I am thinking about going OS and wanted to clear up some discrepancies. First, is there still a Critical Skills Bonus? Second, what is the wait list time? Third, can I bring my spouse as this school is 4 months long?

ok first i dont think there is still a bonus but i could be wrong on that ask a recruitor or a yeoman. second the wait list time depends on how boot a school and reservists there are. its the summer months so this is when reservists go to a school the most. i waited on the list for almost 6 months before i finally go orders. third im not going to tell you cant bring your spouse but in order for the coast guard to pay for it the school has to be 6 months or longer. so if you want your spouse to come then you have to pay out of pocket for it. but my suggestion since i graduated os a school last november. dont bring your spouse. its a fast pace program and there are some parts that are rather hard. you really dont need the distraction just go and focus on a school. the 4 months fly by and before you know it your graduating

To follow up what britt said. As of a few weeks ago I know they froze bonuses. The A school list times are more of a general reference then anything. I know it depends on guaranteed A schoolers, reservists, and there has even been talk of freezing a few of the A schools, so i wouldn't rely on it to much. As for bringing ur spouse I definitely would not recommend it. There was a few people I know that did and they had to get a place off base for them. That meant having to drive ~30 mins to and from base if you wanted to stay with them, plus you will stand collateral duty and depending on when it is you cannot leave base those days. Not to mention you will be pretty busy during some courses and distractions aren't the best thing to have while in school. Overall the cons out weigh the pros when i comes to bringing ur spouse especially for the short amount of time you will be at A school. If you do decide to bring you r spouse out i recommend leaving ur uniform in ur assigned barrack room on base because you never know when u'll have to change out if they have inspections.

According to the latest A-School list, ALCOAST 092/10 is still in effect which authorizes a $5,000 CSTB for OS A-School. As for bringing your fam, as the previous posters stated it is on your own dime and you will have to juggle school and family.

I wouldn't bring her, it's only 4 months, equivalent to some patrols for bigger boats. And don't go just for the bonus, 5k is just 5k, no sweat off my back, remember it will get the hell taxed out of it at like 25% or 28%.. also doesnt 092/10 state once you complete A school you have to give them 4 years from the day you graduate?

Yes, there is a 5K bonus. I am in OS "A" school right now, start Sector training in a week. The 5K bonus is taxed down to like a lil above 4k lol. I took it though, even though it is for 4 years my contract is for 6 years anyway... so far I'm loving OS school. if you have any questions feel free to ask

hey setnicky...how's school going? Who's your advisors? Tell OS1 Aragon and OS1 McFadyen that Husband said "hey"

Also...to follow up on what lucci and britt said....we were all in the same OS class. I wouldn't bring your spouse. I would've LOVED to have my wife and son out there with me when I was out there, but it's just too damn expensive, and your honestly not going to have time to drive home every day after class. The closest apartments are at LEAST 30 minute drive and you're going to pay out the butt for one...The time will fly fast enough.

As for the bonus...It's totally your decision but I took it. I'll never pass up free green...even if it is taxed 23%

Posted By husband on 07 Jul 2010 05:25 PM
hey setnicky...how's school going? Who's your advisors? Tell OS1 Aragon and OS1 McFadyen that Husband said "hey"

Also...to follow up on what lucci and britt said....we were all in the same OS class. I wouldn't bring your spouse. I would've LOVED to have my wife and son out there with me when I was out there, but it's just too damn expensive, and your honestly not going to have time to drive home every day after class. The closest apartments are at LEAST 30 minute drive and you're going to pay out the butt for one...The time will fly fast enough.

As for the bonus...It's totally your decision but I took it. I'll never pass up free green...even if it is taxed 23%

Hey Husband... School is going great so far... I've aced my fundamentals, HF, and C4ISR tests so far... we start sector next week. Pretty excited to get that going. OS1 Aragon is the man! I loved HF class with him.

some how i got a beautiful granddaughter from lack of free time!!

Well you see Jen.. when a man and woman fall in love...

Okay.. when a man and woman get really drunk... better?

hey setnicky, don't worry about sector. It's not as hard as everyone says it is..haha, just a lot of logs. Hopefully you'll get Mr. King...He's the coolest sector instructor. All of em are really cool, but he makes up some hilarious stories. Ask about the F/V Jackie Chan....*snickers*

Jen.....

I LOL'ed at this post...

babies are great! I miss having a newborn....my 17 month old can run now...and climb....and pinch...they're so easy at that age! haha

Kids are great at every age up until about 14. After that, convents and military schools should be considered...

haha geez thanks guys

Posted By wepprop on 10 Jul 2010 02:48 PM
Kids are great at every age up until about 14. After that, convents and military schools should be considered...

I also LOL'ed at his...Hard!

Question: "How can you tell when a teenager is lying"

Answer: " Their mouth is moving!"

--------------------------------------------------------


Famous quote from my son when he was about 15 years old:

ME: "Daniel, you can't leave the house until your room is clean. IS YOUR ROOM CLEAN?"

Daniel: "It should be........"

husband:

yeah, I know I'm only on day two and it'll get much tougher then the first few days but so far everything is just a breeze. I haven't had one mistake on my comms logs yet, passed cgms msg traffic over the radio just fine and well yeah! my instructor is mr. Cheney, he's very cool. he said he's already treating me a bit differently because he can see that I'm doing better then most.

Setnicky

Tell him the redsox suck!

Haha. You got your orders yet? I know we have a SNOS coming soon...I don't remember her name. She may be in your class

Negative, we haven't got orders yet... probably looking at like 3 or 4 more weeks til the list comes out... I can't wait!! Sector is pretty fun so far lol... some people in my class would not agree with that statement lol.

Yeah, Sector is where OS3's get made or broken. haha. Shipboard is a breeze. Don't sweat it man. Good luck with the rest of school. If you have any questions or anything feel free to PM me or e-mail me

Definitely man I'll hit you up if anything starts going over my head. I feel pretty confident still but damn it's starting to pile up, lol. Multiple comms guards, UMIBS, SMIBS, RMIBS, soon to come MARBS... silent periods, violations, LOGS LOGS LOGS, Watch to watch, (SPVR NTFD)

already had one girl having nightmares at night screaming SUPERVISOR!!!!! Lmao... Still though... with all the work that comes with this class I know come shipboard I'm gonna miss it. I hear shipboard is extremely boring and monotonous...

shipboard is long and boring i really had to fight to stay awake. and i got bored in sector really fast cause after the second week they left me alone and let me do my own thing.

what do you mean left you alone and let you do your own thing? Who were your instructor(s) ?

jaegar and im drawing blank on the other but he reminds me of santa claus... and its cause i knew what i was doing there were other people who needed more help than me so the focused on them and left me alone

Mr. Cheney? Mr. Jaeger is in my class but not one of my instructors. Mr. Cheney is my instructor, and yeah I know exactly what you mean. Some people are not tracking at all meanwhile I'm getting back 3 page logs that have no mistakes at all... he told me today "there is nothing I can throw at you that you won't grasp... I'm not worried about you in distress comms at all" so I'm pretty excited to be doing this well... but yes like you said it can get boring while other people need more help so he throws more UMIB's at them and random mariner calls while I'm sitting there waiting over an hour just to do my RMIB... tomorrow starts MARBs, we watched that Morning Dew video today.

Ha, I remember the guy your talking about britt....I can't remember his name either. I had Mr. King, and he literally threw everything he had at me. It was also aggravating having to say CG Sector Southeastern New England Massachuteuss all the time.....blah

yup ask husband im a sector god lmao

Are there no longer guaranteed A-school spots for OS if you enlist? I know there was earlier in the year.... but now ... it looks as though it's not an option? Sounds like there's no guaranteed a-school spots... for anything...

I am a boot-to-A student over here... I shipped off back on March 9th so. Dunno if they still do it... hey Husband, I'm in SE New England too, good ole' Woods Hole! haha... We learned UNCOR Distress today... I aced it... still not having any trouble, logs have been immaculate...
tomorrow we got that Shotgun UMIB presentation and then from there on out its just cases til the end of sector! hopefully getting our picks soon!

Thanks! I was just wondering. However, I figured you were the Setnicky that was on Neumann's facebook! I wasn't sure if any of the recruiters knew. I would love to go OS or HS, but I would rather go OS and avoid the wait.