Navy SWO Lateral Transition

[Steel_City71]

Hello all,

I am a recently commissioned ensign through the NROTC program. During NROTC I attempted to get permission to attend medical school following graduation/commissioning which did not work out due to the needs of the Navy. The opposite is true for the civilian side and I have been recently accepted into medical school. However, as directed by the Navy I am currently a surface warfare officer (SWO) and cannot act upon that acceptance to medical school.

I've done some googling on "lateral transfers" from the SWO community and acceptance deferrals from the medical school I was accepted too but I haven't had much luck. It does seem though that I need to serve at least 2 years as a SWO and gain my SWO Pin (professional qualification) prior to attempting to transfer.

I was wondering if anyone had anymore insight into the options I have or don't have. For example would it be possible to defer my acceptance to medical school for two years provided it would be possible for me to transfer over?

Any insight would be much appreciated! Thanks.

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[Monty Python]

Hello all,

I am a recently commissioned ensign through the NROTC program. During NROTC I attempted to get permission to attend medical school following graduation/commissioning which did not work out due to the needs of the Navy. The opposite is true for the civilian side and I have been recently accepted into medical school. However, as directed by the Navy I am currently a surface warfare officer (SWO) and cannot act upon that acceptance to medical school.

I've done some googling on "lateral transfers" from the SWO community and acceptance deferrals from the medical school I was accepted too but I haven't had much luck. It does seem though that I need to serve at least 2 years as a SWO and gain my SWO Pin (professional qualification) prior to attempting to transfer.

I was wondering if anyone had anymore insight into the options I have or don't have. For example would it be possible to defer my acceptance to medical school for two years provided it would be possible for me to transfer over?

Any insight would be much appreciated! Thanks.

Preface: This is all from off-the-cuff spontaneous thinking, with which I have NO experience. Just hopeful expectations for you, based on previous MIDNs I knew who went straight from USNA and NROTC to medical school. I'm surprised that option wasn't offered to you.

1. Are you nuke trained? If so, mother USN might want to reap her return-on-investment for that vice letting you attend medical school right now.
2. If not nuke, you might want to call the MC program manager at Millington and/or BUMED. They might be able to plead your case with the SWO manager.
3. While this is the atomic option, you can always enlist the involvement of your elected member of Congress on your behalf. Find him/her here:
http://www.house.gov/representatives/find/
4. If you write your congressman/woman, ensure you do it on your personal off-duty time, using personal communication device.
5. I'm assuming you were accepted to a civ program. Was it USUHS ... if so, I would think that would force the issue for the Navy.

Best wishes with your situation.

 

[backrow]

I'm surprised that option wasn't offered to you.

Probably because the OP was not high enough in the ranking to be selected for the medical corps option. There are only so many spots to give out, not everyone who wants to go MC gets it.

To even suggest writing a congressman is probably a very bad idea for this person unless there was some significant wrong doing by those above him which I doubt.

 

[Monty Python]

Probably because the OP was not high enough in the ranking to be selected for the medical corps option. There are only so many spots to give out, not everyone who wants to go MC gets it.

To even suggest writing a congressman is probably a very bad idea for this person unless there was some significant wrong doing by those above him which I doubt.

Precisely (and thank you) ... which is why I added the caveat "atomic option" when presenting that option. It does tend to create a lot of undesirable gamma fallout. I've had to do it twice in 25 years (fully justified each time), because some slug wasn't doing their job or was being intentionally uncooperative for no justifiable reason. Think four times before pulling the Congressional trigger, and only after sleeping on it.

 

[Steel_City71]

Thank you for the advice. backrow is correct, there are very few if any MC slots for MIDN coming out of the NROTC program. Even when I started the whole med school process I was told there was a very slim chance I would get it. I am fine with going unrestricted line for the next couple years. I'm just trying to figure out if I have any options via a lateral transition in a couple years approved by my CO if I could convince the civilian medical school I was accepted to to defer me for that period of time. I would then go through the HPSP program. I'm not quite sure if an educational leave of absence could be used for this also? I do not believe that trying to force the issue with the Navy right now would create any positives for my early career.

 

[ArmyTiger]

Thank you for the advice. backrow is correct, there are very few if any MC slots for MIDN coming out of the NROTC program. Even when I started the whole med school process I was told there was a very slim chance I would get it. I am fine with going unrestricted line for the next couple years. I'm just trying to figure out if I have any options via a lateral transition in a couple years approved by my CO if I could convince the civilian medical school I was accepted to to defer me for that period of time. I would then go through the HPSP program. I'm not quite sure if an educational leave of absence could be used for this also? I do not believe that trying to force the issue with the Navy right now would create any positives for my early career.

Is this possible? Yes. Is it easy, or straightforward? Not at all. I did a similar thing through the Army, and the major problem you're going to come up against is that you're the only person anyone knows who's tried something like this, and it looks to the HR side of the house like you're trying to leave your commission early, no matter how much you try to convince them that you're actually making your commitment longer. If you do decide to go down that route, here are some tips:
1) Do USUHS, not HPSP. It's a branch/command transfer since you stay on active duty, so the paperwork is worlds easier.
2) If you do HPSP, have your involuntary resignation paperwork signed and ready to turn in a year early. It will take that long, and, if you're as lucky as I was, might even get sent back to you from the Department of the Navy for revisions.
3) Be honest and upfront with your commanders about your intentions. Also, be the best junior officer they have, so they'll be willing to fight for you with the O-5s/O-6s.
4)Lastly, since you're ROTC, consider just doing the 4 years on your contract, and then turning around and doing HPSP if you still enjoy the military. Much easier, and you won't really be that far out of school.

 

[Monty Python]

Thank you for the advice. backrow is correct, there are very few if any MC slots for MIDN coming out of the NROTC program. Even when I started the whole med school process I was told there was a very slim chance I would get it. I am fine with going unrestricted line for the next couple years. I'm just trying to figure out if I have any options via a lateral transition in a couple years approved by my CO if I could convince the civilian medical school I was accepted to to defer me for that period of time. I would then go through the HPSP program. I'm not quite sure if an educational leave of absence could be used for this also? I do not believe that trying to force the issue with the Navy right now would create any positives for my early career.

There is a silver lining to a few years as a line officer before med school .. you'd have the been-there knowledge of how the OPNAV side of the house works, plus would be closer to 20 if you were career-minded. Best wishes for whatever path you wind up taking.

 

[Steel_City71]

ArmyTiger, your exactly right no-one I know has much of any idea as to how this process works, I had to teach myself and do extensive research to meet many of the steps to apply to the program from NROTC. Thank you for the advice, my plan is to be the best JO I can be for my command.

trinityalmunus, thanks for the wellwishes I'm sure I'll either end up in medical school either in the Navy or outside of it, wanted to tackle both goals at the same time.

 

[Gastrapathy]

Do your time and reevaluate navy medicine in a few years. Might not be where you want to be. If your acceptance was from a marginal school, work on improving your app in the meantime if you can.


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[denali]

To add to Gastrapathy's response, a slight silver lining is that when you reapply you'll have one of the very few good answers as to why you didn't matriculate the first time around.

 

[Cooperd0g]

A lateral transfer is generally between one line community and another. That is not what you will be doing to apply to medical school. Though it is a somewhat similar process, it has completely different paperwork. This is the primary reason people will have no clue what you are trying to do. They are familiar with lateral transfer, not resignation and recommissioning. That is what you will be trying to do, resign before your commitment is up and recommission.

Consider Gastrapthy's advice. However, if you are dead set on the military, don't rule out USUHS. HSCP won't be as good an ption for you though as you won't have the GI Bill, but it may be okay if you get into a super cheap state school.

When you apply for the HPSP scholarship or to USUHS you will need a letter of approval to apply. This letter must go through your command and up to your community manager at BUPERS. They must agree to release you from the SWO community contingent on your acceptance at medical school. This is the main stumbling block for people on active duty who are applying before the end of their commitment; remember they own you for 4 years so they don't have to let you apply. SWO typically lose guys to other communities anyway so hopefully it won't be a big deal. You are not allowed to do a lateral transfer until you receive a warfare qualification and I imagine the same would hold true for the letter of approval to apply. Like you said, be the best they have so they support you. With your plan to do this as soon as you get your pin you are at their mercy if they let you do it or not since you will likely get your pin within 2 years and still have more time on your commitment clock from ROTC. If you don't get it, try again the next year, etc until you reach the end of your commitment. A classmate of mine is a former SEAL. They initially wouldn't give him approval, but he had no commitment left. So he said to his skipper "well, you can either convince them to let me go and the Navy can keep me as a medical student at USUHS or I will be resigning my commission in a few months anyway and attending a civilian school." They ended up approving it once he framed it that way. Sometimes the higher ups don't realize when they do and do not control your fate and need to be reminded of that.

Additionally you will need to submit a conditional letter of resignation. All that says is that should you be accepted at USUHS or HPSP (or HSCP even) you resign your current commission. That is because you will be recommissioned as an ensign again for USUHS and HPSP.

You also need to realize that your commitment to ROTC that wasn't completed does not go away. If you go to USUHS/HPSP after only paying back 2 years from ROTC then you will still owe those remaining 2 years later. So that would mean an effective 9 years after specialty training if you went to USUHS or 6 for HPSP. Because of this I really recommend USUHS for you. If you think about it, you'll have 2 before you get in, minimum 3 for specialty training and minimum 6 for remaining ROTC/HPSP = 11 years. You are more than half way to retirement and at that point you would be throwing a lot of money away if you gave up that retirement package. So if you were going to stay until retirement you might as well take the extra pay and retirement credit from USUHS along with the extra few years of commitment. I always tell people to never join the military for the money, but also to never leave the military before retirement for the money. Leave if you are miserable, but don't leave just for the money because chances are they haven't done ALL the math. Leaving after 10, but before 20 only works financially for the super high paying specialties.

 

[Caspia Moon]

Hello all,

I am a recently commissioned ensign through the NROTC program. During NROTC I attempted to get permission to attend medical school following graduation/commissioning which did not work out due to the needs of the Navy. The opposite is true for the civilian side and I have been recently accepted into medical school. However, as directed by the Navy I am currently a surface warfare officer (SWO) and cannot act upon that acceptance to medical school.

I've done some googling on "lateral transfers" from the SWO community and acceptance deferrals from the medical school I was accepted too but I haven't had much luck. It does seem though that I need to serve at least 2 years as a SWO and gain my SWO Pin (professional qualification) prior to attempting to transfer.

I was wondering if anyone had anymore insight into the options I have or don't have. For example would it be possible to defer my acceptance to medical school for two years provided it would be possible for me to transfer over?

Any insight would be much appreciated! Thanks.

A bit off topic but...
I'm currently going through the process of requesting permission from the Navy to attend medical school after commissioning from NROTC. Did you find out about your acceptance to medical school after they told you that you had to accept a URL designator?

The July boards for NROTC to Medical Corps are currently taking place and I'm just wondering when I might find out if they'll let me attend med school.

 

[d2305]

I met an AF guy who managed to do the transfer to the Navy after medical school, and kept his O4 rank. He had about 10 years in, however.