SO - Special Operations (Navy SEAL) - Contracts
My son Owen who is 17 and a senior is talking to a Navy recruiter regarding DEP. Owen has taken the ASVAB, and our understanding is he scored an overall 85%. Owens primary interest is SO - Special Operations (Navy SEAL). With a secondary rate of HM if he cannot qualify for the SO rate. The recruiter is telling him that assuming he passes his MEPS physical, and the required scores on the ASVAB are meet, that if offered, he would not be able to select SO as a primary selection in his contract, but that it would rather be a secondary selection which he would have to request while in basic training. Is this correct?
It will be in his contract that he is requesting that rate right?
According to usmilitary.about.com he would sign a contract to enlist in the DEP program, and again before he goes to basic. The recruiter is telling him that he would sign a third contract before he begins SEAL Training Challenge if selected. Is this correct?
In what contract would he need to make sure that he has requested SO, and any verbiage regarding any enlistment bonuses which have been promised, in the DEP contract, or the active duty contract? Or neither as it would be specified in a specific SEAL Training contract?
The recruiter has also promised a 30k bonus if he does the SEAL Training Challenge?
Is there no way he will be offered the SO - Special Operations (Navy SEAL) rate even if he qualifies during MEPS?
Thanks for your replies
Replies
Is Calvin ever on here anymore?
I have questions.... lol
As an update-- My son was offered an AIRR contract yesterday, and at that point he swore in and entered DEP with a ship date of Oct 30, 2012.
He's taken the PST three times so far and last week he was told to that today (MondayCMOS was to come to the Recruiter Office instead of reporting for another PST. When he got there he was told that his scores have been entered in the draft and that a contract should be coming as a result. He has to get another eye exam today and his blood pressure rechecked at MEPs on Wednesday, but if everything is okay medically, he could have his contract in hand by next week (I'll believe it when I see it).
The point is, you do not have to DEP in ahead of your contract. My son will DEP in with contract in place and a ship date assigned.
I am currently working with our specwar/specops mentor to obtain a diver contract, the process is the same for all specwar jobs including SEAL. You are required to go to MEPS and pick a non-specwar job first and then work towards a challenge contract. The mentor will not work with you unless you are currently in DEP for liability reasons, also the Navy is not going to spend time/money working with someone who is not under contract. If your son wants to be a SEAL he will HAVE to sign a contract for another job first and enter DEP. Since a mentor will not work with him before he is in DEP there is no way for him to qualify for SO before entering DEP as he will not have taken and passed the PST. Here is the order and way obtaining a challenge contract happens:
Enter DEP with a different rate
Contact mentor and schedule time to do the PST
If/When he gets competitive PST score his mentor will reccomend him for a challenge contract
His scores will be placed in a national draft with all other scores of SO hopefulls
If/When selected, he will sign a new contract with the rate of SO
He will have to continue to complete PST's untill his final ship date and continue to improve on his scores or risk having his contract revoked (for us we PST every 2 weeks)
As for the bonus, we had a guy that I was working with that had an SO contract and just shipped on manday, he had a 15k bonus
Hope this all helps and I wish your son the best of luck. (oh, tell him to run.... A LOT!!!)
Jack, my son is 20 and when I spoke with him yesterday, he was talking about the "kids" in his division not taking things seriously or talking too much...I still think of my son as a kid but it showed that he had matured. My thoughts were that my son wasn't mature enough at 18 when this journey began. I feel fortunate that those roadblocks that prevented him from joining earlier were there in order for him to "grow up".
On the other hand, evaluating what it takes, he was honest in saying that for himself at leasr, there was no way he was ready for SEAL training at age 18. He just didn't have the maturity required and mental toughness that it takes to endure and ultimately succeed through the intense trainig regimen
For those very reasons, my own son recognizes that the SEAL program is likely beyond him at this point in his personal development. This very kind SEAL is connecting us with an Active Duty Rescue Swimmer for us to sit down with and chat. I'm so impressed with the professionalism, and sheer kindness of each member I encounter. I'm so proud to be (even loosely) associated with such a fine group of men and women that our Navy has trained up.
Successful completion of SEAL training now pays $15k...and as Mike said, do not sign any contract if it isn't what you want. My son initially signed an MM contract for subs when SO was what he wanted.(He had been trying to get through MEPS medical hassles for over a year because of a scalp laceration when he was 4 yrs old).His SO mentor was who navigated through all the paperwork and got his SO contract for him.
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