Eh… the wait for my official orders is frustrating, nerve racking, and uneventful all at the same time.  While my processor, who my orders get sent to me through, is doing her best to get me my orders, she tells me that whether I have them or not, I am required to report Sunday morning, otherwise I am UA.

I continue to have this nagging feeling, though, that when my orders do arrive, they aren’t going to have report on August 1st written on them, but instead, a later date.  I guess we’ll find out on Sunday morning!

Melissa and I left Cincinnati last Monday morning and spent a day driving to Washington DC.  We then spent a day quickly seeing as much of everything we could in DC since Melissa has never been there before.  It was kind of a fly-by sightseeing tour of DC.  We saw all the major monuments/memorials, but didn’t really stop or spend too much time at any one of them.  One exception, however, was Arlington Cemetery.  We spent the morning until noon there.

Our first night in DC we stayed at the Navy Lodge on Bolling Air Force Base.  The Navy housing looked very nice there and the view across the water to Ronald Reagen Washington National Airport at sunset, phenomenal.  Both Melissa and I really liked that base.  The second night we were suppose to stay in the Navy Lodge again, but due to some construction they had going on, they put us in a Quality Inn over near Andrews Air Force Base.  And maybe I’m biased cause the Quality Inn had free WiFi … but the Quality Inn definitely trumped the Navy Lodge.

We then spent the next day (yesterday) driving from Washington DC to Boston.  This was the day of driving where we really felt the lack of A/C in our car.  A few sweaty hours in traffic later, though, we made it to Boston.  I love Boston.  My brother and sister-in-law live in a city called Waltham, and it is very pretty.  Melissa and I went out for a jog this morning around the city while it was raining, lots of fun.  Last night we went and saw Inception at a local/smaller movie theater.  The movie was AWESOME and I think I spent most the night last night dreaming about it (which was a nice change from dreaming about OCS, haha).

So we have the day today in Boston, not sure what to do yet, something inside most likely with the rain. Then driving to Newport, Rhode Island tomorrow where we will spend the day, meet up with some people in my class and stay the night at the Navy Lodge there.  Melissa flies home on Saturday and I report Sunday morning.

YIKES!

I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t nervous.  The level of nervousness is the fluctuating part, however.  At times I’m not worried about it at all.  Bring it on, let’s get this party … errr… started.  But other times I am pretty much terrified, hah.  Thousands of kids have gone through this program before me, many of them just like me, I’m sure.  One week at a time, one day at a time, one meal at a time, and 12 weeks will be up before I know it.

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I raised my right hand …

I, Jason Pawlak, do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and that I will obey the orders of the President of the United States and the orders of the officers appointed over me, according to regulations and the Uniform Code of Military Justice. So help me God

Then signed a gigantic stack of papers …

And am now officially a Sailor in the United States Navy!

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There hasn’t been any posts since my Professionally Recommended post, and that has been on purpose. There hasn’t really been too much to report without me sounding too whiny, haha.

Over the past four months, since my pro-rec, I have been in constant contact with my Officer Recruiter and my Processor. They have been very responsive and very helpful in assuring me that they are doing everything in their power to move the process from pro-rec to final select as quickly as it possibly can move.

The major hold up was with opening my security investigation. Apparently the SF86 had some additional questions between the time I submitted it with my original application and the time they were needing to open my investigation. I am not sure if this was due specifically because my need of a Top Secret clearance, or if this was a change for Secret clearances as well. This one setback sort of snowballed into a big headache, though. Once they were unable to open my investigation, my profile went into some sort of limbo state where items such as my finger prints were put in a giant file with other finger prints that were not attached to any specific investigation that was open at the time.

There was also a lack of communication between the people working with the security investigations and my OR. The system would say that my SF86 was submitted correctly, but the people would say that it is wrong, but we wouldn’t know exactly what was wrong, or only partially what was wrong — or rather, missing. Then when going to change the application, since the system thought it was already submitted correctly, it would not let us back in to make modifications.

Really it was just a very slow process. One thing would get done, and in order to get in touch with the right people it would then take a few days. Multiply this by the number of times a specific person needed to be contacted, and you can see why it has been a few days shy of 4 months since I heard news of my professional recommendation.

My next step is to swear in. I am planning on signing the papers and raising my right hand a week from today, next Wednesday, October 7th, 2009. I was told that I will receive backpay to the date that is on my final select letter, which I assume is today or whenever the letter was put in the mail.

I am very excited to be ‘officially’ in the Navy. I am also very excited about starting my ‘real’ Navy career after graduating from school next Summer.

Time to increase the PT …

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I am very excited, to say the least.  Along with the excitement comes a good bit of nervousness, though.  For a good while the pro-rec seemed like an unreachable goal that I would be endlessly grasping at, especially after my non-select in 2008.  But now, thank goodness, I have the biggest hurdle of the application process behind me.

So what is next?

In the upcoming weeks/months I will need to take my Physical Readiness Test (PRT) (see http://www.navy-prt.com for details), and I will go through my Single Scope Background Investigation (SSBI) for a Top Secret (TS) clearance.  I signed papers yesterday allowing the clearance to begin.

I also have finger print materials coming in the mail that I will have to go to the police station (I will be going to my campus police station) to use to get fingerprinted, since my fingerprints from MEPS are no longer on file.

I was also curious if I was going to have to go back to MEPS, since my 2 years will be up this next December.  My OR said that I shouldn’t have to do another physical until right before heading off to OCS.

So basically right now it is more waiting.  I won’t get paid until I swear in, which is after the clearance.  My time estimate until my Final Select is about 3 months.  From following AirWarriors and USNavyOCS, it seems that 3 months is a typical wait period for Final Select.

Everyone that I have been telling about getting accepted into the Information Warfare community in the Navy has been what I consider “cautiously excited”.  They are happy that I am happy, but all seem to ask the question, “are you sure you want to do this?”  The only downfall, which is a big one, is the time apart from family and friends.  But I have never been one to think that I will spend the rest of my life in Cincinnati, OH.  Sure, I might end up here, someday, in the suburbs on the north side of Cincinnati, but I’m not ready for that yet.  Let’s see where the road takes me, first.

Life is good.

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Since it had been over a year since my last application for BDCP/OCS, a lot of my papers had to be updated.  Mostly it was just updating current address for contacts, but it all takes time.  Another time filler was completing my new Degree Completion Plan.  I only had a few quarters to fill out in the DCP, which made it nice, but it still involved meeting with and emailing back and forth with advisers/professors to figure out class schedules.  All while spending 8 to 5 at work, makes juggling the tasks tricky.

My updated application has some additional letters of recommendation, some great professional experience from both Apple and Kroger, an updated (and much better in my opinion) motivational statement, and a nice concise reconsideration letter telling the board why they should reconsider me in my second attempt to earn a spot as an Officer Candidate.

One other major change to my application is that I am now applying for two different designators, instead of just one as in my previous application.  My first choice is still Information Warfare (IW).  My second choice is Surface Warfare Officer / Information Warfare (SWO/IW).  This differs in the fact that if selected, I would graduate OCS as an SWO Ensign and go straight to a ship for deployment of 6 to 10 months.  There I would most likely be a Division Officer (Divo) and earn my SWO pin.  Once my Divo tour is complete I would then lateral transfer to the IW community.  I like this option because it provides a broader experience, which I think would be crucial and essential to my daily work as an IWO.  I have read, however, that those who are direct IWO have plenty of opportunity to deploy and earn their SWO pin (or something comparable?).

All-in-all, I’m feeling pretty good about my application.  I think I have shown some good improvements since my last submission, and applying again shows the board that I am serious about wanting a commission as a Naval Officer.  I am doing my best not to get my hopes up too high, as last time I received my non-select I was really bummed.  I figure, this will be my last attempt at applying through BDCP.  If I am non-select this time around, my next application opportunity will be within 6 months of graduation, so I’d be applying for direct ascension to OCS.

The IW board will meet in May (probably just past the middle of the month) and the SWO/IW board will meet in June.

Ready, Set, Wait!

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On Monday, however, my phone rang, and it was my recruiter telling me that he just received a memo that there is a request for more Information Warfare officers, exactly what I was going for.  He said he remembered that my ASTB scores were very good and I had a competitive application, but since I was only applying for IW, the outlook of placement was very dim.  The thought was with this special request for more IW officers, my application would have a better chance of being approved by the board.

My recruiter emailed me my application to make relevant updates, and I started sending out some emails again to get some better letters of recommendation.  I talked with my current manager at Kroger, my manager from Apple, and the guy I worked with most of the time at Apple.  All three said there would be no problems with writing a letter for me.

When updating my application, there is a section about prior attempts at applying for an officer position.  I made note of my prior application that went before the board in January of 2008.  It makes me wonder, though, is having a prior attempt seen as a positive or negative?  In my honest (and hopeful) opinion I think it will be seen as a positive.  It will show the board that I have persistence, and that this is an opportunity that I would really like to seek out its availability.

I have to say, after the phone call with my recruiter, I was very excited.  I went back over to AirWarriors and read through some threads, finding InformationWarriors, a forum for Information Warfare, started by some of the folks from AirWarriors.  It only added to my excitement, hah.

That’s really all the update I have right now.  I wanted to get this ongoing thread of posts back up and running.  I have received so many great comments and emails regarding my application to the Navy!  And even though my posts regarding the Navy and BDCP are only a fraction of the posts on my blog, they receive more traffic than any other posts by far.  I’m glad that I have been able to help so many along this process, as others have helped me.  Feel free to leave a comment or send an email (blog@pwlk.net)!

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Yup, I’ve decided it is time to start putting things together to submit my BDCP application again.  As you might know, I was in January boards for Information Warfare, but was non-select. 

For the past month and a half I have been living the good life out in Silicon Valley working for Apple Corp.  When I was first offered this job, it was not long after I found out I was non-select, and I thought this might be a little nudge from someone upstairs saying, “hey… look at the options”.  I was and still am very excited about my opportunity with Apple.  The job is amazing, the people I work with are some of the smartest folks I have ever met, the work environment is so relaxed and easy going… its just a fun place to be.  Sitting in the same cube, writing code and testing machines, is not the place I think I want to be right when I get out of school.  

I want to travel and I want new experiences.  Don’t misunderstand me though, if the Navy doesn’t work out, Apple or a place like it would be an amazing place to start a career.

Earlier this week, I emailed my recruiter again to tell him I was living out in California and that I wanted to get my application going again.  I thought that being out here might be a great opportunity for me to talk to some Naval Officers that might be in the Bay Area, who I might also be able to interview with for a letter of recommendation.  I have also, already talked to my manager at Apple who was all onboard for writing me a LOR.  Beyond new LORs I have an updated resume which includes such things as my employment at Apple, as well as a slightly higher GPA.

I’m not sure what month I am aiming for boards at yet.  I’ll have to write a letter of reconsideration to the board as well, which I think only strengthens my application.  I don’t want to rush this application and send it in until I am very confident with all its assets.  My main goal is to get some very strong letters of recommendation.Wish me luck as I test my patience while I hurry up and wait!

PS… check this out: http://www.pbs.org/weta/carrier/full_episodes.htm 

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In other working news, I’m getting a number of phone calls to set up interviews with a variety of companies for Spring and Summer CoOp.  Busy busy busy…

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“But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it.”
Romans: 8:25 KJV

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So we wait, and keep our fingers crossed.

After my package is reviewed I will either be denied or professionally recommended.  If I am denied, I will resubmit my package again.  If I am pro-rec’d my single scope background investigation (SSBI) will commence.  As long as that goes well and the Navy still wants me after that, I will get a final select.  Which then I will sign the papers and swear in.  Not all too many more steps!

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