Sea Cadets... Sound Off

usnagrad1988 said:
My DS was a PO3 Sea Cadet, ranked 1 of 65 at his NAS JAX Recruit Training "Honor Cadet," and was 1 of 10 accepted last summer to the Special Warfare SEAL Training in Panama City, run by Navy Seals. He was 1 of 8 who finished and received his Trident Pin. Every Congressional Board was impressed with him showing up in uniform for the interview and asked him about the pin and his training. He received an NROTC scholarship and will be headed to Auburn. He actually had everything and more USNA could ask for but didn't match up with the quotas for race, gender, and ethnicity. He's very excited about Auburn and I'd recommend every Sea Cadet apply to the NROTC programs as a back-up or first choice. You are strictly reviewed on merit and have a great shot at getting a 4 year scholarship with your background!
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The resume that you have provided for your son is no different than most of the kids on this site trying to get a slot. It is easy for a parent to think that their child walks on water but they cannot see the forest thru the trees. My son also wore his Sea Cadet Uniform to his Congressional nomination interview. They were also impressed with him wearing it and asked about the medals he earned. He has a Sea Cadet resume very similar to your DS. The fact of the matter is the process for these academies is very competitive, which I am sure you already know. The smallest difference between one person and another could be the difference between an appointment or not. Does race and gender play a factor in selection? Yes, and we all knew it did before our kids even applied. Do not blame the fact that your child did not get in because he was male or because his skin was the wrong color. The 2019 class of the USNA had a class size of 1191 cadets, 867 were males and 756 of those were white. If my calculations are correct, that is about 64% white males received appointments. That does not seem to say they are picking race and gender over other attributes.

Congrats on the NROTC Scholarship and acceptance to Auburn.
 
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Your calculations may be correct- but, the fact of the matter is the majority of kids applying (that meet the minimum standards) are white males, so of course there will be a higher percentage of white males appointed. IF the kid in reference here is a white male, which we don't know that, then it is understandable that he is at a disadvantage as compared to a Native American male or female. I know this probably makes a lot of people mad, but thats the way it is- it's called DIVERSITY.
 
usnagrad1988 said:
My DS was a PO3 Sea Cadet, ranked 1 of 65 at his NAS JAX Recruit Training "Honor Cadet," and was 1 of 10 accepted last summer to the Special Warfare SEAL Training in Panama City, run by Navy Seals. He was 1 of 8 who finished and received his Trident Pin. Every Congressional Board was impressed with him showing up in uniform for the interview and asked him about the pin and his training. He received an NROTC scholarship and will be headed to Auburn. He actually had everything and more USNA could ask for but didn't match up with the quotas for race, gender, and ethnicity. He's very excited about Auburn and I'd recommend every Sea Cadet apply to the NROTC programs as a back-up or first choice. You are strictly reviewed on merit and have a great shot at getting a 4 year scholarship with your background!
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I think I may know your son, I went to a Sea Cadet meeting at NAS Jax to see what it was like but ended up not being able to do it due to my crew schedule (no weekends between December through May... It is finally over). I remember everyone's names as I visited last January.
 
Our DS went all the way thru Sea Cadets. It was discouraging when he went for his NROTC interview and the Navy personnel handling the interview (I don't know his rank because I never got to see/meet him) had no idea about Sea Cadets and all these certificates in his file. I asked DS, maybe he was feigning ignorance for DS's reply, DS was convinced he knew nothing about it. DS received AROTC and AFROTC scholarships, but nothing from the Navy, that was a little discouraging. He got TWE'd by all academies last year. Ultimately turned down the ROTC scholarships to self-sponsor at NWP. He got into West Point and starts in less than 7 weeks, so it worked out for him (us). I'm sympathetic to those who got TWE'd. I'd love to sit down with an admissions director over an adult beverage and learn the process. I know all the kids who get in are well qualified, it's just screwy how one year to the next things can change, or if you get a recruited athlete in your district, etc...
 
Mlt852 said:
Our DS went all the way thru Sea Cadets. It was discouraging when he went for his NROTC interview and the Navy personnel handling the interview (I don't know his rank because I never got to see/meet him) had no idea about Sea Cadets and all these certificates in his file. I asked DS, maybe he was feigning ignorance for DS's reply, DS was convinced he knew nothing about it. DS received AROTC and AFROTC scholarships, but nothing from the Navy, that was a little discouraging. He got TWE'd by all academies last year. Ultimately turned down the ROTC scholarships to self-sponsor at NWP. He got into West Point and starts in less than 7 weeks, so it worked out for him (us). I'm sympathetic to those who got TWE'd. I'd love to sit down with an admissions director over an adult beverage and learn the process. I know all the kids who get in are well qualified, it's just screwy how one year to the next things can change, or if you get a recruited athlete in your district, etc...
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My sympathies about Sea Cadets. I would speculate many active duty people have never heard of them or are only vaguely familiar, as it is a separate non-profit youth organization sponsored by the Navy League, itself a separate non-profit. I didn't know much about Sea Cadets until midway through my naval officer career, when I came to know more about Navy League and their support for sailor of the year award programs. No Sea Cadets at my high school. Not an excuse, perhaps just a reason why there seemed to be unawareness.

Active duty military personnel are not eligible to join Navy League, if I recall my application correctly. I joined when I retired.
 
It's not a well known program, and even some that have heard about Sea Cadets seem to have misconceptions about it. I've come across many who think that it's similar to boys scouts or JROTC and it is not. It's learning about the Navy/military, and the trainings are NO JOKE!

They are not kiddy summer camps, as most people assume. My three cadets have done the obstacle courses at military bases, they've trained on vehicle rollover simulator, put out fires, learned to plug holes on a ship, trained on the FATS simulator and shot live fire on M16s and the 240. They've lived in the field, breaching buildings and eating MREs, while being ambushed constantly by the Marines. One of my cadets did the winter survival training, living in a snow cave for a week in the mountains of Colorado - and one of the objectives to pass the course was to catch and eat a rabbit. They are pushed beyond their limits. The pins and medals these kids earn are truly an accomplishment.

They've also had the privilege and honor of marching in Memorial Day and Veterans Day parades, attended the Navy Ball, worked for the Honor flights, worked at Navy week events and had the great honor of attending a luncheon with CNO Admiral Greenert (and he personally gave them challenge coins!).

I've spread the word about Sea Cadets every chance I get. My cadets have recruited four into our battalion so far :)
 
EOD/SEALmom said:
It's not a well known program, and even some that have heard about Sea Cadets seem to have misconceptions about it. I've come across many who think that it's similar to boys scouts or JROTC and it is not. It's learning about the Navy/military, and the trainings are NO JOKE!

They are not kiddy summer camps, as most people assume. My three cadets have done the obstacle courses at military bases, they've trained on vehicle rollover simulator, put out fires, learned to plug holes on a ship, trained on the FATS simulator and shot live fire on M16s and the 240. They've lived in the field, breaching buildings and eating MREs, while being ambushed constantly by the Marines. One of my cadets did the winter survival training, living in a snow cave for a week in the mountains of Colorado - and one of the objectives to pass the course was to catch and eat a rabbit. They are pushed beyond their limits. The pins and medals these kids earn are truly an accomplishment.

They've also had the privilege and honor of marching in Memorial Day and Veterans Day parades, attended the Navy Ball, worked for the Honor flights, worked at Navy week events and had the great honor of attending a luncheon with CNO Admiral Greenert (and he personally gave them challenge coins!).

I've spread the word about Sea Cadets every chance I get. My cadets have recruited four into our battalion so far :)
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I think the program can be hit or miss. I don't believe even the recruits in the navy do most of these stuff.
 
patrioticmom said:
I think the program can be hit or miss. I don't believe even the recruits in the navy do most of these stuff.
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They learn to plug holes on ships and put out fires, etc. at Recruit Training (boot camp), and once they've completed boot camp they may attend other advanced trainings, such as winter survival or Field Ops. Some of the things I listed were done at an advanced training, and some were through our local battalion. For instance, our battalion spends a weekend at Camp Dodge every year, and also has some live fire trainings during drill weekends throughout the year.
 
Please don't get me wrong, I think it's a great program. I'm not worried about by DS surviving Beast, he's been getting barked at and PT'd since he was 12/13. I was merely expressing disappointment in that what I presume was an NCO conducting NROTC interviews knew nothing of the program. Capt MJ explained well why many active duty are not aware.
 
We had a sea cadet on Eagle when I was a 4/c cadet. A bit shell shocked from six weeks of being yelled at, we called him sir. He said "call me chief."

He spent the entire week complaining and throwing up (it was rough).

That was my entire experience with them (which was negative) until I later served on a Sea Cadets award panel (which was positive).

Uniforms people aren't familiar with can really throw people off.
 
He can call himself anything but I guarantee he is not a navy chief, even if he didn't throw up!;)
 
Hahahaha! Call me Chief! Yeah right. We have all run into 1 or 2 of these kids from JROTC or Sea Cadets that just does something stupid like call me Sir or these ribbons are real. Just have to remember they are kids and they will have a great wake up call if they join the real military where training is extremely hard to get and coveted, ribbons aren't handed out for going to a school (except the Air Force...), and active duty life isn't easy. Great programs when done right.
 
NavyHoops said:
Hahahaha! Call me Chief! Yeah right. We have all run into 1 or 2 of these kids from JROTC or Sea Cadets that just does something stupid like call me Sir or these ribbons are real. Just have to remember they are kids and they will have a great wake up call if they join the real military where training is extremely hard to get and coveted, ribbons aren't handed out for going to a school (except the Air Force...), and active duty life isn't easy. Great programs when done right.
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I was on second phase EAGLE (so X-Ray Co. had just finished, Yankee Co. was next, and then Zulu Co. was after us). Apparently before we got there he had the same kind of attitude, and just as we were confused by the guy (kid) in khakis so was X-Ray. Well, he had the bottom rack and he had an attitude, so one night a few cadets triced him in his rack (the bottom rack is designed to be hooked up to the rack above it so people can sweep under it. If someone was in the rack while it's up, and they usually aren't, they get trapped between the diagonal rack and the wall, no way out). So this sea cadet was stuck in the rack and they turned off the lights and splashed water on him while they told him the ship was sinking and he had to save himself.

Probably a relatively traumatic event for a high schooler away from home.

By the time my company (Yankee) had come aboard he had moved to the top rack, where he would sit during the day and puck into a clear ziplock back. And as you can assume, generally it's better if shipmates puke outside on the deck or in the head. He did not gain many fans during the second phase. At one point he was crying on the deck about how much he hated it there.

It wasn't until the school year started and we shared some of our stories with classmates that we learned from X-Ray swabs that the other thing had happened to him.

Looking back, I feel bad for him. That wasn't the experience he deserved, even if he wasn't exactly displaying the best attitude. But I'm sure it made for an interesting story, if he every shared it.
 
The highest rank that follows a sea cadet is E-3, and the rank only follows if enlisted. No rank follows into a SA or ROTC.
 
LineInTheSand said:
But I'm sure it made for an interesting story, if he every shared it.
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I doubt if he ever shared it the way others saw him. I like your version better anyway even someone should have made him puke outside! :D
 
Historically, the Naval Academy admissions office is not particularly impressed by candidates who are active in the Sea Cadets or JROTC programs. It certainly doesn't hurt you - but you're much better off being involved in four years of a varsity sport, leadership roles in the community, and (of course) good grades. You might say, "Well, I'm a Sea Cadet and I do all those other things!" That's great. Those "other things" are probably going to have a greater influence than your participation in the Sea Cadet program.
 
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