Quote :

"Yeah, the Navy has a real culture problem, in my opinion, in that the officers allow the Chief mafia to usurp too much authority from them. You can trust their judgment and defer many things to them without ceding your authority. The culture among Marine SNCOs is wildly different than among Chiefs--they rule the roost for sure with respect to their Marines, but there is no question--nor is there generally any power struggle with or desire to step on or usually even circumvent--the officers. As a corollary, I also think that the Marine Corps does a better job cultivating a mutual respect between officer and enlisted from the initial training (boot camp and OCS) level. *I say this after having spent all but 3.5 out of my 9 years in the USMC serving in Navy commands. [Edited on June 12, 2013 at 9:53 PM. Reason : but the Navy may be better about not treating everyone like a fucking infant in some ways]"

well, my opinion hasn't changed much overall

i was lucky to cultivate a great relationship with last LCPO. we ended up scoring 95% on our post-commissioning INSURV. later during our training cycle he and the LPO were picked by DESRON to assist another ship's INSURV and our Workcenter Supervisor (a newer First Class who spent the first year of the ship's life attached to Main Propulsion Division because they needed someone to run the Oil Lab) took over the role beautifully - thanks of course to the example he set.

our division's success lay in the success of our working relationship. but how to set that relationship up was learned by experience over the past few years. it's not really taught to us like it sounds like it's taught from day one to Marine Corps officers.

but as far as treating people like infants, LOL. most E-6 and below and non-prior O-1's and O-2's are in that catergory.

[Edited on June 12, 2013 at 10:13 PM. Reason : 26]

6/12/2013 10:12:50 PM

Quote :

"Isn't that like the most stressful job in the Navy?"

Nuke-SWO!

With that said, I will reporting for my 2nd sea tour aboard the John C. Stennis CVN-74 next year.


ET1(SW)

[Edited on June 12, 2013 at 11:43 PM. Reason : Harry S. Truman the 1st go-around]

6/12/2013 11:42:39 PM

Quote :

"Nuke-SWO!"

yea, but conventional SWO's are rarely blessed with 30-40 kids who rocked the ASVAB. if you do have a division that big, you're on a LHD/LHA/LPD as a Deck Department Divo and you have deck seamen and all the fun that come with those.

Nuke SWO Divo's also have done a tour already (experience), qualified SWO (big thing off their plate as far as time to devote to division), and have spent a year on shore duty in school between tours.

granted, I don't want to have to memorize all the stuff they have to memorize.

6/12/2013 11:53:07 PM

Are all members of the USN considered sailors even if they never set foot near a ship?

6/14/2013 11:45:19 PM

yes, like a servicemember in the Army is a Soldier, a servicemember in the Navy is a Sailor. Uppercase is preferred - a sailor can be on any ship, but a Sailor is in the US Navy.

Navy crypies at Fort Meade on their first hitch are Sailors - even if they are 'POGish' to Fleet Sailors

6/14/2013 11:57:56 PM

lulz a sailor calling a land locked sailor POGish

6/15/2013 12:25:32 AM

So you're married now, I've gathered. Do you still go on tours of duty? And if so, how long are you away from home at a time? Just curious, b/c my mom's dad was in the Navy but was pretty much always home, whereas I had an ex whose father was in the Navy and was gone very frequently.

6/15/2013 12:43:23 AM

Quote :

"lulz a sailor calling a land locked sailor POGish"

lulz first tour shore duty/perma-shore duty Sailors thinking they have it as hard as the Fleet guys.

Quote :

"So you're married now, I've gathered. Do you still go on tours of duty? And if so, how long are you away from home at a time? Just curious, b/c my mom's dad was in the Navy but was pretty much always home, whereas I had an ex whose father was in the Navy and was gone very frequently."

So far it's been:

28 months - sea duty on FFG (1.5 deployments, exercises, etc.)
2 months - school in Dahlgren, VA (wife was still down in FLA where the FFG was)
18 months - sea duty on DDG (took her from shipyard to San Diego - wife handled move to San Diego; did a series of exercises and qualifications)
past 3 months - shore duty at Navy's postgraduate school. I'm here for 2 years more, and then it's another year before Department Head School, so we'll see what the Navy wants.
so in 3ish years, another 36 months of sea duty.

how much have I seen my wife? in the almost 3 years we've been married, I've been away about half the time. Granted now she works where she's away on job sites 2 weeks of every 3, so it's like she's on sea duty.

[Edited on June 15, 2013 at 10:10 AM. Reason : don't understand why they would send a sea-going rate to a shore duty first.]

6/15/2013 10:09:26 AM

That sucks, B. Hope you guys see "enough" of each other, regardless, and that you are able to share proportionally more time together as you get older.

6/15/2013 9:16:28 PM

eh, it's life in the Navy. but she's been supportive since day 1. I like to think we're lucky that we married when I was on sea duty. A lot of military spouses will 'join' when their servicemember is on relaxed orders/schooling before the real service life, and then complain when their servicemember is on deployment.

here's the thing. at least one US Navy ship has been on deployment since 1798, along with the Marines in various capacities on ships and land. it's a part of my service life, but it is true the longer I'm in, the less I will go to sea.

My current carrer track looks like this:
3 years of sea duty (2 Dept Head tours) follow this shore time (put on O-4, Lieutenant Commander), then about 4-5 years of shore duty - Pentagon probably for one of them, then another 3 years of sea duty (XO and Command of a smaller ship, put on O-5, Commander), then another couple years on shore to round out 20. Beyond that would be another 3 years with XO/Command of a large ship (put on O-6, Captain).

6/15/2013 9:44:27 PM

What happens to a ship when it is deactivated? Does this happen before or after decommissioning?

7/11/2013 6:58:11 PM

A vessel can be in service (activated), but not comissioned. Usually when a ship is decomissioned, it is deactivated as well. It will remain in the custody of the Navy for further disposition:

Recomissioned at a later date
Donated to a museum
Sold to another country's navy.
Sold for scrap.

7/11/2013 7:17:08 PM

What's your relationship overall or your personal feelings toward the U.S. Coast Guard?

I'm a Coastie. PArt of what was once called Deployable Operations Group (DOG), but now renamed Deployable Specialized Forces (DSF). Unless its some INCONUS operation, we work primarily with Navy NECC, MSRON, RIVRON (CORIVRON), EOD and sometime Seabees. We get along really well with those guys and on deployments fall under the same command and even wear the same uniforms. However, it seems Sailors from the fleet always want to talk shit to me about being a Coastie, even though they have absolutely no clue what me or my unit does. It also seems that most of the NECC folks don't really like the fleet guys either. NECC always has our back, we mesh well, train together well, and they give us mutual respect when it comes to running security missions and small boat operations. The fleet guys, on the other hand, are most of the time giant Dbags.

I get the whole inter-service rivalries and that all cool with me. But Sailors from the fleet truly think they are superior in every way.

7/11/2013 8:12:46 PM

i think it stems from the fact that

a. Guardsmen tend to be more specialized than Sailors, espcially in the Officer world; as a SWO, I'm a generalist, so I'm more of a take charge of any situation instead of taking charge of a situation i've been trained for.
b. We don't work with CG ships, most of us deal with LEDETs; any detachment on a ship is not ship's company so you'll never be part of the crew.

NECC guys are a different breed - brown-water and green-water Navy. Big grey things are blue-water.

[Edited on July 11, 2013 at 9:08 PM. Reason : we just don't know each other's job]

7/11/2013 9:04:24 PM

Report NLT April 10th

7/18/2013 11:59:03 PM

Enjoy the big deck life. What billet are you going to fill?

7/19/2013 2:22:53 AM

3393- Surface Reactor Controls Supervisor

7/20/2013 1:35:51 PM

What division? LPO, WCS?

7/20/2013 1:44:36 PM

Reactor Controls.

No idea. I don't get there till April of next year. I have to go to ETMS at TTF Bangor for a month prior to going aboard.

[Edited on July 20, 2013 at 1:49 PM. Reason : hopefully not a WCS since I did that as a NUB as a PO2]

7/20/2013 1:49:04 PM

Well, I'd sound like a broken record if I said it, but as always

-Get that AW pin if you can
-Fight for the LPO job if you don't fill it right away (and haven't been LPO at sea)
-Get some department/command collaterals if you can (Dept 3MA - you're an ET, so you actually know how to do maintenance right!)

7/20/2013 3:30:10 PM

That guy that burned down the submarine sure sounds like a prick.

8/11/2013 11:36:04 AM

Yes. Yes he is.

BT BT



I love being at Naval Postgraduate School.

8/11/2013 3:06:53 PM

Poopy suits are the uniform of the day at NPS?

[Edited on August 11, 2013 at 4:42 PM. Reason : ]

8/11/2013 4:41:49 PM

Just got orders as Catapult/AG officer on the Roosevelt. Not excited....

8/11/2013 4:49:04 PM

^^No, it was 'Warrior Day.' Tuesday is our uniform day, which is service uniform of the day (Navy being Service Khaki's). All other days are business casual. Occasionally they'll have a Warrior Day, which opens it up to working uniform of choice (I.E., flight suits, digital camo, etc.). I chose 'topsider' coveralls with my khaki windbreaker. Next time I'll go in my steamers.

^Eeesh. Not having been on a carrier, that doesn't sound fun. What does that job exactly entail?

8/11/2013 6:14:23 PM

I'm a P-3 guy, so I can't intelligently say for sure. But basically I'm a Shooter (The guy who shoots planes off the flight deck) and I'll be in charge of flight deck (and/or Hangar deck) maintenance and upkeep to include catapult and arresting gear systems.

8/11/2013 6:16:46 PM

Well, make friends with the Engineers who help maintain it. But yea, sounds like the job is 'Air Boss's Bitch'

8/11/2013 6:18:31 PM

That's a large part of it.

8/11/2013 7:44:05 PM

you don't happen to know Duffy Cully (LCDR P-3 guy), do you?

8/11/2013 8:09:02 PM

I don't... what Squadron/When? I'm a Single-engine guy with VT-27 until February, so I only run into so many P-3 guys.

8/11/2013 10:58:19 PM

So I swore my wife into the Reserves. She's now a CEC Officer (attached to a NMCB). One of the coolest things I've ever gotten to do.

8/30/2013 1:35:17 AM

Is that NPC? I love Monterey.

Where are most of your crypto officers, Navy crypies I believed they were referred to in this thread, stationed?

Is sea duty considered a deployment or a duty station?

8/30/2013 8:23:49 AM

^Naval Postgraduate School (NPS)
Crypto officers - depends. Only the smallest ships (PC's, MCM's, and FFG's) are without a cryptology division. There will be a Crypie officer and/or Chief assigned to any ship that has Cryptologists. Electronic warfare cryptologists are a different branch and are closer to the combat systems and operations than cryptology. FFG's also have EW guys.
Cryptology in the Navy is broken up into EW, Signals, Networks, Intelligence support, and Language interpretation branches, so they'll get assigned to ships, squadrons, and Fleet staffs as required. A large contingent is at the Defense Cyber mecca (Ft Meade, Maryland). The intelligence and network guys are stationed at Naval Intelligence centers throughout the world.
Sea duty refers to any duty station that goes to sea [Ships (and ship squadron commands), aviation squadrons, submarines (and sub squadron commands) - the operational forces of the Navy that deploy]. Shore duty refers to (typically more administrative) commands that do not deploy (Shipyards, the Pentagon, Naval Hospitals, etc.)

8/30/2013 5:59:14 PM

^^^ I have to say that was an amazing experience. Although you didn't post my favorite picture....

Despite being closer to being a legitimate sailor thanks to chembob I still have questions. For instance, how helpful are NKO courses or non resident training courses? As I reservist I see that I can 'earn retirement points' for doing the courses. Do these add to my drilling points or is this a separate pooling of points?

9/3/2013 9:23:15 PM

To qualify for retirement through the reserve, you have to earn retirement points (as an officer, a minimum of 50 per year). These are described in the following instruction:

http://www.public.navy.mil/bupers-npc/reference/instructions/BUPERSInstructions/Documents/1001.39F.pdf - BUPERSINST 1001.39F, Administrative Procedures for Navy Reservists.

Some changes were made and released in this change:
http://www.public.navy.mil/bupers-npc/reference/instructions/BUPERSInstructions/Documents/BUPERSINST%201001.39F%20CH-1.pdf, 1001.39F CH-1.

Chapter 20 details most of the points earning process. But yes, the minimum would be 50 points per year for 20 years.

9/3/2013 9:57:56 PM

Quote :

"I don't... what Squadron/When? I'm a Single-engine guy with VT-27 until February, so I only run into so many P-3 guys."

well he's teaching at the war college now. was in hawaii before that. i know he did an IA to afgahanistan somewhere in there and has also been stationed in washington and maine in the past. not a lot of deets, sorry. he was my best friend at the academy so always worth a shot in the dark

9/3/2013 10:21:03 PM