ROTC and beyond

[lostpill]

I'm going to be graduating after this school year and am planning to go Navy ROTC during college (top choices are Georgia Tech and Purdue). Needless to say, the benefit of the scholarship is what caught me initially, as well as my interest in joining the Navy. So what happens after college? I really want to get into aviation in the Navy, being a pilot more specifically. How would I go about doing this? What is the difference between the Navy reserve and the Navy and do I have to go to the reserves? Thanks for any input.

[geodetective]

I'll do my best to answer some of your questions. First of all, let me say that I respect your decision to serve our country. Secondly, there are alot of people out there who have the same goal of becoming a naval aviator - you have a long arduous path ahead of you. Its great to have that goal, but do not get yourself tied up in a committment to the Navy if you think you would be unhappy serving as a surface warfare officer on a ship. In the latter part of your career as an ROTC midshipman, you would be asked to fill out a "dreamsheet" - basically, list the top few jobs that you want. You are not guaranteed anything. Which choice you get is based on an overall evaluation of your file - grades, as well as the evaluations of your detachment staff will play a major role.

I might add that the Marine Corps offers a program in which you would be guaranteed a flight school spot prior to making any committment. The program allows you to split Marine Corps OCS into two 6-week sessions between your sophmore and junior year, and your junior and senior year, respectively. Talk to a Marine Corps Officer Programs recruiter for more details.

As far as your question regarding the navy versus the naval reserve . . . I imagine that you are getting a little confused. Upon graduation from Navy ROTC, you incur an active duty committment, but you only receive a reserve commission. The military offers "reserve commissions" and "regular commissions." I am not that well-schooled in what the true difference between the two is - perhaps someone else can fill in that gap. However, don't let the fact that it is a reserve commission fool you into thinking that you will be doing the whole "one weekend a month and two weeks during the summer" routine. When you graduate and take your commission, you will be in THE Navy. After several years of honorable service, they will likely convert your reserve commission to a regular commission. An interesting sidenote . . . it used to be that graduates of the service academies received regular commissions - however, at last notice, they are now granting only reserve commissions.

Good luck to you.

geo

[Future Agent]

I am a former Navy surface warfare midshipman. The process by which an officer goes from officially "reserve" to "regular" Navy is called augmentation, and an officer can usually apply for this after a couple of years in (I have heard of LTjg's doing it, for example.)