# Navy question: How are you assigned a ship (or not)? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 27, 2014, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/navy-question-how-are-you-assigned-a-ship-or-not/705739 "2014-11-27T03:04:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2015, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/navy-question-how-are-you-assigned-a-ship-or-not/705739/21 "2015-09-22T14:13:42Z")
> [@Hermitian](#): > > Pabst Blue Ribbon? Not bad if you are low on cash. ---
**Author:** ![mlees](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba8739/32.png) [@mlees](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mlees)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2015, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/navy-question-how-are-you-assigned-a-ship-or-not/705739/22 "2015-09-22T14:34:32Z")
> [@robert\_columbia](#): > > Do assignments take into account the skills that you come into the service with or that you pick up on your own, or is it solely based on what official training activities you have attended? E.g. if an SP picks up a copy of “Teach Yourself Naval Radar Electronics Maintenance” and studies it well, can they take an exam to get a new job title or at least get placed directly into advanced training or would they still have to go to basic electronics training like everyone else? For enlisted, an “NEC” ( [Navy Enlisted Classification - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Navy_Enlisted_Classification) ) is entered into your service record, and is a standardized system that allows detailers to know what tasks you were trained in. A “striker” (someone who wants to earn or switch to a different NEC) must submit a special request chit through his/her chain of command to get assigned to a different department/division on their ship to get some OJT. An enlisted could learn electronics on their own time, (or through OJT), but would still need to go to the Navy schools and pass the course tests to actually earn that NEC in order to be assigned to billets that require those NEC’s. (There may be ways to “fast track” a basic course, or to take the final exam(s) in some of these “A” school technical courses. It would be on a case by case basis for specific NEC’s.) For example, my “C” school was centered around a very specific Univac computer system, and therefore a striker would need to go through the entirety of that school to earn that NEC. I assume some things (like doctor or lawyer) will accept the civilian professional certs and licenses, but for other things like radar technician, the Navy will want the service member to pass the Navy’s tests. (Note doctors and lawyers get to be officers, and are generally not enlisted.) ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2015, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/navy-question-how-are-you-assigned-a-ship-or-not/705739/23 "2015-09-22T16:01:50Z")
> [@robert\_columbia](#): > > Do assignments take into account the skills that you come into the service with or that you pick up on your own, or is it solely based on what official training activities you have attended? E.g. if an SP picks up a copy of “Teach Yourself Naval Radar Electronics Maintenance” and studies it well, can they take an exam to get a new job title or at least get placed directly into advanced training or would they still have to go to basic electronics training like everyone else? Sometimes. We used to call them IPOs (Instant Petty Officers). I worked with one man who had been a power lineman crew chief in the civilian world. He came into the Navy as a 2nd Class Electrician. His skills were good, but his military abilities were pretty much nil. ---
**Author:** ![Ranger\_Jeff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranger_jeff/32/2065_2.png) [@Ranger\_Jeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranger_Jeff)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2015, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/navy-question-how-are-you-assigned-a-ship-or-not/705739/24 "2015-09-22T16:31:41Z")
**Jim’s Son** , you may have been one of my students. I was an Instructor for Timing and Control at Governor’s Island in the early 80s. When I was short at the Loran station I was stationed at, I called the detailer and asked him what sort of billets would be available for me coming off “Isolated Duty”. Isolated Duty is a 1 year tour unaccompanied by family. They generally try to give someone coming off ID what they want if they can. He told me Instructor duty at Govis was available and that’s what I put as #1 on my dream sheet and I got it. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2015, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/navy-question-how-are-you-assigned-a-ship-or-not/705739/25 "2015-09-22T16:49:37Z")
> [@Dgkurz](#): > > This person has not a friggin’ clue about duty stations…A man would shoot his own mother in the leg to be stationed in Philippines. LBFM. U.S. sailors just might have that chance again: [http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/20/world/warily-eyeing-china-philippines-may-invite-us-back-to-subic-bay.html?\_r=0](http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/20/world/warily-eyeing-china-philippines-may-invite-us-back-to-subic-bay.html?_r=0) ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2015, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/navy-question-how-are-you-assigned-a-ship-or-not/705739/26 "2015-09-22T20:27:36Z")
How’s it work for officers? ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2015, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/navy-question-how-are-you-assigned-a-ship-or-not/705739/27 "2015-09-22T21:11:20Z")
> [@bump](#): > > How’s it work for officers? How does _what_ work for officers? ---
**Author:** ![ThisSpaceForRent](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thisspaceforrent/32/345_2.png) [@ThisSpaceForRent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThisSpaceForRent)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2015, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/navy-question-how-are-you-assigned-a-ship-or-not/705739/28 "2015-09-22T21:39:49Z")
> [@What\_Exit](#): > > You make your request and they look for the furthest thing from it. > > ETA: Sorry that was a little glib, but that was the official joke when I was in. I filled out my “Dream Sheet” in A school, I was an FTG (now consolidated with FTM’s to be FC) I requested a NonNuclear ship on the West coast…I got CGN38 USS Virginia out of Norfolk VA. CGN is a Nuclear guided missile cruiser. ---
**Author:** ![slash2k](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@slash2k](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slash2k)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2015, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/navy-question-how-are-you-assigned-a-ship-or-not/705739/29 "2015-09-22T22:20:06Z")
Is what is being described (detailers and dream sheets) the same as the Seavey/Shorevey/Wavevey system from back in the '60s, or was that something different? ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2015, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/navy-question-how-are-you-assigned-a-ship-or-not/705739/30 "2015-09-22T22:51:10Z")
> [@slash2k](#): > > Is what is being described (detailers and dream sheets) the same as the Seavey/Shorevey/Wavevey system from back in the '60s, or was that something different? Those were surveys conducted to see who on shore was eligible for sea duty, and who on sea duty was eligible for shore duty. Sea and shore rotations depended on your enlisted rank. As an E-5, my normal rotation was two years shore and four years sea. As an E-7, it was three and three. But SEAVEY and SHOREVEY had nothing to do with specific billet assignments AFAIK. ---
**Author:** ![slash2k](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@slash2k](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slash2k)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2015, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/navy-question-how-are-you-assigned-a-ship-or-not/705739/31 "2015-09-22T23:14:25Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > Those were surveys conducted to see who on shore was eligible for sea duty, and who on sea duty was eligible for shore duty. Sea and shore rotations depended on your enlisted rank. As an E-5, my normal rotation was two years shore and four years sea. As an E-7, it was three and three. But SEAVEY and SHOREVEY had nothing to do with specific billet assignments AFAIK. I tried reading an old edition of [All Hands](http://www.navy.mil/ah_online/archpdf/ah196706.pdf) (warning: PDF) that made it sound like the billeting process was part of the surveys too, but I admit getting bogged down. From what I got out of it, your SEAVEY data card (ah, the height of mid-60s technology) roughly corresponds to the dream sheet, and it was forwarded to Washington and compiled into a printed book or list (Sea Survey) for the Enlisted Distribution Branch in BuPers to use in assigning sailors either to billets directly assigned by the Bureau or to “distributors” who assign them to major commands (e.g., CONUS); from there, the detailers then assigned to specific billets. Does that sound remotely plausible, or am I misunderstanding? ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2015, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/navy-question-how-are-you-assigned-a-ship-or-not/705739/32 "2015-09-23T02:54:52Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > How does _what_ work for officers? The whole billeting business- do they fill out a dream sheet and talk to a detailer, or is there some other process officers use to get their assignments? ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2015, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/navy-question-how-are-you-assigned-a-ship-or-not/705739/33 "2015-09-23T03:12:32Z")
> [@slash2k](#): > > I tried reading an old edition of [All Hands](http://www.navy.mil/ah_online/archpdf/ah196706.pdf) (warning: PDF) that made it sound like the billeting process was part of the surveys too, but I admit getting bogged down. > > From what I got out of it, your SEAVEY data card (ah, the height of mid-60s technology) roughly corresponds to the dream sheet, and it was forwarded to Washington and compiled into a printed book or list (Sea Survey) for the Enlisted Distribution Branch in BuPers to use in assigning sailors either to billets directly assigned by the Bureau or to “distributors” who assign them to major commands (e.g., CONUS); from there, the detailers then assigned to specific billets. > > Does that sound remotely plausible, or am I misunderstanding? Yeah, could be. I was a lowly E-2 in 1967 and had no idea how things worked, although I do remember filling out something with assignment preferences. ---
**Author:** ![spifflog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c5a1d2/32.png) [@spifflog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spifflog)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2015, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/navy-question-how-are-you-assigned-a-ship-or-not/705739/34 "2015-09-23T16:24:13Z")
> [@bump](#): > > The whole billeting business- do they fill out a dream sheet and talk to a detailer, or is there some other process officers use to get their assignments? Officers fill out a dream sheet of billets they would like and/or locations they would like to be stationed at. The detailers weight “needs of the Navy,” needs (or wants) of the Officer and if that next billet is career enhancing or not. Sometimes you’d like a billet that may hurt your career and/or promotion possibilities, and the detailer will tell you that. Sometimes the detailer will want you to take a billet that you know isn’t career enhancing and you’ll try and fight that off. And some Officers won’t know the difference and will be get to a job that will kill their career. It’s a giant balance between all of the factors above. You have more flexibility when one is more junior than one does when they are more senior. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/navy-question-how-are-you-assigned-a-ship-or-not/705739.md?page=1)