Greetings members of nukeworker.com! First off I'd like to say that I am very impressed by what I have read thus far trolling the forum. Like many others, researching my own predicament regarding entry into the Navy Nuke program has brought me here and I too have some questions. Let me start with a basic outline leading up to me finding this website.
I must apologize if I come off as whining or my "saga" is offensive to anyone. I have the utmost respect for the men and women that have sacrificed, continue to sacrifice, or are going to sacrifice their freedom to defend my own freedom and that of our fellow countryfolk. I hope to count myself amongst the ranks!
Late July/early August I went to the local Navy recruiter's office to seek out some options. Needless to say the following days had me taking the ASVABs, going to MEPS, etcetera. I was told I was an excellent candidate for the Nuke program and thus I was and still am very excited. Upon completion of MEPS (and the necessary security packet) I was enlightened with the fact (at 21 years old) that I had dual citizenship (I was born in the United States; my Mother was born here as well; but good ol' Pops was born in England, migrated to Canada at 1, then to the United States and remained a resident alien green card holder until he became a full citizen within the last ten years while still retaining his English citizenship as well). So I was advised that while a citizenship waiver was already in the works (other waivers were needed for tattoos but not for anything else) it could take up to a "few hours" to hear about it going through. Let me digress momentarily. I was told by the recruiters that my ASVAB line scores qualified me as an "alpha-nuke" and that I would not need to take the Nuke exam. Well, I ended up taking the exam as I was told passing it would expedite the waiver being approved. Several hours later and closing time for MEPS I was hit with this line from several people "... still no word on the waiver but what we can do is get you to sign for intelligence (my step-Dad was in Navy intelligence and I had asked him to go to the recruiters office with me as I figured having a second perspective, especially one with prior experience with the Navy, to cogitate what the recruiters had to say and decode
for me what that really meant was a good idea and this of course implied i was interested in intelligence) which you won't leave for RTC until January and that will leave us plenty of time to get the waiver processed and get an Appendix B for Nuke." This was after my recruiter had tried the line repeatedly. He made it a point to tell people from then on that "I was a smart cookie" (smarter than the average bear eh Boo-Boo?). Not that I had anything against joining the Navy for intelligence, I am very appreciative of both opportunities they offered me, but to me if the difference between me getting into a rating I was (am) extremely excited about and something I still found intriguing but perhaps not as much, was waiting a few months I said I have nothing but time and I know we can work together on this and I'll sign without hesitation the contract for Nuke and leave the next day or whenever the Navy requests my service. Finding out that I had been cleared for intelligence but not for the Nuke program baffled me. I am under the impression that the intelligence specialist rating requires a top secret clearance while the Nuke ratings require a secret clearance. I inquired to my recruiters regarding this but apparently they either knew or pretended to know as little as I did about the regulations for ratings work. Well after leaving MEPs, neither of the recruiters had dealt with a dual citizen before so they really didn't know what to do with me. I still call them from time to time and ask about the status of the waiver but I get the feeling they really just wanted me to do the footwork to renounce my English citizenship. That is no issue at all (except for the ~$500+ bill! ha ha) I even tried to (only half-jokingly) renounce citizenship on the spot
Like I said I've been staying in touch with the recruiters letting them know I'm still very interested and doing what I can to scrape up the necessary capital to complete the task at hand. Making good progress there so today I gave a ring to the Consulate-General in Atlanta.
They advised me that they go through this fairly regularly with dual citizens trying to renounce to meet security clearance requirements for the military and said I could send in my English passport and receive a declaration stating such had been done which would satisfy the requirement. As I explained to them I have never obtained nor attempted to obtain an English passport. They said that's fine simply send a letter requesting I be run through their passport system and I'll receive a declaration stating I neither have nor have had an English passport. The phone call completed and me overwhelmed with joy I called one of the recruiters. He said he wasn't familiar with that at all and that the other recruiter he works with was at MEPS right now and will call me immediately. That was earlier this morning. No worries, like I said I've got time. So to summarize this doctoral thesis, judging by what I've seen browsing the forum, there are a diverse group of present nukes, ex-nukes, and recruiters on board so I'm hoping someone has perhaps dealt with something similar to my situation? I don't have a problem renouncing citizenship or anything like that but if the letter from the consulate will satisfy the requirements that would be much quicker than sending out a form packet to England and also its FREE
! So any input would be most appreciated. I've run a search for dual citizenship information most of which is likely outdated. If anyone could shine a light on the subject of how I could be cleared for top secret clearance but not secret I'd be very interested.
Thank you for your time and patience in reading this unnecessarily long and drawn out rather simple-at-heart question (college habits die hard! ha ha), as well as for your efforts in responding, and for your time in (and out!) of the service.
Anonymous
Close but no Sea-gar (yet).
