My husband is depressed on the ship, unable to do his job to his best capabilities, is stressed beyond belief and even loses sleep at night. He has a lot of problems to deal with outside of the military and those problems are effecting his performance on the ship and making his life miserable. He knows of a discharge he could persue but he would rather stay in and finish out his enlistment (about 3 more years) instead of breaking his obligation to the Navy. He wants to switch from sea to shore duty but I'm sure that that is easier said then done because if it was easy everyone would want to do it. He knows of a few individuals who have successfully switched but his command says its not possible. He is willing to switch jobs and move wherever is needed. Does anyone have any advice on how he could go about trying to switch from sea to shore duty?
2007-11-17 11:31:19 · 10 answers · asked by Anonymous in Politics & Government ➔ Military
Don't join the Navy if you don't like big ships, or being at sea.
2007-11-17 12:07:31 · answer #1 · answered by Packer Smacker 4 · 1⤊ 1⤋
Have him seek counselling. There he will talk to people who have been in his shoes and can give him advise/techniques on how to deal with the stress.
While I have not been in the Navy, I do know what its like to deploy and be away from home. The best advise I can give is to make sure all your affairs are in order prior to leaving. This way you dont have problems lingering on you that you can not deal with due to your deployment.
Today's military has the ability to communicate back home with more ease then any other conflict in the history of man. While this is good, it also adds a lot more stress on the deployed member. Now they are still a part of the family issues back home, but can not doing anything but really sit back and listen. This of course adds to stress. The next time you talk to him (Email, Phone, chat, ect..) try to only feed him good news of things. Becareful of bringing up problems, because he will feel helpless as he cant do anything to help you. Just something I've learned during my deployments.
2007-11-17 13:17:52 · answer #2 · answered by B. Wags 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
I take it's a young guy in a lower rate. I spent my last year in the Navy on the USS Nimitz CVN-68, which was ONE class of ship I NEVER wanted to be on. It IS stressful...especially if you're in the aviation field.
Carrier duty isn't for everyone. Not everyone enjoys it as much as a co-worker who is a retired aviation storekeeper. He LOVED carrier duty...and was on some helo carriers and jet carriers. He even refers to the sections in our warehouse sometimes as HANGER BAYS! What a nut!
Unfortunately, each sailor has a minimum number of months to complete on sea duty to be eligible for shore duty. The only possible way would be a humanitarian transfer, say if you were to have an incurable disease or become handicapped in such a way you could not live on your own.
One thing I found out about the aviation community (which I was not of....'regular surface Navy' for all my previous 19 years) they care not much about the people. We are expendable and the only thing counts is getting the planes in the air. I was so disgusted with the Nimitz that when the Command Master Chief asked when I wanted my retirement ceremony, I told him I didn't WANT one. He said that my wife deserved something, and I told him that my wife only wanted me off the ship. Thing is, I had requested an 8 month extension on shore duty so I could retire there (I had a good job offer IF I had been available in July of '85) and I was told they could only extend me 6 months from my rotation date to my retirement date. Soooo...I had to EXTEND my enlistment by 4 months to go back to sea for a year. Also, I was supposed to take over as financial supervisor for the ship/squadrons but hadn't worked financial since 1982. The billet was a 42 month position and I was only going to be on from Dec 84 to Nov 85. So, instead of giving me the billet the detailer INSISTED I was needed at (because of my NEC in financial), they gave me the storerooms as a supervisor.
One good thing about the Navy is that no matter how bad it is, either YOU or the situation/person gets transferred in a couple of years. Here in my civilian position, I have a supervisor I work for from time to time who has a problem with me...and a few others. It might just be HER. But until either SHE retires (6 weeks older than I) or I retire or quit, I just have to numb myself to her cow patties. he he
The Navy is a great career if you can handle the sea time and some of the male bovine excrement. If I had to do it all again, I would but maybe find something different than a carrier to round it off with.
My best wishes to you and your husband. I hope he can find a way to work things out so he isn't so unhappy.
(USN, retired...1965-85)
2007-11-17 11:46:30 · answer #3 · answered by AmericanPatriot 6 · 5⤊ 0⤋
If he has legit hardships, he can get a hardship assignment. But that has to go through the chaplain and his chain of command. Sounds like he just needs to suck it up and make the best of it. Carrier life is not that bad!! There are so many worse places he could be. If he has mental issues, he could try to go on medical hold or limited duty. But there is a risk of getting a medical discharge which I do not recommend!
2007-11-17 11:58:37 · answer #4 · answered by Tincan Navy 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
he needs to start with his chaplain, but the chances of him being able to rotate out of sea duty early is about Nil, especially if his rate is a sea intense one. in many cases there simply are NO shore duty billets available for whatever rating/NEC and paygrade he is.
2007-11-18 01:37:38 · answer #5 · answered by Mrsjvb 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
He should talk to the chaplin on the ship, My husband has done several west pac's and loved them. Everyone handles things different. He wont be on the ship forever!
good luck
2007-11-17 14:45:13 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
maybe during ww2 they were traing my father on a submerine and he gotill, they switched him to building airstrips in the islands with the seabees construction batalion
2007-11-17 11:45:57 · answer #7 · answered by stashnut7 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
he needs to "man up" and handle his business...no none held a gun to his head and made him join the Navy...hello McFly !!!...as soon as he accepts his fate he'll quit whining and his life and yours will get better...I don't mean to come off like the bad guy but the Navy is what it is...once he's back home he'll have more off time than he knows what to do with...I'm guessing he's probably peeling potatoes for 90 days just like everyone else did...tell him you love him and to hang in there
2007-11-17 11:40:22 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 4⤊ 3⤋
Seek serious counselling!
2007-11-17 12:14:47 · answer #9 · answered by Whistler R 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
i would say for him to talk to the chaplain on the ship
2007-11-17 11:40:10 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 1⤋