“Iraq, it’s almost entirely landlocked!”
No kidding. Retired Navy chief here, and I constantly turned down chances to get a commission. Why would I want to start all over again at the bottom after I made it that far/
“NCO status is all” indeed. I trained Ensigns and junior Lieutenants as part of my duties as a division chief.
I think there are a lot of great jobs you could get in the Navy. Being enlisted will keep you out of some jobs, but I wouldn’t call it a waste of your degree. It’s in PoliSci, fer chrissakes.
Just stay away from anything involving medicine, if you’re not a fan of free-fire zones.
I dunno, because starting out at the “bottom” of the ladder for commission nets more a month, and probably more for retirement as well?
At 26 years an E7 makes ~4100 a month, while a W1 makes a little less. So switching right near retirement wouldn’t have been a good idea, but if you go up only 1 more pay grade you come out ahead. If you are ambitious and switched to commission early you could make top Warrant Officer rank and be making 2000 dollars more a month. (correct me if I am wrong, but if you signed up as Enlisted, isn’t Warrant Officer the highest you can go, or is that a myth?)
Goshdarn fine post Sunrazor. I second what he said.
FWIW, if you have both a uniform and a British accent, your chances of getting laid go way up. 
Enlisted in the Navy can go on to be LDOs, or limited duty officers. They can never command a ship, but the Navy has a whole lot of jobs aren’t bridge officers.
Myth: There are OCS options for people with degrees to go from Enlisted to Ensign. I knew an E5 that did so. Best officer I ever had.
Really Not All That Bright: Ensure you have everything promised in writing before you sign. Many recruiters are less than completely honest with recruits. In my day, Navy had much worse recruiters than Air Force. Find out if there is a field were you can go into as a Petty Officer at least (E4 and above).
The starting pay is still bad in the military, are you sure; you don’t see any better options with a degree?
I mean if you are down to flipping burgers vs. joining, then please join. If you are looking at an entry-level office job at $10 per hour, think over the office job.
Please provide a little more information about what fields you are interested in and if the fast path to citizenship is important.
I served 4 years in the Navy and it was a love/hate thing for me. I am also extremely glad I did so. It helped straighten out my life and give me a direction when I needed it as a confused 18 years old with poor study habits.
Jim
Similarly, many letters to Penthouse are not fully accurate representations of the author’s romantic life.
Yeah, you want to stay away from Hospital Corpsman. They send the Navy corpsmen out with the Marines, so you could still get your ass shot off (did I hear an echo?) …
I meant to make this point in my post as well, but I got side tracked before I finished. If you don’t have everything in writing, they will put you where ever they need you most and that is likely where you don’t want to be.
FTR, I did 4 yrs active duty. I have no idea why I wrote 5.
You don’t have to be an officer to have a security clearance. I had TS-SCI (which is one step above Top Secret), but I believe you do have to be a US citizen to get a clearance above Secret.
Navy Petty Officers seem to do a lot of majorly high level stuff; I don’t know if that’s typically true of their analogues in the other branches, namely sergeants. I’ve also heard that they’re responsible for the day to day operation of the ship and seeing that what needs getting done, gets done.
A few years in the ranks would, I think, give an officer candidate a leg up, but I would still be concerned about the (potential) naturalized citizenship angle. Would you, and could you, give up your UK subject status? You can embrace your new country and become a citizen–welcome!–but if your birth country doesn’t recognize the right of renunciation, you remain their subject in their eyes, and could conceivably be required to carry out an obligation that would put you at odds with your duties as a USN officer. Granted, in this case, such a possibility would be very remote, but you never know. The point is, you’d want to make sure that there are no over-reaching policies in place that would bar your progress and stop you from doing what you want to do.
Also make sure you like boats! Some people find that their susceptibility to seasickness increases as they grow up, so I’d recommend you take a short cruise or something to see how you hold up.
Yes, you can sail the seven seas. Yes, you can put your mind at ease. Come on now, people, make a stand. Can’t you see we need a hand. Come on, protect the motherland. Come on and join your fellow man. Come on people, and make a stand.
(all together now…) 
Was I being too polite again? Should I just spell it out and saying that most are lying sacks of crap that just care about making quotas and get small bonuses for filling critical needs?
I usually try to err on the polite side. We have/had at least one recruiter on the board. However, you are right, do not trust any recruiter; it is safer to assume they are not looking out for your best interests.
Jim
Fisrt off, full disclosure notice: I am an active duty Air Force Recruiter (on my lunch break right now). As I have no ideea of the geographical whereabouts (Florida, I think) of the OP, I cannot get “credit” for his joining the Air Force. That being said, it will be obvious that I am biased towards the Air Force vs, the Navy; it also means that I am an expert in matters concerning joining the Air Force. Having a PoliSci degree will not help you get into the Air Force as an officer. We are mostly recruiting medical and technical officers right now. If you are trying to get a comission AND your citizenship, enlisting is the way to go. You can enlist for four years and get our citizenship. After being in the AF for approximately 2 years you can start applying for commissioning programs. Alos, the SDMB really doesn’t seem to know alot about Air Force jobs, with a few members being excepted. Ignore the “Open General” comment; there is no such thing in the Air Force. Also, as for the low pay; it is low, but the benefits are much better than you can find in the civilian world. And IMHO, being enlisted isn’t “a waste of your degree”; I have a bachelor’s and two associate’s degrees. The civialian counterparts to my military job are better paid, but they don’t get the bennies! BTE, there are over 150 different jobs in the Air Force, you can find tham by Googling “Air Force AFSC.” Almost every officer job has an enlisted counterpart that does the same work. All in all, without knowing more about your situation, it is hard to make a reccomendation but, what the heck, I’ll try anyway. If you have college loans, the Air Force will pay back 10K worth if you enlist, you will get advanced rank for your degree, and the benfits are the best around (short of movie stardom). BTW, your chances of getting laid in a spiffy uniform AND having a British accent DO go way up. If you want more info, send me an e-mail. I’m new to posting on the SDMB, but if you cannot get an e-mail from my profile, repost here and I will get it to you. Great post SeanFactotum !!
What Exit you must not have talked to the right recruiters. ALL* the ecruiters I know are honest. Want to buy a car?
There are programs that allow previously enlisted to become line officers. And LDOs stand bridge watch - some of them (not all) just won’t ever be Commanding Officers
And Epimetheus in many fields going from senior enlisted to officer (either warrant or line) is a smart move. It wasn’t in mine. Every single officer I worked with that made the switch regretted it, and said they were only doing it for the higher retirement. Quality of life while I was still in was a higher priority for me.
As for the OP, find a field that you’re interested in, and talk to the recruiter about your citizenship options. If you’re worried about whether this one will lie to you or not, get what he says in writing and then shop around his offer. But don’t enlist just because you’re bored and don’t want to go home. That’ll be a worse-case scenario for you and your command.
Ah, your Air force, I already mentioned upstream Air Force recruiters are more likely to be honest.
I know there are some honest recruiters, but they were pretty rare by all accounts in the 80s for the Navy.
Jim
No, and no. In fact, most of the best jobs are reserved for enlisted, believe it or not. (Except aircraft pilots - all officers) Additionally, Coast Guard enlisted will actually command most of the units the public is most familiar with - something unheard of in the other services. For example, I am an enlisted E-7, and I am currently in command of a SAR station.
The officer to enlisted ratio is on par with the other services. Requirements for becoming an officer are also similar. The Coast Guard has its own service academy at New London, CT. Other avenues for becoming an officer are: direct commission for those with certain skills/experience; Officer Candidate School, either off the street or prior enlisted; and a few others I can’t recall at the moment.
Probably not - most rates require clearance eligibility these days. I just had a new reservist report aboard last month. He grew up in the Philippines and moved to the US in 2003. He is not yet a US citizen. In his earlier life, he was a deck officer on merchant ships - a 2nd mate, but had to enlist into an engineering rate that didn’t require a clearance due to his citizenship. Which is also the only reason he’s not an officer right now. However, I’m confident that once he gets his citizenship he’ll be quickly accepted for OCS.