Throwing this at the top since the Reddit app I'm using doesn't work with the chats function, please message me and we can chat that way, OR better yet, put your questions in the comments and I will try my best to answer them there and it will help anyone with the same question.

I'm constantly updating this post with the goal of consolidating all my research and knowledge for transfer.

My DCO Journey

The DCO Programs Start here if you don't know what this program is, the official USCG page is the best source of information out there.

I did a bunch of research and googling before applying and even now post-selection there is minimal information available about this process for someone outside the USCG. So I'm making this post for anyone in the future to follow. If anyone has gone through the process I'd love to hear your experiences to update this post.

This page has the majority of the front-facing information for DCE and the other direct commission routes. As far as I can tell the actual board dates aren't publicly available, only the recruiters know when the next DCE/DCA/DCCO/DCIO/DCL/DCPA opportunity will come around.

Eligibility With less than three dependents and less than 10 years of active duty service (someone on r/airforceots live chatted with the USCG and reported that this requirement is waiverable as of May of 2022, your mileage may vary) along with the appropriate degree OR course work, the USCG also seems to value relevant experience very highly. I would not have qualified without these since my undergrad is not an engineering degree. GPA 2.5 and up, do your research on the pages linked above or CIMs in the reference section.

However, the absolute gem of this program as a commissioning opportunity outside the Air Force is that you are not coded when applying by AFPC. Before the board results coming out all you need is your Commanders concurrence to apply, this means you can apply for BOPs, get orders, PCS, or apply to an OTS board at the same time. Understand that if you reenlist, it probably won't look good if you turn around a month later and ask for a conditional separation from AFPC. But unlike applying for OTS, you are not locked with a code 05, in limbo for months while the board results get repeatedly delayed and they announce a 2% active duty selection rate. If you've applied to an OTS board prior, I found this process and application to be much more straightforward than dealing with the Form 56 and AD LO app, plus wing level endorsement/CC bullets, competitive AFOQT scores, or listing your AFSC preferences in the right form. Also no AFOQT/TBAS testing or GRE scores for a MSC application.

Application Package I reached out to a Coast Guard recruiter after hearing about the program in August of 2021 and worked closely with them to complete the package which took about two weeks to get it ready for the recruiting deadline and to start scheduling the interviews by 1 September to meet the 1 October board.

Awards I was allowed to include up to three awards in the package, this is a loose term because I used my Eagle Scout certificate, BJJ Purple Belt with my competition medals, and the Honor Grad certificate from Airborne school combined with two letters of congratulations from Major Generals. Each of these I laid out, took a nice photo of, and then copied/pasted into a Word document and wrote a brief 250-word description of why I chose to highlight that achievement and what it meant to me, then saved as a PDF.

Letter of Recommendation For the letters of recommendation, I included one from my current supervisor (performance), an academic advisor (academic capability), and a retired O-5 I train Jiu-Jitsu with and have a personal connection to highlight future leadership potential. I included all my past performance reports, and records of military training (all those certificates the Air Force loves to give out) and drew a same/same comparison between my current Air Force AFSC (3E0X1 Electrical Systems) and the Coast Guard EM rate (Electricians Mate). Reading the descriptions of the MK, EM, DC, AET, IT, or ET rates it looks like a lot of Air Force technical AFSCs share some commonality with one of these rates, if you're wondering if your AFSC would qualify you for this program, I found this document from the States of Texas Auditors office for state jobs that lists the equivalent AFSC or Rate conversion for maintenance hiring. Might help simplify the process or narrow down your search.

Ultimately it's about showing the board why you could fill an engineering position. For me, it was background as a contracting officer representative, infrastructure planning, along with technical knowledge and leadership experience as a holistic applicant. Having received a lot of feedback throughout the various iterations of my Resume, Biography, and Essay, it's best to showcase your abilities, not by listing achievements but by demonstrating how you have the academic ability to perform, the skills you possess (leadership/technical/discipline/ professionalism) and the real-world experience to back those skills up.

Resume/Biography/Essay I kept the same theme throughout the resume, biography, and essay that my AFSC was equivalent to the EM rate. Because the Coast Guard allows its NCOs with an Associates degree and 4 years of experience in the Rates I listed above to apply for this program and commission. I wanted to highlight that my experience and skills plus an Associate degree (CCAF in Mechanical and Electrical Technology) along with a Logistics and Supply Chain Management bachelor's degree would qualify me for a Direct Commission as an Engineer even though my undergrad was not an engineering degree.

Side note: I also heard of a SERE Specialist who was able to apply under the DCI (Direct Commission Intelligence) program by demonstrating how he had 4 years of Intel experience.

Hop over to r/resumes to build a nice 2-page document, this is the one that I used, I am not sure I'd use it again since it took a lot to format and turn into a 2-page product, so find the one that works best for you. The OJAK also has about 5 pages of resume feedback, follow this to the letter and make sure it is well-formatted and professional, this is where I included my military awards, and professional associations (SAME, AFSA, AFA Etc), deployments, and scope of responsibilities. I highlighted the things I wanted by repeatedly capturing them in all three documents, however, in hindsight, I'd avoid too much double-tapping since it's making the documents copies of each other.

Medical I had to complete a commissioning physical with my PCM, this could also be done by a MEPS, I wouldn't recommend a civilian doctor outside the military just because of the forms they had to fill out.

DD368 I had to get a DD368 signed by my commander which I dated to be good until Nov 2023. THIS ALMOST KILLED MY PACKAGE BECAUSE OF THE TIMELINE TO GET IT TURNED AROUND. It was also a hassle because the original Coast Guard recruiter I was working with wanted it approved by AFPC, a 6 to 8-week process up the Career Field Functional for concurrence. I switched recruiters about halfway through the process and the new recruiter agreed with me and my interpretation of the DD368 requirement per the recruiting commands SOP's. All that is required for the application to meet the board is the DD368 signed by your commander. It is a conditional separation, based on the USCG extending you an offer for a commission. Each service is different and has different processes for this form, understand the system, timelines, and requirements.

Interview Everyone I talked to said this is the single biggest factor in the application, my recruiter set up the interview and the board sent me an email to set a time in mid-September. I sat down with three current Coast Guard Officers in the engineering field. I won't go into much detail here but the questions are NOT drawn from a bank and do change based on the panel, mine were all they were generic, and the board did have my package before the interview. I did this in front of a webcam via Zoom in my blues, make sure everything works prior, my headphones decided to run out of battery halfway through 🤦.

Selection Two months go by after applying, it's now late January and I get a phone call notifying me of my selection as a primary candidate. They make lists of primary and alternates, if a primary can't fill the commission it goes to an alternate, you stay on the alternate list for a year but I don't know much about this beyond that. A week later the official notification comes out to the recruiter in a Coast Guard all publication, something I don't have access to since I can't log onto the Coast Guard portal, but I am told I will get a letter in the mail and expect to commission in April, go to DCO school in May. This is honestly super fast once the process gets going.

I never actually received a letter in the mail, I did receive an email with a document to sign to accept the commission. This was the first official piece of paperwork from the Coast Guard offering me the commission and contingent of a final medical/background and other pre-accession requirements. You are not actually hired once you are selected as a primary candidate, or accept the commission, so until you raise your right hand, don't get hurt or do anything stupid.

Separation Once I had the official Coast Guard All Publication (I had my recruiter email it to me) and the letter offering me the commission, I routed both documents along with the DD368 to AFPC for a conditional separation with a window until Nov 2023, the MYPERS rep had me put it in as a miscellaneous entry on vMPF. It took about 8 weeks for approval with my functional manager/AFPC. I had not established a firm DOS at this time, once the separation is approved you can set the date once you have a set date for commission based on the DCO school date.

Air Force Orders Mini rant ahead: I have multiple chat logs with Total Force Service Center Representatives and email chains with the MPF Assignments Office specifically asking about conditional separations and receiving orders, denying orders can be a career-ender and I have no intention of separating the Air Force if something goes wrong between being selected and hired into the Coast Guard. I was repeatedly told that once I had a pending conditional separation in the system, I would NOT be coded to receive orders, funny turns out that's not true. I am coming off a code 50 assignment and missed my BOP because of code 05 for an OTS board, so basically I'm a mandatory mover. I find out I'm a primary select, sign my acceptance letter, submit the DD368 + everything else through vMPF to my commander, then to the base separation Authority, and BAM get orders 🤦. Super frustrating to try and out process for separation and repeatedly have to explain it's not a PCS move. Eventually took my E-9 emailing the Career Field Functional and the MAJCOM functional to get the assignment removed. Then I had to contact the MPF to remove the checklist for PCS so I would stop getting emails for busting out processing suspense. Very frustrating for no reason because I wasn't ready to burn bridges by denying orders if a complication with the Coast Guard came back and made me ineligible for the commission. Definitely a stressful experience, 3/10 don't recommend it.

Commission Date The DCO program office reached out to set a commissioning date, I was able to defer to a later date to give myself time to pack and sell the house. I've heard some candidates are pushing this date back almost a year to allow them to finish enlistments or to meet other goals. I am currently on an extension until January 2023, so if the Air Force had denied my separation, I would have denied orders, separated in January then commissioned.

Assignment Around mid-March, the detailer reached out with a list of 32 assignments and asked me to rack and stack them. The jobs here are more important than the location because Coast Guard officers have primary and secondary specialties which factor into the career planning from day 1. I don't know much about this right now but choosing poorly might not give you access to the right quals or primary specialties, something the Coast Guard is looking for you to accomplish early on, talk with the detailer and understand how the assignment will impact your career.

Pro tip - If you know someone in the Coast Guard you might be able to get your hands on a copy of The Guide for Commissioned Officers in the U.S. Coast Guard (insert your job) Program, which might also be called a Purple Book, I know they have them for Operations Ashore, I've linked the 2015 version so there is probably more out there.

1 April I received an assignment in my top 5, however, I won't receive orders until I actually commission, this has impacted my ability to schedule with TMO. But I did route a memo from the OPM office to AFPC and get my separation orders with a DOS for 1 day prior to my commissioning date to begin Outprocessing and not have a break in service.

Separating and Outprocessing the Air Force I had to call the MPF to get my Outprocessing checklist loaded and they checked off a lot of the requirements since I wouldn't have a break in service or be leaving government employment. This means I didn't have to do a lot of things like talking with the National Guard, TAPS, VA, etc, this has really moved the process along. I used my orders to establish an expiration date when I got a new CAC to line up with my date of separation. I still have to do medical out-processing, but it seems like if you've had the audiology in the past year or dental, they will just sign it off. This section is still being updated.

Commission I'll update this section when I commission. Prior to and within 30 days I have to get a body composition check for the OPM office, so make sure your under that 39in waist or the screening criteria.

Below are some email copy/paste's from letters I received from the OPM office.

Commission Ceremony You probably have a commission ceremony planned, however, if you do not have an event planned and are seeking ways to have your Oath administered, below is a list of CG approved officials who can officiate your Oath of Office.

Your Oath ceremony is totally up to you. We do not schedule it. You make your own arrangements. It can be large or small. It can be at a convention hall or in your living room. Your Swearing In can be in the presence of 100 people or it can be just you and the person administering the Oath. Its 100% up to you.

Our only requirement is that your Oath of Office is administered by one of the below approved officials.

• Any Commissioned Officer (including Warrant Officers) -- from any Armed Forces {e.g., Army, Air Force, Navy, Marines, Coast Guard}; Active Duty, Reserve or Retired
• U.S. Commissioner
• Judge of a Court of Record
• Clerk of a Court of Record
• Notary Public
• Justice of the Peace
• Attorney General

Welcome Letter Two weeks before you commission I will send you your commissioning documents (with instructions). After you commission on xxx you will scan your signed documents and email them to me and the Accessions Team. After we receive your commissioning documents, the Accessions Team will hire you into the CG. After you are hired, your AO will create your Orders. Once we receive notification that your Orders have been created, the Accessions Team will finalize those Orders and send them to you authorizing you to start your travel to xxx. After arriving at your Unit you will processin/work until time for you to go to DCO school.

While at xxx you will obtain:

• ID card
• Uniforms
• Create a CG User Account workstation profile
• Complete Personnel Data Questionnaire & Health/Physical Readiness Pre-Assessment
• Obtain DCO Course TAD orders from Admin Office
• Obtain a USCG web mail address
• Set-up Direct Access user profile
• and take care of other administrative items

Following this email a representative from the Accessions Team will contact you to discuss your upcoming move and to answer any travel/accession related questions you may have. In the meantime, please contact your POC to introduce yourself and to discuss your new assignment.

Prior Service If you have ANY prior military service at all, please send us a copy of the following documents at your earliest convenience. We'll use these documents to submit a "Statement of Credible Service" (SOCS) to the Coast Guard's Pay & Personnel Center (PPC) once you start active duty. If you have prior service, expect to be underpaid until PPC completes your SOCS (SOCS approval is typically 4 - 6 weeks after your ADA starts).

• All contracts (i.e., DD Form 4).
• All Discharge Documents including DD-214's (preferably member copy, page 4) and NGB 22 and 23's for National Guard members. (NGB Documentsare the National Guard's version of the DD-214 and enlistment contracts)
• All Oath's of Office (Officers)
• For members who served in a Reserve Component and/or the National Guard (prior to entering us the US Coast Guard), we must have the Reserve Retirement Statements.
• All National Guard NGB 22 and/or 23’s (NGB Documents are the National Guard’s version of the DD-214 and enlistment contracts). Copies should be available from the office of the State Adjutant General.

PCS

From the OPM: Your report date to your unit will be approximately two weeks prior to your DCO course start date unless an earlier report date has been approved by your new unit's command and OPM-1. You will receive an Active Duty Agreement (ADA) along with your commissioning documents. Some ADA's don't start until several days or weeks AFTER you've commissioned into the USCG unless you have no break in service. You should not move or start traveling to your new unit UNTIL your ADA starts. If you do, you may not receive GOVERNMENT reimbursement for your travel or HHGs shipment.

TMO Waiting for more information here but as far as the timeline for the move, I will be have an approximate 20 day window once I am hired to set up the move, get my household goods packed etc.

Reporting to Your Unit Don't know yet, received my sponsor's information from the OPM office about 2 months prior to reporting. You are alloted 10 days of TLE, recently some areas are allowing this to be extend because of the housing market and house hunting days are command dependent. I also received a form for a $400 allowance to turn into the admin section when I report to offset the cost of uniforms and items.

DCO School Don't know yet. Here is the 2022 link to the pre-reporting instructions.

Questions and FAQ

LEAVE My leave balance will transfer, I need to have the finance office place a comment in the remarks section of my DD214 with the remaining balance which I provide to the Coast Guard to credit me back, I'm going to make sure I have it under 60 days even though I'm doing this under the covid rules and the Coast Guard will allow its members to carry over 75 days for FY22. DFAS has a comment on the DD214 Worksheet that says this can never exceed 60 days and I don't wanna lose 15 days at the counter when I out process because some A1C is following a reg.

OPM Guidance If you are TRANSFERING LEAVE from your previous service please have the DD214 annotated “Member to transfer XX leave days to Coast Guard” in the remarks section, OR for the Air Force members; provide the MEMO stating the number of leave days transferred.

They also provided a form 1089, said to delete the remarks and have the finance office put in the balance and sign.

RETIREMENT My high-3 retirement will also transfer or I will be offered the option to opt-in to the BRS. You need 10 year to retire as an officer. Here's a reference post from r/MilitaryFinance.

TSP My TSP might get paused, other interservice transfers report an issue here. The OPM office sent me a sheet showing me how to set up allocations so I'm assuming I'll just have to restart them. The Thrift Savings Plan group on FB is like 86k strong at this point, definitely recommend.

RIBBONS AND AWARDS CIM 1650.25E enclosure 22 was my reference for which of my ribbons would transfer, I couldn't find guidance regarding the German Armed Forces Badge, there are articles about academy cadets earning it but I don't think they can wear it, not sure about jump wings. The CIM is being updated to reflect C devices, and the Coast Guard devices layout is different from the Air Force so you'll have to get new ribbons.

BLUES Air Force blues pants are a herringbone pattern and the coast guard ones are different. I haven't bought my trops yet so I can't speak to the rest.

PAY I DO qualify for O-xE pay, my first recruiter told me I didn't qualify for the prior-enlisted pay because I will have a temporary commission and not a reserve commission. Think of this like being on probation until you make rank, the program office corrected this.

TRICARE COVERAGE Don't know yet.

REFERENCES I won't link these because they get updated so just Google the most recent version. CIM 1020.6k is the uniform reg, and CIM 1100.2g is the recruiting manual, this has the eligibility requirements for the DCO programs. Your recruiter should also provide you with the OJAK (officer job application kit), I've linked the 2014 version, I worked off the 2016 version and another user in comments mentioned that the OJAK has since been discontinued. One of the forms my recruiter provided was weird and required an acknowledgment by my spouse regarding my pay that had to be notarized with her signature. The OJAK will be your guide during the application and provide a post-selection timeline as well.

Closing So far I can't find any publicly available resources for upcoming board dates, instructions, posts, or groups to help with the process that isn't at least three years out of date. However, I hear this process is improving as the Coast Guard is standing up dedicated Officer recruiters who understand the program and can assist you since most recruiters don't deal with interservice transfers or DCO candidates.

Hopefully, I won't forget the password to this account and will continue to update the post as I go forward but I hope this can help someone else on this path since there is minimal information out there about this awesome program.

I am working my way through the Course Made Good podcast on Spotify, trying to learn the Coast Guard language and vernacular, huge shout out to Master Chief Ellis. I don't know if he is on Reddit and although the podcast is targeted at the BM rate, I am really enjoying the insights into the rate and being able to hear terms like Silver Badge jobs. I am also trying to get my hands on a copy of the Helmsman, which sounds like the old Air Force Handbook you get at Basic to study rank, titles of address, etc.

PT Test Just found out the Coast Guard does not have an annual PT test. I have one more PT Test at DCO school and that's it! DCO PT standards thread. I was wondering why the importance of meeting height/weight standards kept getting brought up in the emails for the DCO School because apparently as long as you meet the BMI or tape requirements, you're good to go. Caveats being if your job requires a PT test like a boat crew or if you fail the previously mentioned test, you get to take the PT test. Anyone with more knowledge than me, please correct me but as someone who only runs to score well on a PT Test, not having that hanging over my head all year is awesome!

So you want to join thread DCL thread Everyone is a Recruiter Just found out about this everyone is a recruiter initiative. If you've read this far and this post convinces you to apply to the DCO program, reach out and I'm happy to help with your application and maybe I'll get a ribbon out of it if you credit me with recruiting you 👀.