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Snipe · Posted: Wed Aug 25, 2004 12:32 pm Post subject:

OK. For the Navy we had sea duty and shore duty for rotation purposes.
So you do a "Tour" of sea duty followed by a "Tour" of shore duty, etc.
They've tweeked it up lately by "Neutral" duty and stuff like that. So
when Kerry went on the Gridley, he was pulling a Tour of Sea Duty. I'm
not sure what the length was for officers, but for engineering rates, it
was a six year Tour of Sea Duty followed by a two year Tour of Shore
Duty. The average four year enlisted will probably pull his whole time
on one ship and in the case of a Long Beach or San Diego based
destroyer that will include two WestPac cruises. Carriers did nine
month cruises but after six months of hard use, the average Can really
needs to look for a shipyard if you want to keep it around for a while.

Hope this helps.
_________________
Tin Can Sailor

lrdg · Seaman Recruit Joined: 26 Aug 2004 Posts: 4

I agree with Snipe. I did one four year enlistment, most all of it with a fighter squadron and technically sea duty, (except the last six months after they decomission my squadron), and two westpacs 1973 and 1975. A total of about 15 months, most of it sailing up down the coast. We tend to think more in terms of cruises than tours.