USMMA to the Air Force

#academyhopeful said:
@KPEngineer , do you know the acceptance rate for NROTC scholarships? I know AROTC is 32.5%.
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By your logic then it would be "easier". If the NROTC acceptance rate is similar. West Point admissions rate is quoted at less than 10%. USMMA is 16-20%, Coast Guard is similar. USNA is probably 5%.
 
KPEngineer said:
if a reservist earns 120 (very doable) you will get 1/3 the paycheck of AD. Downside is reserve retirement checks don't kick in till age 60 but AD kicks in the day you retire.
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I retired from the Navy Reserve and I know many many reservists from the gamut of communities/warfare specialties and know damn few who could consistently get 120 points per year. The typical is much more like 75 or so and if able to get a second active duty period, sometimes 90 points. There will potentially be years in which you can get more but across the span of a 20+ yr career, I don't consider getting anything close to an average of 120 to be likely.

By the way, the 1/3 of a paycheck that you mention is 1/3 of base pay which is significantly less than 1/3 of what an Active Duty officer gets paid.
 
#academyhopeful said:
@KPEngineer , do you know the acceptance rate for NROTC scholarships? I know AROTC is 32.5%.
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This is an estimate I recall based on figures seen in the past about 20,000 apply NROTC and 2,000 accepted. So 10%. 15% into Tier 3 which is non STEM Majors. All others into STEM Majors. This is from a memory so I can be wrong. It is an educated guess.
 
OldRetSWO said:
KPEngineer said:
if a reservist earns 120 (very doable) you will get 1/3 the paycheck of AD. Downside is reserve retirement checks don't kick in till age 60 but AD kicks in the day you retire.
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I retired from the Navy Reserve and I know many many reservists from the gamut of communities/warfare specialties and know damn few who could consistently get 120 points per year. The typical is much more like 75 or so and if able to get a second active duty period, sometimes 90 points. There will potentially be years in which you can get more but across the span of a 20+ yr career, I don't consider getting anything close to an average of 120 to be likely.

By the way, the 1/3 of a paycheck that you mention is 1/3 of base pay which is significantly less than 1/3 of what an Active Duty officer gets paid.
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I said doable, not that it is the average. It would take extra work but I don't see where it is that hard necessarily. 48 for drills, 14 for AT (if you know the quirks you can get 17 for AT every year), 35 gratuitous "participation" points and you are at 90ish. Throw in a correspondence course or two and you are over 100. Another 20 from extra drills or additional AT/ADT time is not that big of a stretch depending on the Active Command and can be doable.

Also, I chose 120 partly just because it divides easy into 360.
 
KPEngineer said:
OldRetSWO said:
KPEngineer said:
if a reservist earns 120 (very doable) you will get 1/3 the paycheck of AD. Downside is reserve retirement checks don't kick in till age 60 but AD kicks in the day you retire.
Click to expand...
I retired from the Navy Reserve and I know many many reservists from the gamut of communities/warfare specialties and know damn few who could consistently get 120 points per year. The typical is much more like 75 or so and if able to get a second active duty period, sometimes 90 points. There will potentially be years in which you can get more but across the span of a 20+ yr career, I don't consider getting anything close to an average of 120 to be likely.

By the way, the 1/3 of a paycheck that you mention is 1/3 of base pay which is significantly less than 1/3 of what an Active Duty officer gets paid.
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I said doable, not that it is the average. It would take extra work but I don't see where it is that hard necessarily. 48 for drills, 14 for AT (if you know the quirks you can get 17 for AT every year), 35 gratuitous "participation" points and you are at 90ish. Throw in a correspondence course or two and you are over 100. Another 20 from extra drills or additional AT/ADT time is not that big of a stretch depending on the Active Command and can be doable.

Also, I chose 120 partly just because it divides easy into 360.
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Not sure which military you're in but the US military gives 15 gratuitous points, not 35. As for correspondence courses, good luck with that as the Navy has sharply reduced the number of courses that they will give points for. It is very tough to get a significant amount of points this way.

A more likely point total per year is 48+14 (sometimes this is 12 or 13)+15 gratuitous = 79. Also, you talked about it against the backdrop of the paycheck and as you know (of course), the correspondence course and gratuitous points do not get paid for so a pretty accurate estimate is 62/365 or 16.9% of BASE PAY. The gratuitous and correspondence course points only count toward money after retirement.
 
OldRetSWO said:
Not sure which military you're in but the US military gives 15 gratuitous points, not 35. As for correspondence courses, good luck with that as the Navy has sharply reduced the number of courses that they will give points for. It is very tough to get a significant amount of points this way.
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RESPERSMAN 1534-030
Credit for Extended Sea Service. The SSOP Manager (SSOPM) may credit compliant SSRG Officers with 35 retirement points for service over 180 cumulative days at sea in an anniversary year. With the gratuity points, that's 50 points a year just existing if you sail >180 days.
 
OldRetSWO said:
Not sure which military you're in but the US military gives 15 gratuitous points, not 35. As for correspondence courses, good luck with that as the Navy has sharply reduced the number of courses that they will give points for. It is very tough to get a significant amount of points this way.

A more likely point total per year is 48+14 (sometimes this is 12 or 13)+15 gratuitous = 79. Also, you talked about it against the backdrop of the paycheck and as you know (of course), the correspondence course and gratuitous points do not get paid for so a pretty accurate estimate is 62/365 or 16.9% of BASE PAY. The gratuitous and correspondence course points only count toward money after retirement.
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My bad, I got it confused with the 35 points I got for renewing my license.

Since the conversation was about earning points towards a retirement the fact that it is unpaid is not the point.

The points are out there to be had if you are know where to look and are aggressive at getting them especially if you don't mind forgoing pay now to increase the retirement later.
 
@KPEngineer , I see that Merchant Mariners who commission into the CG from KP have to go to DCS as per MARGRAD, and is it the same for the other branches? For example, if I commission to the AF after KP, will I have to go through some kind of direct commission training similar to the Coast Guard's procedure?

-P.S, may KP offer more standard engineering majors in the future? (Mechanical, Electrical, etc.) If I want to get CG licensure, I kind of want to go to SUNY Maritime for they have an EE program.

-Also, as part of the commitment for the SSOP, it says that I must maintain employment in the Maritime Industry for the duration of my service. I want to do a MS in Information Systems or Technology to get into IT/Business (which has very good career prospects, better than the Maritime industry). How will the Navy handle this? Will they not allow it?
 
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#academyhopeful said:
@KPEngineer , I see that Merchant Mariners who commission into the CG from KP have to go to DCS as per MARGRAD, and is it the same for the other branches? For example, if I commission to the AF after KP, will I have to go through some kind of direct commission training similar to the Coast Guard's procedure?

-P.S, may KP offer more standard engineering majors in the future? (Mechanical, Electrical, etc.) If I want to get CG licensure, I kind of want to go to SUNY Maritime for they have an EE program.

-Also, as part of the commitment for the SSOP, it says that I must maintain employment in the Maritime Industry for the duration of my service. I want to do a MS in Information Systems or Technology to get into IT/Business (which has very good career prospects, better than the Maritime industry). How will the Navy handle this? Will they not allow it?
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It's similar to the marines, because the marines go to Leatherneck, the AF, Navy, and Army don't go to anything. You could get an MS on the side while you do maritime related work. But if you want to go into IT why do you want to go to KP?
 
#academyhopeful said:
-P.S, may KP offer more standard engineering majors in the future? (Mechanical, Electrical, etc.)
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Can't say for certain but if I were a betting man, I would bet on "No" and "Never".

#academyhopeful said:
-Also, as part of the commitment for the SSOP, it says that I must maintain employment in the Maritime Industry for the duration of my service. I want to do a MS in Information Systems or Technology to get into IT/Business (which has very good career prospects, better than the Maritime industry). How will the Navy handle this? Will they not allow it?
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"duration of my service" ... that is certainly new. If the SSO program no longer wants you at some point due to your civilian employment there are other communities within the Navy Reserve that might. Change of Designators are possible. I got approved to switch to the Civil Engineer Corps at about year 4 but chose to stay Merchant Marine instead. I have had other classmates who who have changed to other communities also.
 
#academyhopeful said:
@Mr2020 or @KPEngineer , is it easier to go ADAF, Navy SWO or AD Army Corps of Engineers, etc? (by the way, I do NOT want to go pilot/aviation)
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I am totally spit balling it here but my guess is Navy SWO just because it is the closest military job to what you have been training for. That and USCG.
 
#academyhopeful said:
@KPEngineer , if you switch to the CE corps, is it AD and do you need to go to OCS? Also, is AD Army Corps of Engineers easier to get into or ADAF?
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I only applied to change designators which means remaining a reservist. There are means to apply to change designator and switch to AD at the same time. I know someone who went active duty intel a year or so after graduation.
 
#academyhopeful said:
@Mr2020 or @KPEngineer , is it easier to go ADAF, Navy SWO or AD Army Corps of Engineers, etc? (by the way, I do NOT want to go pilot/aviation)
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Swo should be the easiest. The process to go AD navy out of KP is pretty easy and seamless. Air Force is not bad, the army process seems to be the harder one and not that many people do it.
 
The Coast Guard Academy does not require pull-ups. The other four academies use the CFA which requires pull-ups for male applicants. There are many websites and YouTube videos that will teach you how to do pull-ups and how to increase your pull-ups numbers. Start today.
 
#academyhopeful said:
Also, is it possible to get into a service academy w/ 0 pull ups? (I can't do any)!
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kpmom2013 said:
The Coast Guard Academy does not require pull-ups. The other four academies use the CFA which requires pull-ups for male applicants. There are many websites and YouTube videos that will teach you how to do pull-ups and how to increase your pull-ups numbers. Start today.
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It depends also on your sex: male, yes. Female, not pull-ups but flexed arm hang. Like @kpmom2013 says, you better get started regardless of your sex in getting fit if you apply to any academy but particularly USMMA or the other three requiring some sort of pull-up or flexed arm hang as you cannot gain an appointment unless you pass the CFA.
 
#academyhopeful said:
@KPEngineer, can I get in KP with 1 pull-up (though i'll probably do more), and approx how many midns from MMA go to ADAF?
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Again this depends on whether you are male or female. Male 1 pull up - No, Female Yes.

I don't know if there is a published minimum but the conventional wisdom here is anything below 6-7 for a male will fail the CFA. You can look on the USAFA website as they list averages and the current average is 12.
https://www.academyadmissions.com/admissions/the-application-process/fitness-assessment/
 
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