Hi, I was curious, does every branch have DEP meetings? I have been going to every meeting since I enlisted back in September, but I gotta say, they are very helpful.

Wouldn't know. I signed the papers and left the next day for bootcamp.

Glad to hear the meetings are helpful though.

I know pretty much all the services have DEP meetings...although their usefulness and frequency do vary (and it's usually personality driven, a good recruiter has a good DEP). I live in an "Army Town" and the Army DEP and the Marine DEP meet often and occasionally compete/cooperate (physical training, fund raisers, etc). Navy and Air Force DEP meet almost not at all.

Sorry to hear that gunny, but I'm sure you did just fine without it.
And thats awesome, would be cool if we competed with other branches, Marine and Army stations are right next to Navy, too bad the Marine recruiters are hardly ever there.

When I went in to the service I signed the papers in the morning, swore in just before lunch and was on a plane to Orlando by 16:00. I remember calling my mother that day and telling her I would not be home for dinner! lol!

Patoloco touched on it briefly. A good DEP program is dependent on the Recruiter, but moreso dependent on the recruit. I heard in the past couple years that the demand to join exceeded the rates available, and that people were in DEP for several months, even a year.

I joined DEP in August of '99 and didn't ship out until May of '00. I was taking a semester of college at the time, so leaving during the fall semester didn't work. The recruiters wanted me to go shortly afterward, but doing research on Great Lakes, I knew a California boy would absolutely HATE going to Chicago in the dead of winter. I told them that I wanted to go in April or May, and sure enough, I got it. That's using DEP to negotiate when YOU want to go, and not letting the military choose for you (that'll happen more than enough times once you're in).

Secondly, they were handing out DEP guides and learning aids. The booklet was probably 30 pages or so jam-packed with some good stuff. Ranks, rates, identification, some seamanship, all of which was very helpful prior to getting on the bus or plane to boot. That DEP guide is bare minimum knowledge, and to know it before you get there makes it somewhat easier. Being able to identify the difference between a Chief or an Officer while wearing khakis makes it a hell of a lot easier for a timid recruit.

If your DEP is sub-par, it's really doing a disservice to you. With all that dead-time before shipping out, you better know a good deal of introductory level stuff for the service you're going into. So if you're not getting help, advice, guidance and knowledge from your Recruiter, start seeking it from other (stellar) DEPpers or even through some military history books.

jorge, in your case, with the limited amount of time you have left, make your preps to say your goodbyes, but start transitioning yourself to enter your service. By now, you should know what a silver bar is, or what an anchor with a star on top is.

I believe I'm ready. I'm not nervous at all, but I know I will be the day I leave, not because I'm going to boot, but because I have never flown before. I also think its great that the recruiters can advance a recruit in rank before they leave by signing them off on the PQS, but I was fortunate enough to go in as E3 with my ROTC background. As for going up there in winter...I cant wait, I've never seen snow before, I live in SE Texas, I leave in summer, but my A school is 14 weeks long, so I will be up there until December.

And Shellback, jeez, I would have been scared out of my mind.