How long are you waiting to class up for API?

[gparks1989]

Son just reported to Pensacola today. He was told that "all" single guys go to Corpus for primary (less one or two to Vance each class) and the married guys "all" go to Whiting. Is that true? Are there still 3 primary VT squadrons @ Whiting and only 1 in Corpus? If so, is the ratio of married to single that skewed, or are ther stray cats and dogs needing to get factored in as well, like foreign students? He is using that statement as rationale for getting a place at the beach or a more enjoyable location, but I'm cautioning him to get something in town or on Scenic Highway to keep a realistic commute if sent to Whiting. Any thoughts?

Just did my check-in brief this morning. We were told that there was not a snowball's chance in hell that single SNAs w/o follow-on orders would get sent to Whiting. An hour later, I met a single SNA w/o follow-on orders who was going to Whiting. Go figure. I'm living in East Hill, which is a good location and a good compromise in the event that I end up at Whiting.

In other news, they are only sending one Navy SNA per class to Enid. Thanks god.

 

[a-6intruder]

Thanks gparks1989. Your orders to Schools Command for Indoc, IFS, and API are written as "Temporary Duty," correct? Then will your orders to Primary be written as "Permanent Duty?" If so, will that permanent duty be from home of record to Whiting or Corpus or Enid? In the case of Whiting, would that enable you to successfully invoke the military clause to shift lodging to get closer to Whiting if desired?

East Hill is a nice place - my parents have lived there for 25 years. Are you in a house, or apartment or condo? There used to be several condos off of Creighton Blvd up by I-10 and Hwy 90 that used to be nice (25 years ago). Are they all comdemned by now?

 

[wlawr005]

This is written in my orders:

MEMBER ADVISED: AS A STUDENT NAVAL AVIATOR OR STUDENT NAVAL FLIGHT
OFFICER WITH ORDERS TO THE PENSACOLA AREA, YOU ARE REQUIRED TO LIVE
ON BOARD IF PERMANENT QUARTERS ARE AVAILABLE FOR YOUR INITIAL
TRAINING. PERSONNEL ASSIGNED TO NAS PENSACOLA MAY RECEIVE A STAMP
THAT STATES "NO QUARTERS AVAILABLE" THIS, HOWEVER, IS NOT VALID FOR
NAS WHITING FIELD. IF YOU HAVE FOLLOW-ON PCS ORDERS TO NAS
WHITING FIELD AFTER AVIATION PREFLIGHT INDOCTRINATION, YOU MUST LIVE
ON BOARD IF QUARTERS ARE AVAILABLE. DO NOT NEGOTIATE ANY LONG TERM
LEASE OR BRING LARGE AMOUNTS OF HOUSEHOLD GOODS. ALL FLIGHT STUDENTS
ASSIGNED TO NAS WHITING FIELD ARE REQUIRED TO SUBMIT A SPECIAL
REQUEST CHIT FOR BAH. PERSONNEL ASSIGNED TO NAS PENSACOLA ENTERING
INTO LEASES SHOULD ENSURE LANDLORDS HAVE A STATEMENT ON THE LEASE
THAT WOULD ALLOW THE TENANT TO BE RELEASED IF ASSIGNED TO NAS WHITING
FIELD. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT THE NAVY REGION GULF
COAST BACHELOR HOUSING CENTER AT COMM (850) 452-2755, DSN 922-2755 OR
NAS WHITING FIELD CSD AT DSN: 623-7304.

It sounds good in theory, but I don't know of anyone who has actually done it.

 

[gparks1989]

Thanks gparks1989. Your orders to Schools Command for Indoc, IFS, and API are written as "Temporary Duty," correct? Then will your orders to Primary be written as "Permanent Duty?" If so, will that permanent duty be from home of record to Whiting or Corpus or Enid? In the case of Whiting, would that enable you to successfully invoke the military clause to shift lodging to get closer to Whiting if desired?

East Hill is a nice place - my parents have lived there for 25 years. Are you in a house, or apartment or condo? There used to be several condos off of Creighton Blvd up by I-10 and Hwy 90 that used to be nice (25 years ago). Are they all comdemned by now?

My orders - as explained to me - state that my time at NASC is considered intermediate duty en route to my first duty station (i.e. primary location). I'm 99% sure that I could change my housing if I was assigned to Whiting. I do, however, have military clause clearly stated in my lease. In all likelihood, I'll remain at this address is if I get assigned to Whiting. I'm 2 minutes from I-110, just down from Cervantes. It's a bungalow/shotgun house turned into a duplex. 1 bedroom, $625 per month excluding electricity, with laundry on-site. Awesome landlord, too. Very (no more than five minute drive) close to Palafox and downtown. Nice neighborhood with character. I cannot speak to the neighborhood you referenced, however. It seems like most folks live near base, but most folks also seem to come to downtown for fun.

ALSO, the morning drive from here is easy...15mins max, which goes buy quickly when listening to NPR, BBC, Rush whatever

 

[a-6intruder]

Thanks - military clause typically stipulates if new duty station (not living address) is more than 50 miles away from old duty station, you can get out of the contract. The fact that NPA is an intermediate duty seems to suggest new orders would enable invoking military clause, but I wouldn't bank on it.

Best to encourage him to shop the East Hill area or other place w/ easy access to Whiting just in case.

 

[OscarMyers]

Anyone have any experience with NASP base housing? 1370 here with follow on to trawing 6 looking to minimize the commute.

 

[CommodoreMid]

Were you looking to get in the Q or an actual house on base? Can't speak to the actual houses, but don't bother with the Q. If you're looking for a ridiculously short commute during primary then stay with every other JO out in one of the many apartment complexes out the back gate. If I had to do it over again I would have tried to find a place downtown since the people I knew there didn't have a very long commute overall and were in walking distance of the bars.

 

[navjack]

a-6intruder- I've been in Corpus for a few months. They did send almost all of the single Navy guys to corpus and all but one married guy to Whiting from my class. Some single marines went to Whiting. I think two guys went to vance (volunteered..?). My orders were intermediate duty to Pcola and then when I got sent to Corpus they rewrote the exact same orders (number and everything) but this time they included the follow-on destination of Corpus. That PDS was from home of record, not PCola. The general consensus was that it was done that way to dodge paying pcola studs perdiem while we went to the beach in apool. Your son can plan on having a full home of record move to corpus. That is, of course, unless they decide to do something randomly awful. As one of the IRR heroes from last year I am all too familiar with that possibility.

I can't speak to this definitively, but I feel like I remember most of the guys who were going to Whiting had been told so before arriving at pcola and their orders to API were PCS, not I-stop. The detailer was hounding all of us while we were on IRR to let him know if we were married before he cut orders- presumably so he could identify guys who needed the Whiting orders.

 

[OscarMyers]

Were you looking to get in the Q or an actual house on base? Can't speak to the actual houses, but don't bother with the Q. If you're looking for a ridiculously short commute during primary then stay with every other JO out in one of the many apartment complexes out the back gate. If I had to do it over again I would have tried to find a place downtown since the people I knew there didn't have a very long commute overall and were in walking distance of the bars.

Yeah, I'm rolling pretty deep with the wife + 1 and another on the way so an apt is out of the question. Just wondering if the housing is worth looking into. Probably gonna head out there next month for house hunting leave. I commission aug 20th and pcs early sep.

 

[a-6intruder]

Thanks NavJack! Gonna step out and let him figure it out on his own from here...

 

[benjefv]

Maybe a little off topic, but how many days are you guys getting for travel time to get from Newport to Pensacola?

From Newport it was:

4 days travel + 17 days leave = 21 total days.

If you don't have 17 days of leave, then you will be allowed to go into the negative if you want to take all 17 days.

 

[shutout39]

Very good to know prior to reporting to OCS. Do you have to take all 17 for reporting purposes or did they say you can take up to that many days? Thank you.

Up to 21 days total (4+ 17, as posted above). If you're not there after 21 days you will be considered AWOL. So, no you are not required to take any leave if you're here in 4 days. I would recommend getting here as soon as possible. Its already crammed and wait times are about 4 months to class up, but life doesn't get any better. As someone posted earlier, you show up in the morning not looking like butt, sign a sheet of paper and the rest of the day do whatever you want.

 

[shutout39]

Thanks for the extra information. I'll be driving and have some plans I need to see through before Pensacola but certainly don't need three weeks. Would you happen to know if they are letting students with spouses do a PCS prior to API? I would hope they are allowing this especially with this four month wait time I'm hearing about.

Yes, married guys are the only ones getting PCS down here and that's only because you should already have follow on orders to Milton. Just go to the base nearest you and they should be able to set it up. I did a DITY so I can't shed too much light on PCS, just know that my buddy is doing it now.

 

[Stalin]

Just classed up for API, either Corpus is getting kinda full or Whiting is opening up, either way, they are sending some single guys to CC and some to Whiting. Don't know how long that will last, but I think we're the first class this has happened to in a while. Also, I hear that any day now the Vance slots are going away, but that's just what a LT said so who knows

 

[Kilo411]

Just wondering if anyone has any updates on class up times. I've heard whispers of a 2-month delay due to pool repairs?

I'll be reporting to NASP on August 3rd. (Side-note, how do people feel about Countrywood@Blue Angel?)