Expert: Cynthia Bedell - 9/3/2009

Question
Colonel Bedell,

I’ve sworn into the Navy back in January, I choose my ship-out date in December, but just yesterday, my recruiter told me that recruiting is changing in the Navy and his boss need to let people (like myself) that are still wishy-washy about making this commitment go.  I was seriously thinking about joining Navy, especially during this kind of economy, but forcing to me to make a decision now, I told them “No”.  Why was I still wishy-washy?

Because I am 25 and I have a civil engineering degree from an ABET accredited university, and when the Navy called me up telling me they saw my resume on Yahoo Hotjobs that I want to be a civil engineer, they told me there’s such opportunity in the Navy, so I went ahead and contacted them in the recruiting station near home thinking I am going to work in the Navy as a civilian engineer.  Little did I know, I was signing myself to be an enlisted in the Navy.  I found out that there “is” civil engineering officer in the Navy, so I asked the recruiter about it, they told me because I am not a citizen, I can’t apply to be an officer, so best bet is to join as an enlisted and the Navy will get my citizenship for me and then I can apply and “maybe” get pick up right way.  They told me just to pick a job in the Seabee Community and it’s easier to get picked up if you are already in the community, so I picked the job as a Construction Mechanics (my real passion and interest is in design work, as a civil engineer, not fixing cranes and bulldozers, I know they are important too, no offense).

I would understand why they can’t guarantee that I’d get pick up to be officer right away because they are not the decision maker, but I don’t want to go through all the training of something I am not interest in and probably will perform badly in, and find out I won’t get officer position and had to stay with (CM) for the rest of my 5 year contract.  I know it’s a risk to take, my recruiter kept telling me that, but there’s too much uncertainties in what I am getting myself into.  I am not afraid of hard work, training, or moving.

To make my long drama short, the citizenship issue probably played an important role.  So my question is that now I declined to continue in the DEP, would there be a record?  Something like “this DEP Recruit backed out on Navy”.  What if I apply for the citizenship on my own, and then apply for the civil engineer officer position, would Navy still consider me?  If yes, what would I need to do?  If no, would other military branch, such as Army Corps of Engineers, consider me?

Thank you so much for your response, Jo.


Answer
Dear Jo --

You should get an uncharacterized discharge with a re-entry code of 1.  You did nothing wrong, and the Navy chose to discharge you so that they would remain under their strength limits.

You must be a citizen to get your security clearance.  All military officers must hold a secret clearance.  Without a clearance you cannot be an officer, so that is why citizenship was "such a big deal."

Once you have your citizenship, you should be able to apply to enter the Navy and go straight to officer candidate school.  Understand that if you do not pass officer candidate school, you revert to your enlisted rank and specialty to complete your contract tour time.  So if you really do not wish to serve as an enlisted service member under any circumstances, I recommend you find a different career path than as a Navy military member.  The Department of Defense also has many engineering career fields for Department of Defense civilian employees.  You might consider one of those jobs; look on the USAjobs web site to see what is available.

Please write back, if you have additional questions.  Good luck to you.