An anecdote...
A JO at -37 was very interested in staying in HI and was all in to go to PMRF. However, while he said he was willing to do it, he didn't tell everyone (that mattered) that it was his ultimate goal. His timing worked out and the Navy asked if he'd accept those orders. However, it is (or was, anyway) a hardship tour akin to a second sea tour, so he asked the detailer to put that in writing and acknowledge that he's volunteering for a hardship tour, which PERS did.
Off he went, getting the exact shore tour he wanted, but with paper that did something for him after the fact (from my understanding). I think he then went to either South America or Europe for his next good deal tour.
Why do I mention this? Just be careful telegraphing intentions too early when it's not an "on-track" job, even if doing that job will ultimately make you happy and be fulfilling.
100% tracking, and I appreciate the feedback. I’ve heard about the potential consequences of not keeping your cards close and I don’t plan on being super vocal about it, just throwing out some feelers. Definitely keeping my options open and trying to learn the most that I can about all the possibilities.I get it! It's not awesome!
I guess I'd say a couple of points. One, Station SAR sounds cool so a lot of JOPA who are not loving the fleet think it would be a good deal (and it is), and come here and ask questions. The problem is that it's a super small amount of people in the grand scheme of things. As in total combined units are a large Exped squadron worth of pilots. Two, sadly, the odds are higher that you'll take yourself out of the running for anything flying in the process because some Helo COs are weird like that.
I'm not saying don't, just have eyes wide open when you go down this road.