[RG1993]

Just wanted to see if there was anyone else out there. Sometimes it gets a little lonely hearing people at DEP meetings talking about their specific rate.

As a fellow depper and future undesignated seaman I kind of know how you feel. Seeing everyone flock to their "mentor" gives me this feeling of no reassurance because there is no one to guide me and tell me what to expect- Ups, downs, and the BS.

Trying to stay positive, as I hear both good and bad things about this rate, but it actually gave me more options in the long run.

I am also trying to stay positive and open minded about this situation. Being undesignated is not a death sentence, right? My recruiter went in as undesignated and so did my dad. My recruiter was in for 6 years and became an ABF. My father became an EM and later on a YN and did his whole 20 years. Both loved their time in the Navy, my father especially as it seems his good memories over cloud his bad ones. A lot of other people went in as undesignated and made a career out of the navy.

The good thing I see about this program is going straight to the fleet (after boot camp and the 3 week course) and seeing how the Navy actually functions while everyone is still at A School. I've also heard that most undesignated get their ESWS pin pretty early. The bad thing I see about this program is the menial, but necessary jobs, and striking. Who knows if the rate we want in the future may be available or not.

Have you experienced any negativity from people (prior enlisted and the like) about being undesignated? How do you handle it?

I hear a lot of people talk **** about being undesignated. Even my dad talks **** about his time being undesignated. How do I deal with it? I just deal with it lol. I like to think of it as only a year or two out of my entire life. Though, it kind of rubs me the wrong way that most of these people who talk bad about being undesignated weren't even undesignated themselves.

In February my dad took me on a tour of a ship down at Pearl Harbor (USS Chosin). I met two undesignated seaman. One was a former immigrant and doesn't mind being a "deck ape" as he said. The other was a drop out in the Navy Nuc. He also doesn't mind being undesignated and said he is glad on not going in the Nuclear route. They said to me what everyone else said to me, "The Navy is what you make of it." I guess the only thing we can do is stay positive about it. Nobody wants to be that guy who whines and complains all day.