Duty station & MOS selection (ground)

[muc1]

Is duty station assignment part of the (ground) MOS selection / assignment process at TBS or does that occur at the MOS school?

How much 'influence' does one have with respect to duty station? Can a coast be selected? Can an individual base (i.e. - Camp Pendleton) be requested if there is an open slot for one's MOS - or is it a crap shoot?

If this was already covered, could you direct me to the thread; my search didn't find anything recent...

 

[Taxman2A]

Duty station selection for the most part goes on at TBS. It is different from MOS selection in that your MOS's monitor has all the say in where you go. The way most ground MOS's work, you will submit a wish list that ranks 1-4 the places you want to go: West Coast, East Coast, Hawaii, and Overseas. Overseas meaning Japan of course. Lets say you get the MOS of 1302 (Combat Engineer). There is a Captain serving a B-Billet of Company Grade 1302 monitor who is given fleet requirements, and is tasked with making sure those requirements are met. He will most likely take all 10 Combat Engineer Lt's, rank them based on TBS standing, and then give them the choice that best corresponds to their wishes. Maybe he doesn't do it that way, maybe he just tries to get everyone their highest choice regardless of TBS ranking. Maybe your monitor will pull you all into a room and have you decide for yourselves.

Special circumstances can be made for Lt's with family needs (dad is dying of heart disease so you want to be stationed at Pendleton so you can take care of him, wife is a Marine stationed here, so you need to be stationed with her), etc. At TBS you will have a chance to submit a letter if you have special needs, and all possible accomodations will be made for you (this doesnt guarantee you get the duty station you want).

The only ground MOS that didn't know duty stations before graduation were the 0302's. They didnt find out where they were going until sometime during IOC.

 

[muc1]

Thanks Taxman2A.

Just to close this question out (for me):

For 0302's (MOS 0302, Infantry Officer (I)), can duty station be influenced in a similar manner as you described above during IOC (Infantry Officer Course)?

 

[Taxman2A]

0302's go through the same procedures for duty station selection as the other ground officers, it's just that they don't get their final answers as to where they are going until IOC. So, I'm sure that they try to make the same accomodations. Just keep in mind though that there is no guarantee that you will get anything even with extenuating circumstances.

Pendleton may seem like a huge base with hundreds of spots for Lts, and you may have a reason that you need one of those spots, but you still may not get it. You will have more say in where you are going in future tours.