USMC Reserves to Active Navy CTN?

[usmcTECH]

Hi all,

I am a current E-5 in the USMC Reserves (MOS/Rate: Radio Repairer) with my required drilling time coming to an end in a few months. I've been absorbing as much as I can about the cyber field (militarytimes articles, reddit, etc) and I believe that Navy CTN is the best fit for me. I meet the basic requirements, can obtain a Conditional Release, should have no issue getting a TS, and understand the school is hard but it can be done if you study very hard.

My question here is "Would I be able to transfer directly from the USMC reserves into Navy Active Duty with a rate of CTN?" I called a Navy Recruiting Station and they directed me to a prior service recruiter. However, they told me the only way I could switch to the Navy was to enlist in the reserves as a CTN once a spot opens and can be eligible to request active duty two years later.

Being in the military for 5 years I am skeptical to take a recruiter’s word for this. Is enlisting into the reserves first really the only route?

Anddddd if that isn't reaching for the clouds enough, would I qualify for a bonus or Student Loan Repayment?

Thank you in advance for your responses.

[jzhaun]

The only rate in the Navy currently eligible for SLRP is Musician.

Signing bonuses are currently offered to Nuke, CTI, and various flavors of SPECWAR, but not CTN.

I have never been a recruiter and do not know all the ins and outs there, but it sounds par for the course. Being Prior Service seems to make it harder, especially when you're trying to get in as a different rating than you previously were. I wouldn't count on being able to switch from Reserves to AD easily either. I've heard all sorts of horror stories.

[FlyNavy]

Hi all,

I am a current E-5 in the USMC Reserves (MOS/Rate: Radio Repairer) with my required drilling time coming to an end in a few months. I've been absorbing as much as I can about the cyber field (militarytimes articles, reddit, etc) and I believe that Navy CTN is the best fit for me. I meet the basic requirements, can obtain a Conditional Release, should have no issue getting a TS, and understand the school is hard but it can be done if you study very hard.

My question here is "Would I be able to transfer directly from the USMC reserves into Navy Active Duty with a rate of CTN?" I called a Navy Recruiting Station and they directed me to a prior service recruiter. However, they told me the only way I could switch to the Navy was to enlist in the reserves as a CTN once a spot opens and can be eligible to request active duty two years later.

Being in the military for 5 years I am skeptical to take a recruiter’s word for this. Is enlisting into the reserves first really the only route?

Anddddd if that isn't reaching for the clouds enough, would I qualify for a bonus or Student Loan Repayment?

Thank you in advance for your responses.

What's going on Devil Dog! Thanks for reaching out.

So on the front of you going straight active, that is very much murky water. I'm telling you this from personal experience as well. Navy Recruiting has a very difficult time handling prior service guys and it involves infinitely more hoops to go straight active from another branch. Why is that? You're guess is as good as mine, but you know how Uncle Sam loves his useless processes and ways of not getting shit done.

That being said, CTN is one of the few rates I really don't have toooo much worry about being able to convert over into AD. Coming from Reserves to AD is usually very difficult, but with CTN manning the way it is there a much larger door open to you.

Check out this website:
http://www.public.navy.mil/bupers-npc/enlisted/community/crypto_it/Pages/CTN.aspx
(If you can't find it in the future, just google "navy community manager" and look under the Information Dominance tab)

That's the Community Managers page. The Community Manager is typically a Master Chief that's in charge of the manning levels for his/her rate. Monthly they put out these PPT slides called Community Overviews. YOU NEED TO REVIEW THESE OFTEN. This is coming directly from the folks making the big decisions, so stay up to date on these. What you need to focus on is your Rank and Year-group. The program you would need to apply for is called "RC to AC" (RC/AC aka Reserve Component to Active Component). Those quotas are usually listed in that PPT slide by rank and year group.

I'll stop here since that's a lot to digest. Hit me up with any questions or drop a line on my Ask A Spook thread in the CT section.

/r
CTT1

[usmcTECH]

Thank you both for your quick replies.

What's going on Devil Dog! Thanks for reaching out.

So on the front of you going straight active, that is very much murky water. I'm telling you this from personal experience as well. Navy Recruiting has a very difficult time handling prior service guys and it involves infinitely more hoops to go straight active from another branch. Why is that? You're guess is as good as mine, but you know how Uncle Sam loves his useless processes and ways of not getting shit done.

That being said, CTN is one of the few rates I really don't have toooo much worry about being able to convert over into AD. Coming from Reserves to AD is usually very difficult, but with CTN manning the way it is there a much larger door open to you.

Check out this website:
http://www.public.navy.mil/bupers-npc/enlisted/community/crypto_it/Pages/CTN.aspx
(If you can't find it in the future, just google "navy community manager" and look under the Information Dominance tab)

That's the Community Managers page. The Community Manager is typically a Master Chief that's in charge of the manning levels for his/her rate. Monthly they put out these PPT slides called Community Overviews. YOU NEED TO REVIEW THESE OFTEN. This is coming directly from the folks making the big decisions, so stay up to date on these. What you need to focus on is your Rank and Year-group. The program you would need to apply for is called "RC to AC" (RC/AC aka Reserve Component to Active Component). Those quotas are usually listed in that PPT slide by rank and year group.

I'll stop here since that's a lot to digest. Hit me up with any questions or drop a line on my Ask A Spook thread in the CT section.

/r
CTT1


CTT1(SW)Griffin: I know going straight from Marine Reserves to Navy Active is kind of an odd situation. Is it even possible to be done by bypassing the middle step of converting to Navy Reserve?

Thank you for that link. I took a look at the manning level documents. It says the current manning for E-5 for sea+shore is 91.3% which doesn't look too good for me, but at least it is still less than 100! It mentions conversion quotas via waypoint and says that for RC/AC for E-5 the YG's they are accepting are 2005-2009. Can you explain what YG is?

Keep the information coming! I can digest it lol, it is really helpful. If you aren't sure on these questions do you have a possible contact number for someone who might be able to answer besides a regular navy recruiting station? I am going to check out a different station after work today to see what they have to say.

-usmcTECH

[FlyNavy]

Thank you both for your quick replies.




CTT1(SW)Griffin: I know going straight from Marine Reserves to Navy Active is kind of an odd situation. Is it even possible to be done by bypassing the middle step of converting to Navy Reserve?

Thank you for that link. I took a look at the manning level documents. It says the current manning for E-5 for sea+shore is 91.3% which doesn't look too good for me, but at least it is still less than 100! It mentions conversion quotas via waypoint and says that for RC/AC for E-5 the YG's they are accepting are 2005-2009. Can you explain what YG is?

Keep the information coming! I can digest it lol, it is really helpful. If you aren't sure on these questions do you have a possible contact number for someone who might be able to answer besides a regular navy recruiting station? I am going to check out a different station after work today to see what they have to say.

-usmcTECH

Sorry for the late response man.

So I've been looking around for an instruction that details the process, but I'm not finding anything useful. I'll keep digging though, but for now all I've seen is you having to go RC first.

YG is short for Year Group, aka what year you joined. Your Career Counselor will be able to calculate that for you though, since you're prior service I would imagine that changes the math a bit.

[FlyNavy]

I also just got a copy of the updated requirements for RC to AC quotas (ones that aren't up on the website).

CTN quotas are plentiful, but they're in-rate conversions only. Meaning you need to already be a CTN before they will take you up to AD.

So if you go the reserve route for A-school, I wouldn't sweat there being a spot; they're still growing the cyber force.

/r
CTT1

[hustini]

Hi all,

I am a current E-5 in the USMC Reserves (MOS/Rate: Radio Repairer) with my required drilling time coming to an end in a few months. I've been absorbing as much as I can about the cyber field (militarytimes articles, reddit, etc) and I believe that Navy CTN is the best fit for me. I meet the basic requirements, can obtain a Conditional Release, should have no issue getting a TS, and understand the school is hard but it can be done if you study very hard.

My question here is "Would I be able to transfer directly from the USMC reserves into Navy Active Duty with a rate of CTN?" I called a Navy Recruiting Station and they directed me to a prior service recruiter. However, they told me the only way I could switch to the Navy was to enlist in the reserves as a CTN once a spot opens and can be eligible to request active duty two years later.

Being in the military for 5 years I am skeptical to take a recruiter’s word for this. Is enlisting into the reserves first really the only route?

Anddddd if that isn't reaching for the clouds enough, would I qualify for a bonus or Student Loan Repayment?

Thank you in advance for your responses.If you have a degree, you should qualify for a bonus as a CTN. I received a big bonus when I enlisted a month ago for CTN as a Reservist.


Signing bonuses are currently offered to Nuke, CTI, and various flavors of SPECWAR, but not CTN.

I swore in a month ago today as a CTN Reservist and I got a rather lovely bonus for it as well.

:edit: I do, however, have a Masters in Cybersecurity as well as a B.A so perhaps that was enough to get the bonus? :notsure:

[usmcTECH]

Thank you all for your replies. I called around to 4 different regular recruiters which directed me to two different prior service recruiters. To sum it up: yes, RC -> AC is my only option...On top of that, there are no open CTN spots available and the prior service recruiter advised that there probably wont be any new spots open until the new fiscal year. To me that seems like a lot of what-if's and waiting around as I would have to wait till Oct and hope a spot opens up, then attend school, and then try to go active. I talked to a Army National Guard recruiter and there are already open spots for 35Q in a cyber role so I think that's what I am going to shoot for. Thank you all for your input.

-usmcTECH

[FlyNavy]

Thank you all for your replies. I called around to 4 different regular recruiters which directed me to two different prior service recruiters. To sum it up: yes, RC -> AC is my only option...On top of that, there are no open CTN spots available and the prior service recruiter advised that there probably wont be any new spots open until the new fiscal year. To me that seems like a lot of what-if's and waiting around as I would have to wait till Oct and hope a spot opens up, then attend school, and then try to go active. I talked to a Army National Guard recruiter and there are already open spots for 35Q in a cyber role so I think that's what I am going to shoot for. Thank you all for your input.

-usmcTECH

Do whatcha gotta do man! The Navy isn't the only game in town lol Best of luck to ya!

/r
CTT1