El Toro was awesome in the 80’s and early 90’s. Ended up in Fallon and still there 30 years later. If you enjoy an outdoor life style, you will be able to make the most of it. If your wife needs malls and traffic, probably won’t be for you.
Look, you're never going to eliminate the bad deal orders or the fact that our jobs take us to terrible places. Could detailing be better? Yes. Will it ever be perfect? Absolutely Not. Could detailers try harder? I don't think so. The best thing we could do is extend tours and try and homestead people more but that requires changing the Golden Path™ for command and promotion. There's only so much that can be done.I don't expect the Navy to completely bend over backwards for the defense attorneys. It's the military and there are inherent sacrifices. But the instability of the military and some atrocious duty stations is disruptive to a lot of careers, particularly those that require licensing. And while remote work has grown significantly, you're still overselling it as a panacea. I have had great difficulty finding a remote/hybrid job in my chosen industry because I'm living somewhere professionally disadvantageous, but good for my wife's career. But we can actually have discussions about professional trade offs because an unknown variable isn't going to fly into my inbox from Millington.
If the Navy believes or knows that there is a recruitment and manning issue, they have to address all factors. I know people whose spouses had careers that were disrupted by PCS moves to places like Fallon. Those moves cost the families six figures in lost earnings which is a big number to a lot of people. And their skillset didn't translate into the remote work options, and there weren't opportunities in the new duty station. Sure they could go work at a Starbucks. But at the very least, it would have been nice for that factor to be included in either the detailing discussion or decision. And I'm not talking about someone who curates a basketweaving museum or something uber niche.
Now, everything I'm saying is anecdata. So perhaps I'm overselling the issue. Or the Navy is addressing it. But the question is often brought up about why do people leave the Navy, and this element is a big one in my mind.
EDIT
I will note that my community had better luck than most when it came to stability and spousal careers. Plenty of folks who have stayed in one spot for ~12 years before they PCS to a new duty station. But that's more happenstance than anything else.
I believe it's all very community dependent. As a SWO, they would as for my top 20 choices and then give me #25. We actually had an entire YG of Dept Heads who got their orders changed on them once they got to DH School. It was brutal.Anecdotes can still be valuable data and I don't think you're overselling it. In my case (admittedly a couple of years time-late), the Navy did address it by saying, "Well, that's not my problem. That doesn't factor into the detailing."
I believe it was all part of the deal to BRAC both El Toro and Long Beach Naval Shipyard.I'm not sure who the Marine general was that snookered the Navy into abandoning Miramar in the 90's, but I thank him.
Glad I was never stationed at MCAS El Centro.
Jokes aside, it seems like the DoD/Congress as a whole needs to step up its game on base infrastructure. Never been to Lemoore, but from the comments it sounds bleak.
El Toro was awesome. I remember going there for one of their last air shows as a kid. I also went to the last Navy Day that LBNSY ever threw.I've heard good things about El Toro and Tustin.
Never been, but I'm sure they're better than New River. Just waiting for an advertisement from a TV lawyer to collect on a class-action settlement due to the water supply.😆
Hell no! Screw the desert. The best duty stations in California are either Point Mugu, Port Hueneme, or NSWC Corona. They're hidden gems.I was and am a China Lake fan. Make it through a year, and the desert gets into the blood.
So, your assertion that fixing the human capital problem should be our #1 focus as a nation right now and will make substantive contributions to labor force numbers, taxes, debt & deficits? Are you satisfied that the manner in which we are conducting immigration policy in this country is appropriate and necessary?
Why are you so angry at Boomers?![]()
I'll let a VUP-19 bubba answer your question specifically. I may have a few ppt slides during my time at N98. One of the interesting things that arose was/is the complexity of the network from the control stations in Jax to the A/C while flying. The N2/N6 folks struggled with a host of issues, not the least of which was trying to identify anomalies, and their specific location in the network. I had no idea how much of the terrestrial network is owned by private corporations (VZ/ATT, etc).This is probably a dumb question because I know literally nothing about UAV… do they need someone in the local area to control the UAV for more “dynamic” parts of flight like takeoff/landing/maneuvering due to latency from being half way across the world? Or can it truly be done 100% remote?
Depends on how you define "future." There remains a tremendous amount of very aspirational thinking in how those goals are achieved - particularly with the looming budget constraints.Carrier Aviation (TACAIR) will be a 50/50 Blended Flight Deck of manned/unmanned aircraft in the future
This is probably a dumb question because I know literally nothing about UAV… do they need someone in the local area to control the UAV for more “dynamic” parts of flight like takeoff/landing/maneuvering due to latency from being half way across the world? Or can it truly be done 100% remote?
I've only been there on pre-employment workups, like most. Great training environment, especially when alcohol was allowed in the huts...
I do remember stories of dudes with families planning their PCS drives onto base at night...bc that's a long drive into nothing, and didn't want their wife to cry.
It's just like any change though. Some dudes get into the desert lifestyle.
It's still SoCal baby!
I liked it there too. Kind of an odd “middle of nowhere” vibe considering its proximity to Los Angeles. Great surfing too at a private break.Point Mugu,
Ventura County is the best part of CaliforniaI liked it there too. Kind of an odd “middle of nowhere” vibe considering its proximity to Los Angeles. Great surfing too at a private break.
Those networking issues are not necessarily a corporate issue. Let's just say that the DoN and the larger DISA network are extremely complicated and set up in such a way as to make troubleshooting nearly impossible.I'll let a VUP-19 bubba answer your question specifically. I may have a few ppt slides during my time at N98. One of the interesting things that arose was/is the complexity of the network from the control stations in Jax to the A/C while flying. The N2/N6 folks struggled with a host of issues, not the least of which was trying to identify anomalies, and their specific location in the network. I had no idea how much of the terrestrial network is owned by private corporations (VZ/ATT, etc).
Old article - but discusses the main operating base at NAS Jax.
As an aside, and I'm not exactly sure how to express this as a relatively lay IT person, but I'm wondering if it's possible to design a computer network that isn't subject to a never-ending stream of vulnerabilities, patching, scanning, cybersecurity requirements, etc. Let's throw out Ethernet, routers, TCP/IP and the entire OSI model and start from scratch. We spend so much time and energy with cybersecurity. Seems like we should be striving for better solutions.Those networking issues are not necessarily a corporate issue. Let's just say that the DoN and the larger DISA network are extremely complicated and set up in such a way as to make troubleshooting nearly impossible.
I think this is good advice; however, I will add some caveats or a counterpoint from the detailer perspective. In theory, the detailer should have a global and dispassionate view of staffing billets. In theory.Detailers can absolutely try harder. I lined up a post DH job with the blessing of the O6 CO. I then showed that correspondence to my detailer who didn't even acknowledge it and said I would only be eligible for these "critical billets" that I had zero interest in filling. I emailed the O6, he went to Placement, and I got those orders I wanted.
Bottom line, the detailer is only your advocate when their plan lines up with yours, not the other way around. Always work your next set of orders on the side and present BUPERS with your plan. If you find yourself in the same situation I did, have your desired future command work with placement.
Yep. Most don't understand the complexity of what they are asking for with coupled-up, unmanned wingmen since their iPhone can do everything to keep them satisfied on the toilet. I maintain that Naval Aviation will only be rejuvenated when all enemies can no longer use secure data transfer and secure datalink because everyone knows the exploits ... not to discount the reverse engineering that will occur as we lose those physical assets in a combat theatre. Hopefully we can maintain the ability to produce ships, aircraft and munitions once these areas are compromised so they aren't simply obsolete upon design. That's WHY defense of that domain should receive tons of funding.Depends on how you define "future." There remains a tremendous amount of very aspirational thinking in how those goals are achieved - particularly with the looming budget constraints.
Yeah, I know. I didn't want to get too much in the weeds . . .Those networking issues are not necessarily a corporate issue. Let's just say that the DoN and the larger DISA network are extremely complicated and set up in such a way as to make troubleshooting nearly impossible.