May 20, 2012

Engineering and Applied Science in the US Navy

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Joining up with the US Navy is a great way to begin a career in engineering or applied science. Of course, as with anything, there is a process, but just as much as you are there for the Navy, the Navy is there for you, to help you and assist you in the present for the future. Aside from simply serving in the Navy, there are numerous career options within the Engineering and Applied Science branch of the Navy that will allow a serviceman or servicewoman to implement and expand their professional skills and career paths.

Offering options in construction, electronics, meteorology, oceanography, and even tracks in surface warfare and civil engineering, the Navy’s options for careers and service are boundless, and will unfold to more opportunities both in and outside of the service as well.

Some of the employment options within the Navy, such as anything related to civil engineering, require a four-year degree, though the Navy is ready to help you with that just as well. In many cases, the Navy offers tuition assistance, and can compensate off-duty sailors up to 75% of their tuition costs. This means that while a man or woman is fulfilling their initial four-year obligation in the service, with hard work they can also receive a Bachelor of Arts or Bachelor of Science so they can go on to further employment within the Navy.

Other options, like Navy careers in construction or electronics don’t require that you have a four-year degree, but simply a strong and dedicated work ethic and a willingness for workplace versatility. The experience you gain while working in some of these fields will actually give you credit hours towards a degree in a related field, so you can continue to grow as a career professional, both inside and outside of the Navy.

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Why Should You Choose the Navy?

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In the years of warfare’s past, having a powerful navy often determined the course of a war’s outcome. With defense, having versatility of deployment can make the difference between a victory and a defeat, or in more concrete terms – lives saved and lives lost. Among other reasons, people choose the navy strictly because of its versatility. You can get anywhere in the world, sometimes in a matter of hours. And if the navy is there, close to follow is the air force and other branches of the US Military, some of whom rely on the navy for timely deployment.

Choosing a career with the US Navy puts you at the center of the action, and with the training you receive over the course of your service, you will also gain employable skill that will bring you far in the world outside of the military. Many doctors, engineers, statisticians, and other technical specialists have began their careers working with the navy, and some even remain in the service because they have found their abilities indispensable.

The key word here is service. Service to your nation, your friends, and yourself. Life after high-school, or even after college, can be tough. Joining the navy, or any branch of the military service, gives you a place where you can directly apply your skills and discover or hone new ones. Additionally, becoming a part of the US Navy also offers you a wide array of benefits, from college or technical school tuition assistance, reliable pay grades, military and veteran’s benefits, the experience you gain working for the US Navy will be invaluable in your life, and will also award you an admirable and attention-getting work ethic that will follow you wherever you go.

If it has always been your dream to defend your nation and fight on the front lines, joining up with the Navy will get you there, and help others get there too.

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Setting Goals for Yourself in the Navy

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Like all things in life, you get out of something whatever you put in to it. To use a somewhat common analogy, you won’t get a home run if you don’t put your shoulders into the swing. They key to success is dedication and commitment. A half-hearted commitment is hardly a commitment at all.

As a sailor in the US Navy, this holds true. You get out of the Navy what you put into it. With hard work, dedication, and commitment, you will earn promotions, awards, and recognition for excellent service. You may even find a fulfilling career within the US Navy. While obeying orders is necessary for success within any branch of the US military, it’s still important to remember that you are not merely a machine, but a thinking, living being with just as much potential as anyone else.

This is why it’s important, upon enlistment, to set goals for yourself. As a sailor, you will have to continue to attain and maintain a certain level of physical fitness. This keeps your heart fit, your mind sharp, and your body ready for action. Setting weight , endurance, or strength goals can give you something to work towards and move beyond, so that you can continue to better yourself on and off duty.

Alternately, you can also set saving and educational goals for yourself. Perhaps you will want to have a certain amount of money saved for your next leave or vacation. Work hard, set some aside, and keep records of your purchases. Be smart with your finances. This way, you can afford your education, and any credit-hour or semester goals you’ve also set for yourself. While you’re working on strengthening your military career, you can prepare yourself for the professional world by setting ambitious yet realistic academic goals for yourself while serving as a sailor.

With enough hard work and discipline, being in the Navy will change your life for the better.

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Learning about Job Diversity in the Navy

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It can be hard to imagine just how the US Navy functions, in part because it is so large, and in part because most civilians don’t know about the inner workings of the Navy. Of course, military knowledge isn’t endemic to a nation’s people simply because the nation has a military, but if people set aside just a little bit of time to research and understand their nation’s military, it won’t seem so overwhelmingly monolithic.

In fact, the United States military, and specifically the US Navy offers hundreds of career opportunities within the Navy proper. The skills acquired within those respective job fields can be used to grow and expand upon one’s military experience, but if need be, the experience you may have accrued over the course of your military career can find direct application outside in the civilian and professional world.

The US Navy is ready to help you with your future. The Navy readily provides you tuition assistance, so while you’re in the service, you can still be working towards a professional academic degree to better your career possibilities in and outside of the Navy. However, in a stronger and more direct way than traditional college education provides, you will also find options for direct application and practice of the things you will be learning, which means that your professional resume will rise to the top, because of your experience, readiness, and military-instilled work ethic.

In the Navy, you can work above water on a boat, under water on a submarine, or on land in an office or research facility. Within those three options, the career options are endless. You’ll be more than just a Navyman too. You can be a nurse, a construction worker, a naval reactor engineer, a naval aviator, you can even work on flight support or be a chaplain. The possibilities are endless, though when it’s all said and done, as a member of the US Navy, like so many others before you – you will always be a sailor.

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The Office of Naval Intelligence

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Over the course of human history, war has constantly undergone transformation. Early in our development, we fought with feet, teeth, and hands. Soon, we learned to utilize tools – sticks, spears, and rocks. Technology improved, as did our minds, and we figured out even more ways to move faster, be more discreet, more destructive, and better anticipate the technologies of the other side.

After the end of World War II, warfare became increasingly technological and intelligent, and some may even say that these forms of technology and intelligence have prevented further outbreaks of war. This is why a career with the Office of Naval Intelligence means that you not only get hands-on experience with innovative new technologies, but you’ll be in a position at the forefront of America’s defense.

A career with the Office of Naval Intelligence affords you pension, 401(k) and healthcare benefits, a flexible work schedule, up to four weeks of annual vacation, depending on the extent of your service, government holidays , and even an account with the Navy Federal Credit Union Branch. Your benefits will also include access to the Federal Employees Health Benefits, Federal Employees Group Life Insurance, and Federal Employees Retirement System programs, all of which are unmatched with any other civilian organization.

You don’t have to be a sailor to work the Office of Naval Intelligence, either. Having Navy experience might help your job possibility, but the Office is just as open to civilians as it is to sailors. And when you are working with the Office, you will become part of the living story of the Office, which was officially founded in 1882 and continues strong to this day. You will play an important part in protecting the security of the Navy, inside and out, and you will be responsible, along with the forces on the front-lines, for the security and peace of our Nation.

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Being in the Navy Can Enable Your Career Future

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Finding a good job has always been tough, especially these days. Degrees and titles can only get you so far, but employers want to know if you have the experience. The problem of getting a job is a classic catch-22: Say you want a job in civil engineering. All the firms you look at are hiring, but in their lists of requirements, they say you need one year of experience or something of the sort. But you can’t get experience if you can’t get a job engineering. So, how do you get experience?

Some people choose academics as a route, but as the job-seeking populous becomes increasingly inundated with people having all the education and none of the experience, whether or not you graduated cum laude or magna cum laude makes no difference. Plus, school can be expensive. You’d like to go, but you can’t easily afford it, and you can’t afford it because you don’t have a job. Where do you start?

The US Navy offers one simple solution, with dozens of immediate and future benefits. When you enlist the the US Navy, you choose what skills you would like to learn and what you would like to do. You gain the skills and experience you need, and you get paid for it. Plus, while you’re enlisted, the US Navy will also offer you tuition assistance and in some cases, full scholarships, so you’re gaining experience and an education.

When the time comes for you to return back to life as a civilian, you will be professionally equipped for a professional career in the job you’ve always desired. Plus, your status as a Naval veteran will earn you respect, honor, and a more serious professional consideration, as your choice to have offered your time in support and defense of your family and your country sets you in a world apart.

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Being a Woman in the Navy

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The military stereotype assumes of the military that it’s like a boy’s club. No girls allowed. Like some stereotypes, the generalization was born from some truth, but as society has developed, so too has its military consciousness. The military is no longer ‘just for men,’ and the possibilities for a woman in the US Navy are just as plentiful, challenging, and rewarding as they are for any man. In other words, equality is the new standard of measure for excellence within the service. If you work hard and excel and what you’re told to do, you will progress and succeed, regardless of who you are.

Furthermore, the US Navy enables its seawomen-and-men to succeed. If you enter the Navy without a degree, you might just find after four years that you’ve not only earned the respect and admiration afforded our nation’s service veterans, but all of your hard work has paid off and you have a B.A. or B.S. too. The US Navy can help fund your education while enlisted, with their tuition assistance program offering you up to 75% compensation for college courses taken while you’re off-duty. And in some cases, the Navy might pay your entire tuition.

There are also job tracks in the Navy which are in high demand that don’t require a degree. Like becoming a Navy diver, working to service and salvage equipment under water and offer your support to some of the Navy’s other skilled branches. Or you can become an Explosive Ordnance Disposal Technician, working to locate, disarm, and neutralize potentially dangerous and cloaked explosive devices. You can save lives along with the rest of them, and take your accrued skills into the workplace outside of the Navy if and when you choose to end your career.

Ultimately, it is no easy thing being in the Navy – and this is the same for everyone. Respect and success are never free, but always earned, and always worth the time and effort put forth to attain them, regardless of race or gender.

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Being a Family Member of Someone Serving With the US Navy

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War can be difficult, stressful, and sometimes absurd. But sometimes – and even the philosophers and sociologists agree on this – war is necessary. And war would not be possible if there were nobody to fight it. Policies change, tempers flare, and self-service has a tendency to dominate world politics. Often the best form of protection against these political undulations is a strong line of defense. Even President John F. Kennedy said, “…control of the sea means security. Control of the seas can mean peace. Control of the seas can mean victory. The United States must control the seas if it is to protect your security…”

In other words, without the Navy, the US would be defenseless. Over 350,000 people power this great Navy, but even more lives are affected by this. For example, the sailor’s family members. Wives, husbands, mothers, fathers, children – at least a million of them are directly related to someone in the military, with not only their national security at risk, but their hearts as well. Having a family member in the US Navy is a reason to be proud, but it can be stressful too.

When your loved one is out to sea for five or six months at a time, pain is inevitable. Though they say ‘absence makes the heart grow fonder,’ sometimes you need more than mere fondness. For this reason, there are resources which offer help when the distance becomes unbearable. And fortunately, we’re living in a time where an online video conversation, or even a mere e-mail, can put a heart at ease. The Navy itself offers family support, but there are outside organizations as well, all of whom understand, because they’ve been where you are.

Though technology should never be taken for granted, it has made communication a lot easier, and though it is hard for the family to have their loved ones abroad, imagine what it must be like if you are the one abroad. Sometimes what your sailor needs most is understanding, because war is never easy.

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