How often at sea?
 

Don't worry, I am not trying to evade the sea. I am just curious on how often IT's get sent to the Sea. I saw on the IT area that some just get station stateside or overseas where we are needed. I am just wondering. :D

For us, I'm learning that a LOT of IT's don't see very many ships at all. Think of it this way: the amount of serviceable hardware and software on a ship vs a permanent military installation. So, if you want to look for simple numbers, it's more likely we're going to be not on a ship. However, don't count on that ever.

You will go to a ship. IT's go on shore and ship, but if you spend more than 3 years in the Navy then chances are you will go to a ship. There is a good chance a ship will be your first duty station

Well... I don't know a single IT that has shore only... There's a LOT of software/hardware you'll have on ships... yeah. You'll be on a ship, but there's plenty of shore opportunity too.. Just note that you'll be on a ship.

I should add.. on Tim's ship alone, the IT's have an entire department.. I want to say there's like 80 some odd ITs in a command of 600.

I was on a DDG - we had only something like 150 sailors, but 800 Marines on deployment. Our IT department had MAYBE 15 IT's total.. half were network side and half were radio side. The radio side is a lot more important than the computer side - especially on a ship.

I was in for just about 6 years, and I only spent 3 months on a ship. However that will probably not happen to anyone else.

How did you fit 800 Marines on a destroyer? I'm on a destroyer and there is no way you can fit that many max is 350 total crew.

LOL I think I was tired. I didn't mean DDG. I meant LPD! I was on the USS Ogden LPD5 and the numbers were an estimate from my bad memory

I was supposed to precomm the USS Chung Hoon out of Hawaii which IS a DDG.. but I hurt my ankle and lost the orders. I heard precomming sucks but it would have been nice to have stayed on the island

I just looked it up for the Ogden it was..
24 officers, 396 enlisted (plus 900 U.S. Marines and others)
I really don't remember there being close to 400 Navy on the ship. once the Marines left, it was pretty empty. Our main purpose was carrying the Marines around. Pretty packed when they were on board, but at night when we had duty we would sneak down and grab a bunch of MRE's to eat up in Radio.. while playing Halo. lol

So say you had 15 ITs in a command of 150.. (The numbers you found are probably the max, you could have had a lot less).. That's still 10%. 80 ITs in a command of 600 (there are actually 2 big commands, and a small platoon of Marines on board as well) is still not too far over 10%. My Aunt is a retired IT (originally a radioman). She was on sea for most of her career.

Like what was said here, you'll see a ship if you stay in for a career. Without a doubt. The tricky part with ITs is that because we have more shore billets than other rates, overseas shore duty counts as sea duty for rotational purposes. So you could do shore in Japan and then shore stateside.

As for where you'll go for your first command, I just got out of A-school a few months ago and I'd say its about 50/50 sea or shore. Just depending on where they need you. However if you get shore first, its two years there then sea duty. If you have sea duty first its three years sea, then three years shore. So thanks to the sea/shore rotation if you want shore, its better to do your sea duty first.

Or you could just get really bizarre order like mine where you get sea duty orders to a landlocked state in the heartland. With ITs you never know, we have some special opportunities.

Nice. I went to boot camp a couple years after the RM/DP merge, we definitely had a few IT's who were DP's who had absolutely no idea what they were doing in their new rating lol

Just wondering cire, why did you decide to get out after 6 years? I'm guessing you got offered a nice job

I actually did't! When you get out, they say you should already have a job lined up. I know a few people personally who got out with no job lined up, sat around for a few months back at their parents house then rejoined.

Personally, I got out of a couple of reasons. Mainly, I had a VERY easy Navy career up to that point.. starting with boot camp, and it just got easier every place I went to since then. I wasn't slacking off or it was by choice, I was damn good at what I did, but I knew that karma would bite me and if I reenlisted it would have been 4 years of pure hell. The house always wins and I wanted to cash in and get out while I was ahead. The other reason was that I was in for 6 years.. once you hit the 10 year mark, you might as well stay in and finish it out and "retire".. so typically people will get "stuck" once they hit the half way point. A lot of people will also get stuck because once they are in around 10 years, they are already around 30 years old, will half spent most (if not all) of their adult life in the military, and might not have any real training for the civilian world - especially for those people who are in certain rates.. I didn't really fit that bill since I had a ton of different paths I could have gone career wise once I got out, but I didn't want to stay in and get out at 40 years old and be limited to my options. I had also hurt my knee about a year before my reenlistment date which pulled me off the ship, I was afraid of my knee wouldn't handle it (and I'm still having issues with it to this date.. I should probably file my disability)

So I got out and did what any "free" person would do without a job lined up. I sat on my butt for 2 months doing absolutely NOTHING. I went to the beach, I played on my computer.. I didn't iron, didn't cut my hair, didn't cut my nails, hell I barely showered.. it was awesome. Near the end of the 2 months I realized I should get a job so I got a job as a subcontractor working for NMCI tech support.. that lasted a week.. it sucked.. bad. Half way through the first training week half the class was looking for a new job. I found one that Thursday night and started my new job on Friday as a web developer, and never looked back.

Sometimes I do wonder how things would have turned out if I had stayed in.. I was up for 1st class on the next cycle, who knows, I could have been a Chief by now... lol I would also be "retiring" in 7 years.. I say "retire" because in the military, enlisted never truly retires.. you don't get out at 20 years and go live on a beach somewhere.. you retire, then go and get another job. Unless you possibly are a Senior or MC... or a higher up Officer

Anyways, for the most part I'm happy with my decision

Do any of you all know anything about Aviation Machinist Mate? I've read about the duties but do any of y'all know where they are typically, any insight would be greatly appreciated!

Hey Shenanigans. You'd be better off asking that question here : http://www.navydep.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=41

Ahhh thanks Nick!