This site is for mothers of kids in the U.S. Navy and for Moms who have questions about Navy life for their kids.

FIRST TIME HERE?

FOLLOW THESE STEPS TO GET STARTED:

Choose your Username.  For the privacy and safety of you and/or your sailor, NO LAST NAMES ARE ALLOWED, even if your last name differs from that of your sailor (please make sure your URL address does not include your last name either).  Also, please do not include your email address in your user name. Go to "Settings" above to set your Username.  While there, complete your Profile so you can post and share photos and videos of your Sailor and share stories with other moms!

Make sure to read our Community Guidelines and this Navy Operations Security (OPSEC) checklist - loose lips sink ships!

Join groups!  Browse for groups for your PIR date, your sailor's occupational specialty, "A" school, assigned ship, homeport city, your own city or state, and a myriad of other interests. Jump in and introduce yourself!  Start making friends that can last a lifetime.

Link to Navy Speak - Navy Terms & Acronyms: Navy Speak

All Hands Magazine's full length documentary "Making a Sailor": This video follows four recruits through Boot Camp in the spring of 2018 who were assigned to DIV 229, an integrated division, which had PIR on 05/25/2018. 

Boot Camp: Making a Sailor (Full Length Documentary - 2018)

Boot Camp: Behind the Scenes at RTC

...and visit Navy.com - America's Navy and Navy.mil also Navy Live - The Official Blog of the Navy to learn more.

OPSEC - Navy Operations Security

Always keep Navy Operations Security in mind.  In the Navy, it's essential to remember that "loose lips sink ships."  OPSEC is everyone's responsibility. 

DON'T post critical information including future destinations or ports of call; future operations, exercises or missions; deployment or homecoming dates.  

DO be smart, use your head, always think OPSEC when using texts, email, phone, and social media, and watch this video: "Importance of Navy OPSEC."

Follow this link for OPSEC Guidelines:

OPSEC GUIDELINES

Events

**UPDATE 4/26/2022** Effective with the May 6, 2022 PIR 4 guests will be allowed.  Still must be fully vaccinated to attend.

**UPDATE as of 11/10/2022 PIR vaccination is no longer required.

**UPDATE 7/29/2021** You now must be fully vaccinated in order to attend PIR:

In light of observed changes and impact of the Coronavirus Delta Variant and out of an abundance of caution for our recruits, Sailors, staff, and guests, Recruit Training Command is restricting Pass-in-Review (recruit graduation) to ONLY fully immunized guests (14-days post final COVID vaccination dose).  

FOLLOW THIS LINK FOR UP TO DATE INFO:

RTC Graduation

**UPDATE 8/25/2022 - MASK MANDATE IS LIFTED.  Vaccinations still required.

**UPDATE 11/10/22 PIR - Vaccinations no longer required.

RESUMING LIVE PIR - 8/13/2021

Please note! Changes to this guide happened in October 2017. Tickets are now issued for all guests, and all guests must have a ticket to enter base. A separate parking pass is no longer needed to drive on to base for parking.

Please see changes to attending PIR in the PAGES column. The PAGES are located under the member icons on the right side.

Format Downloads:

Latest Activity

Navy Speak

Click here to learn common Navy terms and acronyms!  (Hint:  When you can speak an entire sentence using only acronyms and one verb, you're truly a Navy mom.)

N4M Merchandise


Shirts, caps, mugs and more can be found at CafePress.

Please note: Profits generated in the production of this merchandise are not being awarded to the Navy or any of its suppliers. Any profit made is retained by CafePress.

Navy.com Para Familias

Visite esta página para explorar en su idioma las oportunidades de educación y carreras para sus hijos en el Navy. Navy.com

Badge

Loading…

Hi all. My son is considering joining after H.S, thankfully he is only a jr. so we both have time to get answers and make a solid decision.

He is wanting to enlist as a corpsman. My concern is that somehow he would be shifted into something else or for some reason would be called in-eligeable and be hustled off to something entirely different. At what point is the plan all written in stone? Will he have his path set when he starts basic?  I have known MANY people in the Army who were promised things and then none of it came to be and they were not able to pursue the job they originally were told they could. 

The Navy, or any military branch, would not be my first choice for any of my boys, but I do know that my son would be a great sailor/soldier. Im not concerned about his ability or capability, Im mostly concerned about the transparency in the enlistment process and knowing what we are REALLY in for verses what a recruiter might say we are in for. 

Anyone have experiences, good or bad, to share about their corpsmen? Deployments and the reality of danger they may be in or other deployments that are safer? Just in general I am curious about thoughts on all real experiences.

When they finish training and are on their first sea tour or whatever its called, is it really 36mos? Are they able to get leave during that time? Might sound like a dumb question but I am trying to get my mind around realities here, and 36 mos of not seeing my kid seems like I just might loose it. 

I guess Ill start there.

Thanks

Jen

Views: 863

Reply to This

Replies to This Discussion

Let me kick this off and bump your post to the top. Others will be sure to join in.

Its good that you are concerned about your son being shifted into something other than corpsman. Getting the exact Navy rating (job) that a potential Recruit wants has become increasingly harder and harder. The best you can do is get off to an early start. The Recruiter can't do anything official with your son until he's within a year of HS graduation and 17, but it wouldn't hurt to pay him/her a visit. Nothing is written in stone until your son signs a contract (and if he's only 17 you sign too) for a specific rating and a boot camp ship date. Rarely is anything changed in boot camp and that would require a new contract or a chance to bail out.

This site is a great place for filtering recruiter bs and reality. If anything sound fishy please run it by this experienced group.

If you want to target your questions directly at corpsman moms look here: http://navyformoms.com/group/corpsmenmoms .  Navy corpsmen may volunteer to serve with the Marines as combat medics, so there is possibility of danger. Other than that there are just the usual hazards of shipboard life, the greatest of which is boredom ;)

36 months of sea duty is not 36 months at sea. Most ships spend as much time at their home port as they do on far flung deployments. Your sailor will earn 30 days of leave (vacation) a year, so you will see him.

Thanks so much. 

He is 17 but a jr, so we still do have some good time. He always hated that I enrolled him in Kindergarten late and now I AM SO GLAD!!! LOL.

I know his hear tis set on Corpsman so I guess our next step will be a discussion with a recruiter. He has strong grades and will also have an EMT certification by the time he would go to basic. We shall see. 

Thanks again for the input.

Jen

Many corpsmen do not go to sea at all, they spend their time in clinics or hospitals.  It depends on what specialty he gets as an HM.   But Cryptodad is right, if your son signs an HM contract, he will have HM.  

One thing to do while prepping for the Navy is to find out what would disqualify him up front or would require waivers (asthma, anti-depressives, ADHA medications, and so on).  No piercing or tattooing anything, and avoid trouble, even unpaid parking tickets.  

what is HM?

HM is Hospital Corpsman. The Rating Information Card for HM can be found at https://www.cool.navy.mil/usn/enlisted/rating_info_cards/hm.pdf; it indicates 19 weeks, but "A" School is 14 weeks after classing up.

Only people who want to be reservists should sign up for that.  It is increasingly difficult to move over to active duty.

If he is graduating boot camp on Dec 5, there are no hoops. Serving in the Reserves are a done deal.

The Navy does have a program to move Sailors from Reserve to Active duty (see http://www.navy.mil/submit/display.asp?story_id=69401) but they only want Reservists for specific ratings and rates that are grossly undermanned on the Active side at the time that a Reservist is up for renewing his/her contract. Its more about the needs of the Navy than the wishes of the Sailors.

What rating will your Recruit be going to A school for?

From my experience in the Army, a lot of Corpsman are attached to Marine Combat units. When we trained with the Marines, there were always Corpsman with them. It seems that Corpsman are one of those rates that can be absolutely anywhere, doing seemingly anything. His recruiter can't guarantee him what he'll be specifically doing, but he can guarantee him a job if he meets the qualifications. As to promises, unless it's in his contract, it's absolutely meaningless. The only way to make sure a promise is "Set in stone" is to make sure it's in the contract. 

One thing to be sure and have checked before he goes for MEPS is a color blindness test.   If he has a color deficiency that will limit the jobs he will be able to do by about 85-90%.  My son wanted to be  Military police and due to his color deficiency is now a Logistics Specialist.

All these years of eye exams and not one Dr. ever  told me he has a color deficiency.  It is extremely mild but so far the Navy has not waived.  He has been at BC for one week yesterday.  .

hope this helps a little

I am a navy mom of a navy recruiter.  Things change all the time.  The best resource is your recruiting office.  They will talk to family.

My son tells me that it is getting tougher to enlist for a certain job (it is called rate).  Your recruiter will have the most up to date information on that.  Your son might want to take the ASVAB to see what he qualifies for.  It can be re-taken.  A good recruiter will not push.  They are hiring for the navy and they have to turn down many.  Less are leaving the navy and more are applying.

Recruiters are now held to high standards.  Lying to recruits is not something that they want to be caught doing.  They won't last.

Ask lots of questions.  Make sure that you and your son know exactly how things are going to work.  You can ask someone else in the office too.  They will all talk to you.  They want your son to be sure because they are responsible that their recruits make it through boot camp.

FYI

rating = job

rate = pay grade

Technically 

rate = rating + paygrade

But "rate" is understood to mean job also.  

RSS

© 2024   Created by Navy for Moms Admin.   Powered by

Badges  |  Report an Issue  |  Terms of Service