Current Enlisted with Questions about NUPOC...

[kingharbromm]

Greetings All,

I was directed over here by a link on the Military.com forums and after reading a couple of the posts on this site I must say that I'm very excited about the amount of information and help one can find here.  That being said, I'll just throw my whole situation out in the open and maybe some of the more knowledgable people here can help me with any information they have.

I enlisted in the Navy in August 1999.  The original program I signed up for was the nuclear engineering program.  I took the ASVAB and did well and was allowed to take the nuclear test.  I don't remember it's offical name, but I was told I did really well on that test.  My grades were always really good in high school - especially in math and science - so I was excited to start my career as a Navy nuke.

Here's where things took a turn.  I talked with my band director about my enlistment.  He was a very influential person in my life and I spent a lot of time working with him in and out of school.  He told me that he really felt I should be a musician in the military.  He thought my potential was great and that I really loved music.  Being as influential as he was, I decided to change my rate from nuke to musician.

After spending 5½ years in the Navy I had the standard gripes everyone else in the military had.  However, I had one that urked at me quite badly.  After 11 September, I really wanted to deploy.  Things are always greener on the other side, so I decided to enlist in the Marine Corps as a musician.  I knew that Marine bands deploy and this would be a good option for me.  In order to enlist, however, I was forced to give up my rank and restart my career as a PFC.  I'm in Iraq now, I've worked my way up to LCpl, and am at my 6½ year mark in the military.

My love for the band has dwindled over the years.  I wanted to change my job when I enlisted in the Marine Corps but after listening to some former Marines on the subject, I went with the band.  After spending a year in the Marine Corps band, I'm quite certain that I'm ready for a different job.  I've always wondered what I could've become as a Navy nuke and now I want to find out.

My current situation is I have a little under three years on my Marine Corps contract.  I'll turn 25 in May.  I am worried that with 9½ years in service the Navy will be reluctant to enlist me into the nuclear field - especially after I turned my back on them the first time.  Furthermore, if they let me keep my rank I would be somewhere around a PO2 competing for rank against people who've done the nuclear job for their whole career all the while pushing against the high-year tenure wall.  That's an unlikely option.

The officer route, however, would allow me to get into the nuclear field and stay in the military.  I'm sure my grades will be good enough to get a 3.4 in college and being a NC state resident it would only make sense for me to attend North Carolina State.  I've just found out about the NUPOC program and am very excited about the entire idea.  I'm quite motivated about all of this.

However, the board will be potentially looking at a 30 or 31 year old candidate that has a nuclear engineering degree from North Carolina State, that's married, that has 9½ years of active duty in the Navy and Marine Corps bands, and has one overseas tour with a security battalion.

What is the feasability of me getting into the program?  Any information or advice you can give to me at this early stage of planning would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance for the help,

Richard D. Goins
Lance Corporal
United States Marine Corps

[Roll Tide]

If you choose Enlisted Nuke at this point, the Navy will be thrilled to have you. There are other 25 year olds in the nuke pipeline, and some of them have previous military backgrounds. You would be in very good shape competing for promotion, but you don't have to compete until E-7 (it is nearly auto-pilot until then)

If you can get the college done first, you will be in good shape for a tour of duty as on officer. They are somewhat limited on the nuclear program based on age, but you might want to see if you would qualify for NROTC (which has a nuclear component as well). You don't have to get a degree in nuclear engineering to get into the officer ranks; any engineering degree and many science degrees are accepted.