Going HM or other rates as undes?

[pnfoxx]

Hi there,
I have the option to leave in September as a PACT SN and was wondering if you could strike as a corpsman, operations specialist, boatswain mate, or gunners mate (didn't qualify for GM on asvab) I'm going in as an E3 and heard it takes six months to strike the rate you want. Any advice would be appreciated! Hooyah

[RikkiX]

I have a very close friend on navydep who went undes. He's in RTC already suddenly and he asked so many questions about it on here. He went in as E3 as well. He wants to try striking for YN or GM. I ended up getting the GM rating before he did when we were at MEPS the same time. They wouldn't even let us be on the buddy system lol
You can strike for lots of other ratings. It depends on how you make of it and your navy experiences. I've seen on here that HM, CT, and tons of others can be striked for ratings besides the ones on the PACT-SN fact sheet. Just ask yourself if you want an A school or not and study well for that 3rd class exam once you make rate withing your rating.

[jzhaun]

HM is probably going to be the hardest of those for you to get. Not saying impossible, but as undes you'll probably go to a ship. BM, OS, GM - those are all "surface ops" rates which you can find on most ships. They'll most likely be happy for you to strike those because you'll be another trained body for them. But HMs don't go on ships very much and usually only when they're more senior. If you strike HM, the ship won't have a billet for you anymore and they'll be down a person until they can get a replacement (which takes ages).

I saw people strike CTI from ships, and they'd usually spent about 2 years as PACT before getting to DLI. I suspect that's common when striking for rates your ship doesn't have any billets for.

Being in the fleet doesn't change the requirements for a rating, so they won't just offer you GM. You might be able to retake your asvab or submit a waiver though.

[LT Guppy]

I've seen one HM striker.
You can actually get a fair amount of experience on a small ship *if* you get your qualms done and have enough free time to go to medical.