Thanks. I have read this. I guess I was looking for more of the inside point of view vs navy marketing. Ive looked extensively but really haven’t found much.
This is a very complex subject that could easily fill a book. Actually I considered a book at one point but other things intruded on the idea and I moved on to other things. The genesis of my thoughts came when my son and his friends started talking about it with me. I never pushed them but for some reason a few started and more followed. Quite simply, the deployments are more a function of the individual unit than the warfare specialty itself. SWOs, Submariners and Tactical Aviators tend to deploy for 6 months or so at a time while Strategic Missile Submarines (SSBNs) and Patrol Aircraft generally have shorter deployments. Marine deployments can vary but they are often aboard Amphibious ships and Aircraft Carriers with the normal 6 months deployments. Liberty Ports are a function of what part of the world you deploy to although in COVID times, there is not much overseas liberty.
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What is very different between the communities is what is most prized in a Junior Officer or better stated, what it takes to excel.
Aviators are all about flying that airplane. Knowledge of the science behind it or managing "stuff" is not ignored but the chief Junior Officer expectation is operational performance FLYING.
SWOs expect you to learn to drive the ship and to be a capable watchstander but your divisional admin and leading your people are equally important if not more important in what a SWO is measured by. You could be the greatest shiphandler in the world but if your spaces are not clean, equipment operable and your admin under control, you will not break out well at eval time.
Submariners are a little similar to SWOs but very high on a Submariner's key attributes is their technical knowledge at the detailed scientific level of how and why their equipment operates (or doesn't) along with the highly detailed understanding of their sub and all of its (very interconnected) systems.
Marines generally expect their junior officers to lead from the front so they need that sharp looking (uniform wise) officer who is physically at the front of the pack as they show the proper example to their Marines. Shoot well, understand the tactics that your unit has to execute and communicate effectively up to your leaders and down to your Marines.
That is a very short version of it. If you look at it at length, you'll see that there are basic personality traits that can help in some of these.
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