Idc Wannabe

[Taylor]

Alright, general question for the advised populace out there.

My endgame for the military is IDC -> Nurse or PA-C (commisioned). I dont wanna go straight to commisioning, as I wanna get all I can out of my enlisted life.

So, I would appreciate ANY advice the community can give me on how to acheive my goal. All I have so far is "keep my nose clean, stay on top of your game, learn as much as you can." So I am staying out of trouble, making a name for myself with the chain of command (SOQ for DNS, command coins, etc) and trying to gobble up as much experiance as i can.

So ive been a corpman for 9 months now, havent left my little Labor and Delivery home (told by my DIVO and LPO that Im not going nowhere, as soon as i make rank, they are making me ALPO) so my options are limited.

Basically, just lookin for advice, what should I be doing for the next 3 or 4 years to make me a primo canidate for IDC school?

[DocFMF]

HN Taylor,
Yeah staying out of trouble is a good start, but doing activities outside of work will help you also. Take college classes, especially if you don't already have an associates degree. Volunteer for events in the community (blood drives, soup kitchens, nursing homes, etc.). A good sailor not only performs well at his job, but also in his community. Remember, you're respresenting the U.S. Navy 24/7. All of this will reflect on your evals. Study hard so you can do well on advancement exams, because they'll look at that also.
Hope this helps a little.

-DocFMF

[8404]

Excellent advice DocFMF:

I want to expand a little more about this: Your command, looks at what you are doing for the 3 C's, in addition to other factors, when it comes time for evaluations.

1.) What are you doing for the Command?
2.) What are you doing for the Community?
3.) What are you doing in regards to College?

When you do volunteer work for the community, ensure you have talked with your command and see what paperwork is required. I believe the Navy may want to have something signed by them to show you are 'truly' volunteering and not blowing smoke up someone's tail. (did I just say that?)

Become your Command's 'go to' guy. Volunteer for everything there is to volunteer for. For example: Duty watch for a holiday weekend. Whenever your department head, Chief, LPO, ALPO are looking for people to fill a work assignment, watch list or work detail, be there for them. Volunteer for the 'color guard' of the hospital, if there is one. Don't wait to be 'volun-told'.

You mentioned you will be placed into the ALPO spot once you achieve HM3, great, become the best ALPO there is to be. In fact, start working that spot NOW. Don't wait for the official HM3, let your LPO know you are willing to start learning now, working as the unofficial ALPO.

Utilize all of your Tuition Assistance each year and be steadily working towards your Bachelor's Degree.

Above all else, keep track of everything you are doing throughout the year, because you want to write up a 'brag sheet' for your LPO. This is your way of letting them know, what you have accomplished! Always keep these brag sheets in a special folder throughout your career. Somebody may lose their copy.

Finally, I believe you have to be a PO2 to drop a 'package' for IDC school. But very smart on you for asking and planning for it now.

We have a good many people on here who are more knowledgeable and hopefully will clarify and/or post additional information for you.

Take care and best of wishes to you.

[usnpinoy]

HN Taylor,

Heed all the advice you are given. It's all very relevant. To become an IDC, you need to complete all of the requirements that can be found in the CANTRAC. Just search for 8425 (IDC NEC). I am currently a student at IDC School. If you really want to be an IDC, get some experience out in the fleet... you need to be an E-5 with at least 6 years as a Corpsman to apply. So you have plenty of time to get some sick call experience. YOu will also need a letter of reccomendation stating that you have at least 60 hours of sickcall, or get to a sickcall screeners course (it's a pre-req) If you have more questions, feel free to hit me up. IDC's are always in need of a motivated Corpsman to get out and help take care of the Fleet.

R/