should I be concerned I dont have my jobs yet?

I signed up for Meps on Monday but the recruiter hasnt told me what im eligible for yet even though the Navy already has my test scores from my asvab.

MisterLogical said:

I signed up for Meps on Monday but the recruiter hasnt told me what im eligible for yet even though the Navy already has my test scores from my asvab.

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Have you taken the asvab test at MEPS yet? I know the recruiter will give you a pre-test at the recruiting station to see how well you do before going to MEPS to do the actual ASVAB test.Just make sure that what ever sign on bonuses such as money, military schools, and duty stations your recruiter promised you is in your contract and keep extra copies.

jamesrage said:

Have you taken the asvab test at MEPS yet? I know the recruiter will give you a pre-test at the recruiting station to see how well you do before going to MEPS to do the actual ASVAB test.Just make sure that what ever sign on bonuses such as money, military schools, and duty stations your recruiter promised you is in your contract and keep extra copies.

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Yes I took the official Asvab and got my score. They said they take me and signed me up for Physical Meps but they wont tell me what jobs Im eligible for and on Monday I am going to have to Swear in. They said I dont have to go open contract but they wont give me any jobs. What does that mean? They said most likely I will be Eligible for Aviation or Engineering but it says both those jobs are Officer jobs and I have no college.

MisterLogical said:

Yes I took the official Asvab and got my score. They said they take me and signed me up for Physical Meps but they wont tell me what jobs Im eligible for and on Monday I am going to have to Swear in. They said I dont have to go open contract but they wont give me any jobs. What does that mean? They said most likely I will be Eligible for Aviation or Engineering but it says both those jobs are Officer jobs and I have no college.

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basically it means they're trying to get you to sign all the papers and then they're going to put you in front line infantry. that's the cut and dry of it. 'most likely' means nothing, either it's guaranteed in writing to you, or you need to back out, now.

i take it you're going into the military for the purpose of getting into a specific field therein, if that's not guaranteed to you in writing, you need to get out, or you're going to end up spending several years of your life as standard 11b.

in short, you're being strung along. confront the recruiter, and let him know that if you don't see it in writing, you're backing out, period.

QuadpolarNutjob said:

basically it means they're trying to get you to sign all the papers and then they're going to put you in front line infantry. that's the cut and dry of it. 'most likely' means nothing, either it's guaranteed in writing to you, or you need to back out, now.

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So you think im being Mislead?

MisterLogical said:

So you think im being Mislead?

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yes, i dealt with a recruiter shortly after highschool, i backed out due to the BS i smelled on him, and i smell it in this thread. but that's only based on what you've written.

QuadpolarNutjob said:

yes, i dealt with a recruiter shortly after highschool, i backed out due to the BS i smelled on him, and i smell it in this thread. but that's only based on what you've written.

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I only written everything they told me and that has happened.

MisterLogical said:

I signed up for Meps on Monday but the recruiter hasnt told me what im eligible for yet even though the Navy already has my test scores from my asvab.

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There will never be a scenario where you enlist without full knowledge that you are enlisting and for what. Civilians often 'smell BS' because they're looking for simple answers but the military system is anything but simple. You will have the entire contract and time to review it before you sign and swear. You retain full and complete walk-away power until you swear the oath to the appointed commissioned officer in the ceremony.

You have to clear MEPS before the recruiter can offer you an MOS. All jobs have legal/medical reediness requirements and the recruiter needs MEPS to tell him what, if any, issues you have and what, if any, waivers you need. Some jobs won't let you waiver that petty theft arrest you got when you were 14, others will. If you've ever had any surgery of any kind at all at any point in your entire life, you will need to fully document it. The whole process stops until you do, and that means the recruiter can't offer you an MOS until you do.

There will come a point during the MEPS process when your recruiter will sit with you and make those offers, and you will choose at that point and it will become part of your contract, so have a job or 2 in mind.

In addition to your job, you can request training bases, you can request a specific ship, you can request non-MOS schools to be added onto your initial training. I requested Fort Benning because it was the last all-male training facility. You're going to need to show them why the military would benefit from sending you to these additional non-MOS schools, but they'll do it.

Jerry said:

There will never be a scenario where you enlist without full knowledge that you are enlisting and for what. Civilians often 'smell BS' because they're looking for simple answers but the military system is anything but simple. You will have the entire contract and time to review it before you sign and swear. You retain full and complete walk-away power until you swear the oath to the appointed commissioned officer in the ceremony.

You have to clear MEPS before the recruiter can offer you an MOS. All jobs have legal/medical reediness requirements and the recruiter needs MEPS to tell him what, if any, issues you have and what, if any, waivers you need. Some jobs won't let you waiver that petty theft arrest you got when you were 14, others will. If you've ever had any surgery of any kind at all at any point in your entire life, you will need to fully document it. The whole process stops until you do, and that means the recruiter can't offer you an MOS until you do.

There will come a point during the MEPS process when your recruiter will sit with you and make those offers, and you will choose at that point and it will become part of your contract, so have a job or 2 in mind.

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So you have to swear in before they can offer you a Job?

MisterLogical said:

Yes I took the official Asvab and got my score. They said they take me and signed me up for Physical Meps but they wont tell me what jobs Im eligible for and on Monday I am going to have to Swear in. They said I dont have to go open contract but they wont give me any jobs. What does that mean? They said most likely I will be Eligible for Aviation or Engineering but it says both those jobs are Officer jobs and I have no college.

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It means they don't have enough information to answer your question yet. Go to MEPS. They'll get their information, you'll get your answers, all before you enlist.

MisterLogical said:

So you have to swear in before they can offer you a Job?

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I said the exact opposite.

You know your job before you swear...unles you chose to an open contract. You have to go out of your way to choose that, they can't sneak anything in.

The final contract is ironed out before you sign it. You will know exactly what you're getting into before you get into it.

You can go to MEPS, clear MEPS, and decide you want more time to think about it.

That's fine.

If you're not comfortable signing the contract they offer you at MEPS, don't. It's ok to take it home and think about it. It's ok to take that contract to another recruiter or even another branch and see if they'll make you a better offer.

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The other side of that coin is...even if you aren't happy with your contract, you can still change as you go. You can 're-class'. It'll take a little time, sure, but it's not the end of the world.

Your worst case scenario is you'll end up in a job you don't like, you'll have to do it for a few years, and then you leave the service with an Honorable discharge and employers line up to hire you.

Jerry said:

I said the exact opposite.

You know your job before you swear...unles you chose to an open contract. You have to go out of your way to choose that, they can't sneak anything in.

The final contract is ironed out before you sign it. You will know exactly what you're getting into before you get into it.

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But they never told me any of this and I keep asking them. They say they have no idea what jobs there is since it changes all the time, that they cant check and they are sending me to meps on Monday and than ill swear in by the end of Tuesday. Why I not sure.. Is this how its suppose to work? They have my score, they did not tell me what my best subject on the asvab was either.

MisterLogical said:

But they never told me any of this and I keep asking them. They say they have no idea what jobs there is since it changes all the time, that they cant check and they are sending me to meps on Monday and than ill swear in by the end of Tuesday. Why I not sure.. Is this how its suppose to work? They have my score, they did not tell me what my best subject on the asvab was either.

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I'm a 6-year combat veteran and I'm here to tell you that you hold the power over if, and when, you swear in. Not the recruiter, he's just a used car salesman trying to literally meet a quota. You have the final authority over yourself, not the recruiter. When Tuesday comes, if you don't want to swear for any reason...any reason at all...don't. If the recruiter gives you any **** about it, tell him to go **** himself and you go find another recruiter.

Right now, today, you owe your recruiter nothing. The service paid for your ASVAB, so what? You owe them nothing. The service will pay for your MEPS, so what? You owe them nothing. The service may put you up in a hotel and give you decent food, so what? You owe them nothing.

About Jobs: The jobs that are available do change all the time. That's true. Your recruiter likely doesn't know what's available and likely won't know what will be available until the day of your MEPS. Make that work in your favor: if the job you want isn't available on Monday, tell them you will wait to sign until it is available. Remember, the jobs change all the time, you won't be waiting very long to get the job you want. Stand your ground on this one and if the recruiter wants you to sign badly enough then the job you want just might magically sprout an opening. Funny how that works And again if the recruiter gives you any **** about it, tell him to go **** himself and you go find another recruiter.

About ASVAB: I smell bull**** on this one. Your ASVAB results are your personal information, not the Navy's. That ASVAB counts regardless of which branch you settle on. You have a right to those results even if you decide never to join the service at all. That's your ASVAB.

The first thing you need to know to survive in the service is to make an "I Love Me" file filled with a copy of every document of any kind the military ever makes on you. This begins with those ASVAB results. You will also want a copy of your contract in it. Any and all orders you ever receive. Transfer documents. All medical documents. Anytime you get in trouble, any time you get recognized, promoted, sent to a school, etc.

The Guards, ie Coast Guard and Air/Army National Guard, handle jobs differently. If the job is your focus, it may be worth starting out in a Coast Guard unit and later transferring to the Navy.

Your recruiter probably "forgot" to tell you that you can do things like that There's a degree of mobility in the service, you can move around, re-class, join different kinds of units, etc.

With Guard, what job you want is the first thing they look at and try to match up based on your ASVAB, medical and legal details. Whereas in the Reguler Navy/AirForce/Army, what job they give you is an after thought.

Also the Guard pays way better

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Don't let the previous discussion confuse you with talk of MOS and 11B. Those are not Navy things.

In the Navy you have Ratings and NEC (Navy Enlisted Classification) codes. Rating is a general description of like related duties and NEC is a code showing the specific job you have been trained/qualified for. For example AT (Aviation Electronics Technician) is a Rate, then there are specific codes showing that you might be trained/qualified to work on F-18 Fighter aircraft, E-2C Airborne Early Warning aircraft, or provide intermediate level support for a specific avionics system.

Rate listing here -->> http://www.public.navy.mil/bupers-n...tion/Documents/Enlisted Navy Ratings List.pdf

For Ratings you typically attend a "A" level school after Boot Camp to receive entry level training. For example as an AT I went to BE&E (Basic Electricity and Electronics) and after passing that when on to AT"A" School to learn more principals about aviation electronics (or avionics as it's called).

Jerry though has given you some excellent advice that boils down to one fundamental fact, until you enlist you have the power to walk away if you are not happy with the deal. I can't speak very much about how things work now but I can share how it worked for me many years ago.

I had a couple of advantages. One I had an uncle that spent 24 years in the Navy and he and I had a couple of long talks before I ever visited the recruiter and I took the ASVAB while in high school so already had my results. My scores put me in the 99th percentile of those taking the ASVAB that year. I graduated 10th in my high school class and had taken electronics in my Junior and Senior years, so when I talked to the recruiter I had very specific objectives in mind. So we sat down and he went over my paperwork. I had an absolutely clean record, no criminal record, and killed the test scores so he was very interested. There was a program at the time for advanced electronics. You sign up for 6 years instead of 4, once you graduated boot camp you were promoted to E-3, as long as you passed BE&E and AT"A" School with good scores you then got promoted to E-4 and attended AFTA (Advanced First Term Avionics). I laid out what I wanted he made a call the the classifier at what is now called MEPS. He said they didn't have any slots open but that with my scores I could enlist and he was "sure" that I'd get an "A" school classification in boot camp and if I did well they would still offer me a seat in AFTA.

I said thanks but no thanks, thanked him for his time and left him my number. He called back repeatedly over the next month or so to try to get me to enlist but I didn't buy it. I was always polite but firm, when we can put it in my enlistment contract - then I'd be happy to come back in. So after about two months I get a call and he asks me to come in for a chat, the classifier at the MEPS had received new school opening allotments and they would like to talk to me. I said OK, and went in a couple of days later. Now originally I'd talked about being an ET (Electronics Technician), but they could put me in an AT (Aviation Electronics Technician) right now. The only real difference being instead of working on shipboard electronics I'd work on aircraft electronics. Sounded good to me.

Went down to what's now called the MEPS a week or so later for a physical and in-processing into the delayed entry program until my slot for boot camp and follow on schools opened up. My contract spelled out in writing that after boot camp I would be promoted to E-3, that after successful completion of BE&E and AT"A" school I'd be guaranteed promotion to E-4 and attendance in AFTA. That my enlistment was for 4-years but if I exercised the option (option on my part not theirs) to take the promotion and attend AFTA then there would be an additional 2-year service obligation. My part of the deal was I had to do good in "A" school and not have any disciplinary problems.

I was a highly desirable recruit, because of my scores they wanted me to go into Nuclear Electronics but I didn't want that. Don't imagine you are going to get some pie in the sky deal with condo's and cars written into your contract. But one thing - if your scores warrant it - is to get a guaranteed "A" school for the rating you are interested in. Ya, you could enlist on an open contract and hope to get a school slot out of boot camp, but at that point it's the needs of the Navy first and your wishes second.

Well best of luck.


WorldWatcher
Chief Aviation Electronics Technician
Aviation Warfare Specialist and Naval Aircrewman
U.S. Navy (Ret.)



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>


What happens if you enlist without getting a school in your contract? Well, there are probably as many stories (some good and some bad) as there are fish in the sea. Generally you will get assigned to a ship, squadron, or base on a general duty assignment. There is lots of work to do. On a ship you might be assigned to the deck department, you could be assigned to the galley for food prep, you can be assigned to laundry, you could go to "1st Lieutenant" Division that performs general jobs, light maintenance, and clean-up (i.e. janitorial services).


>>>>

Jerry said:

The Guards, ie Coast Guard and Air/Army National Guard, handle jobs differently. If the job is your focus, it may be worth starting out in a Coast Guard unit and later transferring to the Navy.

Your recruiter probably "forgot" to tell you that you can do things like that There's a degree of mobility in the service, you can move around, re-class, join different kinds of units, etc.

With Guard, what job you want is the first thing they look at and try to match up based on your ASVAB, medical and legal details. Whereas in the Reguler Navy/AirForce/Army, what job they give you is an after thought.

Also the Guard pays way better

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Can you transfer in the middle of your service. Like if you did 4 in Navy and are on 4 reserves can you switch Coast Guard?

one item

you said they might be having issues with your clearance in another thread

could that be an issue?

some jobs require a secret, or tsi clearance

they might not have been able to secure the secret yet....much less the tsi

i will shadow the other remarks.....

DO NOT raise your right hand and swear in, unless you know what you are getting into

make sure you have your job in writing, if that is what you need to join

I knew my MOS before I signed the papers. It was simply part of the contract. But that was 30 years ago, things may be different today.

QuadpolarNutjob said:

basically it means they're trying to get you to sign all the papers and then they're going to put you in front line infantry. that's the cut and dry of it. 'most likely' means nothing, either it's guaranteed in writing to you, or you need to back out, now.

i take it you're going into the military for the purpose of getting into a specific field therein, if that's not guaranteed to you in writing, you need to get out, or you're going to end up spending several years of your life as standard 11b.

in short, you're being strung along. confront the recruiter, and let him know that if you don't see it in writing, you're backing out, period.

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Honestly it's posts like this that is a pretty good example of people have never been in the military should not try and give folks advice.
First of all the op is trying to join the Navy. Why would the Navy be trying to trick him into enlisting for a job that they don't have such as (front line infantry). Furthermore what exactly is front line infantry. Is there rear line infantry.
Second it is all to clear what job you are enlisting for before you sign the contract unless you simply don't pay attention. It is spelled out very clearly what you are and are not signing up for. Anyone who tells you that they joined and were tricked into taking a different job then what they thought they were getting is either lying or they didn't even bother to glance over the contract they were signing. If it's the latter I have zero sympathy for them. If you care so little about your future why should anyone else care.

MisterLogical said:

Can you transfer in the middle of your service. Like if you did 4 in Navy and are on 4 reserves can you switch Coast Guard?

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Yes, and people do that a lot. My current platoon sergeant started in the Guard, transferred to the regular army after a few years, then transferred back to a guard unit.

MisterLogical said:

I signed up for Meps on Monday but the recruiter hasnt told me what im eligible for yet even though the Navy already has my test scores from my asvab.

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Quit now. Don't waste your life on military. Unless you sever 20 years, and you wont, you get nothing.

braindrain said:

Honestly it's posts like this that is a pretty good example of people have never been in the military should not try and give folks advice.
First of all the op is trying to join the Navy. Why would the Navy be trying to trick him into enlisting for a job that they don't have such as (front line infantry). Furthermore what exactly is front line infantry. Is there rear line infantry.
Second it is all to clear what job you are enlisting for before you sign the contract unless you simply don't pay attention. It is spelled out very clearly what you are and are not signing up for. Anyone who tells you that they joined and were tricked into taking a different job then what they thought they were getting is either lying or they didn't even bother to glance over the contract they were signing. If it's the latter I have zero sympathy for them. If you care so little about your future why should anyone else care.

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The military is all about suckling young people into crap jobs, that you die or are mamed for. The name of the job is not relevant. I served 9 years in they're f****** army not only did I not get paid for it I got nothing else for life for it. You're better off literally working at McDonalds.

imagep said:

I knew my MOS before I signed the papers. It was simply part of the contract. But that was 30 years ago, things may be different today.

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That's the way I remember it too. Unless I'm really mistaken MEPS was one of the last things I did before I got the plane to San Antonio.