As a prior-service Navy veteran looking to rejoin the military (Army), what are some changes that I can expect?

SP6 Patrick Lavin - True statement. We don't know the details and what the Army offered, so many things change but 50 years ago, the DoD is completely different, as are the requirements for service.

CPL General's Driver General's Driver - I can't say that I agree. I got out of the navy and stayed in the Reserves while I went to school. I tried to enlist with the Army and they told me that my only option was to take a cut in paygrade from E6 to E5. Like the navy, they are a lot more enthusiastic about the whole direct commission thing if you haven't been prior enlisted. Apparently, having served your country is looked down upon by the officer corps.

PO1 Ken Helmick - Back in my day Mustang officers were looked up to as super-competent leaders.

The rank you go into the army will depend on the slots available and the needs of the Army. If your MOS is in high demand, you will keep your rank. It has a lot to do when you go into the military. beginning of a new fiscal year is the best. Also, in the Army I went through OCS and got my commission. I was 30 years old. Currently retention in all service branches have been low. “We’ve never offered $50,000 to join the Army,” said Maj. Gen. Kevin Vereen, who heads up Army Recruiting Command. “We’re in a search for talent just like corporate America and other businesses. … We’re trying to match incentives for what resonates — for example, financial incentives.” It is a good time to negotiate a good deal signing up for the Army. https://thehill.com/opinion/national-security/3527921-the-military-has-a-serious-recruiting-problem-congress-must-fix-it/

I'm looking at 19D, 12B, and 19K at the moment

Rest assured, there is no way your tent could be torpedoed and sink.

former PO2 Gabriel Petterso, look for Army posts that have colleges on-site; After I got out of Basic Training and went to AIT (Advanced Individual Training for my MOS 71l that 71-Lima), I wrote NATO posts like Heidelberg, SHAPE HQ, Netherlands and received what are called "Control and Line Numbers", which are officers who wrote me back while I was still in Fort Jackson, SC learning to type without looking at my fingers. When I got to the Army's 21st Replacement at Rhein Main, they tried to ignore those assignment orders and put me in formation as a "people package" to a remote assignment.

I fell out of formation and ran to the E-6 who was in the office at Rhein Main and told him, I have 4 letters with control and line numbers at NATO posts, I shouldn't be going to a remote assignment. He said, let me give you a typing test and if you pass it, you'll be going to Heidelberg, where you can finish your B.A. degree.

I passed the test. You do not need to stay in formation and be shipped off to BFE. Had I not the courage to fall out of formation and find that Staff Sergeant, my life would have been completely different.

You want to choose an MOS that is useful at all assignments; If you're bent on specific MOSs you might be shooting yourself in the foot. Get your college degree, a B.A. not an A.A. and become an officer. You'll benefit your troops by having previous enlisted experience, plus be an enlightened leader with a more broad view of the world situation.

I wish when I was 24 and in the Army there were 60-yr olds like me around. I'm not trying to be pushy, but I gotta say working full time at a NATO post while goiing to full-time college at night and on the weekends kept me out of trouble and I accomplished a major goal. God bless you, former PO2 Gabriel Petterson.

SMSgt Kevin Townsend - True, but I knew I was never going to deal with hand-to-hand combat on my Aircraft carrier. . . . and I would dare say, a CVN is protected for great than that individual unit marching up the road. As a Cryptologist, I always knew what our threat were, and where it was coming from. . . call it the benefits of being a Cryptologist aboard a Naval Warship.