USMC Reserves to Active Navy CTN?

[FlyNavy]

Originally Posted by 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.

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-np...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