navy and still travel to badass places'.

Best of luck with joining if you do.

 

 

I am a Navy veteran. I was an Electricians Mate (EM) for 4 years. My last duty station was the USS Yellowstone AD-41. Before I joined, I was tested. I would suggest that you obtain the ASVAB practice test. Your scores are the most important aspect of starting your career. If your grades in HS were not that great because you did not apply yourself, now is the time to apply yourself and perform well on the ASVAB.

If you score well on the ASVAB you could qualify for Electronics Technician (ET) or Computer related ratings and that will serve you well after 4 years should you decide to become a civilian. No one can know how they will feel about the Navy after 4 years so plan now.

Study and practice before you take the ASVAB!

 

This is a big one, now getting in is going to be harder than say 2004-2007ish when just about anyone could get in the military.

What was said about the ASVAB is a big thing too, its been eleven years since I took the ASVAB, I did pretty good, but wasn't really trying to terribly hard. In the Army if you ever want to reclass you need a GT score of at least 110 to increase your options, not to sure about the Navy. From what I've seen in three deployments to the middle east and two trips to Korea with the Army is that if you want to be in the "suck" go Army or Marines if you want more technical stuff go Navy or Air Force. Most of what I know from the other branches of service, I'm in the Army, comes from what I've heard and observed so take it for what its worth. A lot of the Naval guys I've met while in Iraq were either electronics warfare or military police/customs guys.

I don't know if the Navy has a similar program but the Army has green to gold, where enlisted guys go to OCS after a couple years in, might be something to look into.

Biggest piece of advice I can give you is get what you can out of the military when it comes to different schooling and the tuition assistance for college because, again this is from the Army side of the house, (re-)enlistment bonuses are getting small. Good luck!

"GI Beans and GI Gravy, GI wish I'd joined the Navy"

 

I could not agree more. I was a slacker in HS but was able to score high on the ASVAB. I chose ET "Electronics Technician" and I really enjoyed my time in. While in I went to college and got my AAS in Electronics Engineering with the Navy paying 75% of the tuition. I got out in 98 after 8 years and have a job in the telecom industry making great $$$. I will not get rich but we live better then a lot of folks.

A few things the Navy has going for it versus a ground force is on deployments you usually have hot water for showers, you sleep in a bunk each night, and the food is decent

 

Sorry to sidetrack this conversation, but I am just dying to hear the rest of this (or should I say the other side) story!!!

 

Former ET1/SS... I was a nuke, Electronics Technician on a submarine. I did 6 and got out. There were many, many positives about my time in. There were also quite a few things I didn't like. Feel free to PM me about either submarine duty, or the nuclear field, or the Navy in general. I'll give you a honest and factual overview about what to expect.

Not true.... There is someone in each command that is responsible for all reenlistment packets. He or she may have you do some of the paperwork, but ultimately the responsibility falls on them. If you are dumb enough to do their job, they'll certainly let you.

 

Eh... the Navy is Article 15 happy... or as they call it Captains Mast. I narrowly avoided it too many times to count, and I still managed to promote to E-6 in about 5 years.

 

My kid is Navy he's Engineering, petty officer 1st class currently has a land assignment in Maryland.. The thing about the Navy you want to be fully aware of is when you assigned to a ship you WILL be at sea about 9 months out of the year. If you dont have a wife or kids yet that cool but you start settling down like my Kid has, he got married and they had a kid.. The deployment cycles are a real drag after that. I live in Utah he's stationed on the land gig in Maryland so I've only been able to see him and the new grandson once this year. Me and the Wife don't like the family separation part of the Navy.. We actually saw him more when he was in San Diego stationed on a ship but he was gone 9 months out of the year he didn't see his wife and kid all that time so he took the Maryland thing across the country..
Before the kid got the wife and the grandson we all loved the navy. Been a great thing for my son. He's the kind of person who thrives in that type of environment..

 

As of right now we're still living civilized on deployment, at least for a few more months. A/C, hot showers, mattresses, gyms, the food's ok, it isn't out of a bag and cooked with hot water yet.

/hijack

 

Hey Migdaddy,

I am in the Navy active duty right now on the aviation side. PM me if you also want to take a stab at aviation. I can tell you a lot about it! I've been in 4 years and seen more than 18+ countries. I just reenlisted for six more years. I LOVE what I do. I work on the MH-60S helicopter. My rate or job is an aviation machinist mate. The abbreviation for aviation machinist mate is AD. I am an AD2, The 2 stands for E-5. GO AVIATION!!!

 

My last deployment I lived in a tent with 40 other people, and if you had to go to the bathroom, all you had to do was cover your weapon up (out of sight, out of mind). So, on this deployment they forced me to wear thigh holsters, and I hate them especially if I need to run or sit down, so I took my holster off my thigh, put it in a draw, because the MA who is in charge told us NCO's that if we take our holster off, put it under the desk or in a drawer. So I go to the bathroom while there was a Navy MP in the station, and he leaves, I come back and put my weapon back on my thigh, he comes in bitching telling me not to leave me weapon again, and I told him it wasn't a big deal because it was in a drawer that I locked, and the main door of our building has a combo lock on it.

Later that day, he leaves and puts a Navy E-4 in charge, so this E-4 is trying to tell me (E-5) to put my holster back on, and I tell him no and to **** off because I was doing some NCO work. He run's off to tell the MA and my SSG who is in charge of us and then he goes and tells some chief and GM1 that's not in his chain of command, next thing I know is the station gets a phone call and I'm told I need to go turn in my weapon and I can't get it back until they figure out whats going to happen to me.

My SSG has been in for 27 yrs, has a P3 profile, can't pass PT and looks over weight. He was under the impression I took my M9 out of the holster and put in the drawer, so he had that E-4 write a statement. He doesn't even ask me if it was in the holster or out of the holster, he just yells at me telling me I need to show respect to Navy E-4 because they are a junior NCO, and I tried telling him that's bull**** because I'm an E-5 and I outrank him. Well, we talk to the Chief that's in charge of us, and he said the Navy doesn't operate like the Army does, so it's no big deal and I get my weapon back in a few days.

I figured they'd have someone do that just like the Army but this IT2 said "No, I gotta do the packet". Guess he was dumb enough, lol.

That's what I've been told, so I don't even talk to the Chief when he walks in. E-6 in 5yrs is fast tracking, especially in the Navy!

MRE's or those big MRP's in a box that feeds a squad is what we ate for about 13 months.

 

If you think Navy deployment will be a breeze think again. You might get a hot shower and something hot to eat but can you!!!.. Ever been in 30-40 ft swells and sit down to a nice meal?? ain't happening if you are lucky you may keep down what you ate earlier the rest of the time you will be hanging on for dear life and what to do when the ship suddenly drops 30ft as you step up a flight of stairs, I'll leave it to your imagination.....

The there is the 16hr work shift while at sea and 6 month deployment where you may or may not get liberty..... So when you compare army to navy think about being 1500 miles from no where in 40 ft swells and no let up in sight and there is no place to go.... It will make a real man out of you or you will cave and beg for the army....

 

I've heard the ship life sucks, but please don't try saying the Navy is harder than the Army. You can't even smoke a sailor, and the leadership I see here is trying to tell myself and fellow team leaders that it's okay if a soldier tells us to **** off, because at the end of the day we're still NCO's and getting paid. Wrong.

Just compare it like this:
Navy = No battlefield, ship life sucks but you still go to badass places, Art. 15 happy.
Army = Battlefield, you can be airborne, air assault, Ranger, SF, etc. Jumping out of planes or repelling out of helicopters seems more fun than being on a boat though.