DAR-Getting Ship date changed
 

What all goes into asking your recruiter if your ship date can get moved up? Right now I am supposed to ship out to RTC 20140107 and my rate is HT.

You ask him, he sends in a form, you wait for a call saying a spot has opened up.

If a spot opens up and I take it, does that mean that my rate could change?

Granted I got my first choice and waited the 5 months to ship, so I have no first hand knowledge of DARs, but as I understand they're basically just paperwork saying that if ______ slot opens up you are down as someone who is willing to fill it. It could be a different ship date or a different rate, it all depends on what is written in your paperwork. And you're going to see that paperwork when you sign it, so make sure it says what you want it to say.

Having said that it's a lot more likely for your DAR to get you somewhere if you're more open with the terms of it.

It depends on the conditions of your DAR. You could say any job with an earlier date, or any engineering job with an earlier date, or any HT opening with an earlier date.

The more flexible you are, the more likely you can ship earlier, but if you really want to be an HT, you can have that limitation on your DAR.

if a slot opens up and I don't like the rate and the ship date is too soon, can I say no or am I obligated to accept it?

First, you can avoid that by telling your recruiter which ratings you'll accept, if you have a list of them. Second, no, you don't have to take whatever comes through unless you've signed for it, and that's probably not going to happen until your ship day when you sign your final contract. But if your recruiter feels like he put his ass in a sling to get you a slot that fits your parameters, and you turn it down, good luck on seeing that kind of effort from him again.

Just understand that if you want an earlier ship date and only want the rate you have now...be aware that if one comes open, it could be you will get a call saying you are leaving the next day! So you would need to be VERY prepared to leave on a moments notice.

I honestly don't have my heart set on the my current rate which is HT. Although I'm not sure what other rates are available to me based on my ASVAB score.

Ah, that was my original ship date when I started, my DAR got approved and now it's set for 20130814. Which is quite rare to happen since I am going Nuke.

My other issue is that there are alot of rates out there that the Navy doesn't show on their website. I have to get some things done before I can ship out such as sell the furniture in my apartment and then get everything boxed up and stored at my parents house. Also there are some things that I don't want to miss out on mainly the hunting trip that my dad and I take to SD to hunt pheasants every year and then there's the holidays and I know that once ship out it's going to be hard to make it home for that stuff. Also I know that for my rate I'll spend the first 54 months on sea duty which will obviously include a few deployments. I appreciate all of the great information that everyone has given me, but I probably won't ask my recruiter to put in a DAR.