I would be mentally prepared for a minimum of a year on a ship. Right now PERS has been adjusting shore tours as short as they legally can (I was told minimum of 24 months from an E-2 FRS friend) to preserve that year of sea duty eligibility.
Also you mentioned your unique situation, but (just being honest here) you have described the exact situation of basically every (non-prior enlisted) helo and big wing aviator that I know right now (ie the folks that are staying in because they are already too close to 20 to justify leaving). I only say that because the detailer certainly won’t see it as unique and as previously mentioned he/ she can just go in and manually adjust your PRD as suits their needs. I’ve literally seen a detailer do exactly that on his laptop and let a friend extend to MSR at the FRS. So again they can do it, but that was another “special case”.
In terms of planning out the end of your next sea tour, a friend currently in a MCM staff job on the west coast is getting Skillbridge and 60 days of terminal leave, but aviators where I am (a ship in Norfolk) are not having Skillbridge approved and getting a maximum of 30 days of terminal leave. For clarity, I’m certainly not saying pick your orders based on that but it’s another data point. When I was up for orders the detailer had a “lot” of San Diego options but only bad Norfolk options and since I wanted Norfolk that was my choice. Things can also change fast - especially with more and more JOs choosing to just do one year and get out ASAP - so the land of good deals now may not be so in 6 months or a year.
The major issue with the Skillbridge program is that the ‘losing’ command has to agree to gap a billet for however long Skillbridge is approved for, and with manning already very very bad many COs are not willing to accept yet another loss in manning to make the transition out a little bit easier. And I’ve known folks who have snuck good deals through (C-12 overseas or PEP flying tours) and even then those seemed like miraculous drug deals to negotiate and get approved. The standard post shore tour assignment is now largely a boat because of the aforementioned large number of gapped sea duty billets and you have to have a pretty convincing reason (example: you your self are pregnant and therefore are unable to pass sea duty screening) to wriggle out of anything likely coming your way.
So hope for the best and certainly ask early and often, but in the current climate I would not expect anyone to do anything to make this last tour any easier on you or the family. I hate writing that but it is what it is.. For me it took understanding that no matter how well or poorly I performed during my prior assignment this job would be waiting for me - it isn’t great, but it also isn’t permanent! Good luck and keep us posted.
