Questions about the U.S. Navy: (See below)?

Question

I am 17 and thinking of joining the U.S. Navy when I graduate from High School. I want to just be one of the regular people in the white uniforms that do the chores on board, and shoot the guns and stuff like that. I don't know what that position is called. Is it fun, are the supervisors mean, is it hard, do you get to just do whatever during the day, or do you work all day, and how long at a time are you out at sea? Also please tell me about the Navy's National Call to Duty 2-year plan. Please only respond if you have been in the service, or know about it. Thanks.

Also, does any one know the minimum time you can be in Active duty? Also, I know that being in the Navy is not at all easy, but its not gruelling is it? And after youve taken the ASVAB in high school, can you re-take it, cause I got a 52 on it, and theres not many good jobs in the Navy that I can get with that. Also, to you people that have been in it, when you first get aboard, how long and how bad is sea sickness and how long until you get used to it?

Answer 1

Last I heard the National Call to Duty plan was only for a limited time until recruiting went up, and that it ended almost two years ago now.

Answer 2

well first off.. that white unifrom is NOT worn while on duty at sea.. the only time you'd be in that outfit is if you were on shore duty and it was the uniform of the day( and in season) or when you man the rails at the end of a deployment.

now, if you just want to be a deck ape, than you want BM: B'osuns Mate. if you want to shoot guns, go GM: Gunners Mate. If you want to work on the computers systems that control and actually fire the large weapons systems, then look into FC: Fire Controllman

National Call to Service is a program that allows you to serve 15 months of Active duty (clock starts once you hit the Fleet after training) followed by a mnadatory 24 months inthe Reserves. Now, recruiters will tellyou you have the option to extend that to 24 months of AD, but the reality is, very few people are actually being allowed to do that.

There are books out there that can help you brush up on the ASVAB, but keep in mind that you will only be able to use the last score, so if you take it a second time and score lower, that is what you are stuck with. a 52 is actually about average. what is most important in determining which ratings you can have are your line scores.

Each rating(not under NCS) has a different TIS obligation.. anywhere from 4 to 6 years. after that you can re enlist or choose to get out. Supervisors.. you will find good ones, bad ones, mean ones and nice ones. often on the same tour.

Answer 3

ALLOT OF THE QUESTIONS YOU ASKED WERE ANSWERED EARLIER BY MRSJ. AND I AGREE WITH MOST OF THEM.

SOMEONE SAID THAT THE NCS PROGRAM HAD BEEN GONE FOR 2 YEARS. WELL THAT IS NOT TRUE. IT NEVER LEFT. WE STILL TO THIS DAY ENLIST PEOPLE INTO IT.

AND LASTLY THE HM1 IS DISGRUNTAL AS HEL. AND FROM READING HIS ENTRY IT SOUNDS LIKE HE WAS IN A LONG TIME AGO. AND MOST OF WHAT HE TALKED ABOUT HAS CHANGED AND THE OTHER PARTS IS FOR THAT 1 PERCENT OF THE NAVY THAT WORK FOR THE MARINES AS A HM. I AM EMBARRASED TO SEE WHAT HE HAS WRITTEN. AND ON TOP OF THAT HE DID 20 YEARS AND RETIRED AS AN E-6. HELL I PUT ON E-6 IN THE FIRST 7 YEARS OF BEING IN. SO DONT TAKE ALLOT OF WHAT HE HAS TO SAY TO HEART. THOSE DAYS ARE DONE AND GONE..... AND IF HE IS SO DISGRUNTAL ABOUT PEOPLE JOINING THE NAVY. WHY IS HIS NAME THAT HE USED FOR THIS DOC. A NAVY NAME. WHY DIDNT HE CALL HIMSELF

DOG BUTT WIPER SINCE AS HOW THAT IS WHAT IS PROUD OF...????


AND IF YOU GOT A 52 ON THE ASVAB. DO NOT RETEST YET. AT LEAST GO TO MEPS TO FIND OUT WHAT JOBS YOU QUALIFY FOR WITH THAT SCORE. THAT SCORE ONLY TAKES 4 OUT OF 9 SECTIONS INTO ACCOUNT ITS ONLY AN OVERALL SCORE. THE 9 INDIVIDUAL SCORES ARE WHAT DETERMINE THE JOBS THAT YOU QUALIFY FOR. YOU CAN SCORE A 40 AND GET THE JOB YOU WANT AND YOU CAN SCORE A 70 AND NOT GET THAT SAME JOB THAT THE OTHER PERSON SCORED A 40 TO GET. IT DEPENDS ON THE LINE SCORE. AND 52 IS A GOOD SCORE. TRUST ME. THERE IS NOTHING SAYING THAT YOU CANT GO DOWN THERE AND RETAKE THE TEST IF YOU ARE NOT HAPPY WITH WHAT YOU QUALIFY FOR.

Answer 4

LIke all jobs, the Navy can be both fun and hard. I am currently a Senior Chief that supervises over 400 people at a school command here in San Diego. The only time the supervisors get mean are when people do not follow directions. Overall it is a great place to work and you cannot beat the benefits that the military offers.

Answer 5

As someone who used to be a supervisor, I would say that they are not usually mean but very disciplined. It is not usually fun, but there are fun times. You work much longer hours than a civilian when at sea and somewhat more than a civilian when ashore. The work can be very hard work at times. We were at sea for about 5 months but got to visit some great places like Australia. The time, over a week, near a typhoon was a nightmare. It can be very unpleasant at times but not anything most people can't handle.

Answer 6

Your best bet is talk to a US Navy recruiter. Each deployment is usually different in length, any where from 1 day to six months, depends on the deployment.

Answer 7

My husband is in the Navy. He is on Submarines which is hard work by itself, so if you want something easy go to a Surface Ship and be a boatswains mate or a store keeper. Here is a website with all of the rates and their descriptions! Good Luck!

Answer 8

I was in the Navy for a little over 20 years. Does that qualify me to answer a few of your questions?
My very first recommendation is to NOT enlist. Go to school, get a degree and then, if you are still interested, take on a commission as an officer. The pay and living quarters are far superior to that of the enlisted. I was enlisted -- and had more credit hours under my belt than most of the officers I served under. Ask yourself where you want to be four years down the road. If you should decide to get out, will what you've learned in the Navy translate into a paying position in the civilian sect? Mine did not. I'll explain later.
Still, if you insist on elisting, the rate you are looking for is Gunner's Mate Guns. The Gunner's Mate rate has a number of different fields/speciatlies you could fall into -- missiles, etc.
Your uniform will be an aray of differnt outfits. Your daily work clothes will be Navy issued blue jeans (dungarees) with a blue shirt, jacket and ball cap. Dependent upon the command, you could end up wearing cammies, or say, a white turtle neck and dungarees.
The lower your rank, the dirtier the work assignments. No, you probably won't be handling (or shooting ) guns all day. You could end up pulling a month long tour in the kitchen serving food or doing dishes.
Mean supervisors? I'd like to believe that I was pretty easy to get along with, although, I did have my moments. I did most of my career with the Marine Corps, so the one time they sent me back to a ship, I jacked some kid up off the deck (forearm across his throat and under his chin, so his feet were dangling) when he refused to do as he'd been ordered and had the audacity to ask if my arms were broke...
On board the ship, I was the only person of a crew of 6,000 that did my job. I started my work day around 5 AM and didn't stop until about 1 AM. I worked six days a week pulling that schedule. On the seventh, I'd work until about 8 PM and call it a day.
The ship, usually would go out for a week or two at a time, return to port for a week or two and then go back out again. It really depends upon the ship and where you are in the rotation for deployment. The closer you get, the more frequently you go out and stay. Generally, deployments last about 6 months and you'll pull ports of call in such places as:
Singapore, Hong Kong, Thialand, Australia, Dubai (UAE), etc..
What you sign up for... Regardless of how many years ACTIVE duty, you sign for, Uncle Sammy will own your hide for a minimum of 8 years. Even if you only sign for 2. You have Active Duty and Inactive Duty. Active means just that, you're out there, doing it and getting paid. Inactive means you've returned to your civilian life, but for any reason, they could call you up and say, get on the next bus, train or plane... And you'd have to go.
Now then, about that translating over into the civilian job market. I was an fmf Hospital Corpsman. In otherwords, my job specialty was not pulling bedpan duty in some plush, state of the art hospital, I was with the Marines. I was a grunt corpsman -- the "Doc." I went out on patrols, carrying my medical supplies on my back and if anything bad happened, I was it. "Doc." I fought in Grenada, Panama, Desert Shield/Storm and Somalia. I did special operations -- for what ever that's worth to you. In otherwords, I did the stuff we don't talk about. At its worse, I lost 47 men in 2 1/2 years. And officially, those were all "Training" casualties, not war. In war, I lost 11 men in the first three nights of fighting. We killed probably close to a thousand. After the war, I went back to school and became an Indepndent Duty Corpsman. If it's not economical to send a full fledged physician, they'd send me instead. The crazies thing I've ever done, was to talk someone through an Appendectomy on the radio. Just prior to retirement, I was responsible for the healthcare of some 6,000 + Marines and oversaw the administration of 4 other clinics (ontop of my two). When I retired, I thought I could just take my 147 credit hours, slide into a university somewhere, patch up a few holes, get a four year degree and go into Physicians Assistant school. That I'd be welcomed with open arms. Here's what I found. Of those 147 credit hours, only 36 transferred. All of my upper level science courses, were not allowed -- the university makes all of their money with those courses, they're not cheap. So, I was mainstreamed into a BioMedical Sciences program which would ultimately lead me to a degree working in a laboratory. I never liked working in the Lab -- although I can hold my own. So, I was allowed to skip my freshman year, how generous of them!. I made it midway through my junior year and found that my guidance counsellor hadn't done her job very well and had me taking courses backwards. I should have knocked out all of the math early on. I retook the bio I and II courses, microbiology, basic first aid and chem I. I struggled with the math and found I could not do the calculus. I had to drop. And ended up with a degree in history. History, while incredibly fascinating, does not lend itself well to getting one into PA. I ran out of money. I no longer practice medicine and all of that experience, talent and knowledge has gone to waste.
Go to school. Get your degree. Then, if you are so compelled, by all means, enlist or take a commission. but get your education first. Have a great and grand life and remember, life is an adventure. It is to be lived! Best of luck. Fair winds and following seas. NAVY: Never Again Volunteer Yourself.

Answer 9

Well, white uniforms aren't worn during work, and the term you are looking for is "*****." The supervisors may take take the credit and in some cases receive a award for your hard work. Sounds fun eh?m Not trying dissuade you, giving you a dose of reality.