Comment

Comment by Arwen on March 11, 2010 at 10:45pm

College credits for A and C school is not done through the Navy itself. The Navy has an agreement with a private company who handles college credit certification. The certification is done through them. Some sailors aren't interested in the college credit, others are. So it's up to them to go through the private company to get the credits.

Keep in mind the Navy paid for the training, their housing and food during training. If a sailor wants college credits for it, they have to pay for them. It is cheaper than actually going to college and getting the credits, but not cheap.

Comment by Arwen on March 11, 2010 at 10:23pm

K, if they want Italy, they need to ask for Italy while in A school. About halfway through school sailors are given a "dream sheet" to fill out. It asks what their first, second and third choices of duty are. Navy detailers (like N4M's own Chief Hoppi) try to match up sailors to the orders that are available, but there are no guarantees. For example, if Diego Garcia needs a fresh young IT, I guarantee no one has asked to go there, but someone will get it.

Sailors have to serve wherever they are assigned for their assigned tour of duty (as I said, usually 3-4 years). Unless there are very special circumstances, sailors may not transfer mid-tour. When the sailor's tour is complete, they can make the request again for their next duty station, but again, it is not guaranteed.

The only time they can get a guaranteed duty station is if they volunteer for special duty, such as Antarctica. On completion of these special duty stations, sailors get their pick of whatever orders are available for their specialty.

However, even then they are limited to what is available. If Italy doesn't need an IT/CT whatever when your sailor wants to go there, it's simply not available.

My Chris wants duty on an Independence Class LCS (littoral combat ship) stationed in San Diego, but since there are only 1.5 of them in existance (one complete, the other in construction), he has to get very, very lucky. He has a better chance of getting his next choice: Japan. His third choice is Seattle.

The more general the request, the better their chance of getting it.

Comment by juni on March 11, 2010 at 3:15pm

No, the Navy doesn't give you a place to stay until your HHG's get there. You have to pack and plan accordingly.

Again, once he talks to relocation, they can tell him what he entitled to.

Comment by juni on March 11, 2010 at 3:13pm

I know I've said it before but since it has been asked again, he needs to talk to the relocation office and then TMO/PPO. They are in charge of moving household goods. They will look at his orders and tell him what he needs to do.

Comment by bulldogmamma on March 11, 2010 at 2:06pm

That I haver no clue about.. We just recently signed the title to our Lincoln over to someone who came up from FL to buy it. I really dont know how you guys would work that out. It was in our name. I guess I would sign the title when you get there have him fill everything in to whoever he wants to sell it to.

Comment by bulldogmamma on March 11, 2010 at 11:39am

Colleen.....we have sold cars to other sailors, I dont know what thats about. Theres even what they call a "lemon lot" on bases, its all cars boats trucks motorcycles people want to sell. Not lemons just what they call it. Its on almost every base.

Grippers mom... They told my DH he will need to go to C school as well. it basicaly gives them specific instruction as far as certian rates go.. like if he wants to go on submarines or air craft or carriers or certian overseas billiets. This will give him an NEC which some count towards college credits as well. Its a very good thing to have my husband has a few actualy.

Comment by bulldogmamma on March 11, 2010 at 8:10am

CTs on submarines dont stay attached to a boat they usualy are part of a detachment then go out as needed. I do hope my hubby gets sort of a perm shore duty ut he will be reenlisting after this school and his C school whatever C school he picks it will give him an NEC that tells what his bonus will be the larger bonus is for those who go out to sea... I am so used to his shore duty now hes home everyday by 3 sometimes 10 am !! If theres no jobs on the boats he dosnt have much to do... :) Its going to be tough transitioning back to sea duty :(

Comment by Arwen on March 11, 2010 at 3:31am

Okay, a little clarification. Our sailors (ITs and CTs) have about even chances of going to sea or being stationed on shore, with a bit of weight toward shore duty. They are pretty unusual. In some jobs, especially engineering, weapons systems, and aviation, some sailors never get shore duty unless they become an instructor, an RDC or a recruiter.

If they are assigned to shore duty, it's almost like a regular civilian 9-5 job (or swing shift, etc).

If they are assigned to a ship, that means they will be working on that ship for the duration of the assignment, whether it is in port or at sea.

If their newly assigned ship is already at sea for an extended deployment (2 months or more, usually), then they will report to the ship at the ship's next port call, wherever that may be, anywhere in the world. If it happens to be in home port, then new sailors will report there. The ship may have just returned from a long deployment and will be in port for a while, or they may be just getting ready to sail. Until you know the ship's schedule, you have no way of knowing if you will be separated immediately, or if you will have time together.

If the ship is in port, or if they are assigned to a ship in drydock or in new construction, they may be in port for months, or even years. My husband was assigned to a new construction, it didn't even have a skin yet. He spent 18 months assigned to it before they ever went to sea.

Ship schedules can be strange. They may be out to sea two weeks here, six weeks there. There is rarely any rhyme or reason to it. Once every two years most ships go to sea for 6 months for a deployment. My foster SIL is only home about two months out of each year, if you added up the various days and weeks he is in port.

A few types of small ships have a different routine. "Boomer" submarines and the new LCS ships have "blue" and "gold" crews; two crews take turns, one crew takes the ship out for a pre-determined amount of time (three months is common), they return, and switch crews for the next three months. It is the ONLY sea duty that has a predictable schedule for families to count on.

Some support ships are in port 95% of the time. I was on one of those. We went to sea once or twice a year for a week or less, just to make sure we could still do it if we needed to. Every two years we would take a month or two, sail up the coast (stopping at Catalina Island, Vancouver, BC, and on to Alaska, a side trip to Hawaii, then return to San Diego, Rough life, huh? LOL, it was an unusual ship.

Comment by Arwen on March 11, 2010 at 2:32am

The orders they receive are usually to the next school (if they get one) or to the command (either ship or shore) where they will be stationed for the next 3-4 years.

Occasionally they get "special" assignments such as Antarctica that is for a year or less, or they are assigned "detached" to a Marine or Army unit for the duration of that unit's stay in Iraq or Afghanistan before moving on to a more traditional Navy assignment.

Comment by Arwen on March 10, 2010 at 3:13am

This is just from my own experience at a different A-school, a long time ago, but I doubt it has changed much.

There is an A-school graduation, but it's a measly thing, lasts about five minutes, no real ceremony, and usually is held in a small room with no seating. It's mostly just the commander and chiefs telling the new grads they did well, recognizing the outstanding students, and sometimes announcing any special orders. The only thing "special" about it is that we got to wear our working whites (not even our dress whites) instead of our dungarees.

I think the best comparison would be the swearing-in ceremony at MEPS.

The important thing at the end of A school is getting orders to our duty stations. We were far more excited about getting our orders than actually graduating. It was very cool (no pun intended) that one of my classmates got Antarctica.

• ‹ Previous
• 1
• …
• 5
• 6
• 7
• 8
• 9
• …
• 16
• Next ›
• Page