USNA SWO Ship Selection 1.26.17 @ 6PM

[usna1985]

Hoops, it seemed that almost every mid selected VERY quickly and that surprised me (never having watched the event before). Do the mids canvass each other in advance so that they have a pretty good idea of what will be available when they come up.

I mean, if you want San Diego, there were a LOT of ships on the board even fairly late in the process. To decide immediately which one seemed . . . hard. I guess you could create a list of every single ship you wanted and cross them off as each is taken. But that's a lot of work unless you can narrow it down. Just curious if folks actually have a very good idea of what will be available b/c some sort of list is circulated in advance -- non-binding, of course.

Also, why is Rota so popular? B/c it's the only port in Europe or some other reason? I was stationed there for a time and it wasn't that special (though it was also decades ago and things have probably changed a lot).

 

[NavyHoops]

Yes Rota goes quick because it's Europe. Ensigns make pretty decent money these days and the prospect of cheap rail and airfare is a bonus for them. Heck if I could of done that as a butter bars would of been all over it! Some Mids go down to the ship on their list. It's not that hard as they know the list ahead of time with lots of other details. Others know port and type of ship they want and go from there. They know generally based on previous years and what is available what will be on the board. It really depends on the Mid and what their future holds. Those with wedding dates know deployment schedules. This who want to deploy as fast as possible know that too. They are much more informed then we ever were. It's all a part of the Navy's push to welcome new SWOs and really build the community after some retention and marketability issues for a decade or two.

 

[CatChaser]

Sponsor mom here. One of our mids just made his selection. A few others I would like to follow. Any idea if the list gets posted or is it just too bad we missed it during the livestream?

I looked on YouTube, and last year's ship selection video was available. It was posted Jan. 29, 2016, so I assume this year's video will be posted within the next week. I was there at Alumni Hall last night (and was just about deafened). I missed one of my sponsor mids, so I will be on the lookout for the YouTube posting to see her, and get a better look at some of the other details I missed.

 

[5Day]

I looked on YouTube, and last year's ship selection video was available. It was posted Jan. 29, 2016, so I assume this year's video will be posted within the next week. I was there at Alumni Hall last night (and was just about deafened). I missed one of my sponsor mids, so I will be on the lookout for the YouTube posting to see her, and get a better look at some of the other details I missed.

You can go to the link I put in the first post and you should be able to watch it. At least I can.

 

[nuensis]

I mean, if you want San Diego, there were a LOT of ships on the board even fairly late in the process. To decide immediately which one seemed . . . hard. I guess you could create a list of every single ship you wanted and cross them off as each is taken. But that's a lot of work unless you can narrow it down. Just curious if folks actually have a very good idea of what will be available b/c some sort of list is circulated in advance -- non-binding, of course.

Many mids will spend quite a bit of time trying to figure out the pecking order and gathering intelligence on who wants what to gauge their chances. A lot of folks do enough research to have a surprisingly accurate idea of what will be available when they walk up.

Also, why is Rota so popular? B/c it's the only port in Europe or some other reason? I was stationed there for a time and it wasn't that special (though it was also decades ago and things have probably changed a lot).

One of many reasons, but higher optempo and the lack of the standard CONUS "deployment cycle" in FDNF Spain and Japan results in faster qualifications. Many (if not most) can get their SWO pins in just a little over a year. Very attractive for those who want to get qualified quickly and move on to bigger and better things.