Not to discourage joining the Navy, but the clearance shouldn’t/isn’t your goal. The training is. There are community college degrees that qualify you just fine for a cybersecurity job. It is far more about motivation and ability than clearance. If you have the ability, then your employer will get you a clearance if you need one for the job. No denying that having a clearance helps to get a job, but I have never heard of anyone taking a job just to get the clearance. Concentrate on your training and focus on your ability (desire to learn the latest in a fast changing world, ability to effectively communicate, willingness to work on a team, ability to take tests and get certifications, ability to focus on problem solving to name the big ones). From that the rest will follow.
Well, I work for a contractor, who has a contract with a government agency that is NOT the DOD. My DoD clearance transferred just fine. In fact, I believe there are laws or executive orders or something that now require transferring of clearances, instead of wasting money on additional investigations.
I know it sounds insane, but I left the glamorous life of stacking BBs as a Mag Rat in the blue water navy to become a Builder in the Seabees.
I didn’t see many other Seabees with an EAWS patch on their BDUs. Usually people asked me if they were “jump wings”!
I think you mean OPM (Office of Personnel Management). I doubt that OMB (Office of Management and Budget) cares much about clearance investigations. 
Oops!
thanks.
you are of course correct.
another pair of three letter agencies… 
Interesting. You may well be correct. The mysteries of the clearance process has never made any sense to me or been in any way predictable. Your experience may be the norm. It isn’t however universal.
The last person I know happened to transfer in from a contractor to a Gov’t agency (DoD) about 6 months ago. She had to wait a couple of months to receive her Federal Gov’t clearance even though she had a clearance as a contractor for years.
Perhaps you just got lucky. I have seen a clearance awarded in two weeks. And of course an interim takes a day-and is lost as quickly, but usually it just siliently converts to a full clearance.
That’s what happened on one contractor job for me with the USAF.
My father can’t pass a background check due to some mistakes that he made before I was born, and he has had some major mental issues for most of his life. (He has mostly recovered, although I do remember he was hospitalized for mental issues when I was a child) If they talk to him, would this effect my chances of getting in/ getting a clearance? He also told me that he tried to go into the Navy(before I was born), and that like me, his test scores were very high. He went for nuke school, but he failed the drug screening.
Spent a bit of time working with the RSO, SEO and Radio Program offices in a couple of the more exciting areas of the globe on communication related items. Now I just work with the Navy more directly.
Seabees ALWAYS had the best cookout areas. Better than the MSGs by a mile. But then again, you’d just build your own 50 gallon grills.
Best Wishes,
-Bouncer-
The footwork in a background investigation may be done by an outside contractor, or it may be done by gov’t personnel. Final adjudication is always done by a Gov’t employee.
These contractors are almost always (every single time in my experience) retired federal agents or police investigators who also have federal investigative experience AND have been certified in background investigation by the US Gov’t Office of Personnel Management. They are also subject to polygraph examination at any time.
As to the investigation/clearance cross-over, It probably comes out of the 06’ time frame when an executive order by President Bush basically mandated that the entire process take no more than 60 days from start to finish. This put a HUGE burden on every agency who suddenly had to poop investigations and clearances (a process that could take over a year prior to the executive order) and dramatically speed up the entire process by an order of magnitude.
This occurred because the backlog at the time was impacting war fighting operations overseas and agencies refused to acknowledge each others clearances (something the DHS continues to this day btw). So you can have a DoD TS/SCI with Full Scope Poly annnnnnd DHS still wants to do their own background investigation on you if you want to be a janitor at ICE. It’s a pretty big waste of time and delays hiring across the DHS agencies. And we know it’s not perfect either.
As to the OP, I’d suggest they also check out the Air Force who IME, has the nicest living conditions and probably the best technical training. Having said that, advancement is slower because turnover is lower. Navy peeps are going to learn more about the skill set as a whole (because they might be one of two people on a ship who does that particular thing and they have to learn all the related equipment), where an AF person is going to be more of a specialist working on one specific box becoming a super tech on it.
This is just my experience, others may have a different view.
Regards,
-Bouncer-
Shouldn’t: mine had a clearance revoked before I ever applied for one, and it didn’t affect me.
Just a suspicion:
What are the odds that the “practice ASVAB” is rigged so everyone and their dog will score 85+?
I suspect the “real ASVAB” is a bit harder.
Correct or am I getting too cynical in my old alge?
They told me that the average score in Maine for the practice ASVAB is 25.
The overall score is fine but the individual components of the ASVAB are what a lot of MOS’s need. Most likely you will do fine.
Unless you have your heart set on bell bottoms and gilligan hats why are you limiting yourself to the Navy? All the services are getting smaller and specialty fields can be very hard to get a slot for. Talk to all of the branches and see who can guarantee the type of job you want. It might not be the Navy.
The recruiters want numbers but they will always push for those MOS’s that they have been informed have shortages. The shortage MOS will be the one with the signing bonus. The MOS you want may not be available at a particular time. Then next week there might be a signing bonus. No way to predict. But it is best to go into the office with everything researched ahead of time.
And yes, always get it in writing. In the Army your MOS will always be part of your contract. I don’t think the Navy necessarily guarantees it.
That would not benefit anyone. The recruiter wants to know if he has a viable candidate or a rock with legs. I know my recruiter’s attitude changed quickly once he saw my practice score. Recruiters have to waste their time on a lot of candidates that will not get through the process. Especially in times of draw-downs when standards get raised.
Some people think that the military will take anyone. That is not even close to the truth.
Yeah, the practice test should correlate reasonably well with the real test.
Like Loach said, don’t sign up unless you have a guaranteed job. Recruiters will tell you all kinds of stuff, like, “Go in Open General and then you can choose your job when you get there!” (lies) “The best way to get job X is to do a couple years in job Y and then transfer!” (most probably a lie) “The best way to get an officer slot is to enlist first and then try to use one of the commissioning programs!” (mostly a lie) I’d be surprised if the Navy doesn’t do guaranteed jobs, but I’m not Navy so I don’t know. Basically, you want to sign a contract that says you’re joining the Navy to do job X and if you don’t get job X you can walk away from the Navy.
Don’t join the Navy for the perks. The perks are awesome, and it’s nice getting training, an education, health care, a clearance, free house, etc. But too many people join for the perks and then discover that Surprise! they’re in the friggin’ military. Join because you want to be a part of the military and you’ll be alright.
I agree with your overall point here, but you should know that the Navy now dresses its enlisted in blue camo working uniforms. I guess so that they can keep steaming along all unknowing if someone should go overboard.
I kid my fellow military members out of love. There are only two branches of the military, the Army and the Navy.
The Air Force is a corporation and the Marines are a cult.
I like my Navy, but that is the silliest uniform. If they want camo, it should be grey, like every piece of hardware in the USN. That uniform looks like someone wanted to have cool digital camo like the other branches, and wanted to put a Navy spin on it, but just didn’t get it.
Since camouflage for individual sailors doesn’t really factor in to what the Navy does at sea, they really should all be wearing fluorescent red shirts, in case they do fall overboard.
^^ I agree 100% with everything you wrote there.
I know that there is probably no real visibility difference in the water between the blue camo and dungarees or coveralls, but I think they are silly in a “ooooh, digicam! me, too!” sort of way.