Coast Guard

[matt01]

Has anyone ever served in the Coast Guard? I served four years in the Marines before going to college, and am now contemplating enlisting in the CG.

 

[LarryCook]

Matthew,

Are you considering OCS? If so, I can help you out with some career guidance. I served on the OCS staff for three years from 1992 to 1995. I am still following the 600 candidates that came through during my tenure. It is a great service with a ton of opportunity.

Let me know what specific questions that you have.

Larry

 

[matt01]

Larry,

I wanted to apply for OCS, but I was informed today that I am too old for the CG OCS. I turn 27 later this month. I am considering going in as an enlisted person, depending on if they will allow me to retain my rank (E-4) from the Marines.

Matthew

 

[LarryCook]

Matthew,

Something sounds way too fishy there. Look at this website:

http://www.uscg.mil/hq/reserve/drill/wiad05.htm

Specifically, this portion:

Applicants with active duty military service may exceed the age limit by the amount of active service they have, not to exceed 60 months. They also have lower educational requirements.
Ref: COMDTINST M1000.6 (series) sec. 1.C

That would give you to age 31 with 4 years of prior service. Make certain that you are dealing with an officer recruiter (mine in 1986 was a civilian GS-11)....times are tough right now for enlisted recruiters and pulling in a prior service with a college degree into the enlisted ranks would be like striking gold for them. Dare I say that you might have been intentionally lied to? Oh yeah.

With a degree, I would exhaust ALL officer acession programs before even considering enlisting. If you'd like I can make some calls and see what kind of competition there is out there and what kind of numbers they're looking at. When I was in OCS they were only running two classes a year of 35 and when I taught there they were running five classes of 60 a year. I have no idea what it is now but will find out if you'd like me to.

Larry

 

[matt01]

Larry,

Thank you. I would greatly appreciate it if you would check on that for me. I suppose I shouldn't be surprised that a recruiter would try to pull a little magic work.

What, if any, effect could having a foreign born wife have on attaining a security clearance? Or is this not even an issue? My wife was born in Korea (South) and raised in Canada, where she became a citizen. She now has a green card.

By the way, are you still in the service?

Matthew

[Edited on 6-12-2005 by matthew]

 

[LarryCook]

Matthew,

I retired in 1996. Your wife of Korean birth and Canadian citizenship with U.S. resident status should be a non issue in a B.I. for a SECRET clearance.

I'll give G-P (just means Headquarters, Personnel) a call this week and ask them what the officer accession numbers look liket for the next couple of years.

Larry

 

[LarryCook]

Matthew,

I spoke with headquarters today and here's what I found out. They are currently running around one hundred per year through OCS. It's pretty competitive and selection is based on how well the overall package looks. Here are the components (at least the ones that I can remember):

- narrative....I think it's a page in length and it answers the question, "Why I should become a Coast Guard officer?"

-interview...you'll go before a panel of three officers at a base near where you live

-service record....performance evaluations, awards, duties

-community service...what have you done to show you care about others

-test....I think there's some sort of officer battery of tests

-education....what's your degree in and what's your gpa

So the starting point is a recruiter and they help you with the package. It might take 6 months to complete and then you might want to go before several boards if you don't get selected on the first one.

One more thing....check out http://www.fredsplace.org/ and you can look at announcements and see message traffic and you might be able to find ocs related messages.

Oh yeah, the lady I spoke with has been with the cg for 38 years and she actually remembered my name from 1986, wow. She also said no problem on the age.

So good luck to you Matthew and if you pursue this I wish you the best (wish you the best even if you don't pursue it).

Larry

 

[matt01]

Larry
Thank you for the information. I will be checking into this all.