Dream sheets

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Permalink Reply by 1tsmwmr83h05r on September 12, 2016 at 3:04pm

John, Congratulations on your son's graduation. To answer your survey: My son graduated from Ballston Spa a year ago and got assigned to the only place that was NOT on his list. He is surface in Norfolk, and was advised by staff involved in the assignment process to indicate that he'd volunteer for subs if it would get him on the side of the country he wanted - no luck with that. I do understand "needs of the Navy" so it just is what it is.   It does seem like a lot of East coasters were complaining that their sailors were assigned West coast and vice versa. I think that some sailors in his class did get what they wanted, or close to it. I have also heard the rumors that for some classes, the dream sheets are not even considered - don't know if it's true or not.

I hope your son has a good experience in the fleet. I honestly think my son had a better time in school. He doesn't mind the work, but is very disappointed with the environment and the way they are treated and says he sees no reason to reenlist.

Permalink Reply by John on September 18, 2016 at 3:10pm

Hey Jim, thank you for the input.

My son will probably acclimate to his new home just fine whether I worry myself to death over it or not.

Your last sentence really hit home for me and I guess it is the reason for my angst. You see, when I was in, oh so long ago, I had had every intention to make a career out of it. Then, just as you say, my decision to not re-enlist was decided for me based primarily by attitudes/treatment.

I'm hoping he has a crew/leadership with great attitudes and if so, then location for the next few years won't be that big of a deal for him. I told him that if he were to re-enlist, then get his preferred duty station in writing! Who knows, he may decide that's where he really wants to be after all.

And if he decides not to re-enlist then that's fine too. Life is what you make of it.

Permalink Reply by Scott Henry on March 29, 2017 at 8:33pm

Here's the deal with "Dream Sheets" and some background on how the Navy assigns personnel. Every rating in the Navy has a person that works at BUPERS called a detailer. That one person is responsible for assigning every person in that rate to a billet. When a class graduates from the pipeline, said detailer has to write orders for every single person in that class. Essentially, he just looks at the open billets he or she has and fills them. Not much regard is given to the "dream sheet." Some people will get a billet they want, some won't. My advice to young sailors in the pipeline was to not narrow your hopes down to a one specific port or platform (SSN vs SSBN). I was happy with my orders coming out of prototype because I was pretty open on where I went. My main desire was just to be on the east coast and I got a boat out of Norfolk. After their initial assignment coming out of the pipeline, the sailors have more control of where they go, should they decide to continue their career. There is a negotiation process that starts about 9 months prior to their projected rotation date (PRD). The process started to change quite a bit right before I got out so I'm not entirely familiar with how it works, but it basically involves the sailors applying for various billets that are available in their PRD window. Once they are in the fleet, they can also contact the detailer directly. The key is to be proactive. Know when you are in your negotiation window and stay on top of the process. Although there is a negotiation process, if the sailor does not have orders by a specific time before their PRD(used to be 6 months), the detailer will issue orders with or without the sailors input. When it comes time for Shore Duty, nukes are even more limited than they are for sea billets. I recommend that every Nuke pursue qualification as Engineering Watch Supervisor during their first sea tour if they are even thinking about staying in. I would even suggest extending the sea tour to do it. This qualification opens up the door to get orders to Power School (This is the absolute best shore duty a nuke can get in my opinion). Otherwise, a first tour Nuke is almost guaranteed to get orders to one of the Prototypes for their first shore duty. I was a rare case in that I spent 20 years as a Navy Nuke and never did a Prototype tour. For my first shore duty, I sold my soul and went to Recruiting Duty (which I absolutely DO NOT RECOMMEND any nuke do, ever). There is also the option of going back to Great Lakes to be an RDC. Both Recruiting and RDC duty require the Detailers to release the Sailor from their control and assign them to the special programs detailer so the request to do one of those two duties may not get approved if the Prototypes are hurting for manning (which they usually are). In general, being a nuke sucks when it comes to availability of duty stations.