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That reminds of this one time, on my staff tour, when I was forced to attend a training seminar in the Bavarian Alps at the NATO School. It was terrible, I tell you what. ;)

Very and very. From a career perspective, doing a non-traditional tour (which is what NSW tours are for non-NSW and non-RL/Staff Corps types) is not seen as career enhancing and will likely take you off of the "Golden Path." Each officer community is focused on ensuring that each officer hits...

Most of the houses I'm seeing for rent in Ladson and Summerville are around that age (somewhere in the 10-20 range). I'm currently living in a house built in the 1950s that needs serious structural, cosmetic, and electrical work that will likely never get done due to the way the California...

I'm an Engineering Duty Officer and will be working at the NAVWAR office there in Charleston. If you're interested: https://www.public.navy.mil/navwar/Atlantic/Pages/Home.aspx . I'm from Charlotte originally; if you have any questions feel free to PM me. I'll be working somewhere on the...

I just got verbals to Charleston, SC, and am curious what the good neighborhoods are. I've got a kid to consider so I need a place with multiple bedrooms and a garage. I'd also like to minimize my morning commute (about 30 minutes or so). So where would y'all recommend to live? How's the...

Well, if I end up ever going back to sea it will likely be on a big deck amphib or carrier. Hopefully that never comes to pass but I've never been good at predicting the future.

So with CODspreys becoming a reality, the pressing question us Shoes have is this: How is this going to affect the delivery of mail and ice cream to the ship? ?

Someone without a STEM degree. That said, even STEM degree holders will have a difficult time as they are not current in their field and will likely still take pay cut if they are trying to get into a technical position such as doing design or analytical work. Management is a different issue...

1. You need to drop your package about a year out from when you plan to leave the service. You need to reference MILPERSMAN 1920-200 and 1920-190. This will tell you what needs to be in the letter and who to route it to. 2. The Navy will ship you back home and essentially PCS you to your final...

There's also the Career Intermission Program which allows for a break in service to do whatever hell you want. Not sure if they have ironed the kinks out of it but it's there.

I agree on all counts; all I'm saying is that there is such as thing as too lean. I saw it in Naples where there weren't enough O3s and O4s to go around and we were literally playing musical departments as dudes got shifted at random to different departments because we couldn't get replacements...

NMCI is going through a significant overhaul. The Navy operates one of the largest (if not the largest) and most difficult IT networks in the world. Not saying that NMCI nor OneNET (the OCONUS equivalent) are the best but they were the best we could do. With the push to GovCloud and other...

There's a reason that I and many of my compatriots got out of the community. The only reason mine was ahead of the curve is because I was in the VBSS pipeline on my first ship and then I had to manage both deck division and the VBSS program on my second. Also, all personnel going to a PC must...

I thought that was the only mission that mattered for the VP community?

It really depends. There are some people who have never passed or even taken it. Technically, in order to be a boat officer (which is part of the OOD Underway qual) you need to pass it, but your ship and First Lieutenant will take care of that for you. You'll likely be told one day to report to...

Probably rating the quality of box lunches on each ship. I swear, every time we did RLQs or DLQs, two things would happen: RAST would break and we'd get a call up to the bridge to the tune of "Hey, you guys got any of them box lunches?" I assumed this is what the pilot looked like:

Dude, I've got the lowest and slowest tales in the Fleet. If you like these, I can share the story of my 3 day ASW exercise where in a total of 72 hours of operational watch, we had maybe 10 minutes of SONAR contact. It was edge-of-your-seat excitement the whole time, I tell you. ?

Okay, here goes: So no shit, there I was standing OOD Underway off of VACAPES. We were in hour 3 of a 5 hour UNREP and suddenly the oiler decreased speed from 13.5 to 13.1 knots. Due to my quick wits and lightning reflexes, I noticed this before any other officer on the bridge. I notified the...

Dark cover for winter wear from many, many years ago. The Navy also did this around the 1930s-1940s.

But that would require me being a nuke.

Sadly, they got rid of it a couple years ago. https://www.navytimes.com/news/your-navy/2015/08/13/out-of-date-tiara-cloak-shed-from-navy-uniform-racks/

I guess there's no way to fix that typo, eh?

This is a pretty common opinion and it stems from a misunderstanding of the division of labor aboard ships and subs. Officers are not there to turn wrenches and "get their hands dirty." We're there to manage paperwork, provide long range planning for the division/department/ship/etc., and be the...

As a guy looking at making O4 in the not too distant future and having to buy dinner dress, can we also bring back the boat cloak? You know, for morale purposes.

I think the best FDNF experience for those guys looking for work-life balance are the DDGs in Rota. They have a pretty set schedule, Sixth Fleet is pretty hands off when it comes to training cycle stuff, and Espania is cheap. I know some dudes who pooled their OHA and lived in a huge villa...

I have yet to meet someone who did a tour out in Japan and did not love it.

I would agree, but am biased as I was on independent deployers my entire SWO career. I would disagree here, but it's really a personal opinion. Fleet concentration areas can be great for the amount of SWO stuff and resources available to you but it can be difficult to "get away from the Navy"...

I'll second the MS option (It will be far more advantageous professionally), especially if the Navy/USMC will pay for it. You should have access to tuition assistance but will need to figure out connectivity problems and scheduling over different time zones. I know that there are a number of...

I recently PCS'd to CA and left my "assault weapons" back home with my folks. The "military exemptions" are murky at best and prone to being dismissed. The best answer is to reach out to the sheriff's office wherever you're going to be stationed. Otherwise, I and many of my friends recommend not...

It's likely that things have not changed much with BDOC. If your ship is CONUS, you will likely report there prior to BDOC. BDOC classes are held in Fleet concentration areas like Norfolk and San Diego. My suggestion is to focus on getting through OCS and ship selection before worrying about...

Hal is right; you're worrying about the wrong things. Your DI is likely going to RPT you in the P-way as your class is getting ready to go to the pool, then RPT you at the pool, then rush you as you are getting dressed back into NWUs or whatever after the pool, and then RPT you again after you...

I would take a DDG that's an independent deployer (all the ships in Rota, a few in each fleet concentration area) over anything. You'll get more sea time (crucial for getting qualified) and won't have to play silly strike group games (which can kill your chances of getting qualified on time). If...

SWOs regularly have billets open for hard chargers who want to be Naval Gunfire Liaison Officers (NGLOs) with ANGLICO and other Marine units. The guys I've worked with who've done it say they got some training on how to control aircraft onto target. That being said, they also spent very little...

That's a surprisingly accurate description of life on a PC or Minesweep. The rest of the Surface Fleet forgot how to have fun.

The one that will get you qualified with the least headaches.

Is this taking into account the DAWIA and LEAN-Six-Sigma training and certs? I always figured that added to our costs. All that stuff is certainly expensive in the civilian world. I honestly hadn't considered our LDO/CWO cousins. Maybe we should just admit that our engineering departments are...

There is no way they would have convinced COMNAVSO or CTF-80 to turn us around because we couldn't successfully conduct astern refueling. We heading South come hell or high water because we had a mission to do and a USCG LEDET on board to do it. If ATG had thrown a fit, there would have been...

Dude, I'm speaking from experience of what I've seen as a Surface Warfare Officer and what I know to be true about the community. I think we're just going to have to agree to disagree here. This is not uncommon in the SWO world. My ship was certified to deploy with a waiver for astern...

ATG often gets tossed the responsibility for every sort of training requirement for the ships. This is a function of the culture where we (the Surface Navy) make knee-jerk reactions to problems. Ships aren't trained adequately? Hand the job to ATG and do OJT. I guarantee no one put any thought...

Please tell me, how do you translate book knowledge into real world applicable skill? Practice. We can and do drill COLREGs knowledge constantly, from SWOS/BDOC, monthly on the ship, and even test that knowledge requiring over a 95% (IIRC) to pass. Guess what, the guys and gals who scored...

What's broken about them? These dudes are highly-competitive, aggressive, physical specimens. They are selected and trained to be the guys who can accomplish nearly anything on the battlefield. These dudes are the ideal warriors. We then put them into battle and tell them to win; and they do...

I think that isn't without warrant either. Since day one of OEF/OIF/Whatever the hell we're doing in Libya is called/Our little Syria adventure/etc. NSW and SOCOM as a whole have been at the absolute forefront with more of their time spent in the tall grass than at home. It's why they have had...

Exactly. It's why I redesignated and why many have gotten out entirely. It also why they have to offer $105k to convince people to stay in.

Those are still a thing but they get pencil-whipped pretty hard. The problem is that you have LTJGs with very little sea time teaching Ensigns with zero sea time and the Skipper or XO are not always around (due to administrative duties) to oversee it. Meanwhile, Dept Heads are too busy stabbign...

Yes, you can make it through! The caveat is that you are likely not going to do well and are also likely not to enjoy the military. I wanted to be a pilot more than anything else in the world and get NPQ'd from flight at OCS. That was a real kick in the nuts, but I also really wanted to serve my...

I thought the first rule of the secret aviator subforum was you don't talk about the secret aviator subforum?

Why not just bring back the khaki Ike Jacket? Those were comfortable, inexpensive, durable, and had plenty of history. Thank goodness I'm not a SWO anymore.

It's pretty common in the SWO world. Whether it is derogatory or not is dependent upon the person using it and/or the context. I use it to refer to aviation types in general and that's how I've most often heard it used. It's just like we call engineers "snipes," construction battalion bubbas...