I believe I wish to serve my time on a Boomer. Is it in my power to achieve this goal, or do they select submarine volunteers for anywhere they might be needed?
If you really want to choose which boat you go to, make sure you work hard in A-School, Power School and Prototype. (Shoot for at least upper half of your class everywhere -- put in the hours you need to do it). That will give you the opportunity to be selected as a Junior Staff Instructor when you graduate P-type. You will have to reenlist for two years, but you will spend that two years of your extension on shore duty, sending you out to the fleet as a senior second class (make sure you don't develop a big attitude form it). The big score here is that, when you leave, you will be able to actually talk to your detailer (the guy who cuts orders to send you to a boat). You can then ask him for a Trident. I dave to warn you, though, that EVERYONE wants a Trident (or so it seems).
If you just go through the pipeline as a student, you will have the opportunity to fill out a "dream sheet," but I am sure you can look at even this thread to learn a great new term: "Needs of the Navy." If you are one of a hundred people leaving prototype as a student you will go where the Navy needs you (which will only be a bad thing if you make it a bad thing). If you excel through the program and get picked up staff (SPU was probably the most fun I've had in my life) , you will still need to meet the needs of the Navy, but you will get a say as to which needs you fill. Either way, have fun with it. The Navy can be a great experience or a bad one, and it really does fall to you to make it what it is. Bad command or good command, some love it and some hate it. Which one you choose is completely up to you.
