Naval Academy?

[firstthird]

Agreed. Definitely a big decision and taking in all the available info is the only way to go. And when it comes down to it, Hawkins will be the only one to know where his priorities lie and what he wants long term.

And frankly, plenty of guys do chooose an academy, get there, decide they made a bad choice and bail sometime during the first year. not the preferred method, but it happens.

 

[Hugh Jorgan]

I went to USAFA, drank as much as anyone on this thread and got laid like a madman.

I didn't have to go to either of the service academies to be able to say that THIS is total Bull$hit!

Define "Madman"!

Having spent most of my life with those who took various routes to commissioning, it's clear who the socially challenged among us were, by a long shot, the Acadmeny victims.
Drank and got laid like a madman at the USFA....PUHLEEEZE!

 

[Hawkins]

Thanks for all the different views guys. Don't worry, I'm just a high school kid getting a little perspective on the different ways to get involved in the Navy. I won't take anyone too seriously. I promise.

-Hawkins

 

[Wild Weasel]

I'm just a high school kid getting a little perspective on the different ways to get involved in the Navy.
-Hawkins

Hey Hawk...I'm not an academy guy, however been in for over 23 years and to be honest with you, it really isn't all that apparent who did or did not go to one of the service academies. There are benefits and drawbacks to any of the avenues available to getting a set of wings (be they gold or silver).
If you want to get a good perspective of academy life in general, try reading the book "Absolutely American". The service school guys I have talked to said it was a pretty good depiction of life at an academy, and I felt it accurately protrayed the comradeship that exists in the military in general. Granted it is about West Point, however it is a good read, and current (published last year I think)......go check it out at the local library (using the library is a good way to practice being cheap as an airline guy later in life!!)

 

[SIG600]

Thanks for all the different views guys. Don't worry, I'm just a high school kid getting a little perspective on the different ways to get involved in the Navy. I won't take anyone too seriously. I promise.

-Hawkins

Wanna know the best way to get involved with the Navy? Four words... Bachelor Degree Completion Program or BDCP for short.

Go to a four year school that you want to, and where you can have a real social life. Do well your first year (because you have to get 30 credit hours to apply for this). Lets say in May 2006 you're finishing up your freshman year of college. Now you can apply for BDCP, and whatever program you want. Wanna be a pilot, you're applying for a pilot slot in 2009 when you graduate. So you apply, get accepted to the BDCP program. Now what happens, is when you graduate college in 2009, you have an OCS date waiting for you and a guaranteed pilot slot, cuz thats what you applied for (can't get that at an academy). And oh ya, that whole time you're in school, you're getting E-4 pay every month, you're accruing leave that you'll have when you get commisioned a full bank of leave as an O-1!!!), and you're time in service counts. So you'll be commisioned as an O-1, and have 2 or 3 years of service, and be making way more $$$ than the Academy pukes that wasted away for 4 years locked up while you were out partying your ass off and getting a nice paycheck, to do nothing but go to school. Thats right, no ROTC unit, no uniform, nothing. Just keep your grades up and keep your ass in shape for OCS.

And I agree full heartedly with Hugh... you could DEFINATLEY spot the Academy guys showing up to flight training when I was in Pensacola, they all looked like slobs and had no social skills (well 60-70% of them)... there were some really good dudes that came from Canoe U though.

PS... as a BDCP your pay can also go up while you're in school if you recruit more people to the program.

 

[F18-FDX]

Wanna know the best way to get involved with the Navy? Four words... Bachelor Degree Completion Program or BDCP for short.

Go to a four year school that you want to, and where you can have a real social life. Do well your first year (because you have to get 30 credit hours to apply for this). Lets say in May 2006 you're finishing up your freshman year of college. Now you can apply for BDCP, and whatever program you want. Wanna be a pilot, you're applying for a pilot slot in 2009 when you graduate. So you apply, get accepted to the BDCP program. Now what happens, is when you graduate college in 2009, you have an OCS date waiting for you and a guaranteed pilot slot, cuz thats what you applied for (can't get that at an academy). And oh ya, that whole time you're in school, you're getting E-4 pay every month, you're accruing leave that you'll have when you get commisioned a full bank of leave as an O-1!!!), and you're time in service counts. So you'll be commisioned as an O-1, and have 2 or 3 years of service, and be making way more $$$ than the Academy pukes that wasted away for 4 years locked up while you were out partying your ass off and getting a nice paycheck, to do nothing but go to school. Thats right, no ROTC unit, no uniform, nothing. Just keep your grades up and keep your ass in shape for OCS.

And I agree full heartedly with Hugh... you could DEFINATLEY spot the Academy guys showing up to flight training when I was in Pensacola, they all looked like slobs and had no social skills (well 60-70% of them)... there were some really good dudes that came from Canoe U though.

PS... as a BDCP your pay can also go up while you're in school if you recruit more people to the program.

Consider the source...I'm glad he's such an authority on the USNA.

 

[Chach]

Hawkins,

Those telling you not to go to the USNA, were not amongst USNA ranks. Regarding snatch, the Mustang officers get all of it. I didn't poll the cool ones, but served with many outstanding USNA types.

Good Luck,
Chach

 

[TonyC]

Consider the source...I'm glad he's such an authority on the USNA.

But, he didn't claim to be an authority on USNA, and he didn't comment on USNA.

Hawkins said

I'm just a high school kid getting a little perspective on the different ways to get involved in the Navy.

and SIG600 told us about a different way that hadn't been mentioned. I sure wish I had known about some program like this when I was in high school looking out.


Imagine my surprise when I was an O-1 at 1 year pay and learned that a contemporary in the squadron who was commissioned after me was earning O-1 at the 3 year rate. I didn't know it was possible until then.

Hawkins is better off for knowing now.









.

 

[SIG600]

Tony C gets what I was saying apparantly. Ya... I had buddies that were commisioned with me in OCS, making O-1 over 3 years (which is about 500-600 a month more) and had a maxed out leave bank. Someone tell me how this is a bad deal?

Drank and got laid like a madman at the USFA....PUHLEEEZE!

Dude... guys at USAFA don't take no for an answer!

 

[WizardPilot]

Robot? WTFO? Is this from your vast experience with dudes from the Academies?

I went to USAFA, drank as much as anyone on this thread and got laid like a madman. You just have to be a little more proactive.

Guess what? If you're a f****** geek in high school, you're going to be a f****** geek in college whether you're at USAFA, USNA, FSU, or Bama. If you went there, comment. If you didn't, STFU. Most ROTC guys I know (and I include some of them as my best buds) are woefully misinformed about Academy life (yes, there can be one), and most of the ROTC guys, despite what they say, can't tell if a dude went to the Academy or not unless they wear their ring, which most of us don't.

Chill out MAGNUM. I was using "robot" as only a describing word. The Academy is very regimented, and I do not think that you can deny that. No one I have talked to, friends and random zoomies, ever have denyed that. But yes, I have somewhat of a "Vast" experience of academy dudes. It takes you guys awhile to come back to the world when you guys finish off.

You need to get over yourself. Guy's like you at academies or any other school who try to go out, get drunk, and dive pu$$y at every oppourtunity give schools bad names. I have known "F****in geeks" in HS who are now very very well respected at their schools, and are either married to or dating some freaking hot girls. AND I know guys who were not "F*****in geeks" in HS and are complete lame, and ignorant people who don't want to come to the realization that you have to grow up one day... I hope you have realized this, because if you base yourself on how much you got wasted and how many girls (or gay lovers in your case) you got on, that is pathetic. You and even ROTC guys are training to be officers in the AF, USN, USMC, Army, Girls might be fun to get, and getting drunk might be your thing, but that is stupid, childlike, and Primative. Getting drunk and getting some is not what college is all about, and some people take it to the extreme.

Don't think that since you went to the academy and got drunk and pu$$y every once and awhile makes you all high and mighty. I respect Academy guys very very much. But their lives are much much more different than a civilians or ROTC guy. That is all I was trying to say, and you explode on here. I have been in the thread's starters posistion before and it is a difficult decision to make. I was just trying to help out, but you decide to freak out. You can give your opinions and I will give mine.

You are true in that later on in life it is hard to differentiate between Academy guys and ROTC guys. You really can't do it. But you bet you can when you get them right after commission day. Good luck to all.

 

[SIG600]

Getting drunk and getting some is not what college is all about, and some people take it to the extreme.

WHAAAAAAA?!?!? Then what IS college about?!!?

 

[WizardPilot]

WHAAAAAAA?!?!? Then what IS college about?!!?

Watching them all get drunk, and playing with their minds....! haha

 

[stonewall]

Hey Wiz,

Maybe my first post was out of line and too forceful, but your last post is just stupid. I'm not sure how you can infer my one goal at USAFA was to get wasted and chase a**, or that's what I "base myself" on from one line in a post. I had a steady girlfriend that lived in COS for 4 years, so maybe that's why I got laid a lot.

I don't think I'm high and mighty, I don't wear my ring, and I don't tell anyone where I went to college or got my commission unless they ask. I'm not even going to my reunion. It just irks me when non-grads (and I don't mean that in a disparaging why) tell potential cadets/middies how awful life is at the Academies and how they'll be mindless, socially stunted automatons after 4 years. I'll lighten up.

 

[SIG600]

A good Naval Academy grad story from a close friend of mine in Pensacola. She plays the part of Kristin in this.

And if you need explination on the Oliver joke refer to this site www.factualmaterial.com/douchebag.htm

"chose to go to Pensacola Beach with Celandine instead.) The following is all true-
We saw a really tan guy with a pink shirt and a popped collar and "intellectual glasses".
Celandine: "Ooooh, he's hot"
Kristin: "He looks like a douchebag"
Celandine: "You don't even know him"
Kristin: "That's why I said he looks like one"
Kristin (to Douchebag): "Hey, is your name Oliver?"
Douchebag: "Why do people keep asking me that?"

I saw a guy I was totally interested in talking to. Great outfit. Funny T-shirt, cord blazer... shorts and old school bike messenger shoes. I think he's adorable.
He makes a beeline for Celandine. **CENSORED****CENSORED****CENSORED****CENSORED** him. Good thing his friends have a sense of humor and are willing to gab with me.
He buys her a beer. I'm nursing a Coors Light.
Celandine (to guy, in a very rude voice): "Do I look like the kind of trashy girl who drinks beer? Get me a glass of wine."
I'm still nursing that beer, by the way and guy's friends are like "Who the F___ does that chick think she is?"
So he orders a mini-bottle of Ernest & Julio Gallo (read: one tiny step up from Boone's Farm)merlot and the barkeep pours it in a plastic cup. She's sipping.
Guy's Friend #1: "Hey Cellophane, how's that gum you're smacking on?"
Guy's Friend #2 (to me): "How can you hang out with her?"
I shrug.
Celandine and guy converse on what appears to be Quantum Physics, International Politics and Rocket Science.
Guy walks over to his friends who are talking to me and taking an active role in making fun of her. Guy whispers a loud drunk whisper to his buddy: "Dude, these chicks are dumb. We're in." (Keep in mind, guy hasn't said two words to me to assume with any validity whether I'm dumb or not)
His buddy: "No, I'm pretty sure that's just the one you were talking to"
Guy: "Whatever"
Me (to guy): "Oh, look at that... I just spilled my beer ALL over you."
Too bad a really cool outfit was wasted on such a dirtbag.

Turns out dirtbag is an '04 Naval Academy Grad. Double Fvck him.

Told Celandine I couldn't hang out anymore for a while. Scoping guys requires too much energy. I'd rather just sit at a bar and drink beer."

 

[stonewall]

Okay, that's funny, and yes he sounds like a socially stunted tool.

 

[SIG600]

Ya she's a cool chick, and hot to boot.

 

[Hugh Jorgan]

I had a steady girlfriend that lived in COS for 4 years, so maybe that's why I got laid a lot.

Dude. You didn't get laid a lot. You got laid once and repeated the deed for four years. You seal one deal and claim you got laid all the time. Talk about missing out in the prime of your life.
I bet you know the names of every gash you've ever touched. It's easy when you can count them on one hand!!!

 

[stonewall]

Man, you guys infer way too much from single lines in posts. Lived in Columbia and Destin as a single dude over the years. THOSE years were the prime of my life. Not that it matters how many chicks you've had, when you stay single until you're 30+, the numbers can't help but add up. Prime of my life? Hell, I'm still in it!

 

[slacker]

State School Moron

I didn't go to the academy, but i stayed at a holiday inn express last night. I know quite a few zoomies from UPT and Air Force life since UPT. Some guys show no signs of scarring while other the wounds from the academy are deep and fresh. Quick story- Years ago, a conversation with some zoomies at UPT....

Zoomie: Where did you go to school?
Me: Auburn University
Zoomie: Cool, were you in a fraternity
Me: yeah.
zoomie: dude, do you think if i get my master's at a state school in a few years, i could rush and get in a fraternity?
Me: no, that would just be embarrasing. Let it go dude.

It seemed like most of the zoomies were spring loaded to try to party like rock stars at every chance at UPT. I think eventually they all grow out of it, they're just trying to catch up.

There is no doubt that you get a great education at any service academy and if you're selected for an appointment, that alone is worthy accomplishment. At the academy you will be sacrificing you present for your future. At a state school, you will be sacrificing your future for your present.
Anyone who thinks you can drink beer and enjoy the coeds as much at the academy as a state school, apparently did not receive the best education at the academy. It's just not realistic. If i was a betting man, i'd say i drank more beer in one month at school, than the majority of academy guys did in their four years at the academy. My grades sucked huge, i escaped by the skin of my teeth. I created some large hurdles to clear for myself, but i'm still a pilot just like all the academy grads.

Good luck with your decision.

 

[DaveGriffin]

Robot? WTFO? Is this from your vast experience with dudes from the Academies?

I went to USAFA, drank as much as anyone on this thread and got laid like a madman. You just have to be a little more proactive.

Guess what? If you're a f****** geek in high school, you're going to be a f****** geek in college whether you're at USAFA, USNA, FSU, or Bama. If you went there, comment. If you didn't, STFU. Most ROTC guys I know (and I include some of them as my best buds) are woefully misinformed about Academy life (yes, there can be one), and most of the ROTC guys, despite what they say, can't tell if a dude went to the Academy or not unless they wear their ring, which most of us don't.

Magnum,

Sounds like things have changed a bit at the USAFA since you were there. Not too long ago, the strong arm, date rape approach was the only way a socially challenged Zoomie could get a little action on Saturday night. From recent events, looks like the fundamentalist bible-beaters have taken over. I’m guessing the latest batch of Zoomies isn’t having as much luck with the ladies these days since they no longer use your old favorite ‘proactive’ dating techniques.

The biggest scandal at the Boat School these days is the lowering of academic standards for football recruits. I guess that’s not all bad, since they can fly the P-3 replacement if they graduate.