I have a question for you after all. I read around these forums and I have a "general" idea and probably already know the answer to this but I just want it directly.
I understand that assignment to carriers or subs are "voluntary". Well, exact wording is assignment to "subs" are voluntary anyways. My question doesn't' pertain to that exactly but I wanted to know which side gets more travel. It seems that carriers will have 3-6 months on deployment within a calender year or sometimes none perhaps. From what I've read, it seemed that the sub folks get deployments more often. I've also read that folks assigned to subs tend to get their OJT (senior in rate and/or watch qualify) qualifications alot faster than those assigned to the floating cities. I'm highly interested in travel, not at all interested in the conditions a sub may offer. But I maybe more inclined to follow that route if SIGNIFICANT more travel is offered. So:
1.) Generally how many months of deployment in a calender year can I expect on a sub?
2.) When in port(at foreign country), are there times the nuke's get stuck on the boat doing maint. work the entire time in port? Does it happen often?
3.) Does promotion in subs happen faster generally than on carriers? (I know it depends a lot on command and in our current times, budget, but generally speaking)
4.) How long does your boat stay in port (at foreign country) generally? Do you HAVE to billet on your boat?
1) If you are on a fast attack, although your deployments are usually scheduled, when you actually go to sea for say... a week or two here and there... is sometimes unpredictable... at least by most enlisted. I can recall times when I was called on a Sunday and told to be ready to go to sea Monday morning. Also, your op tempo on a fast attack will usually be pretty high... meaning you will usually spent a lot of time at sea between deployments. But, like others and I have said, there is no guarantee and that is simply based on my experience. When your deployments are, their length, etc are classified as someone alluded to, so we really can't be more specific than "it depends..."
2) Again, "it depends." Much of your freedom in a foreign port is in the hands of your Chief and EDMC. On one of my deployments, all ports were working ports for nukes as decreed by the EDMC. On another deployment, the general feeling was that if nothing was broke and your work is up to date, you were free to come and go as you please. Like someone said, it depends on your boat, the people in charge of you, and how much stuff is broke.
3) Again, it depends. I made 2nd and 1st fast was an LPO and qualified and stood EWS on my first sea tour on a fast attack. Besides being a function of my personal drive, there was also a shortage of LPOs/EWS on my boat (actually qualified EWS as a 2nd class). There are many variables and you can't really say one is better than the other.... at least I can't, anyway.
4) Again, it depends. How long/when you are in port is classified. I have been in ports for < 1 day, I have been in ports for 2 weeks. Just depends. As for "billet" on the boat, I guess you mean "sleep" on the boat. No, as long as you are on liberty, you can go get hotel rooms or even travel far away... as long as you are back when you are supposed to be. For example, when we were in Brest France, many of us spent 5 days in Paris.
I disagree with another poster about not being a pleasure cruise, or joining as a nuke to "see the world." I agree that sure, you are on a warship and job 1 is defense of this nation, job 2 is maintenance of the boat, but so long as the other 2 are going well, you should have no problem seeing the world and you can expect some damned fine port calls. It is not unreasonable to join for the hope to see the world, even as a nuke, so long as you realize the priorities and take care of business when required. Hopefully, with any luck, you get a command that supports that philosophy, but as I said before, it depends. Under one command your liberty could be meaningless, under another it could mean everything.
I hope this helps a bit, sorry for saying "it depends" a lot, but it really does. Everyone who replies will have different experiences and hopefully, you can gleen somewhat of an idea of what it could be like.
-C