Hi, I recently was added to the SK "A" School List, and I have a few questions. Appreciate everyones feedback.

1) Billet Q#1 - This is more personal, but I am trying to get stationed in California, and I'm wondering how often a CA billet appears per class. I have talked to an SK3 and an SK2, and when they went to school, the SK3 saw 2 Los Angeles billets, and the SK2 saw 1 Petaluma, and 1 Alameda.

2) Billet Q #2 - If the timing was right, I should have orders to school 04AUG08 or 06OCT08, and my question is: Will the billets most likely be whatever is left over (bad picks?) since I would be reporting after transfer season?

3) Billet Q #3 - How does it work as far as who gets to choose first on where they will get stationed? I have heard it is whoever has the most seatime, which would be great for me. What is the average seatime a student carries with them to SK "A" school?

I have heard the school is 6 weeks, but the website says 7 weeks. I was also wondering if it was true that SK's get a lot more free time and family time compared to the other rates. Is this true? And what is it like being an SK on a cutter(378,210), and is a Station or Sector better to get?

I know these are a handful of questions, but I am trying to dig deep on the future of my career. Thanks for everyone who read this post!

-Passiva

i went to A school in march of 06
there was only one CA billet in our picks, and that was humbolt bay, in Northern CA.
it is different every class, we had alot of east coast billets, and the class before us had alot of west coast billets.

question two, i wouldn't worry about what picks are going to be there, you have no control over that, there should be some decent picks, just take it serious and keep your nose clean and everything else will fall in line.

yes, the picks are based on sea time, i had 2 years, and i had the fifth pick in my class, the guy that got the 4th pick had 2 years 1 month
my best advise is to have everything done before you go, have your epme done, otherwise you have to do it before you go, and if you fail it you can't graduate with your class,
once you get there take it very serious, you are there to learn and not to party, this isn't a college dorm, people get kicked out very easily for stupid stuff, you don't want to be that guy.
the class was six weeks when i was there, I don't know if it has changed.

that is basically it, enjoy it, it was alot of fun. i really enjoyed it

I'm glad you asked those questions, I was wondering a lot of the same things. Maybe I'll see you in 'A' school. I'm expecting to go in Aug.

378 vs. 210: these answers are an average, your mileage may vary.

On a 378 you will be gone for longer periods of time, and see more interesting places like Asia and maybe Europe.

On a 210 you will be gone more often but for shorter periods of time, go to liberty ports in the Carib and FL if you are on the east coast, maybe Mexico on the west coast. Generally, if you are on a east coast 210 you will go to the same liberty ports over and over.

East coast ships are closer to the Eastern Pacific (which seems to generally mean Ecuador these days) than west coast ships, seems odd if you are not familiar with geography and think North and South America go strait up and down (in reality damn near all of South America is east of damn near all of North America), so east coast ships go through the Panama Canal sometimes.

I notice you didn't ask about 270 - good for you. Stay far, far away from those. The 270 is the last major cutter designed by USCG, after they were built someone in whatever G-ENE is called these days must have said "Damn, we really suck at this!" and let professionals design the rest (except the new Mackinaw, which was apparantly designed by some admiral's six year old grandson using a box of Legos).

If you get a chance at a black hull, I don't know the billet structure of these, or a red hull, jump at it. Doesn't matter where or what, grab it.

Get your seatime out of the way! It is a lot better to get experience on a Cutter as a Junior SK and get promoted from there than to get billeted as a Senior SK without any prior seatime/experience. But that is just me and what I think. It has worked out well for most folks, others just have to work extra hard to get back in the grind. But I believe afloat and ashore billets differ greatly. I, personally, just like Cutters. Both Cutters I've been assigned to have really allowed for me to learn all that I know as an SK.

Enjoy A-school, it is taught by great folks.

It might have changed since I was there, but picks were not based on sea time, although that was a factor. Picks were based on priority. If you have the same priority as someone, then it goes by sea time.

This is how our class looked I believe

1st pick - A priority 1 guy from some LORAN station in AK, can't remember what it is called

2nd pick (Me) - priority 2 (OutCONUS cutter) with 1 year 3 months sea time

3rd pick - priority 3 (InCONUS cutter) with something like 1 year 9 months sea time

4th pick - priority 3 (InCONUS cutter) with something like 1 year 7 months sea time

etc.

If I remember correctly after all the priority 3 guys the priority 4 were OutCONUS land billets, and priority 5 were InCONUS land billets

(I am so excited this is my first post)

When I went through in 2000, the whole class sat down and figured out our rank in the class.... What I mean by that is the guy from the Loran Station in Alaska was getting the 1st pick. After that, you go through the other priorities and sea times. When you get to the land guys, I think they went by who was an E-3 the longest. Then we had a sort of "draft". We wrote all the picks on the board and went down the list of people. Obviously, you can pick whatever you want, but the assignment officer is going to take all that same stuff into consideration when assigning people. You are better off coming together as a group and doing it yourself. Otherwise the detailer may give you something completely different. At least this way you have a certain level of "control" over your pick.

On another note, I agree with getting your sea time out first. You learn a lot on the ship and have some of the greatest experiences of your career.

As far as what picks your class will get, it all depends on what billets the assignment officer decides are the highest priority to fill. In plain english, it could be anything. Best of luck in school, and when you get to your first unit, be a sponge and learn it all.

I have a question; If I take the EPME test and pass, do I have to take it again in A school?

no

Passiva,
Go with an open mind and learn as much as you can. Goto your first unit and hit the manuals. Knowledge is power. When I went to SK School in 92 my 2 SK1's at Group Key West pulled me in and told me don't come to them with a question without reading about it first in the manuals. They would then discuss it with me. Best advice I could ever pass on to new Storekeepers. Get underway it will take you far in your career. Good luck in your career.

U/W is the only way.

quote:

Originally posted by SK8king:
U/W is the only way.

what do you mean, you didn't even get underway with the boat. You stayed on the barge.

But I would love to had that job.

SK8King is my Idol.

CGblondie,
You won't have to take your E-PME test again but you will have to complete the pracs at school.

LSUTigerSK -
When did you go through? Your Priorities sound a lot like mine (Apr. '03).

Anyway,
I agree, get your seatime and get it early. I, fortunately, got a little bit as a non-rate, and that has carried me this far (Making 1st whenever that msg comes out). But if you wanna make chief, don't even bother sittin' for the test unless you have at least 3+ yrs. seatime. Kinda funny, they say our rate does not require seatime, well try advancing without it, I dare ya! Got an SK1 here that is maxed out on award points, gets high marks, 15 yrs. in, scored 99 on the test, but has only 2 yrs. seatime.....guess what? Yes, # 54 on the list.

I hear that they are trying to make all the 225' Buoy Tenders a 1st and 3rd billet. If that is the case, shoot for that! Right now they are all independent 2nd class billets and the SK is used more as a BM than an SK. That's where you really gotta invest a lot of your free time to your SK work. But if they make the switch, then I think I'd be putting in for it.

When I went through "A" school it was scheduled for 8 weeks but ended up being 6. It all depends on how well the class is absorbing the info.

Sectors and ISC's are ok, alot of other SK's to pilfer for knowledge, but as for me, being at an ISC, you're always doing the work of someone else, I'm done with support billets. Stations, I hear are pretty demanding. Like the current situation with the 225's, they try to use you as anything but an SK.

PS...If it were up to me, only the SK would have credit cards. That's probably the biggest hassle in the CG, giving MK's and BM's cards...they've got more important stuff to be doing than checking PCA and entering Dafis Doc. ID's. And what's worse, it doesn't even make the top ten in the list of stuff they need to do.

My two cents.

David,
Just don't do back-to-back tours as independent duty afloat...

...and you think I have it easy. Maybe I just make it look easy at this stage in the game, idk. I'm actually doing a lot when you walk into my shop and I'm just sitting there counting beans or something (finding ways to stay under the radar and not really get noticed, i.e. doing my job properly).

Zman3,
You got me by a good 4 years, I just went through Feb of '07... only been rated 1 year 4 months and I'm making 2nd in 7 days... I love this rate haha