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Yet another DCA Thread

HercDriver said:
Are you still trying to get stationed in Hawaii? Let us know what the detailer passes to you for options.
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Not looking at Hawaii anymore, the wife had to extend here in DC for a year. She and I sat down last night and made a list of duty stations (from the USCG website) that are anywhere from feasible to semi-feasible (under 3 hours away from where she can get stationed). Ended up with 3 HH-60 duty stations and 7 HH-65 duty stations. She's going to talk to her mentor, XO and CO today and map out a career path for her based on those duty stations/platforms, and then I'll be ready with my top choices for the detailer. Truth be told, I'm kind of leaning towards HH-60's out of E-City. But that's just me.
 
phrogpilot73 said:
I need to borrow your crystal ball sometime because it seems you can see into the future... I just got off the phone with the DCA Coordinator at Coast Guard Recruiting Command, you may now call me: LTJG, USCG

To sum it up: One primary turned down the offer because he got picked up by Delta. Alternate #1 accepts. Another primary gets hit with a stop loss. Alternate #2 (ME) accepted about 15 minutes ago! I can't wait!!!
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Congrats! Another AW success story! Does that mean there's now a job opening for someone else transitioning?
 
Phrogpilot,

Let us know where you get sent. I asked for East Coast (Cape Cod, A City, E City) and they are sending me to the East Coast of the Pacific Ocean (Humboldt Bay). A quick cross section of my DCO class looks like no one got to go where they requested. One guy asked for East Coast H-60s and is going to Hawaii. Another pilot requested Hawaii and is going to Houston. Ahhh, the needs of the service..... :)

-Stalker
 
Dumbo02 said:
Phrogpilot,

Let us know where you get sent. I asked for East Coast (Cape Cod, A City, E City) and they are sending me to the East Coast of the Pacific Ocean (Humboldt Bay). A quick cross section of my DCO class looks like no one got to go where they requested. One guy asked for East Coast H-60s and is going to Hawaii. Another pilot requested Hawaii and is going to Houston. Ahhh, the needs of the service..... :)

-Stalker
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Man, sounds like the detailer is really hooking up everyone! Here's my saga (cut and pasted from the Private Naval Aviators forum, you really should request to join)...
phrogpilot73 said:
So I changed my avatar and my custom user title... Ended up with a couple of PM's about it - and I figure I'd share with my winged brethren (well, one shoe knows - but you all should know who that is) what happened. I talked to the USCG detailer on Friday (after getting my flight physical). Because I am coming in as an alternate - this is a "pre-slated" billet. No discussion, deals, choices, etc... The way it was laid out for me was Corpus Christi or don't commission. I explained my situation (active duty wife, needs afloat tour followed by staff tour, Norfolk, San Diego) and offered to geo bach from the west coast. No joy. Corpus Christi or nothing. Wouldn't commit to anything for the future either. So, she's essentially asking me to geo bach for the next 3-5 years. Not happening. When I call her on Monday, unless something has drastically changed over the weekend - I'm going to tell the USCG to get bent and move on.

Does anyone have good POC's for HMH-772 or HMM-774? And yes - I'm serious about this last one...
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I did tell the USCG to get bent, and I talked to the #3 alternate right before I told them no. He had already withdrawn his letter of resignation, so on to #4 they went. Beyond that, I don't know... Truth be told, I wasn't impressed with her, and hearing this indicates that she really didn't care about anyone. Thanks but no thanks. So, I'm in the process of getting my package together to come back in as a Marine Reservist with HMM-774 in Norfolk, with the option to go active reserves (a.k.a. FTS for you Navy guys) if my wife gets stationed in Norfolk...
 
phrogpilot73,

I am sorry to hear that you didn't take the job. Not to twist the knife more than it already is but while you may think they don't care, you couldn't be further from the truth. I know for a fact they really tried to give you what you wanted. It just wasn't possible.

The plain simple truth is, we (the Coast Guard) have already completed transfer season for the year and the billets that are left are few and far between and very specific. Plus we are a small service, one pilot in a location can make a huge difference so over billeting to meet the needs of a member just isn't going to happen. Especially this year as we have had a huge shake up in aircraft/personnel requirements. This took three stations off the table for new pilots to go to and left some stations with billets that intentionally will go unfilled. leaving slim pickin's for those coming into the service at this time. Next year will be even worse.

You mentioned you wanted to be near Norfolk and San Diego. Which would be CG air stations Elizabeth City and San Diego respectively. Both H-60 units. We don't need H-60 pilots. However, we need to stop the bleeding in the fixed wing and HH-65 communites. Heavy new commitments in both communities have really left us short in those areas. On top of that, the critical HH-65 units have been filled leaving many open billets in the places that still need pilots but were short changed to fill the more critical stations.

I can pretty much guarantee that if you came in as an H-65 pilot you would not be flying H-60s in the next 10 years or longer unless you got selected for the engineer program so CG air stations near Navy or Marine bases where your wife would be stationed would be pretty hard to find. I know it is extremely difficult to co-locate two Coast Guard members, I would guess it nearly impossible to co-locate members from two services for an entire career. In fact, I can think of only one tricky way that might have even the slightest shot of having members of two services located together for more than two tours for a career and that would only work if H-60 pilots were actually in need at this time.

She wasn't offering you the locations you wanted because the billets were already full, not to screw with you. Look at if from the detailers side, you were offered a foot in the door to a job you wanted but instead you wanted a billet that was already full. What was the detailer supposed to do?

You mentioned she wouldn't commit to anything in the future either. Why would she? The detailers don't commit to pilots who have been in the CG for years either. We don't know where our next duty stations will be because who knows what will happen in four years or even if there will be an air station at that location in four years. At one point there were air stations in Chicago and Brooklyn, not anymore. There were also multiple airframe swaps at stations. You just never know what the future holds.

By the way, in the other thread you stated you were kind of upset that you were getting four year orders, we all get four year orders (with the exception of some OCONUS assignments) and we have no idea what the future holds after that. I have never gotten a future commitment for any location I have been stationed.

Again, I am sorry it didn't work out for you but it wasn't because anyone was trying to screw you, and it wasn't because the detailer didn't care. It was because you didn't want to take the available billet and there was nothing on the table left to offer you. Nobody's fault, it just didn't work out.

Good luck in getting into the unit you are trying to get in the Marine Corps.
 
Well said Keith. Sorry it didn't work out Phrogpilot. I put Corpus 2nd from bottom on my list. Primary and intermediate flight school there was enough for me. Now that the Texans play in Houston you cant even get all of the Cowboy games down there....that and the Selena statue were the only things I liked about Corpus. No sale for me! I asked the detailer if she had ever heard the classic expression regarding detailers/detailing. She said that she had not. I will share it here:

"Always remember....the detailer cares about your career as much as you care about the detailer's career."

Fly safe,

Stalker
 
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