1) When exactly does BAH pay start? I thought I heard/read at one point that we'd get it at OCS, but NavyCS says "Housing allowance is payable when government quarters are not provided or when temporarily residing in barracks." Since they have BOQ at Newport (and presumably at Pensacola after that for API), when do you start receiving BAH as an SNA/NFO?
2) I've heard about a dream sheet where we list what platform we'd like, and if our grades are good enough in flight school we just might get it. When would we fill out this dream sheet, and what other stuff can you put on it? (I imagine for one thing, where we'd like to be stationed, platform-dependent of course.)
1. I never got BAH until I was commissioned. I was an NROTC guy, so somewhat different deal, but I'd expect that you won't get it at OCS.
2. There are various points in flight school where you get to put in a "dream sheet". The first one is at the end of primary, where you get to request follow on orders to one of the various advanced training pipelines.....ie jets/tailhook, helos, P-3's, or E-6's (these being choices for Navy guys specifically). Grades, needs of the Navy, and your desires all factor in here. I can't speak to anything other than tailhook, as that is what I did, but from there, I went through intermediate jets. After that, they pulled a few folks for E2's or C2's, and the rest of us continued into advanced/strike training. At the end of that, you got to fill out another "dream sheet" which was basically what RAG you wanted to go to. Hornets East/West/Miramar, Rhinos East/West, Prowlers or Growlers. This seemed to be a lot less based on grades, and mostly what the Navy needed, at least in my personal experience. From there, you get winged and go to the RAG. Once you finish the RAG, you once again have a chance to kind of sort of ask for a fleet assignment......for the Navy guys in my RAG class, it was basically "do you want Lemoore or Oceana?" Beyond that was pretty much a crap shoot, and almost entirely dependent on what squadrons needed dudes, and whether you were PRI-A or not. Anyway, probably not worth worrying about right now. It used to drive my then girlfriend/now wife crazy when all I could tell her (during primary) was....."well I might end up basically anywhere". Then once I was in T-45's, it was "well I might be in Lemoore, Oceana, or Japan". Then in the RAG, I could say "it's going to be Lemoore or Oceana"......and finally, a couple weeks after I finished the RAG, the XO told me "hey you're going to Oceana" and I could finally, nearly 4 years later, tell the wife....."hey we're going to Oceana". She said "how long?"......"well, about 3 years"......"so where will we go after that?"......"pretty much anywhere"......