Yes. I stand corrected.
Latest inside report says there are a lot of nervous Firsties on the yard.
81% are going to get their first choice; approximately 100 will be drafted SWO.
(These threads may only rise to the level of rumors but it shall remain a sleepless night for many 1/C's.)
Based on what information? You didn't even know what the correct date of the event was.
There really isn't a swo "draft". It's somewhat of the "default" service selection, for lack of a better term. While there are certainly those that truly desire to be SWOs, many end up picking it because they aren't qualified/aren't very interested in anything else. You can get out in five years and there aren't any special tests or trainings you have to do to qualify for it. I find the idea that 100 people getting swo who didn't put it first to be very suspect.
Based on what information? You didn't even know what the correct date of the event was.
There really isn't a swo "draft". It's somewhat of the "default" service selection, for lack of a better term. While there are certainly those that truly desire to be SWOs, many end up picking it because they aren't qualified/aren't very interested in anything else. You can get out in five years and there aren't any special tests or trainings you have to do to qualify for it. I find the idea that 100 people getting swo who didn't put it first to be very suspect.
I guess I just disagree with the fact that if someone put Marines down first and doesn’t get it and gets SWO, that isn’t SWO drafted. That means they got a service assignment on their list, which wasn’t their first pick.
I find this disrespectful to the SWO community. The origins and main focus of the Navy is ships. To say it is a default is a slap in the face to those who desire to serve in that community. My mid is thankful for the opportunity to be at USNA and is happy and willing to serve in whatever community they are assigned to. And my mid qualified for every community/choice. No selection is a default or lower than another. They are all commissioning as officers and leaders.
I have friends that graduated in the top 100 that went SWO, I'm not saying that everybody that picks it is a poor midshipman.
While I do not disagree that SWO is a default of sorts, Aviation is not far behind. Having observed Service Selection for well over 40 years, I've seen very few who wanted Aviation not be able to get it. In my class, I saw plenty of Aviators come out of the last groups to service select and actually, NFO slots lasted almost to the end. Same with the classes in front of me and behind me.Aviation has to be selective based on aptitude (ASTB, PFP, academics to a lesser degree) or else the people they would send would fail out of flight school.
I find this disrespectful to the SWO community. The origins and main focus of the Navy is ships. To say it is a default is a slap in the face to those who desire to serve in that community.They are all commissioning as officers and leaders.
I would be curious, and perhaps a current Midshipman or more recent graduate can comment; One of the advantages of the Service Assignment (v. Service Selection ) process is that it give the community some opportunity to evaluate aptitude and fit for that particular community. What happens if NONE of the communities wants a particular Midshipman ? I presume there is a Aptitude evaluation program to identify the person who somehow slipped by the Admissions process and got admitted, and most are separated (voluntarily or involuntarily) before they get to Service Assignment, but what happens to the Midshipman who is not bad enough to separate but nobody wants him/her ?
I really didn't view the comment as "disrespectful" as much as a statement of harsh reality. Back in the days of "service selection", which was done purely on Class Rank, there were always SWO billets left to be filled, and the bottom of the class generally got the less desirable billets . This doesn't mean that SWO is less desirable, and plenty of people at the top of the class went SWO--it's simply a recognition of the fact that there were more billets to fill than their were people to fill them, while most of the other conmmunities had limits on accessions . As OldRetSWO says, aviation often went pretty deep (because there were alof billets), and sometimes they didn't even fill the USMC quota. NFO actually went pretty quick in my day, when we had a lot of aircraft carrying NFO's (P3, E2, A6, EA6B and variety of special mission aircraft) and limited billets.
The fact that the end of the Class often went SWO should not denigrate the SWO community, or those that graduated at the end of the Class. The anchorman graduates with the same rank as the valedictorian, and once you get the commission and go tot he Fleet, your academic performance at USNA doesn't count anymore. Plenty of classmates who graduated lower in the Class served honorably and effectively as SWO's for 20+ years.
I would be curious, and perhaps a current Midshipman or more recent graduate can comment; One of the advantages of the Service Assignment (v. Service Selection ) process is that it give the community some opportunity to evaluate aptitude and fit for that particular community. What happens if NONE of the communities wants a particular Midshipman ? I presume there is a Aptitude evaluation program to identify the person who somehow slipped by the Admissions process and got admitted, and most are separated (voluntarily or involuntarily) before they get to Service Assignment, but what happens to the Midshipman who is not bad enough to separate but nobody wants him/her ?