joining the navy and need help!!!!?

Question

ok i am thinking about enlisting in the navy after high school and need some advice!
1.) what is basic like, and what should i do to prepare for it
2.) what is the master at arms rate like, training, deployments, advancement, pay
3.) i am a junior right now, should i enlist in the dep and go to basic during the summer in between my junior and senior year because everyone is saying that i will hate the navy and if i hate basic then im stuck for 4 year but i know ill love it!!
4.) is it easy to go to college while being in active duty, if not will i be able to get back into the swing of school life after 4 years of no school

thanks so much for your help!!!

Answer 1

1. Basic training is fairly easy, do what you are told, pay attention to little details and do not volunteer for any staff positions in the division and life will be good. Things that help in basic is general knowledge stuff like learning the 11 general orders of a sentry and phonetic alphabet, nothing very mentally taxing.

2. Master at arms is is Law enforcement and anti-terrorism force protection. I love doing it but it is not for everyone. I feel they could extend the school to six monthes long and still not recieve enough training. you have to learn to think on your toes. There are very few MA's on ships so regular deployments are not in the near future for most coming into the navy. What will happen is you will get stationed at a base and work there for 3 years or so depending on the location. Many of the jobs available right now are for overseas duty stations. Advancement for MA is about 75% for e-4 right now so not too bad. It is a little tight at e-5 and very hard to make e-6 right now but that fluctuates over the years, the rate has been top heavy since they opened it up for personnel from boot camp. Eventually it will balence out again.

3. Enjoy your senior year of high school and wait to go to boot camp till the fall, this is hte most pleasant time for marching in Great Lakes. Everyone hates basic. Basic is not the real navy it is a bunch of head games designed to teach you to pay attention to small details and follow orders.

It is fairly easy to go to college. Once you have completed basic qualifications at your first duty station you can enroll in courses. The navy pays 100% of your tuition for the first 16 credits a year. After that they pay 75%. If you are palnning for a particular degree you need to consider that when you pick your rate. The new regulations for tuition assistance state that after your first 16 credits you must file a degree plan. Tuition assitance is only authorized to pay for degrees associated with your rating. Your command is obligated to do their best to accomodate off duty education when ever possible. But the needs of the navy still take precedence.

Good luck and feel free to send me an email if you have any other questions.

Answer 2

The Navy is awesome and the best choice to make.

Basic is hard but a lot of fun too. Not super hard like the Army and Marines but not as easy as the AF. You will do fine even if you did nothing to prepare, they will get you in shape. You should start running at least 3 days a week and get your mile and a half run time down to 10 minutes. That will help you a lot.
Go talk to a recruiter. They are not bad people and they can answer and questions you have about anything.

MA is a very deployed rate right now. It is the Navy's security rating and they need to be where the action is. You will be in GITMO, Iraq or gate guarding at a base stateside with the possibility of being taken from shore duty and deployed at anytime when you are needed to fill a spot. The rating is a good one as far as advancement and everyday is new and exciting no matter what your job is. Long hours most of the time though.

The Navy does not offer that kind of boot camp program, that is only the Army. Don't stress about not liking it, you WILL have the time of your life.

You will be able to take classes on active duty, but the Navy comes first. You will be able to take online classes, live instructor taugh college classes while deployed on a ship and every once in a while depending on where you are stationed you will be able to take a real college class, but it isn't too easy to get off work in time to make class. They do have weekend college classes on base in a lot of locations. I can be done if you want it badly enough.

Don't worry about the Navy not being fun and the right chose for you. It offers you the world if you want it and the benefits are better than any civilian gets. It is still one of the best choices I have ever made. Both my husband and I are active duty and we retire in three years. It was a great life really.

Answer 3

i spent 4 years in the navy, sometimes i wish i wouild of gone to college, but at the same time i got to party all over europe. Boot camp from what i understand now isn't as hard as it used to be. As long as you are in somewhat descent shape you wont have a problem with it. I thought the hardest part about boot camp was staying awake in those naval history classes.
About the Master at arms I'm not too sure about that. all i know is that it seemed like those guys never had any time off. The advancement changes from year to year so i cant give you an answer.
Is it easy to go to college while in, it depends if you are on a ship or on shore duty. If you are on a ship then the only way you go to college is on-line because you are out to see pretty much at least once a month. If you are on shore duty it wouldn't be too hard to go to school during the night.
My best advice to you is too not let the recruiter pressure you into anything you don't want too do. Those guys can be real jerks. Unless you are 100% sure about what you want to do in the navy dont join, you could be regretting it for 4 years or longer

Answer 4

1: mostly head games. mouth shut, ears and eyes open, you will do fine.
2: MA is starting to fill up, so advancement is slowing down. pay is just like everybody else. you WILL deploy and it most likely WILL be to the sandbox or GITMO
3. Navy does NOT do Split option training, not even for the Reserves. you ship and do Boot camp and A school all at once.
4:. easy? no. doable? yes. be aware that you will be unable to pursue any outside education until you hit the Fleet after all your Navy training is done, and maybe not even right away then.. you would be expected to get your Qual's done first. Only YOU know if you have the self discipline to tackle going to college after being out of school for a while.

Answer 5

1) Remember to walk on the black tile. Write to a lot of people. Ask a lot of people to write to you. Letters are what keeps you going during boot camp. As long as they're filled with good news, I mean.
2) N/A I'm not an MA
3) I don't think the Navy does that. I think only the Army does that. Join your senior year, get into DEP, go to boot camp after you graduate. Trust me, you WILL hate boot camp. A LOT. But it does get a LOT better. Boot camp/A School is NOT the real Navy.
4) I don't know I'm not going to college right now... but I do know that boot camp and A School will give you college credits.

Answer 6

I spent 3 years in the navy but that was during WWII. I opted to get out as I told the recruiter " I did not like being told what to do, when to do it and how to do it" In thinking about it later in life I most likely would have stayed but I was a afraid that I would be assigned to a large ship with 2000-3000 men on board. My first ship was a Destroyer and the second ship was a Cargo Attack ship, we would move in close to the shore to unload supplies for the troops on shore like at Iwo Jima.
One of my big mistakes was that I did not re-enlist in the Coast Guard. There you are close to home, have small crews and a little more excitement.
My choice to-day would be the Coast Guard, give them a jingle on the phone. But then again if you are real smart and have a good GPA you might try for the Naval Academy, my grandson did and the Navy paid for his medical degree and so be became a doctor with no education bills and you get paid for it BUT you also have to be able to with stand the rigorous training. Good Luck

Answer 7

I went through Navy boot camp in "81" at that time we were issued a book called the Blue Jackets Manual #1 try to find a copy of it and study it did i say STUDY it that will help gGet in some physical shape not like some trogladite but dont go in flabbyBasic is a breeze if you do what your told when your told remember these people aint mommy and daddy they dont nor wont put up w/any of the BS you give teachers and parents Book camp will go a whole lot easier I f you do that >basically do like your doing just learn to old school respect like most kids in your age group dont have.Keep your a-- out of any serious trouble.#2 Master at Arms are kinda like the ships police so they aint the most popular .but somebodys got to do it.#3 see #1 unless thing have changed it aint possible.Dont listen to what other people sy.It t was the best & worst time of my life and i would do it all over agine if i could greastest thing I ever did #4 I was a fleet sailor on the most haze grey and underway ship on the East coast I know that on my first deployment we had a professer on the ship but to tell you the truth everybody was keep so busy there aint a lot of time plan on doing college after you get out if you want Email me and I will feel you in on all the good sh-- you will want to know good luck adn most of us that are replying to you would trade places with you if we could Think you can and you willdo just fine [e-mail] put something in the title so i dont erase it if u EM good luck

Answer 8

Last question first. You will have no problem getting back into the swing of college after active duty. You will stand head and shourlders above the civilian teen pukes. (I did it at age 37.)

But remember if you want to get ahead in the Navy, you’ve got to go to sea. That’s what the Navy does. So if your not interested in being deployed on a ship many times during you career, the Navy might not be for you.

Answer 9

FIRST... go to www.navy.mil and look at their information... chat with the recruiter even... he can't MAKE you sign anything.

1) I went thru basic 1985 (at 21 yrs old) and it was a BREEZE. Get out work yourself up to a 3 mile run, do some sit-ups and push-ups (again the requirements are on the web-site).

2) MA (Master at Arms) rate is as follows: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Master-at-Arms#United_States_Navy

3) The Navy doesn't have a summer-boot-camp program.

4) NO, it isn't EASY... you have to do the paperwork, find the time, and then STUDY during your off time. HOWEVER, a NUMBER of you Navy courses will give you college credits, you'll be studying for the advancement exam twice a year.

I went finished another AA while I was on my first Sea-tour, and then my BA and Teaching credential while I was on my Shore-tour. I then knocked out my MBA while on my next sea-tour.

GOOD LUCK & hopefully... Welcome Aboard

Answer 10

I'm not in the military, nor never have been... but Kudo's to you for joining. There aren't enough young men taking up the cause of our nation.
I work with someone who was in the marine reserves. He worked his way up in the ranks (pretty high, but can't remember what his ranking was). He served his country while he was working full time and had a wife and 2 children. He retired at the ripe old age of 43, I think... He is still young... has an extra income coming in for his service he put in; and now because of the experience and training he runs marathons... he's in excellant shape.