Green card holders delayed/waiting to ship for bootcamp due to the new DoD policy of Oct 2017

[CassJ 12]

I enlisted in August 2017 and it has been a real mess so far.  I have been given so many ship dates that were all cancelled because my background investigation wasn't complete. I received a call from my recruiter about 10 days ago telling me that my background investigation was adjudicated and I was good to go this March 20th, then called me back literally a couple minutes later informing that I am not shipping and that there are about 20 other GC holders in the region who are also on hold. 

 

I understand that the country is being extra cautious with people joining the military, but my husband and I are getting aggravated with the poor communication. 

 

Here's my timeline:

August 2017: Got sworn in

November 7th 2017: 1st ship date 

November 13th: 2nd ship date given (no explanation) 

December 20th: 3rd ship date (reason: clearance not completed)

March 20th: 4th ship date (clearance completed, reason: unknown)

 

Here's is the link to the DoD policy change: https://www.defense.gov/News/Article/Article/1342430/dod-announces-policies-affecting-foreign-nationals-entering-military/

 

If you were also affected or know more about this, please let us know.

 

 

 

[CEE53147 559]

If you are aggravated with this relatively short wait, you will be very frustrated once you enter the service.  Your recruiter is the best person to advise you at this time. Remember that you and your soon to be fellow service members are protected by this revised procedure; there are well known instances of serving military harming their fellow service members.

 

If it will make you feel any better, I have heard of an individual with more than 15 years of active duty and a year of specialized training being delayed assuming his assigned  command due to a security clearance review. He already held one but needed a higher level.  His delay was more than 6 months.

 

Thank you for your willingness to serve.

[lovethemidwest 28]

16 hours ago, CEE53147 said:

If you are aggravated with this relatively short wait, you will be very frustrated once you enter the service.  Your recruiter is the best person to advise you at this time. Remember that you and your soon to be fellow service members are protected by this revised procedure; there are well known instances of serving military harming their fellow service members.

 

 

 That is not correct, his recruiter is definitely NOT the best person to advise as he does not have any influence or knowledge of the applicant’s status or estimated timeline. He would solely be able to one day tell the applicant know if the suitability determination was approved or declined.

 

the rule is so new that there is not a lot of experience out there as to how long it takes by average to be done with the process. All the information available so far says 2-12 months.

 

however it seems some branches are extending the DEP time to a total of 18 months which is concerning as that seems to indicate that it could take....long.

 

The poster is also not aggravated by the “relatively short wait” but by the uncertainty IF any given ship date will at all be realistic and, for instance, if he/she should consider other career options or not, plan on retiring from their current job or not, extend the lease one more year or not, put family planning on hold for a while or not.

 

I believe that to be a very different waiting than the one current members of the armed forces have to deal with.

 

 

[CassJ 12]

20 hours ago, CEE53147 said:

If you are aggravated with this relatively short wait, you will be very frustrated once you enter the service.  Your recruiter is the best person to advise you at this time. Remember that you and your soon to be fellow service members are protected by this revised procedure; there are well known instances of serving military harming their fellow service members.

 

If it will make you feel any better, I have heard of an individual with more than 15 years of active duty and a year of specialized training being delayed assuming his assigned  command due to a security clearance review. He already held one but needed a higher level.  His delay was more than 6 months.

 

Thank you for your willingness to serve.

My husband is a Marine, so we are quite mentally prepared with my decision of joining the service and used to the "hurry up and wait game". You would be very confused if you were told one thing after another. I didn't post this topic to get a life lesson but to see if other are in the same boat, but thanks though.

[CassJ 12]

4 hours ago, lovethemidwest said:

The poster is also not aggravated by the “relatively short wait” but by the uncertainty IF any given ship date will at all be realistic and, for instance, if he/she should consider other career options or not, plan on retiring from their current job or not, extend the lease one more year or not, put family planning on hold for a while or not.

 

I believe that to be a very different waiting than the one current members of the armed forces have to deal with.

 

 

You took the words right out of my mouth! Thank you

 

[lovethemidwest 28]

I find it hard to believe there is so few people affected by this, therefore I am bumping it.

[JoBri 545]

On ‎3‎/‎16‎/‎2018 at 7:47 PM, lovethemidwest said:

 That is not correct, his recruiter is definitely NOT the best person to advise as he does not have any influence or knowledge of the applicant’s status or estimated timeline. He would solely be able to one day tell the applicant know if the suitability determination was approved or declined.

 

the rule is so new that there is not a lot of experience out there as to how long it takes by average to be done with the process. All the information available so far says 2-12 months.

 

however it seems some branches are extending the DEP time to a total of 18 months which is concerning as that seems to indicate that it could take....long.

 

The poster is also not aggravated by the “relatively short wait” but by the uncertainty IF any given ship date will at all be realistic and, for instance, if he/she should consider other career options or not, plan on retiring from their current job or not, extend the lease one more year or not, put family planning on hold for a while or not.

 

I believe that to be a very different waiting than the one current members of the armed forces have to deal with.

 

 

I know with the Air Force my wife had to wait 8 months before she was sent to Basic Training. But that was back in 2012.

[Bisoo TV 3]

On 3/15/2018 at 7:17 PM, SemperFi0311 said:

I enlisted in August 2017 and it has been a real mess so far.  I have been given so many ship dates that were all cancelled because my background investigation wasn't complete. I received a call from my recruiter about 10 days ago telling me that my background investigation was adjudicated and I was good to go this March 20th, then called me back literally a couple minutes later informing that I am not shipping and that there are about 20 other GC holders in the region who are also on hold. 

 

I understand that the country is being extra cautious with people joining the military, but my husband and I are getting aggravated with the poor communication. 

 

Here's my timeline:

August 2017: Got sworn in

November 7th 2017: 1st ship date 

November 13th: 2nd ship date given (no explanation) 

December 20th: 3rd ship date (reason: clearance not completed)

March 20th: 4th ship date (clearance completed, reason: unknown)

 

Here's is the link to the DoD policy change: https://www.defense.gov/News/Article/Article/1342430/dod-announces-policies-affecting-foreign-nationals-entering-military/

 

If you were also affected or know more about this, please let us know.

 

 

 

I enlisted Army National guard in August 2017 too. 

First of all, I had a choice to go one in May 2017 and it was 2 weeks prior to ship date and MEPS people were arguing over the time period that i can be shipped or not. 

Since i had 6 months left on my green card at that point, if i don't choose that may one, i have to extend. so i did extend a year and got sown in august. 

After that i got Oct 30 2017 as my ship date and Oct 13 DOD released new policy.. 2 wks prior to my ship date.. and from there till now , i have not received any info about my background check.

Plus, my 10yrs greencard application is not done yet either (applied July 2017).. some guy spoke that this is short wait, i am positive that he does not know what and how this affects to our lives. 

I left job because of this and had to go thru difficult situation since I was unemployed for 3 month because of this. thankfully my wife worked so hard to cover my economic absence during that time..

 

Anyway, only thing that we could do is not losing our hope.. at least our contract time is running. xD And this morning got a phone call from my recruiter saying that he went to DC for some kind of meeting and they brought up this topic.

high ppl mentioned that all enlisted green card holder back ground check are initiated and they are working on make decision to release ship dates for "enlisted green card holder before their back ground check is done"

once they release that memo to all branches, we are good to go. However, who know how it might take to get that memo downed to all local branches.. just seeing a little movement, it might help us a bit. 

its been almost a year waiting but when i have negative mind, i imagine myself on uniform. ! 

 

Hope we get ship date soon!

[lovethemidwest 28]

Thank you for this nice anschauen helpful information. It would be truly amazing if they changed it so we can go before the background checks are completed as they really take along time.

 

 

i enlisted in late November last year and since had an interview, and my employers and schools were contacted, two of my references as well, but still pending....

[Londonergirl 133]

I hope its ok that I ask! From the day you spoke to a recruiter, how long did it take for you to be able to start basic training? 

On 5/15/2018 at 2:01 PM, lovethemidwest said:

Thank you for this nice anschauen helpful information. It would be truly amazing if they changed it so we can go before the background checks are completed as they really take along time.

 

 

i enlisted in late November last year and since had an interview, and my employers and schools were contacted, two of my references as well, but still pending....

Have you not been able to get into basic yet?

[CassJ 12]

On 5/15/2018 at 2:17 PM, Bisoo TV said:

 

high ppl mentioned that all enlisted green card holder back ground check are initiated and they are working on make decision to release ship dates for "enlisted green card holder before their back ground check is done"

once they release that memo to all branches, we are good to go. However, who know how it might take to get that memo downed to all local branches.. just seeing a little movement, it might help us a bit."

Hey, could you confirm again with your recruiter about this? It would be great if that's the case. I told my recruiter about what you said be he has no idea as always...

 

[Bisoo TV 3]

2 hours ago, SemperFi0311 said:

Hey, could you confirm again with your recruiter about this? It would be great if that's the case. I told my recruiter about what you said be he has no idea as always...

 

that was what i heard from my recruiter and he got that when he went to some meeting but not sure if it was legit info tho. 

there are some ppl who enlisted on jan 2018 and also told that DOD is pushing every one of us to send out to BCT before oct. 2018. believe or not but let's have our fingers crossed.

[CassJ 12]

On 5/29/2018 at 1:21 AM, Bisoo TV said:

that was what i heard from my recruiter and he got that when he went to some meeting but not sure if it was legit info tho. 

there are some ppl who enlisted on jan 2018 and also told that DOD is pushing every one of us to send out to BCT before oct. 2018. believe or not but let's have our fingers crossed.

Awesome thanks, fingers crossed!

[540540 0]

I may be able to offer some insight even though our situation is a little different.

 

My husband joined feb 2017 then went through basic/AIT and completed it in August. He was scheduled to receive his citizenship in October but was postponed due to the new army regulations. He had to go through more security checks and get a form signed by an O-6. Today he will be naturalized. 

Based on this time line, it took from November -June for everything to be completed. So about 7 months.

 

 The stress and agony is rough. We were told by an USCIS  officer 2 months ago that this is all so new and even they don't know what will happen and when. He stated " You just have to be patient". I would add that even-though it is extremely difficult to wait for the government to get it all sorted out, I do believe that is will be taken care of. We just tried to keep positive and we prayed ALOT.

 

Good Luck and I hope this helps you!

[CassJ 12]

On 6/1/2018 at 10:56 AM, 540540 said:

I may be able to offer some insight even though our situation is a little different.

 

My husband joined feb 2017 then went through basic/AIT and completed it in August. He was scheduled to receive his citizenship in October but was postponed due to the new army regulations. He had to go through more security checks and get a form signed by an O-6. Today he will be naturalized. 

Based on this time line, it took from November -June for everything to be completed. So about 7 months.

 

 The stress and agony is rough. We were told by an USCIS  officer 2 months ago that this is all so new and even they don't know what will happen and when. He stated " You just have to be patient". I would add that even-though it is extremely difficult to wait for the government to get it all sorted out, I do believe that is will be taken care of. We just tried to keep positive and we prayed ALOT.

 

Good Luck and I hope this helps you!

Thank you for your input and congratulations for your husband naturalization! Your husband went to boot camp before the DoD released Its new policy in October 2017. Past that date, it seems that the average wait to ship for boot camp will be a year or +.