Posted on Dec 13, 2016
What was your biggest hurdle going back to sea duty from shore duty?
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Posted in these groups: Shore Commands
Duty
Duty
Posted 9 y ago
Responses: 24
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I was a SEABEE. Sea duty either meant assignment to a battalion or some suck station like Ponce Puerto Rico.
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Outside of not being around the wife and kids, was the getting used to the 14-16 hour days again on the flight deck!! Whole different ball game for an ABH on shore duty 8 hr. days and duty Chief once a month!! But I loved being at sea!!!
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For me it was the shock of going from a cushy 2-man AF suite to a berthing compartment, lol.
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PO2 Robert M.
Well, for me, it was different.
I went from sea to shore!
Onboard the ship, I worked 12 on 12 off, when I reported to a shore station we had 2 - 2 - 2 - 80. ( two days, two mids and two evenings, then 80 hours off ). That took some time to get used to!...... It was a little misleading, because when you got off the last shift, it was around 7 a.m., and people would look at you strange when you went for a cocktail after work!
I was in a berthing compartment for my rating only ( 12 RACKS in the area of the size of a bathroom) - then my next duty station, I had a three bedroom home.
I went from sea to shore!
Onboard the ship, I worked 12 on 12 off, when I reported to a shore station we had 2 - 2 - 2 - 80. ( two days, two mids and two evenings, then 80 hours off ). That took some time to get used to!...... It was a little misleading, because when you got off the last shift, it was around 7 a.m., and people would look at you strange when you went for a cocktail after work!
I was in a berthing compartment for my rating only ( 12 RACKS in the area of the size of a bathroom) - then my next duty station, I had a three bedroom home.
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Knowing that my job afloat (QuarterMaster - Bridge navigation) was for the most part strictly limited to my rate. Ashore, I had three 3-year tours at an "Aids to Navigation" (ANT) Team, where I fixed lighthouses, other lighted structures, and worked buoys. I also was the coxswain of the CG's 45' and 46' buoy boats. It was comparable to being 1/2 QuarterMaster, 1/2 BosunMate; therefore when I was asked what my rate was I would reply "BosunMaster" which annoyed a few of the other Senior BosunMates but never bothered my chain of command E-7's & 8's. Nope; nothing had changed and there were no hurdles, but when I was at the ANT Teams, my fun-meter was pegged on a daily basis! I enjoyed being underway on a Cutter, but I had less of an opportunity to perform jobs beyond my rating.
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For Marines during the Vietnam War they just went through again who you wanted to be your beneficiary or next of kin, threw your sea bag in a cargo hole and stated get aboard.
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Aside from the obvious (getting my sea legs back, less time with the family, switching up the daily routine), I think the hardest part for me was going back to the core of my rating. While on shore duty, I filled an array of roles. I was able to diversify my work load. Rather, to keep myself busy, I was required to diversify my work load. In this, I actually gained a much greater perspective of what the purpose of the Navy was about and how it operated. Going back to sea duty meant repetition and working the same job at the same place at the same time over and over again. Type 2 Sea Duty was awesome, though! It was seriously the best of both worlds. You only deployed when the unit deployed. No work-ups or anything like that. For training exercises, I ended up on Beach Det so it was like shore duty... just someplace else.
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