SUBS & CYBER WARFARE
OK Here is our personal up to day current info that will answer many of the questions and speculation here.
Back ground I am a long time poster and friend of Service Academy Forum. I havent been on in so long though I forgot my password for a sec. I only knew about this thread because someone just messaged me on FB about it. I am a mom of a USNA 2017, 2018 Army ROTC, and a senior in HS.
SUBS:
my son is a Mech E magor with a strong GPA (not ridiculously high). He never had a single behavior infraction, and had exceptionally high peer rankings. He did everything he could do to get pilot. Took all of the pilot summer assignments and did exceptionally well in them. He was 100% cleared to go medically after the successful PRK.
While away at a hockey game we heard he was "On the sub watch list". Panic. A week later he was called into SARB (long story on the best / worst way to handle SARB if anyone has a question about that message me privately, there are WRONG ways to handle this!!!) SARB is when you get called in because you are not getting your first choice. My son put subs 6th. He was told he was "over qualified for pilots." TBH some of his friends who were sub drafted got similar and some different reasons. After the SARB. There is a test before the admiral interview -some tank the test. You go meet with the admiral. They *welcome* you to the sub community. You thank the admiral for having you in the sub community. You are now a submarine warfare officer.
He was getting subs. Had he gotten lower grades, a different major, gotten into more (any) trouble, had worse peer rankings perhaps he would be heading to Pensacola instead of Charleston. SIX 2017s in his company got subdrafted.
There are benefits. He ended up buying a car yesterday with his bonus (he would have gotten a bit more $ had a signed the end of Jr. year but not much more). Your clock starts the day after commissioning, you get a *free* grad school equivalent in nuclear engineering. The pay is the highest of any assignment in the military. The re-signing bonus is awesome. The community is filled with smart nice people. The negatives are obvious and individual to each person. For my son he saw the reason, he saw the benefits, he is committed to make it a go but he was disappointed. WAS THIS FAIR??!!! Of course it is. From day one in that interview with our awesome BGO my son was asked "what if you don't get your service selection" . They told him up front that he may not get what he wanted and the needs of the Navy come first. My son understood. As a mom we are sad that his dream of being a career Navy pilot and one day retiring and flying for Delta are over. However we knew the possibility every single step of the way. My son was bummed but is pivoting proudly. He does not regret USNA (but probably would have picked a different major had he known)
CYBER:
My daughter (36 ACT, 3 sport athlete, #1 in her class and a topped ranked cyber competitor in the US) went to USNA STEM (where she learned to fall in love with Cyber) and the USNA NASS just six months ago. She spent a lot of time talking to the cyber people there. Their cyber program is awesome and changes to that Service selection will evolve-possibly soon with the new building in place Having said that Cyber Warfare (the type she wanted) is *currently* restricted line with 1-2 spots for non restricted. She would have to gamble that she would be THE top cyber student to guarantee her Service selection. That is alot of pressure and after what happened to her brother she went Ivy league instead.
These are all choices that my kids knowingly made.
PS: Also w/o going into too much detail Marine community this year for the first time were allowed to "save" some mids they ranked high from being subdrafted into another community (the exception of course is SEALS and EOD) . In the past this was not the case.