Questions for Ex-NAVY Divers

[Drin]

14 YEARS of dealing with military members, THAT'S WHO. What do YOU know about the military, other than it’s apparently just a 'job' to you? The branch is immaterial. Military service, regardless of the branch, involves the SAME mindset, SAME discipline, SAME dedication. When you get down to it; the ONLY differences in the Navy and Army are the jobs you’re trained to do.

Why? Because at their heart, there is no difference between the military branches other than our jobs. It's that discipline and dedication that is important in the military- NOT the JOB you do.

BZ, T.C. Well said.

-Adrian

 

[Akimbo]

... Do they still carry diver as a secondary rating?...

Already answered:

Navy divers are a primary rating as of 2006, rather than a secondary like when we were in. ...

 

[Lead_carrier]

Divevagabond, don't listen to these guys. Talk to the recruiter, believe what he says. They can't tell you lies or even stretch the truth in order to make you want to enlist. As far as the dive school, be sure to let them know that you are very qualified and a former instructor. That way if they want to take a day or two off, you can stand in for them. They usually take a special liking to the people that already know how to dive and have the routine down pat. Have a great time with it. I know all of the senior petty officers will take good care of you once they get to know you.

 

[Drin]

divevagabond, don't listen to these guys. Talk to the recruiter, believe what he says. They can't tell you lies or even stretch the truth in order to make you want to enlist. As far as the dive school, be sure to let them know that you are very qualified and a former instructor. That way if they want to take a day or two off, you can stand in for them. They usually take a special liking to the people that already know how to dive and have the routine down pat. Have a great time with it. I know all of the senior petty officers will take good care of you once they get to know you.

lmao!

 

[Bubblehead628]

lmao!

It's true, it's true!!!

 

[MSltr]

My son enlisted in the Navy as a diver candidate in 2012. It is now its own rating and managed within the Navy Special Ops community. He had to pass the PST and medical before they offered him a contract; it is six years for divers. He then had to be placed into a lottery to get a basic training class. He waited for almost six months before he got a reporting date for basic at Great Lakes Naval Traiing Center. During his wait he was required to repeat the PST every month to retain his place in the lottery. The special ops community have their own ship division (unit) during basic; consequenlty, they only have so many vacancies every training cycle. As you might imagine, the empahsis is on fitness in basic. After basic he had to wait with his shipmates until they had enough dive candidates from the next basic class for pre-dive, again at Great Lakes. The emphasis in pre-dive is on underwater water fitness and confidence. Pool week is the discriminator. If you can successfully pass pool week you move on to A-school at Panama City. There you will still have a challenge to succeed as a 2nd Class Diver. If not, you have to re-classify into another specialty. I recommend you search YouTube for pool week videos. He was a medical drop during pre-dive; and had to reclassify into a different rating. His choices were very limited to what the Navy had available. His advice would be to enlist in the Navy for something you want to do in the event you don't complete the program, and the request dive school. Keep in mind the age cut-off for diver training is 26.

 

[hroark2112]

A few things to note here.

For reference, I did 8 1/2 years in the Navy, got out as an EM1(SS) for those familiar with Navy ratings.

Your recruiter can't guarantee you anything except a ride to MEPS. Once you've taken the ASVAB and spoken to your recruiter, he will take you to MEPS. You'll do a physical, eye test including color blindness tests and then you'll see someone who will review your ASVAB scores and recommend a few programs. You can tell this person that you want to enlist as a Navy diver. If you qualify and the spot is available and if they are allowed to enlist you for this rating, they'll put it in writing. Lots of ifs there but if it's possible, this is where you'll find out.

If you enlist, you'll go to boot camp and then your first school. Here's where attitude and performance matter. If you fail out, you'll go to a ship and learn the fine art of scraping paint and applying paint among other wonderful skills. This applies through all of your training and then if/when you get to your first command, you have to qualify before you're able to work unsupervised. You can fail out at this point and then end up scrubbing bilges or waxing decks.

In my Navy experience, I got as high up as I could without making significant personal changes that I wasn't ready to make, so I got out. I was on submarines, and the military part of life wasn't emphasized too much.

Good luck with whatever you decide to do, and realize that stability and Navy don't go hand in hand. I can remember more than once getting turned around for another few weeks when we were heading in to port. I never looked at my job as stability.

 

[wedivebc]

It's called a reality check son, and I expect you have a few more coming if you are successful in enrolling in the navy.

Gee TC, between all your *"Quotations"* and tough guy act, you almost actually helped me!

I understand that you don't just sign a piece of paper and get the job. I'm not pretending that I fully comprehend the physical demands and dedication it takes to get this ranking, but who are you judge what I'm made of without ever meeting me? I've got the dedication to earn this if given a fair shot, I just got to know this is worth fighting for. I did however notice that your page has you listed as US Army NOT US Navy, with less than 500 dives, so unless you magically changed branches in the past 24 hours, I'd appreciate it if you'd let someone whose actually been through this training respond. Cheers'




---------- Post added January 29th, 2014 at 09:13 PM ----------



Ok, so say I pass the Physical test. Could I then get a slot in the school in a written guarantee from the recruiter or would those select few admissions be handled by the Diver administering the tests from those that passed the initial examination?

 

[pdhenry]

And they say this is the flame-free zone...

 

[tursiops]

And they say this is the flame-free zone...

Would it be better if people lied to him?