AB_Shorts_Momma
Milforum Otaku
good luck!!! Let us know what you decide. 
ASVAB, a lil worried
Damien435
Active member
Word of advice, don't decide anything when you go to MEPS the first time. I don't know what other MEPS stations are like but ours in Sioux Falls is set up as a hostile, intimidating environment meant to force people into signing the papers with as little fight as possible. Ask questions, wait for answers if necessary, if the recruiter/liason officer says something like "I can't do that until you sign the paper." walk out of the f***ing building and don't return for two weeks. Be a *****, be an *******, be stubborn and difficult, make them work to earn their money, this is the last time where the ball will be in your court, after you sign those papers the Navy owns your balls and locks them up in a filing cabinet somewhere beneath the Pentagon (that works better for men, but you get the point.)
Most of all remember your recruiter is not your friend, even if they are an old family friend, they have a job to do and that job is to get you to sign the papers with as little difficulty as possible. Their job is not to look out for your best interest, it's to look out for what's in the best interest of the Navy. And also remember, if you don't get something in writing on your contract you don't get it. If you want an enlistment bonus (The DoD spends $600 billion a year, even if you don't want a bonus ask for one because it's like a penny to the military.) says something before the papers are filed. From my own experiences I know that the Navy is much harder to get enlistment bonuses from than the Army, I was looking at a $40k bonus from the Army but had to settle for $4,000 from the Navy and that's for two years worth of college credits, my job doesn't have a bonus for the reserves. Finally, if you are having any doubts don't sign anything, it's much easier to go back a few days later and finish signing the paper than it is to back out once you've put pen to paper.
That's the advice I give everybody, after five years of dealing with MEPS I consider myself pretty seasoned at running through their hoops, hell my manager at work spent less time at MEPS than me and she was in the Army for three years, active duty. Other than that all I can say is good luck, a 62 isn't bad and you can always study up and retake the test. Getting your score up to 75 or so should be feasible with six months of studying (Is it six months between retakes?), obviously that's only a couple hours a week, but you don't want to burn out. There are plenty of jobs out there available with your scores, I chose a really, really easy job for the reserve so I could focus on school work and applying for a commission, a four year degree opens all sorts of doors in both the military and civilian life, you could take an easy job in the Navy that would keep you stateside and take advantage of the great financial benefits and go to school while you serve.
NavyCS
Active member
If you have to study hard to bring your ASVAB score up in an attempt to get Nuke, I advise against going into the program. The schools in the pipeline are difficult and fast paced - you want to pass the initial testing without troubles.
Your AFQT on the ASVAB doesn't determine your eligibility for a job. It ONLY is used to determine your eligibility for enlistment. The ASVAB line scores is what is used for job placement. You could have an 80QT and not qualify for the same job a person with a 65QT will, seen it happen many times.
When you go to MEPS and pass your physical you will, after some prescreening, sit down with a job classifier. The classifier will enter your physical, asvab, education, waiver issues and time frames for leaving into the PRIDE program. PRIDE will then spit out jobs available for the timeframe. When a job is available it means that a bootcamp and A school seat is available - if the job you want is there then take it - it may not be there the next time. There is a finite number of class room seats. When a job is full, some jobs are booked at up to 110% to account for attrition, a number of DEP discharges would have to occur for the school/bootcamp seat/timeframe to open.
Bonuses are pre-programmed to jobs/timeframes based on a couple of things - they are jobs few people can do or are jobs few people want to do. If you want a bonus then you need to seek jobs that have them for the timeframes to leave they require.
Yes, there are bonuses for college credits earned prior to enlistment.
Your AFQT on the ASVAB doesn't determine your eligibility for a job. It ONLY is used to determine your eligibility for enlistment. The ASVAB line scores is what is used for job placement. You could have an 80QT and not qualify for the same job a person with a 65QT will, seen it happen many times.
When you go to MEPS and pass your physical you will, after some prescreening, sit down with a job classifier. The classifier will enter your physical, asvab, education, waiver issues and time frames for leaving into the PRIDE program. PRIDE will then spit out jobs available for the timeframe. When a job is available it means that a bootcamp and A school seat is available - if the job you want is there then take it - it may not be there the next time. There is a finite number of class room seats. When a job is full, some jobs are booked at up to 110% to account for attrition, a number of DEP discharges would have to occur for the school/bootcamp seat/timeframe to open.
Bonuses are pre-programmed to jobs/timeframes based on a couple of things - they are jobs few people can do or are jobs few people want to do. If you want a bonus then you need to seek jobs that have them for the timeframes to leave they require.
Yes, there are bonuses for college credits earned prior to enlistment.
NavyCS
Active member
Wrong information.
There is no minimum AFQT for Nuke, all jobs are line score based. Any QT requirements for Nuke are for Recruiters only, can be District specific, for direction to have applicant take the advanced programs test - CRUITMAN recommends 65QT.
The ASVAB makes no comparison to others taking the test. [FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]The AFQT standard (raw) score is computed with the formula 2VE + AR + MK. That standard score is then compared to a chart for the version of the ASVAB you took to produce your true AFQT.
[/FONT]The ASVAB test is made up of nine sections in the following order:
- General Science (GS)
- Arithmetic Reasoning (AR)
- Word Knowledge (WK)
- Paragraph Comprehension (PC)
- Mathematics Knowledge (MK)
- Electronics Information (EI)
- Auto Shop (AS)
- Mechanical Comprehension (MC)
- Assembling Objects (AO)
I appreciate the info. To be honest my test taking stills are not the best. If I had not got so bord while taking the test I would have done better. But I am not going to lie I kind of missed some things that would have been obvious if would have been atleast 80% into the test but toward the end I kind of wanted to be done with it and hope for the best. My line scores missed nuke by 13 without having to take the nuke test (239). If the job is available when I go to meps I AM going to jump on it.
NavyCS
Active member
Outstanding! I have two sons that are/were ET Nukes, my Dad was a MM Nuke and I was a regular ET who later turned into a Navy Counselor.