DEP waiting time?

[Jester]

Does anyone know the current average waiting time between swearing in and shipping out?

[Markbob]

It really depends on when you want to leave.  If you tell the recruiter to "get me out of here ASAP" it may only be a few days, if you want to wait a while, tell him that.  Give him a month and what week in the month you want to leave and they can usually accommodate you.  As far as I know the only rule is that you can't be in DEP for more than a year.  I do recommend that if you are on DEP for an extended period, make sure you use that time to memorize your Sailor's Creed, General Orders of a Century, Chain of Command, and the names associated with the different rank insignia for the Navy.  Doing so will make your boot camp experience much less painful.

[Jester]

Oh I'm working on the ranks, general orders, and such already, and I haven't signed papers yet.

That's nice to hear, though. I've been reading here and there that even nukes have a waiting list, but I'd prefer to leave sooner than later, depending on a few things.

[crusemm]

Other things to think about are physical fitness and weather.  Depending what part of the country you are in, acclimating to the weather at Great Lakes may be quite the change.  As far as the Physical fitness, be working now on getting into shape.  running approx 1-2 miles daily, approx 50-70 pushups and 40-60 situps.  That's what i seem to remember the beginning pace as.  Also, it's general orders of the sentry, not "century".  Try finding a copy of a "Bluejackets Manual", either at a used book store, Amazon, or library.  Lots of good stuff in there.
 Also, if you are not dead set on being a nuke, look at some of the other jobs, like MA, LS, CT, ST/FT.

Good luck and God Bless

You have the advantage of having the internet available to you, use it.  Look at some jobs that seem interesting, and tell your recruiter you want to do that.  Take a job that seems interesting, challenging, and that you think you would like, not just what the recruiter puts in front of you.
a few Links:
http://www.bluejackets-manual.com/

[Jester]

I've lost 15 lbs in preparation for bootcamp so far, and if I lose 10 more, doable in about a month I'll be at roughly 16% body fat. I'll definitely look around for the Bluejacket's Manual, though.

I've looked at the descriptions of all the other ratings and decided that nuke is the path for me. It's challenging and interesting, and fits nicely with with my career goals. My current recruiter is a MM1 nuke who isn't giving me the BS some recruiters would; he told me about how nukes are stereotyped and a couple horror stories from the Enterprise.

Long story short, I'm dead set on nuke, and I'm doing everything I can do to be prepared. Hence why I'm asking about the current waiting times.

[DadofMM-ELT]

Greetings Jester!

First thank you for your (future) service.

Our son signed his nuke contract the first week of January with a late September date for boot camp. As indicated above, there does appear to be some flexibility, but that was the earliest available date at the time he signed. One other DEPer who posts here had a September date as well but got bumped to (if I recall) May, having asked to be notified if a slot opened up sooner.

If you have not yet taken the ASVAB ... I see you have, congratulations on an excellent score.

Most/Many recruiting offices will have DEP meetings - so you'll be getting in a Navy frame of mind even if your ship date is 9 months away.

Good Luck!

[Jester]

Thanks, DadofFutureNuke, for the information. Also, I realize I didn't say it, but thanks to you as well, crusemm and Markbob.

I gotta say, I'm excited for it all. If it ends up that I have to wait 9 months or so, I suppose I'll just have that much more time to get prepared.

[OddManOut85]

You should be excited, being a nuke is challenging but extremely rewarding if you maintain a positive mindset.  I was supposed to be in DEP for five months but about one month before shipping out my recruiter called and asked if I wanted to leave in a few days, which I accepted.  I don't know if that is a possibility for you but if it is something you want to do, let your recruiter know.

List of things I did while in DEP that really helped me:
1.  Worked out
2.  Visited family
3.  Kept in touch with recruiter and attended the monthly meetings
4.  Packed my belongings for my parents to mail down to me after boot camp

List of things I did NOT do while in DEP that really hurt me:
1.  Saved money
2.  Took the memorization of the general orders, sailor's creed, and rate/rank seriously
3.  Collected addresses and phone numbers from friends/family

[My Moratorium]

   My DEP waiting time is around 9 months. Sometimes your recruiter may call you if a spot becomes available preceding your schedule ship date, but you have to act on it FAST. My recruiter left a voice mail one night informing me about a nuke spot opening but when I called the next day it was already filled.