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If you are interested in joining the Navy to see the world, what are some good specialties that will give you a good chance of going out to sea on a ship? The reason why I ask is because I would want to be on of those ships that travel to many international ports if I joined the Navy. I have heard of a new people who joined the Navy and actually spent their time on COUSA shore bases.
I think the following jobs have more shore billets than sea billets.
Seabees
Dental
RP
Mass Comm. Spec.
Mineman
CTs
Most of the rest have a lot of sea billets. Once you take the entrance test you will get a good idea what jobs are open and what jobs have a long waiting list. The sea intensive jobs like ST/IT/all shipboard engineering jobs etc...usually put you at sea for the first 4 or 5 years of your career.
I would recommend if you join try to get a ship forward deployed to Hawaii, Italy, or Japan. With Japan being the first choice since those ships steam a lot...a whole lot, and Japan is a great place to be stationed.
You really have to plan and be careful about picking a skill/job in the military/Navy. It is very difficult to switch once you receive training and most of the time you have to reenlist to change to a different job. Even then, I have seen a lot of people have to get out because they hated their current job but the job they wanted was overmanned. Then, don't pick a dead end job that does not offer you much in the way of a skill that you can use later on if you get out. It's a stepping stone process in life so try to build on a career with the Navy being the first step.
There are a few rates with more shore-duty than sea-duty, however most rates have more sea-duty than shore.
There is always a small possibility that regardless of what rate you go into, you may draw shore-duty first tour.
My rate [ET] is very sea intensive. During my career, I was never eligible for in-rate shore-duty. However after I found a NEC that got me shore-duty I was able to get me some.
A sailor rarely has much influence over which coast he/she will be stationed on [East or West]; once you get onto a coast line, it is difficult to make the jump to the other coast line. Vessels on either coast, get the same amount of sea-time. In terms of sea-time, there is no benefit to the East Coast or the West Coast.
I rode boats on the East Coast, and later got onto a Decomm boat which I rode over to the West Coast for Decomm. From that point on I was on boats on the West Coast. In both, we averaged 7 months of each year deployed.
If you are interested in joining the Navy to see the world, what are some good specialties that will give you a good chance of going out to sea on a ship? The reason why I ask is because I would want to be on of those ships that travel to many international ports if I joined the Navy. I have heard of a new people who joined the Navy and actually spent their time on COUSA shore bases.
Thanks
A lot of it depends upon your rate and command. I was a Navy ET and I ended up a Air Force Base in Europe and saw almost all of Western Europe over a 2 year period. A lot of ships don't do port of calls like they did in the past, also Carriers have 10% of all Navy personal on them and cannot go to a lot of ports due to their size. CT's have direct support billets and they do a ton of traveling, not only on ships but to other places.
If you are interested in joining the Navy to see the world, what are some good specialties that will give you a good chance of going out to sea on a ship? The reason why I ask is because I would want to be on of those ships that travel to many international ports if I joined the Navy. I have heard of a new people who joined the Navy and actually spent their time on COUSA shore bases.
Thanks
I realise that this thread is about a month old however for any new lurkers pondering about the OP's question and as a former navy guy 80-88 i'd recommend enlisting in as a Boatswain Mate (abled body seaman) as that Rate is vastly served on ships and also you'll always be ''topside'' on the ship (forward/aft lookouts, helm/leehelm on bridge etc. as being on a ship for 6 out of my 8 years i visited numerous countries all around the planet and while out on the water i saw numerous things that others never saw being assigned down in the ''holes'' (machinest mates) or in CIC (Operation Specs) etc. e.g. dolphins, whales, cargo ships, oil tankers, firing of our guns and missles and always got to see the approaching shoreline etc. and so if that is of interest to you then go Boatswain Mate. Also you make rank fast in that field as you can make E-5 in your first four years.
Note: After the Navy if one so chooses you can take your navy experience in that field and can go work for civilian tug boats, fishing vessels, cargo ships, cruise ships, shipyards etc.
Last edited by Six Foot Three; 07-06-2013 at 05:58 AM..
The majority of our rates will put you out to sea. But to put it simply, chose something that involves the operation of a ship. Obviously a corpsman, LS, yeoman, and a Crypto will give a greater chance of sitting CONUS somewhere for your enlistment. If your a Machinist Mate, BM, GM, Sonar Tech like myself, you will not spend your enlistment sitting in the states, that much I can guarantee you. Go subs, pretty much a zero percent chance you will sit on shore! Although you could get put on a boomer and never see much in the way of foreign ports.
Be careful what you wish for, you just might get it. I served on the Sixth Fleet Flag ship stationed in Gaeta, Italy. Gaeta is a great place. Beautiful women, great food, friendly people, clean beaches, and is located halfway between Naples and Rome. Naples to the south and Rome to the north. We went to many places I'll never get to see again, some places most Navy ships don't get to go to. On this ship, I went to Spain, Gibralter, France, Monaco, Italy, Malta, Greece, Romania, Bulgaria, Ukraine, Turkey, Israel, Egypt, Tunisia, and Morocco along with some of the Slavic countries. Most of these places were fine, but I saw some things I wish I hadn't seen. A man trying to sell his 12 year old daughter for someone to own as their personal slave or bride, a pre-teen kid came to our table at a restaurant and showed us his tongue was cut out and then held out his hand for money (he was gypsy and his family did that to him), teenager in a wheel chair with knobby legs that looks like twisted tree roots (as a child, he stole food and police broke his legs after they caught him and made sure no one helped him), and people more poor than people in this country could imagine. What made serving on a flag ship bad is all the garbage the enlisted crew of the ship has to deal with. Admiral and his staff get all the benefits and special service, the rest of the enlisted crew gets the leftovers. As an MM, we were on the quarterdeck waiting for the brow to be laid so we can connect the water. At best, we had several more hours before any of us could walk off the ship to see the town. Behind us was the Admiral's staff, including enlisted, rubbing it in that as soon as the brow was laid, they were on liberty. Several hours later, the ship's crew could leave. While doing fire fighting drills, Admiral's staff sit in their air conditioned offices or in their racks not doing a damn thing. Working parties to load food and supplies? Our ship was so top heavy that sometimes E-5 and E-6 were sent on working parties. Even E-4 were put to work on the mess decks (most ships only have E-1-3 work the mess decks). I was an E-4 working in the scullery on that ship. Virtually every port is a diplomatic party, but not for you. If there's a diplomatic party, you better get off the ship before it starts because you won't be able to leave until after the diplomats and party is over. R-Div welded a bracket to the TV to install a VCR they bought with their own personal pay. Some of the Admiral's staff saw that and decided they wanted that and demanded to be moved into the R-Div berthing. Guess what, R-Div was kicked out of their berthing. They weren't dumb. R-Div took a peagrinder to the VCR rack and took it with them. Right away the Admiral's enlisted staff demanded the VCR rack. They told them submit a request through proper channels. Two years later, the request was lost and resubmitted several times. About the only time the Admiral's staff cracked down on their enlisted was when we were going through a long fire drill fully dressed out and the Admiral's enlisted crew members came out their air conditioned offices for snacks and soda from the machine then proceeded to eat and drink in front of us taunting us that they can do this (eat and drink) and don't have to participate in any fire drills. All the staff did was keep their enlisted inside the offices or berthing during drills. They still didn't participate in any fire drills. We didn't consider them sailors anymore. They might as well have not even bothered to wear a military uniform. They weren't Navy sailors, they were office bit**es. I got so fed up with them, I did some damage the night before I left. Bought some sardines and smoked oysters from the ship's store and took some fruit from the mess decks. Around 2 or 3 am, opened those cans and left them in their ventilation ducts and under the bottom racks along with some mashed fruit. Went to their head (restroom) for some more damage. I knew their flushing water pressure reducing valve wasn't working so the HTs adjusted the pressure at the cut off valves before the urinals and toilets. I used a wrench to open them all wide. Some of the other guys did worse things to get even with them for the things they did or said to us.
Because I was on that ship, I was able to see some historical places thanks to tour packages. Barcelona, Spain; Monte Carlo (so expensive the Admiral apologized and promised he would not take us back there again), Florence, Italy; Pisa, Italy; Rome, Italy; Naples, Italy; Venice, Italy; Valletta, Malta; Athens, Greece; Rhodes, Greece; Istanbul, Turkey (don't go to any muslim country if you can help it); Jerusalem, Israel; Cairo, Egypt (got to go inside one of the pyramids); and Cassablanca, Morocco (HELL NO! DON'T GO THERE). Some of these places were worth the trouble caused by having to deal with the Admiral and his staff. Some I wish I'd never seen.
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