Naval Academy Appointment

Clarkson,

Mongo is a BGO, not a parent, so his perspective is not from an emotional POV.

The only thing I would also state is a hypothetical to correct your position of he is injured and cannot go to the USNA, he would not be able to utilize the scholarship.

True scenario that happened to a poster here about 2 -3 yrs ago. Child held onto their scholarship. Contacted the school to let them know they were going to go to an SA, but was holding on until @Aug.

BCT only allows you to miss 8 days due to illness. Child arrive in perfect condition, got loaded up on the bus to go, when he stepped off the bus he twisted his knee. DQ'd that day sent home the next day.

Since he was upfront and honest with them about his plans, he still had Plan B. Enrolled in NROTC and never skipped a beat because by Sept when he had to report for NROTC his knee was healed.

Think about it these kids are athletic, and many play spring sports. Not to jinx anyone, but what if your last game is June 3rd and you break your arm? You can not and will not attend the SA for a medical DQ, but you can do it for NROTC.

Additionally, this board in the fall always has at least one or two posters who left an SA. Many times they leave because they were not sure to begin with that life was the right fit for them. As I day approaches it is normal to have doubts and second guess your decision. It would become 2x as hard on them emotionally if they feel that because they threw back the scholarship they are now trapped into this one path. If we sit here and say you are only 17/18 and it is okay not to know what you want, than we must say that it is okay to take time and weigh every pro and con, regarding how it impacts your life.

Clarkson, look at your own career. When you are offered a job or PCS, your decision will impact someone else's. That someone else will impact someone else, so on and so forth. However, you still have the right to think about it and hold onto both jobs for a limited amount of time. The Army allows you to do that. In this case the Navy allows these kids to do the same thing. If they felt this was an issue, they would put a drop date on it.

I understand the not fair issue, but on the flip side. If your child truly wants this, they will go with or without a scholarship. There are many IS scholarships handed out every yr., and part of that is due to the budget for the commissioning yr group.
 
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BlackLab said:
I completely understand what your saying; however, the young adults that have applied and that have worked as hard or in some cases harder could get the impression that maybe they were not good enough and may not apply again.
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Maybe they aren't. Reality is a cruel mistress sometimes.

clarksonarmy said:
CSMEEKS is going to be a Navy Officer some day, but he definitely is demonstrating the values that would also make him a successful Army Officer some day if he would come to his senses :).
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Maybe he really likes pretty white shoes...

csmeeks, I'll let you in on the 8th Army value: Watch your six.

Why do I say that? Because NO ONE WILL WATCH IT FOR YOU when it comes to getting your education, getting a career going, and being happy. That's an individual responsibility. None of the detractors in this thread are going to drive to your door and give you a cookie and tell you what a nice little boy you are if you turn down those other opportunities too early. Hold on to your options. Make your decision in your own time. Watch your six.

Maybe some other kid won't get his dream right away because of it. That's called life. Limited resources is a problem everywhere. The Navy and USMA offered you those opportunities because you deserve it and earned it. If someone else misses out for awhile, they weren't an equal candidate for those slots anyway so they're going to wait. Do what is right for YOU. In 20 years you won't give a crap what any of the high-and-mighty on some internet forum said about your decision anyway.
 
clarksonarmy said:
I don't think it would be prudent to have the processes linked fully. Don't you think an SA applicant may not be given full consideration for an ROTC scholarship, because if we offer her/him one "they are going to go to the academy anyways". I'm comfortable with a little bit of separation and think it works as well as this process can. Which goes back to the fact that once you have accepted the SA, you no longer plan to use the scholarship, therefore let the other stakeholders know.
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Yea, I just meant they should link acceptance and declines by the candidate, not offers by the institution/program.
 
PIMA...what happened two or three years ago, is not what is going to be happening in the current environment of limited resource. I can tell you I am going to be contacting the cadets that have been offered a scholarship to my schools. I am also going to be cross referencing that against the admissions database. If the cadet hasn't accepted his admissions offer to the school, and hasn't sent in his deposit I will do what I can to get that offer rescinded. I think Cadet Command is going to ask for a "no kidding" answer in April or May on whether the applicant plans to use the scholarship or not. Maybe the Navy has the luxury of waiting, but I know Cadet Command isn't building in any buffers anymore.

Scout...If I'm watching my six then that means someone else is not doing their job. Just covering my sector and trusting the other "warriors and members of the team". But I guess having some faith in my fellow soldiers may be the reason why I'm selling used cars in Southern Canada now.

Interesting discussion though....thanks to all for the great thoughts.
 
scoutpilot said:
Why do I say that? Because NO ONE WILL WATCH IT FOR YOU when it comes to getting your education, getting a career going, and being happy. That's an individual responsibility.
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clarksonarmy said:
Scout...If I'm watching my six then that means someone else is not doing their job. Just covering my sector and trusting the other "warriors and members of the team". But I guess having some faith in my fellow soldiers may be the reason why I'm selling used cars in Southern Canada now.

Interesting discussion though....thanks to all for the great thoughts.
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I am with Scout on this one. Clarkson, perhaps you didn't fully read what Scout said but your team is not going to help getting your education and career started. That is up to you.

Their is nothing unethical or wrong about keeping a plan B that was EARNED.
 
Clarkson,

The poster I am talking about, did talk to admissions, and did place a deposit. They truly thought this all out, and took advice from this site to do those actions. It is still to this day, what posters will tell them to do, because Plan B doesn't start when you get the TWE and it doesn't end when you get the BFE. You need to keep it there until you know for sure you are at the point of no return. Most posters will remind them that a couple hundred of bucks paid out is worth the piece of mind.

So even if you did cross check with the school this cadet would have passed today your test. I know you are at a private school, so admissions is probably smaller, I can't recall the school this cadet went to, but it is a large college, with a large cadre, hence a large admit dept. It was an IS public that on any given Saturday during the yr their FB and BB games are televised nationally.

I do agree today's world is much different than 3 yrs ago due to budgetary and personnel cuts. We are seeing this left and right on these forums.

Just out of curiosity because I have heard two opposite answers as fact, and maybe you can tell all of us which is true. Does AROTC hold a board later on for the candidates that did not get USMA for scholarship purposes?

Some say yes, because AROTC and USMA talk when it comes to decisions. Some say no, they operate independently of each other and whatever they decide has no bearing on what the other's decision was.

AFROTC does not hold a board after the mass mailing for candidates because their whole scholarship awarding system is different than AFA. Scholarships for AFROTC are not geo-centric, but nationally rank, and they place priority on if their major is tech or non-tech.
 
ooops, missed a post. Mongo...doesn't sound like csmeeks needs time to make up his mind. If you read his original post you will see that he is asking what he should do now that he has made up his mind. Doesn't sound to me like he's wavering, or worried about being accepted, or medically qualified. I still think that in this case the right thing to do is notify all interested parties that he has made his decision. Just like the Army ROTC scholarship process if you get offers to more than one school currently you have to accept one, and decline the rest. You don't get an unlimited amount of time to make up your mind. He earned the opportunity to chose one of the offers he got, not the opportunity to sit on all of them until everything works out for him.



Did miss that part of Scouts post...concur that personal career and education decisions are yours to make. I have never been a fan of CYA or watch your six though.
 
clarksonarmy said:
ooops, missed a post. Mongo...doesn't sound like csmeeks needs time to make up his mind. If you read his original post you will see that he is asking what he should do now that he has made up his mind. Doesn't sound to me like he's wavering, or worried about being accepted, or medically qualified.
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Agree. Like most threads, this one evolved into a completely different subject. Quicker than normal. hokiesfan on post # 2 brought up the waiting idea. I think for most, in view of this,, csmeeks was forgotten.
 
All I know is that Cadet Command does look at the QNS list. A couple years ago they released the list to the field (can you say SPAMfest). In recent years it was farmed down to the Brigade ROOs to make phone calls to likely candidates. Each year is sounds like they handle that list a little differently. Last year I was told they didn't do anything with it because of lack of funding. I had a couple inbound applicants I was hoping would get a QNS offer, but that didn't happen. As they push the limited resources down to the Brigades it's tougher for them to hold money back just for QNS. That should be a prompt to SA applicants to make sure they are also applying for ROTC scholarships. Not sure what is going to be done with the QNS list this year, but it is something that is considered every year. Which goes back to the original subject of this thread, the sooner we know whether a particular allocation is going to be used or not, the sooner we can put it in the book, or offer it to the next applicant. My advice is to take your time, don't rush, but once you've made a decision let everyone know.

OK...got some women's playoff hockey to go watch today...Go Knights...time to step away from the computer.
 
Thanks for the explanation.

I hope every applicant reads that last post to see what happened a yr or 2 ago may not occur this yr or next.

Like clarkson said, it is wise to start Plan B when you start Plan A.
 
clarksonarmy said:
Did miss that part of Scouts post...concur that personal career and education decisions are yours to make. I have never been a fan of CYA or watch your six though.
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If you really have been doing ROTC enrollment for 7 years, then I have no doubt that you don't care for that idea, since your six is well-covered.

My point is that leaving the management of your life and your education and your career and your jobs within your career to HRC or nameless, faceless boards is a surefire ticket to not finding fulfillment.

If you don't like "watching your six," that's a choice.
 
Scout...if you only knew...me being here for almost 8 years has nothing to do with me covering my six. This was pure luck. Just took a pay cut, and fully expect to be unemployed in the fall as a result of the reduction of contractors. There is a lot of uncertainty in military service, and you can spend your time worrying about yourself, or you can serve selflessly and focus on your people and your mission. You can probably do both, but I''ve never been good at doing both. Certainly not getting rich doing this job, but continue to come to work every day helping young people serve their Nation as Officers as long as I can, then I figure out what to do next.

My we've gotten off topic.

Good Luck csmeeks!!!
 
I think it is possible to both consider your options and keep your integrity intact. When one of our mids was in this boat a few years ago, she called the LT at the NROTC placement office, who advised our mid to accept her NROTC scholarship and keep her options open until I Day at USNA. She was also in contact with her civilian college of choice and they weren’t offended that she was weighing other options seriously. May 1st is the deadline to commit to colleges and committing prior to that (as one of our other mids did) is a choice but not a morally superior or inferior one, just a choice. The NROTC Unit Coordinators have a different perspective, of course, since many of them have waiting lists. It’s not a moral issue but a definite logistical one. In that case, feel free to call the Unit, don’t give up your spot but let them know your situation. Sometimes NROTC scholarship recipients on waiting lists have to make hard choices and their families have to take some calculated financial risks in order to line up a college with an open NROTC Unit. We’ve been on both sides of that dilemma and it can be stressful and expensive but I never questioned the integrity of the student and their family who were keeping their options open and keeping my kid off the list. As long as the OP is up front with everyone I don’t see an integrity issue here.

I seriously doubt the validity of the poster to whom Pima refers. Even if someone gets injured I Day before Swearing In, and is DQ’d on the spot, the NROTC scholarship is no longer valid as of the moment they showed up at USNA. Trying out Plebe Summer for a week or so and then deciding to go NROTC isn’t an option.
 
Taking care of your people and watching your six are intertwined. Want proof? Work for someone who got a job he loves. Then work for someone who got a job he hates. Tell me which you prefer.

Work hard, love your soldiers, live your values. Remember to watch your six, or your career will be decided by someone who did!
 
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