Billet Night Tonight!

bozrah0307 said:
Can you give us a list of how the billets went in precedence?
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Unfortunately, the list that I saw only contained names and assignments, but usually 80-85% of the class gets one of their top three choices and the others receive something on their request list.
 
Back in the day...

Okay -- back in the day, all cadets were required to go to sea. That all changed a few years ago, and in fact, the top cadet a couple of years back chose to go ashore rather than serve afloat.
The 378's are the best ride around, in my opinion (now that the 327's are gone), but they generally go lower in the class during billet night. These ships are popular for groups of cadets who want to serve their first tours together (normally two deck and two student engineers are assigned for each ship).
What I really wanted to know from this class is how many of the top dogs chose to go ashore (Flight School, sector, Marine Safety Office (MSO), or Vessel Traffic Service (VTS), etc.)? :bang:
 
It changed in 2004.

The Needle of Death....I have never heard anyone say it was a great ride....of course, it's got to be better than a 210 or 270.
 
Oh those are great photos!!! Thanks for putting the link up.

I'm already looking forward to all of these great experiences for our daughter. The photos really put it in perspective.

Congrats to all those happy Cadets!!
 
Is there generally a pattern to how slots are picked by the cadets, or is it completely different for each class?

I'm sure people pick Hawaii, Key West, CA etc before they try for the great lakes, but where does Alaska fall into it all?
 
So what factors go into the cadet ranking for billets? Is it based on Fitness Test scores and GPA? Does your major have an impact anything? i.e. the engineering major will have a greater chance of gaining a flight school slot than the government major.

So what ships would you say would be the best to get stationed on? (or is the home port location more important...like hawaii :biggrin:)
 
bozrah0307 said:
Can you give us a list of how the billets went in precedence?
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I was really curious about this, so I actually crunched some data...

Top 10% of the Class of 2010 by Community
Afloat - 14
Aviation - 4
Ashore - 3
Other - 1 (International Cadet)

Top 10% of the Class of 2010 by Billet
Student Engineer - 8
Deck Watch Officer - 6
Student Aviator - 4
Response - 2
International Officer - 1
Prevention - 1

Top 10% of the Class of 2010 by Unit
Medium Endurance Cutter - 6
Flight School - 4
Icebreaker - 4
Sector - 3
Buoy Tender - 2
High Endurance Cutter - 1
Maritime Security Cutter - 1
Singapore Navy - 1

Top 10% of the Class of 2010 by Location
Florida - 8
Washington - 6
Oregon - 2
California - 1
New York - 1
Rhode Island - 1
Singapore - 1
South Carolina - 1
Virginia - 1

Of course, it's impossible to know if these billets were their first choice, but I'd hope (with the exception of flight school since an interview and other factors are considered in selection) that all these folks got their top choice.
 
SamAca10 said:
the engineering major will have a greater chance of gaining a flight school slot than the government major.
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No, because Engineers are stupid! Toads and all! :wink:

I jest, my best friend was a Civil, really good to have if you need someone to repair a toilet or fill pot holes in the road.

Medium endurance cutters are a good bet, 4 different options, one 282', 270's, one 213', and 210's.

You will get a good mix of missions, SAR, drugs, migrants, fisheries....for the most part you have a flight deck to do helo ops from, etc.
 
Career Choices, not just jobs...

Shipmates,
Sitting around the campfire recently , I was told that (1) timing is everything, (2) these first billet assignments are often career choices and not just jobs, and (3) everything is tied to everything else and has consequences down the road -- and you have to raise your head and look at the horizon to see if you need to make course corrections (a particularly hard thing to do). For example, let's say that you want a buoy tender as your first assignment because you want the ship-handling experience. What you might miss out on is the Law Enforcement experience (not qualifying as a Boarding Officer, not getting to go to the MLE Academy, not making many boardings at sea, etc., and so forth) -- which might make you less attractive for a Patrol Boat Command as your second tour (no matter how well you do on the Tender because the people on big white ships do more MLE). Which might mean that you do other things instead (Graduate School -- another career choice, because it's professional training -- think finance for an MBA) and down the road you come back as a Tender XO, and then as a CO. Then, decades later and many jobs from now -- because you don't have any cutter flight deck experience -- you don't screen for either XO or CO of a big white ship. So you get assigned a desk at HQ. And it all goes back to that very first job out of the Academy.
The same could be said about those who go to Sector as their first job, and turn their back on the sea forever.
Looking at the stats -- I see 50% of the top 10% went ashore (including flight school) rather than afloat (7 ashore, 14 afloat).
Choices not just jobs. :cool:
 
I don't agree with all of that.

Speaking ONLY about the afloat community, your jobs and careers are generally wide open after that first tour (a reason some go afloat, keep those doors open). Being on a buoy tender as an ensign may make you more selective to go Ops on a 175' second tour. Buoy tenders do LE too. I can think of more instance when my cutter transfered Cuban migrants to a 225'.

I had a 225' classmate who got command of an 87' following that first tour. He was also deep selected for LT.

You have the three general communities....afloat, ashore and aviation. Most of those cross paths in staff tours. All of those doors will still be open to you if you go first tour afloat. You will be hard pressed to go to a cutter after you spent 3 years in a land billet and are not qualified on a cutter. If you go aviation, you will be a pilot, so kiss commanding a cutter goodbye. The Academy used to send ALL cadets to ships....why? Because it's a sea service, AND all opportunities are still open after that first tour.

Within the communities, you can be more attractive for one thing or another. A Polar Roller Coastie may be more attractive for a 140'. A 225' JO may be more attractive for a 175' OPS job. If you were a JO on any ship, you may be one up on someone who has never been on that platform.

If you go ashore first tour, will you 100% rule out an afloat billet? No, but it's not in your favor, too many qualified people out there going after those billets.

In general, aviation is not limited until you reach a certain age or are barred for physical reasons. It's a school, so everyone starts out as a student. Once you're a pilot however, operationally, you're limited to the aviation community.


You will learn a general path for your career.....

Operational - Staff - Operational - Staff....etc is fairly normal.

Operational - Operational - Staff - Operational - Staff ....is a little more rare, may involve a JO on a ship getting XO of a 110', command of an 87', or XO or OPS on a NAG 110', OPS on a 175', 1LT on a NSC etc.

Operational - Operational - Operational - Staff - Operational - Staff... rare....maybe a JO from a ship going to a NAG 110' as XO or OPS and then getting command of an 87' upon their return.

Operational - Staff - Staff - Staff.... Not good for your career

In general you want more operational than staff time, getting qualified for your specialty...staff time involves more logistical stuff and policy, doesn't involve as much "qualfication" and in general doesn't have a path. Your staff tours CAN be related to your operational specialty.
 
SaltySailor said:
Looking at the stats -- I see 50% of the top 10% went ashore (including flight school) rather than afloat (7 ashore, 14 afloat).
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That's actually 33% (not 50%) - 19% to Flight School and 14% to Sectors.
 
As a side note I've noticed a number of flight school berths going to kids who graduated in '09 and '08. Wonder if this is part of the reason for so few flight school billets this year.
 
You have the three general communities....afloat, ashore and aviation. Most of those cross paths in staff tours. All of those doors will still be open to you if you go first tour afloat. You will be hard pressed to go to a cutter after you spent 3 years in a land billet and are not qualified on a cutter. If you go aviation, you will be a pilot, so kiss commanding a cutter goodbye. The Academy used to send ALL cadets to ships....why? Because it's a sea service, AND all opportunities are still open after that first tour.
Click to expand...

So would you suggest that it would be better to go afloat first, then flight school (if that is a possibility both medically and you have the opportunity out of the Academy)? Would it make you a better officer if you got some salt under your belt first?

What exactly is the difference between the XO of a ship and the Ops officer? Are there any resources where I could learn about each of their functions?


Just curious, but do some cadets go directly to grad school after commissioning? Would this even be a good career choice, given that it would be considered a Sector billet?

Thanks
 
Last year a cadet got a Fulbright scholarship and went directly to grad school, but this is rare.
 
SamAca10 said:
So would you suggest that it would be better to go afloat first, then flight school (if that is a possibility both medically and you have the opportunity out of the Academy)? Would it make you a better officer if you got some salt under your belt first?

What exactly is the difference between the XO of a ship and the Ops officer? Are there any resources where I could learn about each of their functions?


Just curious, but do some cadets go directly to grad school after commissioning? Would this even be a good career choice, given that it would be considered a Sector billet?

Thanks
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Last year I visited with three pilots at the USCG base in Galveston. All suggested it would be better to go afloat first before entering flight school. Their reasoning is that it’s easier to become indoctrinated into the Coast Guard being afloat rather than being at a "Navy run" flight school. They went on to say their confidence level was built up afloat, which better prepared them to manage the Navy ways at the flight school.
 
Luigi59 said:
Coast Guard Academy Billet Night pictures
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The pictures of billet night were great -- wish there were more even though I don't know many of the 1/c.

Was surprised to see a picture of the cadets with a billet assignment on the Cutter Acushnet as it (and four other cutters) are to be scraped come this October. The force is to be reduced by 1,100 personnel reportedly coming mostly from the 5 scrapped cutters and two mothballed helicopters. Seems a shame to report to a ship in June only to watch it be scraped in 4 months. Wonder where the new ensigns go in October?
 
I would assume they will do the same thing for those newly minted ensigns that they did for my classmates (or maybe the class under mine) when CGC STORIS was decommed. Just gave them the chance to submit a new dream sheet.
 
im sure thats what they are going to do thats ops normal for the decomming of a CG unit :smile:
 
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