Wanted: Advice for a SWO in choosing a ship out of OCS

[serda07]

I am graduating OCS as a SWO in 2 weeks and have 2nd choice of where to get stationed. My choices are Mayport, FL, Pearl Harbor, HI, Norfolk, VA, Everett, WA, or San Diego, CA. I am thinking I want to go to the West coast, San Diego, CA (MCM True Constant) or Everett, WA (DDG 92 Momsen).

Again, I am not sure the best way to choose between these two ships or any of the locations above. I was wondering if anyone had any advice on deployment schedule or base locations that might be helpful in my decision. I am married and will have a baby in August.

Any help will be appreciated. I know the fleet in San Diego is larger than WA- would that make a difference?

 

[navy09]

Sailorbob.com has a bunch of advice on ship selection. Do some real research on Minesweeps if you're considering them. IMO, you can't go wrong with a DDG (flt IIA at that).

 

[swerdna]

I am graduating OCS as a SWO in 2 weeks and have 2nd choice of where to get stationed. My choices are Mayport, FL, Pearl Harbor, HI, Norfolk, VA, Everett, WA, or San Diego, CA. I am thinking I want to go to the West coast, San Diego, CA (MCM True Constant) or Everett, WA (DDG 92 Momsen).

Again, I am not sure the best way to choose between these two ships or any of the locations above. I was wondering if anyone had any advice on deployment schedule or base locations that might be helpful in my decision. I am married and will have a baby in August.

Any help will be appreciated. I know the fleet in San Diego is larger than WA- would that make a difference?

There is actually a thread here about Naval Station Everett, with a lot of good info.

http://www.airwarriors.com/forum/showthread.php?t=146976

PM me if you have any questions about the area.

 

[serda07]

I have searched sailorbob.com and cannot find much information comparing a DDG to a MCM as far as deployment schedules are concerned.

Thanks for the input- I will keep searching.

 

[navy09]

That's a good question, you should post it in there.

 

[serda07]

Everyone seems to lean towards the DDG- any reason in particular?

 

[navy09]

PSW (and others on here) obviously knows a lot more than I do. That said, the conventional wisdom is that it's a newer platform so there are fewer material issues. DDGs/AEGIS will likely be around for the rest of your career, same can't be said for 'Sweeps. It'll give you a broader view of all surface warfare and 'Big Navy' missions. More senior CO/ bosses. DDGs will have more money/funding (supposedly, I've just read this).

Personally, MCM is the only class I'd have gone anywhere to avoid. I fail to see anything cool about them (unlike with the CRUDES and Amphib ships).

 

[FormerRecruitingGuru]

When it was my turn to ship select, I was given essentially the offer to pick a MCM (rotational crew) out of San Diego (hometown), or a plethora of CRUDES ships out of Norfolk.

I took the latter.

 

[Flash]

Everyone seems to lean towards the DDG- any reason in particular?

Bigger guns, more missiles and better looking. Need any more reasons?

 

[Uncle Fester]

The CW on Sweeps when I was a Shoe was that it was a terrible tour for a non-SPECOPS type. A buddy of mine from USNA went because he wanted to transition to EOD and figured it'd be a good way to get an "in" to the communty. Ran into him a year later in Corpus and he was miserable. Since it's a SPECOPS-run community, it was pretty easy for them to dump off the shitty jobs on the straight SWO types.

Of course, I hear SPECOPS has been load-shedding the Sweeping these last few years, so things may have changed. Still, for a new SWOlet you can't go too wrong with CRUDES (DDG/FFG/CG).

As a ROT, the smaller the wardroom, the better. It's all about getting your signoffs and boards in that first year, and it's all the better for you if the Senior Watch Officer knows what you need so he can get you on the watchbills. Plus, if there are less of you trying to get on the watchbill, also good for you.

Frigates are underrated. I had a pretty miserable ship, but it's still interesting work. Lots of independant steaming, doing some of the weird missions of the Navy (Narc work, VBSS, etc) that the fancy boats can't or won't or don't do.

 

[The Renegade]

Everyone seems to lean towards the DDG- any reason in particular?

Wardroom size of about 33 to 35 (from what I remember during my time on a DDG - 4yrs ago), so their are more senior, more experienced ship drives available to teach you what you need to know (navigation and ship driving) for your second follow-on J.O. ship tour. You also have the latest in BMD (Ballistic Missile Defense) weapons systems (to gain better war fighting knowledge), larger and more modern engineering platform (most SWOs get their EOOW qual their first tour - a must have going into your second J.O. tour).

I was also on an ARS (SALVOR), which was a lot smaller (crew of 105 compared to 330 on a DDG) and it seemed to me that we used celestial navigation more then my time on the DDG. Not because the ARS didn't have modern navigation equipment, but because (I'm guessing) the smaller wardroom allowed for more in-depth training. celestial nav is a lost art not many practice anymore... so if they don't practice it on your next ship, pick the brain of QMC if your luck to have one (big Navy is taking them off DDGs and making it a QM1 billet for some reason), I think it will make you that much better as a SWO.


Just my .02

 

[Uncle Fester]

Homeport makes ALL the difference. Two years on the Ship from Hell, but it was okay because I lived in San Diego. Drive home from a day spent getting beaten with reeds...past Mission Bay Park and all the ladies rollerblading in bikinis...it's always sunny and 72. By the time you get home, all's well.

 

[eddie]

And Ticos?

 

[Uncle Fester]

And Ticos?

Big boat, lots of toys, lots of Ensigns, you're all about air defense and more or less permanently attached to the carrier.

Remeber when I said it was all about signoffs? A lot of those require you actually do, not just knowledge items. On an independant-steaming boat, the Captain has a lot of leeway to go do things because he wants to, e.g., on deployment there were about four of us who needed to conn to anchoring, so the CO decided to head off to some shallows and go run anchoring drills. Can't do that when you're the Boat's shotgun cruiser.

OTOH, a firend of mine at SWOS went to Port Royal and had a blast. He said they were the duty cruiser for the PMTF. That's why they were tapped to do the satellite shootdown - they had the most experience with crazy LINEBACKER stuff.

Vincennes never deploys to the Gulf any more, for obvious (political) reasons.

 

[The Renegade]

OTOH, a firend of mine at SWOS went to Port Royal and had a blast. He said they were the duty cruiser for the PMTF. That's why they were tapped to do the satellite shootdown - they had the most experience with crazy LINEBACKER stuff.

I'm guessing that was before the Port Royal ran ground (or corral??) and before the string of incidents in the surface fleet . With that said, which ever ship you decide make sure you get as much time on the con as you can get! BUT get just as much if not more training on plotting and navigating so you can know where you are driving that ship.