I must say that for aviation, it's a game of "I've got a secret"... and being the lowly LT, unless you have a sneaky hookup like Gatordev, you aren't going to see the whole spread of available orders. I will concur that it appears that black shoes have a better program going. All my peers (mind you I am at a command with black shoes, nukes) get to browse and look at the available orders for their first shore tour. They pretty much get told where to go when they go back to submarines (those that decide to do it, the others, well, if you have a commitment, off to an IA billet my friend).
Pittflyer, some of what Brett and Gator alluded to, for your first shore tour orders you go through your XO and CO. XO does the talking to the detailer for you, woe be the young LT that decides to contact the detailer without going through the man. Basically, you go see the XO, a couple things can happen:
1) YOU ARE THE SECOND COMING AND FUTURE OF NAVAL AVIATION. You are basically told, I arranged orders for you, and here is where you are going. Of course you can pull out the shotgun, and shoot yourself in the foot, "nah skipper/XO, I was thinking this instead"....
2) GO-TO GUY/GAL, AND DIDN'T MANAGE TO FAIL A BOARD/CRASH A PLANE/OR GET CAUGHT WITH YOUR HAND IN A COOKIE JAR. The XO asks where you want to go, discusses what's available, and then takes your input and goes to the detailer to get the orders for you. "Detailer, this xo of sqdrn blah blah blah, LT Brett327 is the shiznit, and really needs to be taken care of and placed in these orders"
3) COMMAND DOESN'T CARE. You didn't quite manage to kill anyone, but face it, you were JOE DIRT in your squadron. You talk to the MAN, and basically he says, "sure, got it, you can go ahead and talk to the detailer" (but I am not helping you get those orders).... Detailer gets contacted by you, takes your request, billet is available but XX number of ppl are asking for it or slots to it, and calls your XO, who responds "Detailer, LT Gatordev barely showed up for work, always had the tan going on here in Hawaii, and I seriously wondered who the fvck let him into Naval Aviation, I am not going to waste a silver bullet on him, send him wher eyou want to..."
4) DAMN YOUR SCREWED. It's hardfill season, and the XO has you in his sights. Unless you do some fast talking, whine, moan, or otherwise convice the powers that be, NOT to send you, you are going somewhere you probably don't want to go, all the while hearing such key phrases as "it's career enhancing", "you will get taken care of on your next set of orders", and the ever favorite "you will be helping out the community".
There is another list out there, called the "bubbas list", at least for VP, that gives you a break down of everyone in the community, where they are at, where they are going next, lineal number, and what screen group they are in. Mine is about a year and a half old, and unless you are on the buddy hook up list, you are basically clueless.
Bottom line, talk to your peers, DHs, and keep your ears open. Find out about your community, what are the good deals, what are the bad ones. Some orders take alot of smoozing ahead of time (VP: PEP Australia anyone?), others depend on whether they are taking IPs (T34s). Also, when the detailers come to town, they usually schedule trips to each coast, and to FDNF, go attend the brief, you will learn a thing or two (maybe not what you want to hear).
John
