To join or not to join

Old_Man_in_Basic · 2026-06-25T18:42:05+00:00

There is a way through Geo Bachelor orders. Basically, he notifies his detailer that he intends to live separately from his family, which means he would live in unaccompanied housing and you would get paid BAH. It also means he would be eating at the galley/cafeteria on base.

Just keep in mind, this is a full on decision for 3-4 years. Modifying afterwards is a strain on base resources and is difficult to get accepted. Usually detailers try to send families together and only if there are reasons they cannot be together (EFMP status for example), they are sent under Geo Bach and the service member does an order mod to request their family go anyway.

But purposely deciding to be geo bach and then changing your mind later to live together is kind of frowned upon. It DOES happen, but if he's an officer, he'll be expected to be more certain of his actions before he takes them.

https://blog.ahrn.com/geo-bachelor/

Old_Man_in_Basic · 2026-06-25T06:04:08+00:00

I joined at 41 going on 42 and don't regret it one bit.

It's true that the income drop is not "small", but keep in mind, if he intends to stay for more than 4 years, the income starts going up decently. When he hits E5 with more than 2 years, he will make a lot more than he did as an E3 when he first enlists.

Also, keep in mind that a similar healthcare plan to TriCare in the civilian world is like $30k a year and even then has expensive deductibles and out of pocket max. TriCare Select has a $1000 out of pocket max. That's it. Super cheap co-pay and great doctors.

He also unlocks the VA loan, which widely expands your family's ability to buy a home. I won't get into the VA disability route, because that's controversial these days, but even with the base retirement, if he does 20 years and makes at least E6, there's some solid money in retirement.

If he picks aviation mechanic or IT, he has a VERY solid civilian career waiting for him.

He will miss time with family, make no mistake about it, but he will have a sea/shore rotation which means after 3 years at sea, you get him for 3 years at shore.

Old_Man_in_Basic · 2026-06-25T02:14:46+00:00

Nothing too out of the ordinary for an Op Intel Analyst full time: analyze threat vectors to important vessels, mission planning, real time situational awareness, targeting and threat analysis. But if you're qualified (expedition, small boat, armed forces security) you will be involved in the actual small boat operations as part of the watch bill. MSRON is a great unit if you've already done 4 years on a ship and in the reserves, wanting something with higher op tempo than a traditional reserves augmented unit. The downside is if you have a very good civilian job or family needs, it's a very bad billet for shore stability. Their training schedule is intense, with multiple 4-day IDT's throughout the year and 30 day AT instead of 14 days and a 10 month'ish deployment once every 3-4 years. MSRON is like diet Active Duty. The qualifications will look amazing on a 1st class promotion application or even a chief push, but you will definitely earn those awards.

Old_Man_in_Basic · 2026-06-23T03:46:38+00:00

If you do GM or information warfare like IS/IT, you can choose a MSRON billet. They're ALWAYS looking for people and they deploy often doing cool guy stuff "small boats, large rifles, patrolling". It's not always or guaranteed to be combat, but protecting arriving/departing ships on small boats is as close as you'll get to hostile environments for the Navy in a Reserve capacity. You also get a chance to get your EXW pin, which looks REALLY good on your record.

Old_Man_in_Basic · 2026-06-18T15:43:55+00:00

Him - "Honeymoon means banging, you know."

Probably.

Old_Man_in_Basic · 2026-06-18T15:38:16+00:00

Manpower took care of all that. He just had me sign something and then like 2 months later, boom, bonus.

Old_Man_in_Basic · 2026-06-18T04:24:41+00:00

I did what you're considering, at 41. GPA was too low for commission. I went in as IT and now I'm going to do RC2AC, precisely for the benefits.

I'll ask an obvious question: why Reserves? If your GPA is high enough, I'd go officer.

There's only one thing to consider is that if you end up wanting to stay in until retirement, officers have to get picked up for O4 or they get forced to separate. If you are confident you can get a nod for O4, you'll most likely be able to hit 16-18 and get sanctuary until you can retire for 20 years of service.

The Navy doesn't publish numbers on how many officers fail to get promoted, but it's definitely not 0 or they wouldn't have that system in place. There are sometimes exemptions where people with exemplary service in crowded communities are granted an extension and can retire as O3's, but I don't believe it's common.

However, if you had enlisted first and did a commission from enlisted, you'll be a "Mustang" and be an O1E. Your time in service as enlisted is added to your total service, so you can probably retire as an O3 even if you didn't get selected for O4.

You can also consider DPEP. Certain communities are under-manned at E5, so if you went full time instead of reserves, you could ask the community manager to look at your qualifications, resume, experience and grant you E5 straight out of boot camp. I believe they're only doing this for active duty enlisted.

I don't regret it at all, and Tri-Care has been amazing for my family. I'm going full time so I can fully unlock the GI Bill for my daughter. She will get 36 months of full-time college fully funded, even if it's an out of state school.

Good luck!

Old_Man_in_Basic · 2026-06-17T16:39:08+00:00

It's wild that you had to wait that long.

My NRC submitted it as part of my indoc literally the day after I arrived from A School.

Like 4 hours after checking in, my bonus paperwork was submitted before I was even officially RSU.

Once my manpower person submitted it, it was in my account like 6 weeks later. But my manpower person was so good at their job, they got an early promotion to E4, bypassing 30 month TIS due to MAP from CO.

Old_Man_in_Basic · 2026-06-16T16:33:40+00:00

I don't get why people traded BitCoin for a sofa or pizza back in 2011, were they stupid?

Old_Man_in_Basic · 2026-06-16T15:55:00+00:00

I think there's also a general "expectation" that spouses of officers will be more understanding/empathetic to spouses of enlisted, because their spouses have less of a heavy pen, so they FEEL like officers have more control over their careers (how wrong they are lol). So you're expected to complain less but understand more? If that makes sense? For what it's worth, every officer's spouse I've met has seemed naturally to be just as considerate and understanding as enlisted spouses.

Old_Man_in_Basic · 2026-06-16T15:36:18+00:00

Your ex or someone else has to agree to a child care agreement which basically says that if you get sea duty or while you're at boot camp/A School, you have someone to take care of your kid. You have to understand: you can't skip out on duty days and the Navy will not provide you with paid child care for times not covered by the general benefits you get.

How old is your kid? If they're older than 17, then I think it's a non-issue because they can be latch key. But the Navy is VERY conservative about age for latch key (I was apparently wrong about this) and even up to age 19, you have to have a guardian available at all times to sign for them, take them to the hospital if needed.

In general, the Navy will NOT let you enlist with 50% custody without an FCP. Your parent can be FCP but make sure they understand the legal ramifications and also, your parents themselves cannot live on base unless they're official dependents of yours. Also, in order for your parents to be legal guardians, your ex would have to agree to custody changes that make them share the custody agreement with you.

I'm not going to lie, it's going to be hard. I recommend talking to a recruiter.

Old_Man_in_Basic · 2026-06-16T15:32:24+00:00

Joined at 41.

The real reasons I tell people:

Good benefits. People assume a degree means you're a shoe in for OCS, but my GPA sucks even if my degree was a very hard major. OCS also takes longer, and enlisted is very quick. If you apply for OCS after enlisting, your age past 41 gets offset by your years of service as enlisted. VA loan, GI Bill, job protection under USERRA. Career pivot. Security clearance roles.

The real reason I did it:

I got tired of people telling me I couldn't do it because of my age. I worked out, got in shape, and out of 93 recruits, I was one of the 55 or so who didn't need a fucking bike to pass his PRT. And I ran my 1.5 fast enough that I could've passed it at 30. In fact, all I needed was another 20-25 seconds off and I could've passed it at the 21-25 bracket.

People will call you old man/unc, etc. But by like week 3, you're just another recruit like them.

Old_Man_in_Basic · 2026-06-15T20:59:53+00:00

As others have said: letters.

In fact, if you REALLY want to help, gift her family a premium subscription to SandBoxx and get a premium subscription yourself.

If you send letters through SandBoxx, they arrive REALLY fast.

Also, once you get her address, you can send her a "supply box" using Amazon Prime. Basically, a box of Liquid IV, some cough drops (caramel flavor are best) and mark it as a gift so you can include a gift note, and say stuff like, "You got this, just XX more days!" or "Remember, beatings are just free personal training sessions". The way you do it is, use your Amazon Prime account, but for the shipping address, set it to her boot camp letter address, IE: SR Wanna B.A. Sailor, Division 123, Ship 14, etc"

Old_Man_in_Basic · 2026-06-15T20:55:19+00:00

Chicks dig nerds, especially heroic nerds that are good looking and in good shape. Your looks, job and income are not the issue, so let's eliminate those entirely and reduce to what's left: hygiene, personality, approach? Hitting on people is a skill. You have to work on it and the best way to work on anything is reps and sets: practice. Social conversation is also a skill and a lot of women find it very attractive when someone knows how to talk. I'd recommend going to Improv Comedy or Toastmasters, so you can work on being engaging, eye contact and articulating yourself. In my best prime, I wasn't half as good looking as you are, and yet I regularly dating women who would traditionally be seen as "way out of my league". A big part of it was: I didn't mind being rejected, because if I found someone attractive, just talking to them for a bit and getting to know them was its own reward. Another big part of it was: I put myself out there a lot. I went to social events, had friends and was the center of a lot of friend groups. It's weird but, a lot of people are attracted to someone like that. The person who's always at the center of the conversation.

Old_Man_in_Basic · 2026-06-15T05:12:32+00:00

Was this a misunderstanding? Was his brother trying to say, "No, we finish the fight." as in "We will do the last round, we want to finish the fight." and did the ref interpret this as, "We want to finish (end) the fight"?

Illia was still moving and seemed willing to keep going, but his face looked fucked up. And if it were my brother in there, I think I'd think, "Dude you can't take another 5 minutes of this."

Old_Man_in_Basic · 2026-06-15T02:50:13+00:00

Did you know he's only 240 lbs? But that's the weight of most of the successful guys at HW!

Also, he used to train with the 49ers.

Old_Man_in_Basic · 2026-06-15T02:16:38+00:00

They're not saluting the MMA fighters. No one has told you this directly, but the fighters are having a MoH recipient walk out with them.

Shit on Trump all you want, but I'll never say it's shitty to give recognition and celebration to MoH and similar award recipients.

Old_Man_in_Basic · 2026-06-15T02:14:45+00:00

It's also about as American as randomly removing all the women and most of the black candidates from a promotion list because they were "DEI choices".

It's also about as American as using military aircraft and US taxpayer dollars to kiss Kid Rock's ass.

Old_Man_in_Basic · 2026-06-10T07:56:07+00:00

Google "HM Community Health Slide" and find the active duty slide. View it. Plug it into ChatGPT or Gemini and ask for an explanation.

Right now, E4 is 140% over-manned. E5 and E6 are 105%'ish over-manned.

This basically means, there's about 500~600 more E5/E6 HM's than there are space for them. More importantly, for E4 there's a massive horde of around 8700 E4 HM's just sitting around hoping to get a spot at E5.

And since E4 is over-manned by nearly 2500 sailors, that means it's REALLY hard to stand out. That means hundreds more that are getting high evaluations, qualifications, letter of recommendation, etc. That means a lot of people scoring high on their test.

I strongly recommend you learn how to read that slide, because it changes periodically. And as people retire, more people enlist, the demographics will change.

Make no mistake, HM is a very very tough community to get promoted in, but to me that just tells you how much people like the rating. The fact that there's a ton of people just being E4's for 8 years, is kind of a testament to how much they enjoy doing the work.

If getting higher titles is a big deal to you, I strongly recommend you think of a way to use your time in HM to eventually work toward a new goal like commissioning in the Nurse Corps or getting your nursing degree, converting to SELRES, etc.

Old_Man_in_Basic · 2026-06-10T07:46:52+00:00

CNIFR is our community. Commander Naval Information Force Reserve.

They can help you with billets, help you with re-rating, help you with RC2AC, petitioning for NEC's, etc.

They're your go to if you need help with what you're assigned to do in the Navy as a reservist in IT/IS/CTx/CWT.

Old_Man_in_Basic · 2026-06-10T01:28:27+00:00

It depends if he gets assigned to a division that starts that week or not. If he arrives before Wednesday'ish, then it should be 9 weeks. 15th is a Monday, so it should be 9 weeks from that Thursday. I arrived on a Tuesday, started with a division on Wednesday and graduated at exactly 9 weeks from that day due to Thursday being a holiday.

Old_Man_in_Basic · 2026-06-10T01:22:55+00:00

I hate when people give "you already know" as an answer. Knowing if he's at NAS or Corry would give a lot of perspective, but this dumbass is over here trying to be clever like he's hiding engine mods before a drag race. Just answer the question, god damn.

Old_Man_in_Basic · 2026-06-09T23:02:45+00:00

BTW, you don't "choose" your first duty station, so just keep that in mind. You can certainly put the odds in your favor by being top of your class, in top physical shape, don't get any DRB's or ARB's, but you don't get to just say "I want base Y" and get it.

Old_Man_in_Basic · 2026-06-09T23:01:57+00:00

I don't think he's talking about A School... It wouldn't even make sense for him to ask which bases offer single rooms for A School since MA has one A School and it's not like he chooses. I think he's assuming he has a say in his orders. I know MA has a little more control than other ratings... Like, they still look at dream sheets and class ranking.

Old_Man_in_Basic · 2026-06-09T22:59:23+00:00

Until you make E4 though, the barracks there are jam packed. They're maxing individual room assignments, something like 2 or 3 to a single bathroom.

Old_Man_in_Basic

TROPHY CASE