quote:
Originally posted by 14236894:
Some brief history:
Currently 19 weigh 140 lbs 6 feet tall.
During high school I did track my freshman year and was a 4 year letterman. I swam 100 yrd breaststroke, 50 yrd freestyle and 200 yrd freestyle. I plan on going to summer of 08 boot camp currently in process of getting my physical and going to MEPS.
Currently I'm out of school for the summer. Basiclly all I do is stay up till 3-4 am and sleep till 2-3 pm. I eat quizno's alot and wendy's! what should I do/change to prepare myself for boot camp leading towards a goal of becoming a AST.
Also I know I will love the Coast Guard and plan to stay in for the 20 years so on a plus side i can at elast get a nice retirement plan.
two questions:
First In the later years of service I will likely be a reservist, Can I go on a vacation with freinds out of the country for say 3-4 weeks as long as I'm back to server my 1 weekend that month?
Second, As a AST is it like a normal job of 8am-5pm or is it more like Fireman shifts of say 12-16 hrs and in the down time I'm reparing equipment/sewing. What I'm trying to find out is if there is any free or off time from the AST to do things like play video games or sports in my free time like kite-surfing?
Also on a side note I read these forums alot and have read books, and although I think I'm a good swimmer or was a good swimmer I know I have a giant hurdle both mentally and physically ahead of me to become an AST.
One more thing(very sorry for so much typing/questions) I didn't want to wait a year to go active duty so my other option was reservist but you can't be a AST in the reserves so what my recruiter told me i could do was do the split porgram Join reserves go to any boot camp then choose my school for the following year instead of right after boot camp. I would then go to my local station and serve my 1 weekend a month 2-3 times then request for active duty and he said most of the time you can get it and become active within 2-3 weeks. I would do this so that I could become active duty sooner than a year but not get any training as a reservist preventing me from not being an AST. So while I'm active I would be ex: gunnersmate or Coxwain for 1-2 years while I wait to be put on the A school list for AST. *sorry for the ramble but just want some outside answeers not from my recruiter, and if you think this approach is ok or if its a bad idea thank you very much*
You need to talk to your recruiter again, once you complete "A" school you will have an obligation to serve in that rating for a minimum period of time, around 36 months I believe. After that, with the RFMC's blessing you
may be able to switch ratings. As far as your approach, I don't see how you could make it any harder on yourself, your counting on a lot of things that may or may not happen such as being picked up for AD, being released from your rating to retrain as an AST, succesfully passing AST A school etc. I'd ask yourself this how badly do you want to be in aviation? If you want it bad enough go AD from the git-go, complete your requirements and get your azz off to school, forget about trying to enter as a reserve, switch to AD, get to "A" school, switch rates, retrain as an AST etc.
To simplify, why would the USCG go to all the trouble and expense to find you a reserve billet, train you in a rating, pay your entitlements just to have you report for 3 drills and then switch to AD?
Also wanted to comment on this statement of yours
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Also I know I will love the Coast Guard and plan to stay in for the 20 years so on a plus side i can at elast get a nice retirement plan.
That's a pretty bold statment to make considering you haven't even been to MEPS yet. One step at a time young Jedi! Good luck in your USCG pursuits! -Jeff
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