MA Questions

[FlyNavy]

Originally Posted by trosetti

I am working on enlisting into the Navy as an MA Rating because my future goal is to be a police officer and I can see this experience very valuable to add to my resume, From my understanding I have enough college credits to qualify me to enlist at an E-3 Pay Grade but still not enough to go in as an officer ( Which I am not to worried about) as long as I can get in as E-3. Here are my questions if someone can help
1. I have a daughter and a wife, if I was stationed oversees am I eligible to have my family come along?
2. Is it difficult to advance to an E-4 after Bootcamp?
3. What should I prepare for prior to enlisting?
4. What are some good questions to ask the Recruiter?
5. How is the MA rating, and what advancements exist in this rating?

Note: I have done a lot of research and have read a lot of other posts, it would be appreciated if these questions were answered?

1: As a new Sailor with dependents, you're probably getting sent state-side for your first tour.

2: MA has been traditional pretty hard to make rate in just due to the amount of people they brought in after 9/11. It's evened out now though; E-4 last cycle was about 35%, which is fantastic.

3: Make sure your PRT is within standards and you know all the basics that the recruiter is giving you (rank, structure, ect)

4: Could you be more specific?

5: MA's as a whole are a very shore-based rate. The vast majority perform security functions on-base, while very few are doing that on ships. The average MA will stand watch doing either gate-guard duty (checking IDs to get on base//close to the ships), pier sentry (making sure everything's safe on the pier), patrol the base in a marked police car, and some will do water-borne security in small patrol boats in the harbor.
Advancement opportunity I mentioned above. Right now the rate looks good for junior Sailors.

/r
CTT1