Hello everyone,

I am currently a college student in Texas, and I am considering enlisting in May of 09'. I was curious as to which rating gets to travel around the world the most. I have a very solid general education and have taken a number of ASVAB scores online and received perfect scores in mathematics, reading comprehension, and general science. From what I understand, this opens me up to just about any rating.

Also, does anyone have any experience with the buddy program? A good friend of mine who is considering reenlistment had talked to me about it a bit a few months ago, and I am seeking people who know anything about it in respect to how well it keeps people together.

Any and all information provided is more than appreciated. Thank You.

my brother did the buddy program in the Marines, but he was only with his buddy for basic training. That's only because they took separate career paths.

As far as which rating gets to travel the most.......they all do. Some more than others to a small degree, but you are joining the Navy, with ships that go to sea on deployments. Each rating in the Navy has what's called a Sea/Shore rotation schedule. It varies as to your rating and what paygrade you are. So most everyone ends up being at sea or traveling quite a bit. also being on shore duty does not mean you can't be stationed overseas somewhere. When I was in 1969 to 1989, there were overseas bases that were Overseas Shore Duty. I did three years attached to the Staff of the NATO Commander at Naples, Italy. (a Navy 4 star admiral)
Your Blackshoes, non-Aviation ratings, do spend more time onboard ships and do travel more. But as Aviation and assigned to a ship or squadron, sea duty, you can and will deploy with that squadron if they go aboard ship, or as in the case of P-3s (VP) operate from an overseas shore station. So the travle chances are unlimited.
As far as the buddy program, you're going to have to ask someone else.

quote:

Originally posted by JPope:
As far as which rating gets to travel the most.......they all do. Some more than others to a small degree, but you are joining the Navy, with ships that go to sea on deployments. Each rating in the Navy has what's called a Sea/Shore rotation schedule. It varies as to your rating and what paygrade you are. So most everyone ends up being at sea or traveling quite a bit. also being on shore duty does not mean you can't be stationed overseas somewhere. When I was in 1969 to 1989, there were overseas bases that were Overseas Shore Duty. I did three years attached to the Staff of the NATO Commander at Naples, Italy. (a Navy 4 star admiral)
Your Blackshoes, non-Aviation ratings, do spend more time onboard ships and do travel more. But as Aviation and assigned to a ship or squadron, sea duty, you can and will deploy with that squadron if they go aboard ship, or as in the case of P-3s (VP) operate from an overseas shore station. So the travle chances are unlimited.
As far as the buddy program, you're going to have to ask someone else.

Thank you for the response. I am seriously considering CTI and I am wondering if they travel very much or if I would spend most of my time here in the states in a small dark room translating conversations.

quote:

Originally posted by 19146154:
Thank you for the response. I am seriously considering CTI and I am wondering if they travel very much or if I would spend most of my time here in the states in a small dark room translating conversations.

I was looking into CTI at one point so I did a lot of searching around on these forums. From what I gathered, CTI's are not going to be a good bet if you want to travel as much as possible. I hear that there's a good chance you will go to middle east if you are assigned Arabic. However if you are assigned Korean you'll probably end up somewhere in Georgia. But if you do a search for it on these forums you can get much better info.

A friend of mine is a CTI and has been in Georgia the entire time save for two months with an air squadron on a carrier.

quote:

Originally posted by 18585737:

I hear that there's a good chance you will go to middle east if you are assigned Arabic. However if you are assigned Korean you'll probably end up somewhere in Georgia. But if you do a search for it on these forums you can get much better info.

Korean does not land you in GA for any amount of time.

quote:

Originally posted by 19146154:
I was curious as to which rating gets to travel around the world the most. I have a very solid general education and have taken a number of ASVAB scores online and received perfect scores in mathematics, reading comprehension, and general science. From what I understand, this opens me up to just about any rating.

If you are interested in travel the most, then look towards ratings which have a higher sea/shore rotation, such as 5 years sea duty, 3 years shore etc. That doesn't mean you would be travelling all the time either, but your chances of going more places is better.

Depending upon where you want to travel also can be a factor. Carriers and other larger ships tend to get deployed to a certain area. Right now, most carriers will be deployed to the Mid-East because of the war. They will probably make a few port calls, but not as many as a ship on a Good Will cruise. Also larger ships will anchor out more and you have to take water shuttles to get to shore.

A smaller ship does have a better chance of making port calls and seeing more. Basically if you were interested in seeing Europe, a small ship is what you would want to be on. Carriers don't go to Eurpoe too often, but there are many "west coast" destinations they can go, like Australia, Japan, Korea, Thailand, etc.

Basically, if you choose a rating which limits the type of ship you can be on, your travel is limited to where that ship goes. Nukes are limited in what ships they get assigned to, it is basically a carrier or a sub. Electronics types of ratings are on most platforms and same with mechanics or engineering. Intel is typically on a larger ship. Just some things to consider, but it does depend on your interests and what you want to do.

For CTI's, Korean means going to Hawaii (and MAYBE Korea and/or Japan later on in your career). Some CTIs travel, but certainly not all. Most CTIs will not spend a lot of time deployed.

If you are looking for deployment and Intel, look at the IS or the CTR or CTT ratings.