This happens. Your son will go through all the phases of grieving the separation. As painful as this is, for him and for family, he will learn and grow from this, and later success will seem all the sweeter. No doubt he feels he has let you down somehow.
There is no reason for him to be embarrassed. Academic performance has nothing to do with who he is as a person, his worth as a human being, his integrity and values. All humans fail at something.
Make sure he saves every piece of paper he is given at USNA. I think there is usually something that has various degrees of recommendation for other commissioning programs. Since his separation is for academic, not conduct, honor or military aptitude, he should be in good shape there. This is all administrative, no “bad paper.”
He needs to take a breath, then have a candid conversation with an NROTC unit about how it would work for him. He will have some transferable credits. He will have to get into a college with a host unit or crosstown affiliation. He will still have to major in an approved area, maintain a required GPA and complete any required core courses if they haven’t transferred. I will defer to
@GWU PNS to be more specific on how USNA to NROTC might work for a 2024 candidate.
Navy OCS, he would work with an officer recruiter and apply sometime in senior year of college, I think. He can research this at Navy OCS websites. Service assignment is known before going into OCS. It is highly competitive, as the Navy cherry picks who it needs to round out the new ensign production yield in a given fiscal year, and intake levels flex directly with needs of the Navy. They are looking for strong academic performance, credible STEM performance, leadership, physical fitness, well-rounded college performance.
He can find an officer recruiter not among the fine enlisted recruiters at the local shopping center recruiting office, but by contacting a regional talent acquisition group and asking for an OCS recruiter.
Navy Talent Acquisition Group, formerly known as Navy Recruiting District, address, Unit Identification Code and Web site listing.
www.navycs.com
His SSN will already have been in the DEERS (CAC card) ID system, DFAS pay system and clearance system, so he will have to practice saying upfront, “I was at the Naval Academy for 2 years but was separated for academic reasons, but I still want to pursue a commission as a Navy officer.” It’s a fact he will have to own, and the sting will lessen after every success as time goes on. If he has recovered and performed brilliantly in the remainder of his college years, all will even out over time.
His friends and classmates will still be his friends from USNA. They will be glad to see him if he shows up in the same uniform further down the road, regardless of which on-ramp he took.
