Reserve NAVCOMM to Officer ??

[westcoastboy]

I am currently a NAVCOMM reserve ( since June ) due to to my Basic this summer ,I joined the reserves to see if I would enjoy the Navy.I am now looking at doing ROTP after High School, my question is and I have tried searching which Officer trade is the most similar to NAVCOMM .I have noticed of course there are a couple but they seem to be more Engineering not so much communications .

 

[Neill McKay]

It would be helpful if you could explain what aspects of the Nav Comm trade interest you, because different elements of that may be found in different occupations.

If it's the technical/electronics/computers aspect, combat systems engineering may be what you want.  If it's something else, another occupation might be better for you.

 

[MARS]

Are you looking to become a Naval Officer or an army/air force officer?

If Navy, you want to become a MARS Officer, which has significant overlap from the NAVCOMM occupation.

 

[westcoastboy]

Yes I am looking to become a Naval Officer , I have looked at MARS but wondered from  :snowman: on this forum if it would be to intense, it looks like a huge drop out rate, where do you go if you fail at Mars ?

 

[CallOfDuty]

  When you fail a course like that, you will be sent to the BPSO( selection officer)..and they will assess what happened and why.  If it was legit, and you weren't a shitpump...they'll offer you a trade more suited to your abilities.  Could be a Logistics O...or combat arms O...or whatever is available...(and you meet the requirements).

  If you failed because you were a shitpump, they may deem you unsuitable for service in the military.

  Good luck

 

[gcclarke]

If you're honestly worried about the chances of washing out of MARS training, and in the event that occurs you would still like a hard-sea trade, please keep that in mind when choosing what degree to take via ROTP. If you fail your MARS training, it's a bit hard to become either a Combat or Marine Systems Engineering Officer if you've got a Sociology degree.

Or, if as N. Mckay suggested, it is mostly the technical aspects of the NavComm job that interest you, as opposed to actually manning the comms that you enjoy, I can heartily endorse Naval Combat Systems Engineering Officer as a fine choice. I guarantee that you'll learn more about both communications theory and the specific details of the gear that we have than you can shake a stick at, along with all the other fun Radar, Sonar, Weapons, and Nav gear that we also deal with. Good times!

 

[westcoastboy]

gcclark Its not that I'm concerned about washing out except you have to admit there are horror stories for Mars on this forum.
Is there a degree you have to have for Naval Combat Systems Engineering Officer because that sounds really more what I am looking at.
I was hoping on a Military History , Sociology,....more than Engineering ,so my question now is do I need an Engineering degree for Naval Combat Systems Engineering Officer ?
Thanks

 

[Lex Parsimoniae]

Is there a degree you have to have for Naval Combat Systems Engineering Officer because that sounds really more what I am looking at.
I was hoping on a Military History , Sociology,....more than Engineering ,so my question now is do I need an Engineering degree for Naval Combat Systems Engineering Officer ?
Thanks

A Bachelor of Engineering is preferred but some hard science degrees are ok too.

Check out the NCS ENG job description here:  http://www.forces.ca/html/navalcombatsystemsengineeringofficer_reg_en.aspx

There is a copy of the "ROTP/RETP APPLICANT PACKAGE AND CANDIDATE QUESTIONNAIRE" here:  http://www.kingsown.ca/Old%20Site/ROTP%20Quest%20Part%201_en.pdf

 

[gcclarke]

The following is purely anecdotal evidence, so feel free to take it with a grain of salt. It only covers one year's class of CSE students.

While there are a number of some science degrees that are acceptable, I highly recommend getting some kind of engineering degree if you wish to become a CSEO. During our apps course (The 8 month long ashore training period where you learn the theory behind everything) we had a number of students who had some of those "other" degrees, alongside the rest of the class with engineering degrees. And I can definitely say that the students who had a non-engineering degree struggled much more with the material. Especially those with Comp Sci degrees. As far as I can tell, the main reason behind this was the lack of math skills (Or at least what I perceived to be a relative gap in math skills), Calculus in particular.

I'm not saying that everyone who wants to be a CSEO needs an Electrical Engineering degree. I've got a Mechanical Engineering degree myself, and pretty nothing I learned in University past 2nd year is even tangentially applicable to my job. But, like all engineers, I also got Calculus up the whazoo. So this allowed me, when taking a crash course in Electrical Engineering (which is pretty much what 90% of the apps course is), to not also require myself to be taking a crash course in Mathematics as well.

So if you are going to be doing some non-engineering degree, and are looking to get in as a CSEO, I highly recommend you take some higher level Calculus courses as options. My  :2c:

 

[westcoastboy]

gcclark
Good Advise.....Thanks