News From Boot Camp

[Steve Hubbard]

After being in the Delayed Entry Program since last October, my son finally reported to RTC last week.  He flew out last Tuesday, June 5th and we got his safe arrival call about 11:00 that night.  Got his boxed up civilian clothes and cell phone a few days after, but so far no info about his ship or division asignment.

Anybody out there with a recruit that reported the same day?  If so, have you had any additional information about mailing address yet.

 

[Jack Flash]

Hi Steve,

I was curious... maybe you can enlighten me, as my son is just in the process of enlisting right now.  Did your son test and then enlist, and then choose a rate, and then was he given a ship date, AND THEN --I presume because his ship date was much later, he was put in DEP?

 

Or do I have it all wrong?  Maybe he was not given a ship date at all, and entered DEP because of that?

 

I'm just trying to understand why someone goes into the DEP program.  Is it because there are no current openings for some particular rate they choose, or because there are so many waiting to go to Boot Camp, or something else?  Please share if you would.

 

I'm asking, --wondering-- because I was thinking if my son is given a later ship date-- maybe he should attend at least a semester of College beforehand-- provided he is told an expected date for BC that would permit this.

 

[Steve Hubbard]

Jack...My son enlisted in Oct 2011.  At some point during the enlistment process, he took the ASVAB test battery.  He scored fairly well and decided to go into the Nuclear Field.  After all his paperwork was completed, he received orders to report to RTC on 6/5/12. 

The "pipeline" for Nukes is boot camp first, then 6 mos. in  "A" school in Charleston, SC. His rating will be either MM, EM or ET.  Nukes don't know what their rating will be until sometime during boot camp.  "A" school is followed by another 6 mos. in Nuclear Power school and finally the last 6 mos. is spent at Nuclear Prototype school.  So you see that there's 20 mos of schooling there before he goes to the fleet.

All these schools must have available/open billets.  In order to allow sufficient time for current A school and nuclear power school classes to complete and the required billets to open, my son was in DEP for 7 months before there was room for him in the pipeline.

My son had already graduated from college when he enlisted.  He spent his DEP time working a full time job and saving his money.  So, delayed entry is not a bad thing.

By the way...in the Navy, the word "rate" refers to pay grade (E-1, E-2, E-3, etc).  "Rating" is the specific job classification (MM, EM, ET, STG, etc.)

Hope this helps answer some of your questions.

[Jonathan Cooper]

Steve;

My son shipped on 6/5 as well.  He was sworn in at the Chicago White Sox game.  My situation is exactly like yours, he is also a Nuke. I think one of the first things they do after all the "P" days is send home the letter.  They have 5 Processing days and they ended Sunday I am guessing.  If my assumptions are correct we should get "the letter" sometime this week.

[Pete Mullally]

Steve,

Our son reported on June 5th as well, and we have received the phone call and the box. Still waiting for the letter, which we are hoping will come this week.

[Jonathan Cooper]

For those who had sons swear in at the Sox game on June 5 or for any other interested parties here is a video released by the White Sox of the Ceremony.

http://mlb.mlb.com/video/play.jsp?content_id=22080587