SWO question

[skim]

After OCS, where exactly does a new Ensign go? I have heard of SWOS, and was wondering if anyone familiar with it please chime in.

Do you go to SWOS directly after OCS or do you get assigned to a ship?

Thanks.

P.s. If I first report to a ship, how long am I assigned there? Would it be for a full tour before going to SWOS or only as a stash spot for a few months?

 

[BACONATOR]

You go to a boat. I have a bunch of classmates currently on DDGs and the like.

 

[skim]

So that is where you get you pin? Glad you mentioned the DDGs, thats what I want.

 

[BACONATOR]

I know a few folks on DDGs and possibly a couple on FFG? I know theres a swo or two from the class behind mine that can better answer this question. Where are ya red?

 

[BigIron]

I think you get qual'd (OOD underway and related PQSs) on the ship, but only get your pin after attending the SWO school in Newport, RI.

They live a very different existence than me on our ship. Then there are the reactor SWOs. They spend a lot of time with notebooks, portable dry-erase boards and endless hours of fast cruising.

 

[Goob83]

what exactly does your recruiter do? he does not answer questions and certainly he is not proactive.

After OCS, where exactly does a new Ensign go? I have heard of SWOS, and was wondering if anyone familiar with it please chime in.

Do you go to SWOS directly after OCS or do you get assigned to a ship?

Thanks.

P.s. If I first report to a ship, how long am I assigned there? Would it be for a full tour before going to SWOS or only as a stash spot for a few months?

 

[skim]

I will pm you.

 

[Gatordev]

What I was seeing was guys came to the boat, did computer courseware for a while, then went TAD to SWOS at some point. During my first deployment, we had two individuals that were from the first wave of commissionees who didn't go to SWOS. By the time I was on my second deployment, those two were getting pinned mid-deployment, about 1 1/2 years later. They came late into the first deployment.

 

[eddie]

Who's going to RIVRON at the JO level? Is it still a second tour thing?

 

[HeyJoe]

Who's going to RIVRON at the JO level? Is it still a second tour thing?

Speaking of RIVRON - Just bumped into first aviator assigned to RIVRON (MH-60 LCDR). Special Boat Unit at Little Creek gets their first aviator in Spring (just detached from VFA-11)

 

[HH-60H]

Speaking of RIVRON - Just bumped into first aviator assigned to RIVRON (MH-60 LCDR). Special Boat Unit at Little Creek gets their first aviator in Spring (just detached from VFA-11)

Do they have aviator duties? Aviation coordination, ops, etc.

 

[HeyJoe]

Do they have aviator duties? Aviation coordination, ops, etc.

Only the former has reported and he just got there. Met him at a UAV/USV/UUV family of systems demo last week and he was still getting settled in. I expect to cross paths again with both so maybe the job will be more defined by then.

 

[BigIron]

Smells like a disassociated tour.

 

[flyingswodaddy]

After OCS, where exactly does a new Ensign go? I have heard of SWOS, and was wondering if anyone familiar with it please chime in.

Do you go to SWOS directly after OCS or do you get assigned to a ship?

Thanks.

P.s. If I first report to a ship, how long am I assigned there? Would it be for a full tour before going to SWOS or only as a stash spot for a few months?

Phrogie's got the basics of swo divo tours down pretty much. Because SWOS is no longer a 6 month course, the material you learned in a classroom in Newpot RI is now being taught on the ships through CD's, at least it was a year or so ago. Each command has a different philosophy with SWOS-in-a-Box. Some commands have formal training plans, others don't care as much and expect you to complete the courseware on your own.
Typically you get sent to the abbreviated SWOS symposium after you have at least obtained your OOD underway letter. Once you come back, your next event should be your SWO board for your pin. Most commands want you to get your pin by 18 months, because if you don't, the command looks bad and therefore so do you.

Your first tour consist of basically 3 parts:

1) Divo Job. You could be just about anything, DH's can get pretty creative in making up jobs for divo's. Some typical first tours in CRUDES are ASWO (anti-sub guy), GUNNO (gun guy), ELECO (electrical guy), 1ST LT (topside deck guy), COMMO (communications guy), or assistant to a DH or 2nd tour divo. Jobs can range from not to bad to the worst hell you'll ever know depending on the people above and below you. Just do your best and try to stay positive.

2) Personal Qualifications. When you first arrive you will be qualified in nothing, so your usefulness to the ship will be limited. But don't worry, the ship won't let you stay that way for long. Big ticket qualifications to get on your first tour are: OOD inport, CIC watch officer/Surface Warfare Coordinator, OOD underway, SWO pin. If you are really hard core and have a chance to get em: Command Duty Officer letter, Engineering Officer of the Watch (EOOW) letter, and Tactical Action Officer letter. Biggest thing to note, Necessity is the mother of all qualifications, when the ship needs you qualified, you'll get qualified. If the ship doesn't need you qualified, you'll have a much harder time getting qualified.

3) Duty/Watch Standing. From the day you check on the ship, you will be on the watch bill standing a watch, as a U/I if you're not qualified yet. This will take up a good chunk of your day/night. In port, you'll have duty about every 4-6 days. On duty days you're on the ship 24 hours and stand watch anywhere from 5-12 hours during that period. Underway you'll be in a watch section. Just about every ship does things differently but expect at least 8 hours of watch in a 24 hour period.

If you have any other questions about divo or ddg life, let me know.

 

[Uncle Fester]

No more SWOS? Wow. That's a harsh toke. Six months in Newport was about the only perk of being a JO SWO. Of course, the vast majority of the coursework was useless - my personal fave was a two-hour course on cable runs, maximum number of cables in a bundle, routing etc, capped off with a statement to the effect of, of course you can't do anything about existing cable runs on the ship, so never mind all this - but six months of easy school in a great drinking town? Good bull there.

Oh, well. Away the morale suppression team.

On the other hand, RIVRONs seem like it'd be interesting work. Motoring around the Euphrates muttering Apocalypse Now quotes to yourself. Hadji don't surf!