Too qualified for A-School?

[Tylor]

I am looking into my shore duty options now. I'm an E-5 qualified EWS/EDPO on a 688 and I am about 2 years from my PRD. Talking to my detailer I've been told that I'm essentially "too qualified for A-school" and that I will most likely be given orders to prototype.


Are they doing anything to make prototype less garbage of a shore duty, or is this just another case of the navy feeding me a s@#t sandwhich?




"Modified for language"

[hamsamich]

Try to get some condiments on your sandwich.  Goes down easier.

[HeavyD]

The qualifications for orders to "A" school should still be in the MILPERSMAN.

Look them up, go to your CCC or chain-of-command, and try to go from there.

1 of 2 things will happen; 1. the detailer negotiates with you (bets on that?) or 2. you get orders based on needs of the Navy.

Then, you either take what they give ya, stay on your boat till EAOS, transfer to another boat till EAOS (most likely requires an extension/reenlistment).

Not trying to be a smart@$$, just being honest and up front.

Good luck.

[TVA]

Uh why ask here? Ask the Navy

[Arxos]

Why are you talking to your detailer two years out?

[hamsamich]

My guess is he is counting the days just like most of us did.  Any glimmer or shimmer helps you get thru the remaining time you have left.  Plus figuring out what limited options you have when you stay int makes your decision to stay in or get out easier to figure out later on.  When I was in I tried to figure out what was up early and it made me realize the only place for me was civpac.  Plus trying to figure out if your detailer is telling you the real deal.

[gb54123]

Detailer is completely full of it. The absolute truth is that the Navy is going to send you where they need you at the moment in time that you're looking to transfer.

There was a new instruction (I've been out for a while so I can't remember the name) that came out while I was on the boat that changed the sea/shore rotation timelines. I was supposed to do 5 years on the boat, but it dropped to 40 months for me. I immediately contacted my detailer and requested to transfer to shore based on the new instruction. He recommended that I stay another underway (6+ months) so that I'd hit my window and thus would be able to 'pick my orders'. I told my CoC and they said they wouldn't qualify me EWS (few sigs left, mainly a diesel run UI and board) unless I stayed for the next underway. I told them all to pack sand and requested shore duty. The detailer gave me one last warning, stating that I'd be sent wherever the Navy needed me, regardless of what I wanted.

I got orders to A-school. My anecdotal moral of the story - you will always go where the Navy needs you, and nothing will ever change that. Most likely, that will mean prototype, but maybe you'll get lucky. I did hear rumors from high up (lots of us non-EWS types at A-school) that the Navy's goal was to have everyone complete a prototype tour, so if you served a prototype tour you were very likely to get P-school (EWS) or A-school (non-EWS). Good luck with your dice roll.