Posted: Sun Aug 07, 2005 2:09 am Post subject: Civilian WOFT Nightmare!
I am a male civilian trying to apply for WOFT. I'm 26, have a BS in mechanical engineering, top-shelf physically, etc.
In 2003 I was a USMC officer candidate-aviation contract. I got injured at OCS and am eligible to re-apply, but I thought the WOFT program would be better for me. (Mistake #1 perhaps)
I took the ASVAB in DECEMBER, 04 (got a 99).
By April of this year I was FINISHED with my packet--flight phys complete, all tests taken, LOR's all received, etc.--I was all set for the May battalion board (or so my recruiter told me.) THE DAY BEFORE the 5 MAY battalion board, I was told that I actually needed a waiver for a previous conviction. (Trespassing, no big deal.) Funny thing...I ALREADY TOLD MY RECRUITER on day one that I would need a waiver because I needed one for USMC! He said, "no you don't, the Army is different than Marines." I said, OK you would know more than I would. WRONG. So that rolled me back to the June battalion board. That went fine. Everyone from the recruiters to the station commander (An O-3) swore up and down that my packet was TOTALLY FINISHED. I said, "Ok sir, I'll have to take your word for it." Just before the July USAREC board, they call me in to "tie up some loose ends." Well, it turns out there were SEVERAL PAGES of documents that I had never seen, most were incomplete, some had incorrect information, and best of all, had my signature FORGED on them by my original recruiter. But, we fixed everything and I was again PROMISED THAT EVERYTHING WAS GOOD TO GO--This time.
Today (6 Aug) I found out that USAREC rejected my packet (again) this time because some flight physical documentation was incomplete. AAAAHHHHHH!!!!!
Is it not someone's job to QC these packets before the USAREC board sees them??? WHO IS RESPONSIBLE FOR THIS??? And when will they run out of excuses? Does this sound like a typical experience? Maybe some of you have been through something similar...? What the hell am I supposed to do? Who can I talk to? Should I just enlist and get it over with...?
I've put aside 9 months of my life for this. I've turned down job offers thinking I was never more than 2 months from shipping out. I'm losing my freakin mind here!
I had to e-mail my recruiter's C.O. .................... TWICE!
First time becuase it took over a month to get me to MEPS, second time because it took a 2 months to get me to Hood for the flight physical. Both times I e-mailed the C.O. in Dallas and majically the next day there were travel authorizations to get me to where I needed to be. This was all after no one showed up to give the ASVAB the first time I went to take it. I got the MEPS station in Amarillo, and the guy giving me the AFAST asked if I'd ever seen the study guide before, and told me I could either take the test or study and come back and take it, I took it right then and passed. When I asked my recruiter about the study guide he told me "Oops, I forgot about that." When i went for my flight physical at Hood, they lost my blood sample, then majically found it and said that I was lucky to be alive that anyone with cholesteral as high as mine should be on medication; I'd taken a flight physical 2 years previous for AFROTC and passed with flying colors, I'm pretty sure they got my blood mixed up with someone else's blood. 2 days later my folks offered to pay for me to finish college, I went with it. I'm still considering the WOFT program or Marine Air Contract, but I'll be double checking anything my recruiter does and everything he tells me. I've been told by several people that the recruiter gets no extra credit for putting an officer in as opposed to just enlisting a kid, but they get lots of extra paperwork for it, so they've been known to have trouble submitting the applications. Good Luck.
It suprises me that there is this much of a problem getting into the Army, last I heard the Army was desperate for people, period. My recruiter told me that the Army was hurting for pilots in particular. I'm glad to know however that I'm not the only one having this much trouble.
I think the Army should take a page out of the Marine's recruiting playbook. (Maybe they should just copy the whole book...) USMC has an entirely separate command for recruiting officers. They have Officer Selectioin Officers, usually an O-3 and one or two E-6/7's who handle, and are actually ACCOUNTABLE for, all officer recruiting for a geographic area. They are pretty widely spread out--I believe there were only two in the whole state of Ohio for example--but they're tremendously more efficient. They can focus all their attention on about 20-30 or so candidates per year. Not only do the OSO's do a MUCH better job of handling the packets, but as a prospective-candidate you'll also benefit from a wide range of activities and programs to help prepare for OCS, physically and motivationally. My OSO would call me at 0600 and tell me to meet him at the football stadium on MY college campus to run the steps (all of them). He proved that he was just as interested in my preparedness for OCS as I was.
I would recommend the Marines to anyone who's still in college. Through their PLC program, they can guarantee a flight slot while you're still in school! You will go to two 6-week summer sessions of OCS. When you graduate, you get commissioned, simple as that. They will also PAY you while you're in school, and your service start date is the day you go to the first 6-week OCS class. Don't wait until you're a senior or graduated, then they combine OCS into one 10-week sh!t-fest. And guess what, get injured in week 9, you go home and have to start over again. Very risky (already happened to me) and the main reason I'm going for WOFT now. But if I had known 9 months ago I'd still be screwing around here, who knows...woulda shoulda coulda.
Too late for me to do PLC, I'm in my senior year (again ) so if I go Marines I'll be doing OCC. I actually looked at WOFT becuase I wouldn't need a degree, and because as embarrassed as I am to say it i have a pretty low GPA and didn't think it would be as much of an issue as a WO.
I think part of the Army's problem with the Civilian to WO thing is that, there are WO recruiters for those already in the military, but no one that specializes in WO or officer recruitment for civilians, I also don't think you see that many people that try to go from civilian life to a WO. My recruiter told me he knew what I had to make on the ASVAB, but never really thought I'd pull off a high enough score, becuase so few peopl ever got past that first hurdle and ended up enlisting instead, so after taking the ASVAB he was almost as much in the dark as I was as to how to go about getting the package ready for a WO, I was his first.
For anyone else considering civilian to WO, try the WO recruiting web site below. It wasn't arounbd when I did my packet, but I was very fortunate to have my infanty Platoon SGT and Company CDR walk my paperwork through when did my packet 14-15 years ago when I was in the National Guard.
I have also heard the same thing and many horror stories about recruiters. Sounds like the USMC has a great plan, and it works.
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