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Career Reflections by Pickle

Dusting this off because it is better than starting a new thread:

I'm about 13 months out from by PRD. Just got verbals to a large, grey, floating object based up in Norfolk to go launch smaller, grey, flying objects from the top of said floating object.

I'm mulling around several options for the next duty station, would love input.

One: Geobachelor, live on boat, family comes up 1-2x/month. Would have to rent hotel/extended stay for those trips.
Two: Geobachelor, live in town, fold out couch for little gherkins. Would probably require a studio at minimum....
Three: move family up to Norfolk, sell house in Milton. Would probably break even at this point, but kinda like the house/property.
Four: move family, rent house in Milton, deal with renters.

We have two kids, two dogs, two horses, so a move isn't easy, would need to find an acreage...

Thoughts?
How does BAH, BAS, etc. work in scenario 1/2...I know I have to pay for boat food..
Thanks,
Pickle

I would strongly recommend not living on the ship. I don't know your back ground, but being able to leave the ship and get away from the 1MC and its 24/7 announcements, walk on carpet, take a real shower, etc does wonders for your morale. Living on the ship really, really sucks long term, even in port.
 

Mumbles

Registered User
pilot
Contributor
^ What he said....
It would be better if you just got a room at an extended stay place.
 
I hate being a contrarian because it means I'm probably wrong. I'm just providing another input for whatever its worth. I geobatched and it was a good -lucky- choice in the end. My wife/kids stayed back in familiar surroundings. I showed up to the boat (after knowing the "sked") and it changed within a week of arrival to an immediate underway. Get back, take a week to fly and visit family. Back to boat, yet another unscheduled underway. Get back, another week to visit family. Back to boat, unscheduled surge deployment, yes deployment. I would have left them at the pier basically, so all I am saying is there are some merits to geo batch depending on schedule and current support system and house situation. And you will get to see them, when the boat in in port everyone is gone, not like in the squadron when you are missing out on upgrading events or something. No one cares, just leave. Some other guy at roughly my timing brought his entrenched family over, then left them for immediate deployment, and it did not go as well as you'd hope... again your mileage may vary, so to speak.
 

insanebikerboy

Internet killed the television star
pilot
None
Contributor
If I was going to be away on big grey floaty thingy involuntarily that I personally wouldn't force voluntary separation on my family. The only dudes I've known that have done the geobach thing were 1) guys who were only at a school for a brief time or 2) trying to rectify some financial problem (the housing problems from the 2008 era). The one oddball to those that I've known was a voluntary geobach with a guy who was married but no kids and they saw each other every weekend.
 

BigRed389

Registered User
None
If you geobach AND live on a boat (ahem, ship), and said ship gets underway, and you're not on it for TAD or other reason...your room/board just left without you.
 

Gatordev

Well-Known Member
pilot
Site Admin
Contributor
Pickle, if I'm remembering correctly, you've been VP your entire career, so I'm guessing your boat exposure is down to a tour and maybe a summer cruise (can't remember if you were Scholarship or STA). Let me tell you right now, there's plenty of logical reasons not live on the boat (see BigRed's above), but at the end of the day (your day), you are going to want to be very far away from the boat and sleep in a real bed with real running water and real food you can cook yourself. It's not like living in an extended stay motel. Also, you'll have to walk at least a half a mile to get to your car anytime you need to run an errand. And then walk it back. In the cold rain and/or sleet of Norfolk.

I could go on and on. Don't do it.
 

Pags

N/A
pilot
Geobaching on the boat for extended periods of time is a recipe for misery; don't do it. To add to what others have said, when the boat is in port it's facilities are often being worked on. This means that you'll get reduced or no facilities when you're onboard. If it's really bad, you could be living on a berthing barge. If it's only "short term", you can expect to have to shower in the gym and crap on the pier.

The other thing to keep in mind is that when the boat isn't underway, the non-duty day shedule is pretty well set. It isn't the squadron where you come in at random times throughout the week. On the boat, you have set working hours which translates in to a better in-port routine for your family. When I was in port I'd be on board by 0700 and would walk off no later than 1600 most days. Many days I was off around 1500. That's a lot of time with the family you'd be missing out on. Your proposed "visitation" plan also sounds like it would quickly become expensive and exhausting for your wife to put the family on a plane on a monthly/bi-weekly basis.

The boat tour is hard and you'll probably be gone a lot. There's no point in adding additional separation to the equation, that could be very stressful on a family.
 

Steve Wilkins

Teaching pigs to dance, one pig at a time.
None
Super Moderator
Contributor
Never ever live on the boat if you have the choice. This is just good ol plain common sense.
 

Swanee

Cereal Killer
pilot
None
Contributor
Have you checked out the rental market in Milton? Plenty of flight studs around there who do indeed take care of their property.

Also, Oceana has stables.
 
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e6bflyer

Used to Care
pilot
I will pile up to the advice above. The boat is the most depressing place on the planet to live. Don't do it. You will be a mile from your car in a place you hate all the time. If you have to geo bach (everyone does it for different reasons, you and the Mrs just need to evaluate yours), then be able to rent a place in town, even a small studio.
It is a miserable, lonely experience. We had one shooter who did it, and he hated his life.
I would personally rent the place and move the family. You may have a different outlook/situation and I understand that completely.
 

Alpha_Echo_606

Does not play well with others!™
Contributor
I will pile up to the advice above. The boat is the most depressing place on the planet to live. Don't do it. You will be a mile from your car in a place you hate all the time. If you have to geo bach (everyone does it for different reasons, you and the Mrs just need to evaluate yours), then be able to rent a place in town, even a small studio.
It is a miserable, lonely experience. We had one shooter who did it, and he hated his life.
I would personally rent the place and move the family. You may have a different outlook/situation and I understand that completely.
Lots of good advice here.
 

picklesuit

Dirty Hinge
pilot
Contributor
Quick question for people...Didn't want to start another thread, so I jacked my own.

I'm up for O-4 this year. Record is tight, all docs in, even a crappy photo in khakis. All except for one little thing: I have no Eval or FITREP covering the three months I was in OCS. It shows as a discontinuity in BOL.

I contacted PERS-32, OCS, and both basically said they can't help me. My understanding is the board only cares about my time as a commissioned Officer (so after the day I graduated OCS) and those three months would have fallen under an Eval. VP-5 obviously showed me as a Loss when I detached to OCS. PERS-32 gave me a form that is basically a Memo to the Board creating my own Eval to cover the time (it's called a "Letter in Lieu Of") . The discontinuity will still show, so it really doesn't amount to much.

As I was commissioned about 9.5 years ago, I have no idea who my CO at OCS was during June-September 2006 (anyone feel free to help, please) or what the UIC was then, either (again, any help would be appreciated) but other than that I was going to just make it mirror an NOB Eval as an AW2.

Any advice would be appreciated.

Honestly, I feel like this is a lot of worry about such a minor detail that should have zero impact on my board, but I don't want to have any excuses after the results come out.

Thanks,
Pickle
 
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