Disassociated Sea Tour Likelihood

[Bubba3183]

I'm currently on shore duty, navigating some challenges and seeking clarity for both my wife and myself. It appears ever so likely that my 36-month shore tour will be shortened to 30 months soon. If anyone with extensive experience as a detailer or with PERS could assist, I have several questions:

**Shore Tour Details:**

- Shore-Tour Start: February 2024
- Current Projected Rotation Date (PRD): February 2027
- Minimum Service Requirement (MSR): May 2027

**Questions Regarding PRD Extension:**

1. What strategies can increase my chances of extending my PRD by three months to align with my MSR?

2. Both my Commanding Officer (O6) and Executive Officer (O5) have offered their support to extend my PRD to my MSR. How likely is it that PERS will approve of this?

3. When is the optimal time to submit this extension request to PERS through my CO? Should I initiate this process now, given that my orders currently indicate a 36-month duration?

4. Should I discuss my intention to extend my PRD with my detailer now, or is it advisable to wait until the standard 12 months before my MSR?

**PRD Modification Timeline:**

1. When can I expect my orders to be officially shortened to 30 months?

2. To fulfill the deployable CONUS location requirements, my PRD will most likely need to be adjusted to end in April 2026, allowing me to begin my subsequent disassociated tour in May 2026 with a 12-month remaining obligation. Is this correct?

3. How probable is it that PERS will further adjust my orders beyond the 30-month mark to satisfy the 12-month requirement?

**Terminal Leave Considerations:**

1. How does terminal leave function in this context, and what is the maximum allowable duration within a disassociated sea tour? Does this depend on the discretion of my future command’s CO?

I appreciate any guidance from those with experience in these areas. Thank you for your assistance.

 

[JTS11]

Can I ask a few questions? I did a few years as a Marine monitor (different, yet similar...same/same wrt nuances between service policies), so just trying to understand your situation.

-Was the expected PRD move to 30 months specific to your situation, or a more service wide change in policy?

- What's the min/max interval you can drop resignation/retirement papers? Marines just changed theirs from 4-14 months to 6-18 months. Curious if that lines up with Navy policy.

-If your PRD was shortened to 30 months, what kind of tour would you be on the hook for with the new PRD and your MSR?

 

[Bubba3183]

Can I ask a few questions? I did a few years as a Marine monitor (different, yet similar...same/same wrt nuances between service policies), so just trying to understand your situation.

-Was the expected PRD move to 30 months specific to your situation, or a more service wide change in policy?

- What's the min/max interval you can drop resignation/retirement papers? Marines just changed theirs from 4-14 months to 6-18 months. Curious if that lines up with Navy policy.

-If your PRD was shortened to 30 months, what kind of tour would you be on the hook for with the new PRD and your MSR?

-Was the expected PRD move to 30 months specific to your situation, or a more service wide change in policy?

According to the PERS website and everyone who has worked at PERS/Millington, I've been informed multiple times that the ongoing policy is to modify everyone's Shore-tour orders from 36 months to 30 months in order to ensure everyone meets the minimum requirement (12 months) to serve their disassociated tours.

- What's the min/max interval you can drop resignation/retirement papers? Marines just changed theirs from 4-14 months to 6-18 months. Curious if that lines up with Navy policy.

From the PERS website, they state that submission of resignation should be done 9-12 months ahead of one's MSR.

-If your PRD was shortened to 30 months, what kind of tour would you be on the hook for with the new PRD and your MSR?

That's the kicker, even if my PRD was shortened to 30 months, I still wouldn't meet the required amount (12 months) in my service obligation to PCS to a deployable CONUS location for my disassociated tour.

 

[JTS11]

That would seem like dirty pool to further adjust your PRD down IOT get more blood from the turnip (12 months for a disassociated tour). I would think the fact that your command is in your corner would help your case, but I dunno.

You said papers should be dropped 9-12 months out, or is that a shall?

I'll shut up and listen now....good luck.

 

[Meyerkord]

I know the standard is shortening to 30 months, but I'm pretty sure they can legally shorten you down to 24 if they really want to. Hopefully your command being on your side helps your case, but PERS usually seems like they're out for blood, so who knows.

If it were me, I'd consider submitting the request now, that way you're only really requesting a 3 month extension, versus a 9 month extension after they shorten you.

 

[JTS11]

That's the kicker, even if my PRD was shortened to 30 months, I still wouldn't meet the required amount (12 months) in my service obligation to PCS to a deployable CONUS location for my disassociated tour.

When you say "PCS to a deployable CONUS location", are you meaning just a reassignment to a deployable command in the same geo location that wouldn't require a HHG movement? We would call that a PCA (Permanent Change of Assignment), that didn't rate a movement of household goods.

@Meyerkord is correct that 24 months is the obligated service requirement for when the government moves you to a new duty station. I don't know if it's law, DOD, or DON policy. Anything below that 24 months requires pretty high level waivers IIRC.

That's why I asked about the PCS vs PCA distinction...now I'll shut up and listen 😆

 

[Brett327]

PERS will balk at any request by you or your CO to adjust PRD to MSR. Definitely expect an adjustment to 30 month orders. That is now standard. As for shortening more than that, depends on how desperate PERS is. If PERS is able to legally get a disassociated tour out of you, they're going to do it. I was able to get one of my JOs PRD extended to MSR, but I had a very good reason to do so, and got a 3-star to bottom line the request.

 

[FormerRecruitingGuru]

Words

Disclaimer: My response comes as a non-13XX, but very familiar with the PERS-4 (detailers) process.

Understand you are trying to map things out, but really the Achilles heel is going to be if you can extend to MSR or have to fulfill your final obligation time during a disassociated sea tour billet.

As what others have said, extensions can happen but they appear to be rare and even fall under “extenuating circumstances” criteria. Personally speaking, most if not all 13XX’s I personally know ended up having to go to sea, even if it was for 12 months. If PERS-43 has sufficient inventory of officers to send to billets, that may help favor the odds with you. However, in the end it’s PERS-43 (and others) responsibility to fill billets and if you’re needed in a disassociated sea duty billet, even if it’s for a short period of time so be it.

I would see if you can either extend to MSR or you have to transfer/PCS… and then go from there with your other questions and scenarios.

 

[Sonog]

Dude the bright side is that if you have to go to a disassociated tour, it makes it THAT much easier to leave the Navy with no regrets. I would have been so bummed if my last day involved walking out of a squadron.

 

[DanMa1156]

-Was the expected PRD move to 30 months specific to your situation, or a more service wide change in policy?

According to the PERS website and everyone who has worked at PERS/Millington, I've been informed multiple times that the ongoing policy is to modify everyone's Shore-tour orders from 36 months to 30 months in order to ensure everyone meets the minimum requirement (12 months) to serve their disassociated tours.

- What's the min/max interval you can drop resignation/retirement papers? Marines just changed theirs from 4-14 months to 6-18 months. Curious if that lines up with Navy policy.

From the PERS website, they state that submission of resignation should be done 9-12 months ahead of one's MSR.

-If your PRD was shortened to 30 months, what kind of tour would you be on the hook for with the new PRD and your MSR?

That's the kicker, even if my PRD was shortened to 30 months, I still wouldn't meet the required amount (12 months) in my service obligation to PCS to a deployable CONUS location for my disassociated tour.

Do you mean this as you'd hit the MSR while on the Disassociated Tour (like almost everyone?) and then the Navy would force you to do the 12 months (minimum) on your ship? This happens all the time, or I'm not understanding what you're writing here.

In short, as @Brett327 said, to answer your question: "it is likely that you will do a disassociated tour." My advice is to work with the detailer to find one that you want (hint: almost everyone that goes to a ship in the yards to avoid time at sea ends up hating it way worse than just going to sea) in a location that you want earlier than later instead of fighting having to do one.

 

[Hair Warrior]

Friend of mine tried to get extended another year in a good deal desk job, with 1 year left on his pilot MSR. He even had a 2-star BNR to stay. Held out as long as he could with his detailer. They sent him to a watch floor in Bahrain. He had the choice of 1 year unaccompanied, or 2 years accompanied.

 

[IKE]

Caveat: I left my shore DH squadron 2 years ago (but I don't think it's changed much).

The last business rules/policy I saw out of PERS-43 was shore tour could be shortened to as little as 27 months to ensure a 13-month dissociated tour could fit between your shore tour PRD and initial MSR. I'm not aware of any surprise OBLISERV or other means of keeping people past MSR ... I mean, that's why PERS is shortening shore tours - to fill sea billets.

If I were you, I'd get clarity on how short PERS will go (is it still 27 months). That would seem to put you right at 12 months for a dissociated tour, so knowing that number is also important. You're what we call an "edge case". Your XO should know, or be able to find quickly, the answers to those questions.

A similar thing is happening to post-DH O5s who don't screen for command, except it's the choice of sea-duty & retirement vs. resigning & no benefits.

I wish you the best of luck in your sea-lawyering, but I wouldn't hold out much hope of being the special exception with PERS-43 if you do fall within the limits of their shenanigans. I'm in training now where three different Admirals have stated we have ~20k gapped sea billets.

 

[Bubba3183]

Just wanted to say thank you so much everyone for the quick responses! The more insight I can get from people who either a) have worked as a detailer or b) worked directly with PERS-43, the better! I'm planning on talking with my CO and XO sometime this week to get a realistic outlook on my game plan and what I can do to maximize my chances.

 

[DanMa1156]

Just wanted to say thank you so much everyone for the quick responses! The more insight I can get from people who either a) have worked as a detailer or b) worked directly with PERS-43, the better! I'm planning on talking with my CO and XO sometime this week to get a realistic outlook on my game plan and what I can do to maximize my chances.

Please do keep us posted.

 

[SynixMan]

Unfortunately if you fall within their current rules, you'll get zero sympathy from PERS. Their #1 job is to get you to a sea duty job, regardless of your individual situations. As @DanMa1156 mentioned, once you get clarification, picking something palatable early is probably the best option.