My youngest is thinking of applying for OCS, a little help...

DevilDog

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My youngest called me the other day to ask what I thought of him going into the military. We discussed all the branches. He would like to travel, see the world, and serve his country. He is the outdoorsy type. He rock climbs, hikes the mountains in Colorado. skis, snowboards, etc. He wrestled in HS and club wrestled at UD, He played HS football for 5 years, at his school they were allowed to play as 8th graders. I think he was a Capt senior year in both sports.

He wants something that won't confine him to a desk. I suggested Navy as an SWO. He spoke with his brother a Captain in the USAF and a pilot. My other son asked me why I would not recommend the AF, I said besides pilot, there aren't many jobs that would interest his brother because he would be confined to a base somewhere.

He graduated with an Environmental Resource Management degree from Univ of Delaware in 2017. His GPA was around a 2.8, maybe higher. He worked full-time while he was in college. He pretty much supported himself since the age of 18.

What are his chances to get into OCS? There is no doubt in my mind he would graduate. Does an SWO slot sound like something that might be a good fit? Any other officer jobs in any of the services that might appeal to him?

Thanks for your help.
 
Mmmm, I gotta disagree with the majority on this one. Space Force...definitely Space Force. He’ll be a groundbreaker (or whatever they call the first ones to join the Space Force). Best wishes to your DS.
 
IMG_0154.JPG Marines don't care what the degree is in except for law. Graduate in the top third at TBS and get one of top five MOS choices. Infantry. Combat Engineer. Arty. Tanks. Adjutant.

Just kidding on adjutant.

If he wanted to go enlisted he could be one of us.
 
There are plenty of jobs in the USMC. Not everyone has to be at the tip of the spear. Sounds like he needs something to get him outdoors and SWO may be a good match for that. I'm sure whatever he does, he will spend more time behind a desk than he would like... unless he's at the tip of the spear. He may be better of enlisting from a job perspective but officers ARE paid better.

He should probably investigate the available MOS's on each services web site. It might give him a better idea of what's a good fit for him.

One advantage of the Corps is that MOSs aren't determined until after OCS in the midst of TBS (the first officer school). They have "smokers" at the TBS pub where folks from different MOSs are present for informal questions over a beer or two. It can help one narrow down what they want. On the downside, that MOS might not be available to that class as the needs of the service prevail.
 
My other son asked me why I would not recommend the AF, I said besides pilot, there aren't many jobs that would interest his brother because he would be confined to a base somewhere.
I would agree that if he does not want to be confined to a desk and does not want to/cannot be a pilot in the Air Force, there are not too many jobs in the AF that would likely be of interest to him. Even some of the most deployable career fields in the Air Force (civil engineering, security forces, etc.) do quite a bit of desk work as young CGO's.
 
My youngest called me the other day to ask what I thought of him going into the military. We discussed all the branches. He would like to travel, see the world, and serve his country. He is the outdoorsy type. He rock climbs, hikes the mountains in Colorado. skis, snowboards, etc. He wrestled in HS and club wrestled at UD, He played HS football for 5 years, at his school they were allowed to play as 8th graders. I think he was a Capt senior year in both sports.

He wants something that won't confine him to a desk. I suggested Navy as an SWO. He spoke with his brother a Captain in the USAF and a pilot. My other son asked me why I would not recommend the AF, I said besides pilot, there aren't many jobs that would interest his brother because he would be confined to a base somewhere.

He graduated with an Environmental Resource Management degree from Univ of Delaware in 2017. His GPA was around a 2.8, maybe higher. He worked full-time while he was in college. He pretty much supported himself since the age of 18.

What are his chances to get into OCS? There is no doubt in my mind he would graduate. Does an SWO slot sound like something that might be a good fit? Any other officer jobs in any of the services that might appeal to him?

Thanks for your help.

https://www.gocoastguard.com/active...unities/programs/officer-candidate-school-ocs

Don’t overlook the Coast Guard. A variety of interesting missions and career fields, definitely “outdoorsy” options, and I think his college degree aligns quite nicely.
 
My youngest called me the other day to ask what I thought of him going into the military. We discussed all the branches. He would like to travel, see the world, and serve his country. He is the outdoorsy type. He rock climbs, hikes the mountains in Colorado. skis, snowboards, etc. He wrestled in HS and club wrestled at UD, He played HS football for 5 years, at his school they were allowed to play as 8th graders. I think he was a Capt senior year in both sports.

He wants something that won't confine him to a desk. I suggested Navy as an SWO. He spoke with his brother a Captain in the USAF and a pilot. My other son asked me why I would not recommend the AF, I said besides pilot, there aren't many jobs that would interest his brother because he would be confined to a base somewhere.

He graduated with an Environmental Resource Management degree from Univ of Delaware in 2017. His GPA was around a 2.8, maybe higher. He worked full-time while he was in college. He pretty much supported himself since the age of 18.

What are his chances to get into OCS? There is no doubt in my mind he would graduate. Does an SWO slot sound like something that might be a good fit? Any other officer jobs in any of the services that might appeal to him?

Thanks for your help.

https://www.gocoastguard.com/active...unities/programs/officer-candidate-school-ocs

Don’t overlook the Coast Guard. A variety of interesting missions and career fields, definitely “outdoorsy” options, and I think his college degree aligns quite nicely.
I came here to say this! He could do a job similar to that of a SWO in the Navy or focus more on the environmental side that works well with his degree.
 
My youngest called me the other day to ask what I thought of him going into the military. We discussed all the branches. He would like to travel, see the world, and serve his country. He is the outdoorsy type. He rock climbs, hikes the mountains in Colorado. skis, snowboards, etc. He wrestled in HS and club wrestled at UD, He played HS football for 5 years, at his school they were allowed to play as 8th graders. I think he was a Capt senior year in both sports.

He wants something that won't confine him to a desk. I suggested Navy as an SWO. He spoke with his brother a Captain in the USAF and a pilot. My other son asked me why I would not recommend the AF, I said besides pilot, there aren't many jobs that would interest his brother because he would be confined to a base somewhere.

He graduated with an Environmental Resource Management degree from Univ of Delaware in 2017. His GPA was around a 2.8, maybe higher. He worked full-time while he was in college. He pretty much supported himself since the age of 18.

What are his chances to get into OCS? There is no doubt in my mind he would graduate. Does an SWO slot sound like something that might be a good fit? Any other officer jobs in any of the services that might appeal to him?

Thanks for your help.

https://www.gocoastguard.com/active...unities/programs/officer-candidate-school-ocs

Don’t overlook the Coast Guard. A variety of interesting missions and career fields, definitely “outdoorsy” options, and I think his college degree aligns quite nicely.
I agree with you. I am suggesting the CG to him. I think he would thrive in the CG.
 
I'm going to also say CG. My O1 son has on his dream sheet for 2nd billet all places with outdoor opportunities. Near the top is AK, since part of his summer session was there.

That said, CG OCS is competitive, particularly coming directly as a civilian rather than enlisted CG. His degree sounds like STEM, which is a plus (not sure I'm translating the title correctly though). But if 2.7 is correct, he has a high barrier getting in.

My other son is enlisted CG and loves what he is doing, just not so fond of his area. Again though, plenty of outdoor stuff to do. There is the Marine Science Technician (MST) rating, which would use his degree. (MST- the rating for people who like animals more than people.)

Feel free to PM me, or have him contact me if this is something that peaks his curiosity. It's part of what I do as an Admissions Partner.
 
I would echo the suggestion of the CG, a lot more opportunities to be hands on for a longer period. That said, every officer no matter what branch will spend some time at a desk, even more time as they advance through the ranks. The CG, being a smaller service will tend to offer more opportunities to be away from that desk.

If your son really wants to be active he should consider enlisting in the CG, there are MOS's that would keep him busy and outside. Just visited CG Station Cape Disappointment, they take excitement to the next level.
 
Officers have officer specialty codes, do they not?

I can’t remember anymore. There were some kind of indicators for operational and staff work, but I don’t remember what that looked like.

I’ve forgotten so much in the 7+ years I’ve been out.
 
Officers in the CG do now have Officer Specialty Codes - in the past, you simply had competencies. Now, Officers are expected to maintain an OSC similar to how enlisted personnel maintain a rating. However, officers are still (for the most part) expected to diversify your career - with at least one primary and one secondary specialty. For example, afloat operations and finance. Historically, you'll switch between the two unless you choose to apply for a special assignment of some kind, apply to grad school, etc. Each OSC had its own requirements with respect to time in that specialty, training completion, formal education, etc.

Switching gears back to your son, the CG is great opportunity if he remains interested in his degree. MSTs have already been mentioned - it should be mentioned that the waitlist for that A-School remains around 3 years (this is after boot camp completion and at least a 6 month stay at your first unit - you must also be fully qualified to put your name on the list).

As an officer, the two paths that may fit his style are Prevention and Response (specifically, Incident Management). Incident Management is huge with respect to disaster response, marine or environmental pollution, threat response, etc. Hurricane Florence is a great example - setting up an Incident Command Post to respond. There are also the National Strike Force teams - "The NSF provides highly trained, experienced personnel and specialized equipment to Coast Guard and other federal agencies to facilitate preparedness for and response to oil discharges, hazardous materials releases, and weapons of mass destruction (WMD) incidents."

Ultimately, if he chooses to try the officer route, he needs to understand that all officers eventually get to the point where they are behind a desk. All enlisted members will eventually end up at one as well - at some point as you rise in the ranks, you move from being the doer to being the manager.
 
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