How often do you deploy or spend time out on the water when in the Navy?

Depends on the rating. As an RP, you will do 3 year tours. 36 months sea/36 months shore (however, due to the limited about of sea billets for RPs, OCONUS billets tend to suffice.)

I spent a LOT of time at sea, but I used it wisely i.e. Working on ESWS, the next higher pay grade, going to school, finishing a book I wanted read. Granted you will spend a lot of time on watches (depending on your rating) but when you are on deployment it's good to make the most of the time you have been given to get things done. You know when they ask you "Where do you want to see yourself in 20 years?" Get that done on deployment lol. It's very peaceful being out at sea in the deep ocean especially before the sun sets and they call darken ship. I always like to go out to the wing walls or the flight deck and reflect before we hit the Persian Gulf and things got a little hectic. One of the best decisions I've made in life was the Navy hands down, not all them time it was fantastic but I've gone very far because of it. I'm going to a school that my parents would have never been able to afford for me to attend because it's $41,000 a year (Otterben University). I'm also going there for free the only thing I pay for is my parking pass and maybe a little extra for my books.

Most of these Sailors covered everything for you, I will add this as a Ground Warfare type. You could risk getting assigned to FMF, and or Seabee Battalion, and those are a whole different ball game. You could be FMF regiment, and they rotate the RP's on deployment and Deployments are 7-8 out, and then you would go back to your HQ element, and stand down for at least a year, if not more. Seabee Battalion you will be out 7-8 months and when the CHAPS travels to what we call DET sites you will travel with him, and if in Combat zone you are his PPO (Personal Protective Officer) They are deployed all over in places like Africa and Middle east, South America, and regular Deployment sites like Okinawa, Spain, Guam, these three sites is where the skipper hangs his HQ element, or command element, and that is where the RP, and CHAPS hang out. The thing with that is if you are on one of those sites you can take up to 14 days leave, on commands approved and there are NO go times for leave periods on deployment. They deploy out 7-8 then back for 12 months, but have at least 6 months of training from rate, and Tactical training, and you will be out in the field for up to a month on FTX. You could also go to NECC type commands like EOD and Coastal Riverine, just putting that out there, not everything in the Navy is haze gray and underway, by the way these count as Sea-duty also.

I am covering this as many people in the Navy don't no anything about us and what we do, and where we deploy..