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SWO and relationships
- Thread starter nikki4
- Start date
exNavyOffRec
Well-Known Member
If they are trying to co-locate in Everett well good luck, even if that happened those ships are rarely inport at the same time, one of my Divo's was co-located with her husband (both were on CVN's as SWO-N) and due to schedules they saw each other exactly once in 1 year!
oh, and they are no longer married to each other.
Dual-mil on sea duty is a rough life. The OP will find that there's no way PERS will short-cycle her 1st tour DIVO boyfriend by a year (or at all), so she'll be by herself in Everett for at least a year. Only 5ish ships in Everett - so not a good Co-Lo location for SWOs anyway. Norfolk and San Diego would be the prime locations for that.
Aluroon
SWO
Six ships up there now, but there's talk of adding more. The larger issue is those Everett billets are in high demand. If you're not a 1 of X / hard break out against your peers on your FITREP good luck landing those slots. Unless you want to be a DCA I guess....
exNavyOffRec
Well-Known Member
They just announced the Shoop is leaving Everett, didn't announce a replacement.
Aluroon
SWO
Honestly? Good. That base lacks the facilities to support DDGs. They need to put the LCS up there and move all the destroyers back to SD.
What exactly did you find lacking? Honestly just curious.
It’d be great to kick LCS out of SD, they eat an absurd amount of base infrastructure, but even if they could, LCS would probably struggle to operate in PACNORWEST sea states.
Corrected your post for you.
Aluroon
SWO
You're not wrong, but while it's great for the staff it's trash for the ships (see below).
Keep in mind that this is just one opinion, but...
The largest issue was the lack of support for the combat systems side of the house. Essentially every tech had to be flown in, and few of them wanted to stay for extended periods of time. Coming out of a yard period with a baseline upgrade made for some interesting times for the FCA types when there was essentially no one that the (very junior) CSMM could ask for help - made worse by a very junior STO (with no AEGIS experience). Credit to those guys for busting their ass to get the systems operational and run down the various ghosts and bugs that plagued them. There were a lot of really late nights and weekends for them.
Beyond that, the entire material condition of the ships suffers as a result of both poor conditions (150+ days of rain a year) and limited support from IMF (not enough personnel, pretty firm on everything requiring screening 1-3+ months out so they can fight for their manning, vice the massive SWRMC pool). Lots of things that just can't be done up there (i.e. certifying your welders, keeping them current), and various QA requirements for ships.
Training and crew also suffers because ATGPNW doesn't know much about AEGIS, and many basic phase events are conducted in San Diego (enjoy your Friday underway for start of activities on Monday, transit back Friday to Monday into a normal work week - if you come back at all). There were ships that were literally away from home port for 8 weeks during basic phase in and out of San Diego trying to get their systems working and complete events.
After those cert issues, there's just general quality of life in terms of personal support. The base gym is great, and the mini-NEX is decent for a small base, but the NEX/COM are both like 15 miles north of the base (into heavy traffic), and there's nowhere close to enough medical providers available to support ships and basic, routine, medical procedures.
Just overall the base, while physically nice (the view is amazing), isn't set up for DDGs. And lets not talk about the outbound transit with the new NAVDORM requirements...
They're trying to make it better - and it has gotten marginally better over time - but that base was essentially stood down when they finished with tie frigates, and it's still trying to figure out again how to be a naval base and support operational ships.
exNavyOffRec
Well-Known Member
Having worked at an IMF the material condition of ships suffers more in the hot environments, much more corrosion issues, and not just for ships but subs also, the subs coming out of Kings Bay for refits were not in good shape.
The original plan was for the NEX/COM to be right next to the base where the Kimberly-Clark was, it was for sale and the only thing that could stand in the way was should a company want to buy the plant and keep it open, and that is what happened K-C bought it and kept it running, until they closed, and now it is a big vacant lot.
gabriellehale
Well-Known Member
Hey guys.. just passed my OAR and going for SWO... leaving for OCS in november.. getting married in october.. any advice or anything anyone wants to add? how long were you at sea and how often did you see your spouse during that time
Congratulations. Good luck.