My son is in the US Navy can anyone advise me on how he can strike a rate as an RP (?

Currently my son is in Great Lakes as designated because he wanted to pursue his options. Originally his rate was for QM (Quartermaster) but now he want to work as Religious Program Specialist. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.My son is in the US Navy can anyone advise me on how he can strike a rate as an RP (?
The first thing I would strongly suggest is...


Is mind your own business...his life is out of


your hands now...the apron strings have been


cut forever.


He has to sink or swim on his own merit...





The military will put him where they want him...


Needs of the Service always come first...


This isn't civilian life any longer, where you


can pick and choose where you want to work.





He signed a Contact to do something...


and that is what he will do...My son is in the US Navy can anyone advise me on how he can strike a rate as an RP (?
he will not be pemritted to strike until he gets to the Fleet.. and then.. his options are very limited as most ships do NOT have Chaplains on board. His command would have to sign off on him going TAD to a shore installation .
Hey, Yak Rider, we had a much, MUCH higher percentage of strikers on the ships I served on. Me, I much preferred taking a known quantity, a striker out of Deck, than letting BuPers send me some knucklehead.


But to expect to be able to strike for RP? Very, very unlikely to happen. The Navy needs a lot more QMs than it does choirboys. Anyone who advises you that this is feasible, or likely, is blowing smoke...%26lt;somewhere%26gt;.
If he goes out to the fleet as a non-designated seaman he's going to go into the Deck Department of the ship he's assigned to. He will spend his days toiling away at all the menial, dirty jobs on the ship. At sea, in addition to the dirty jobs, he'll be standing watch on the bridge or lookout stations.





He will not even be allowed to strike until he's been on-board for 2 years.





If he finds any time to strike for anything, other than Boatswain's Mate, he'll be the exception, not the rule. They don't tell them any of this at the recruiting office or in boot camp.





During my 22 years in the navy, 15 on sea duty, I'd guess that fewer than 5% (1 in 20) of the non-designated guys in Deck Department were able to strike their way out. After all, there's only 24 hours in a day, and he'll be working about to 12 to 20 of them in Deck Department.





He should have kept QM. He'll tell you that too, in a few months.
If he is still in boot camp he might be able to talk them into changing his rate. If not he'll have to complete his QM training and once he's reached his first command he can put in the request and hope.





Researching the proper request submission will be critical. No matter what obstacles, correct paperwork is very powerful in the Navy. Check out the instructions on rate changes and there will be ';word for word'; what his options are.





Look in NAVADMIN possibly. Also it will matter how well manned RP is as a rate. If the Navy needs more RPs he'll have a much better chance of changing rates. If the Command Career Councilor is good that would be a good place to start as well.
it's common that personnel want to change their positions in the military. to start if he has begun his QM training, he may be forced to remain a QM for a specific period of time. On occasion individuals can change if there is a shortage and a need by the military. He also needs to score high enough to qualify for the change. What may help is having him talk to the chaplin service and they can provide him with some direction.