Yes sir. The five Service Academies.
USMA,USMMA,USAFA,USNA,USCGA
or the different branches-active duty.
Narrow that down.
For the Coast Guard there are often 3 considerations I think cadets have when they look at their first assignment.
- What community do I want to be in?
Do you want to be afloat, ashore or in aviation. That will affect if you put in for ships, sectors or flight school.
- What kind of platform do I want to be on?
This question, at least first tour, is more relevant to the afloat community. Do you want to be on a white hull, black hull or red hull? Later for ashore it will matter and once officers graduate from flight school, helo or fixed wing, etc. For me, I put in for white hulls. After I figured that out, I got to question 3.
Do I want a white hull in Charleston, S.C. or Cape May, NJ?
Now when you put in your dream sheet for your first unit, you can give the assignment officer a pretty good idea what you want. If I put in for all cutters, he'll know I want to go afloat. If I put in for cutters on the east coast, he'll know I'm looking east. If my entire dream sheet is 210's, where ever they are, he'll pick up on that. It can backfire if you don't give him enough options though. I put in for two unrelated units and then leave it open...
I'm not going to dive into if people want Florida over Maine or Hawaii over Alaska. Each person hopes for a unit, mission or location. Some may prefer Detroit over Miami. But you get the general idea.