Former DINFOS chapter president heads to Navy OCS

Marine GySgt. Jason Fischer, formerly President of the DINFOS Chapter, USMCCCA, will switch services February 1 when he reports to Newport, RI for Navy Officer Candidate School. Although it sounds a bit unusual, Jason reports that he attended and graduated from DINFOS Public Affairs Qualification Course (officer's course) and, because the Navy does its officer accessions by MOS, he decided to compete for their program.  Of 64 applicants in his MOS, he was one of four selected.  This is how he explains it: "It's no longer possible to take an LDO route from the Corps to the Navy. What I'm basically doing is totally exiting the Corps and entering the Navy like a college kid off the street would.   "My Marine contract ended Jan 3, but I got an extension to Feb. 3.  As long as there is no longer than one day gap between the two services, I will continue to receive Gunny pay and BAH at OCS (as opposed to the newbies who will receive E-5 pay while they're officer candidates).   "I competed for this slot against Navy enlisted PA types as well as regular civilian college grads. Once commissioned, I will be O1-E, and have unlimited potential in rank advancement.  I can pretty much stay as long as I desire, and in the Navy PA community, you can advance to the admiral ranks (while we can only advance to 0-6 in MC Public Affairs). "If we still had warrant officer in our community, I would have done that long ago, just as I would have stayed Marine if I could have been given a pretty solid assurance I could have stayed in PA once commissioned.  Public affairs near and dear to me, as is the Corps, but I guess it's time for me to move on and explore the other side of the house." We wish him well.  He will be an asset to the Navy.  -- Jack Paxton