TechCam97

iTrader: (5)

I'm graduating from college soon with a sizable chunk of student loans to repay. I know that the Navy and Army both offer the SLRP for up to $65k and that would really make my day! My wife really wanted me to look into the Navy because she'd rather not have me gone for 18 months at a time over in the sandbox. I've put my paperwork in and I'm going to MEPS on Wednesday and everything was going along fine until last night. A friend of ours who just got out of the Navy came back into town and heard I was trying to join up. He mentioned the Individual Augmentee program that the Navy and Air Force is doing right now. Ffor those who don't know, the Navy and Air Force get a list of jobs that are in desperate need in the Army and Marines and the Navy / AF equate those jobs to their Navy / AF counterparts and send the Navy / AF personnel to fill in those spots. While it has been noted that no Navy / AF personnel has filled in for straight up infantry they do pretty much everything else. When my wife heard this she dang near shat herself. Now she is freaking out and not wanting me to go. I spoke with another one of my friends who spent 8 years in the Navy and he told me he only knew of medical personnel who did the IA program and they volunteered. I looked up all the information I could and basically it says that the Navy / AF go through volunteers for the IA program first and then start to randomly select others based on shore duty time. Basically, if someone has been on shore duty for a long time then they'd be up to go first. My friend who originally told me (not to scare me off, just to warn me) told me that he spent a year in Kuwait as basically a guard at the port he was in. Is there anyone on here who is in the Navy who can shed some more light on this subject for me and possibly help me alleviate some of my wife's fears?

02_ramair_ta

iTrader: (35)

Like your buddy said, IA tours are mostly a volunteer deal, There are so many people who want to go, that I have never heard of anyone being told they are going.. But I "could" happen I guess.

you finish a degree? If so you should be able to do an officer program, we are talking alot more money!!!

TechCam97

iTrader: (5)

I would go for an officers commission but I have ~ $72k in loan debt to repay and that $65k would come in VERY handy in getting ride of a good chunk of that!

TechCam97

iTrader: (5)

Hey 02_ramair_ta, what can you tell me about sea and shore duties? Are there any somewhat stable rotations? Like six months or so out and six months at home? What kind of stuff have you experienced?

TechCam97

iTrader: (5)

Also, do you think you could explain workups to me as well? I heard from a member on another forum that the Navy has two year "workups" before the now-standard 9 month or more sea deployment. He said that most of that time will be spent on ship, even once in port. He said to basically say goodbye to my family for three years, is this true? My wife can put up with a lot, but I don't think that is something she would go for. From what my recruiter was telling us, it seemed like I would be out for 6-9 months and then home for 6 months or so.

P.S. - I know it's his job to B.S. me and "sell" me, but it seems like a lot of the information he's neglecting to mention (workups, deployment, IA, etc) feels like he's presenting an entirely different Navy than I'm hearing about from actual sailors. Seems kind of wrong to withhold that kind of information from a potential recruit....

MGMC

iTrader: (46)

I can help ya out, ive got 7yrs in so far. Sea and shore rotations go by years. I.E. my first 5 years in the navy were on sea duty (being able to deploy). Now after the 5 years i was able to choose a shore billet for 3 years. The rotation varies on the rate you select, and also your rank. For example a AM3 will have 5 years of sea and 2 years of shore while I (AM2) will have 5 sea and 3 shore. They change randomly.

I have had 2 friends "selected" for IA, just dont act like a turd and you should be ok....

Ok now this is my opinion, but us squadron guys have a little better quality of life as far as sea duty, we only go to the ship when we leave on work-ups or deploy. We dont even go on all the w-u sometimes hehe.

Work-ups can be anywhere from a week to a month at times, kinda depends on the ship you get attached to. w-ups are practice/inspection of the ship, basically if can handle itself/tasks while deployed. work ups lead to a deployment wich can be 2-3 months or 5-8 months depending on the ship/mission.

TechCam97

iTrader: (5)

What about just the standard 4 year enlistment? What would that rotation be like?

MGMC

iTrader: (46)

Most likely you will be on sea duty your 4 full years, but i have seen some people go to shore first. In that case you would do 2 shore and finish up the other 2 on sea. 90% chance you wont have a choice in your orders, especially if your new. You prolly wont know where your going until your a-school. Big NAVY does that for you, just depends on who/what needs manning.

Now if you decided to stay in and do another few years, you can negotiate for your next orders.

TechCam97

iTrader: (5)

Hmm....what do you know about married couples during all of this?

MGMC

iTrader: (46)

I am married and have a 1yr boy hehe. Both of you joining or only you?

TechCam97

iTrader: (5)

Only me. I'm just not sure about this decision. I've heard from some people that it's horrible and I'll never be home and my wife will leave me and then I've heard from others that it's not that bad and I'll be home enough to make it bearable. I'm not looking for a long career or anything, just do my four years and get my SLRP and move on with my life. I'd just like to have my wife with me when I depart, lol!

MGMC

iTrader: (46)

Oh I C...Well man...it takes a special woman to deal with all the b.s. we have to do. Your gonna be in the navy and your going to leave for a while at times. Its not THAT bad, but yeah man your gonna be gone and shes going to be at her lonesome. You will always have email (unless your doing some covert ****) to communicate. My wife and I email each other 2-3 times a day on work-ups/deployment. Hopefully your marriage is solid, this will be a good test.

MGMC

iTrader: (46)

if you two already dont trust each other, there's gonna be issues. if you do, your golden!

TechCam97

iTrader: (5)

So you have internet while on the ship? I trust my wife and she trusts me, it's just she's terrified that we'll grow apart with me being gone so long. I honestly can't say I blame her, this life style takes a hell of a toll on families. My dad was a Major in the Army and it was tough not having him around as much as we would have liked.

98TAjwh

iTrader: (4)

if you're joining just to repay the college money i would find something else. the navy is in no hurry to enlist people right now, especially if the person enlisting is requesting $65K to repay college loans. and it is "up to 65K" so even if you did get in via the SLRP i doubt you'd get the full 65. now IF you did get the 65, you'd probably be doing more than a four year enlistment, that much i can guarantee. But if you must join, go officer. you already have a degree and you'd be making about three times as much or more as an E3 starting out which would really help that college loan.

98TAjwh

iTrader: (4)

just did some research, the army only pays up to 20K from what i found. checking on Navy SLRP now for you brotha!

edit: did some more research, looks like the army does pay "up to" 65K, and so does Navy. here is a link that should help answer some questions.

http://www.military.com/Resources/Re...4245--,00.html

read through this and see if you are eligible for this program, get in touch with a recruiter and see what they can do for you. above all, GET EVERYTHING THEY PROMISE IN WRITING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

TechCam97

iTrader: (5)

Well, I'm in contact with a recruiter already. He wants me to go to MEPS on Wednesday but I'm in college still at the moment and I'm in class until noon and I work till 5 but he'd like me to skip out on class and work for two days to do the whole MEPS thing. I'm honestly feeling a bit rushed. I'm trying to do my homework on this, but I find talking to ya'll about this stuff is even better so I can get some first-hand commentary!

98TAjwh

iTrader: (4)

don't skip out on work or class, and don't let the recruiters rush you or push you into a corner. the military will be here when and if you make the decision to join. like i said before, get all the promises in black and white on your service contract. i hate hearing people say "my recruiter f'd me over" and this and that. it's your responsibility to make sure everything you and the MEPS detailer agree upon is in writing. ask him/her for a print out of the service contract BEFORE you sign and take it to an attorney to look over. it's not just your life you're signing away bro, you have a wife to think about too.

so let me give you some true insight as far as Navy life.

your first command will most likely be sea duty for 3-5 years. you won't be away from your family that entire time (as long as your wife goes to whatever duty station you go to). at my first sea duty we were out to sea an average of 2 weeks a month. sometimes more sometimes less dependant on schedule. our deployments were about six months long, and we were deployed 6 out of every 18 months. we had email and phones to contact family while underway. while in port you have duty days every six days meaning every six days you are on the ship for 24 hours. you stand a watch, run some drills and do training, no big deal. also while in port you have working hours. mine were 0700-1500, but if we got done early, we went home. on average i was home by 1400 (that's 2 pm). there will be some times where you stay later. deployments, i must say are awesome. you will make some of the best friends you ever had and experience things that civilians wil never have the opportunity to have. the food isn't great, but it's not bad. ok, now i'm starting to ramble.

one last thing i have to say which was already mentioned in a post above. if you have any suspicion that your wife would cheat or leave you while you're deployed; you're marriage is on the line if you decide to join. i, myself, have lost a wife and countless girlfriends because they could not handle the separation. it takes a very strong spouse to be married (faithfully) to a military member. either way i wish you the best in which ever career path you choose. don't hesitate to post up or pm any of us military members if you have any more questions, we're here to help.

TechCam97

iTrader: (5)

Thanks 98TAjwh, you've been very helpful! Like I said, it's not that I don't trust my wife or that she doesn't trust me. She's 20 and we have a one year old daughter together (I have a five year old from a previous marriage as well) and I just know how she is. When I found out about the SLRP program being offered by the Navy and the Army I pretty much gave her the choice on which she would be able to deal with the best. I know how the Army is, my dad's an old retired Major and it was rough sometimes. During times of peace it was like having a dad who was working regular jobs like everyone else. 7-3 and then random times when he'd be gone for a week or two out in the field. When war broke out in Iraq the first time he was gone a loooong time. It was tough but we got through it. Both his brothers were Navy officers, one on the USS Forrestal and the other on a nuclear submarine. But seeings as both of them served during a time of relative peace and were officers, they really couldn't shed too much light on what I was looking at experiencing. Not to mention all the policy changes and stuff that has gone on in the 20+ years they have been out. Now I'm starting to ramble, haha!

But anywho, my wife is my main concern still. I love her to death and I just want to be able to give her as much of a briefing on what to expect as I can so she can help me make this decision. If she hears everything and feels she can deal with it, then great. If not I can find myself a civilian job and we can find a way to make it work with repaying my loans.

Navy02Z28

It's not guaranteed that your first command will be sea duty. You have to remember, your time in starts as soon as you arrive at OCS or boot camp. Whichever you choose. Then you have to go to school to actually learn about your job. Me, It took me almost a year to get through school and to my first command. And it's shore duty. In Florida. For 3 years. My first enlistment will be completely shore duty.