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.
