I read all the time about "the lists" (whatever acronyms people use--I think EQUALS, or something like that, is one of them) coming out, and other comments about how people try for orders, and it has me scratching my head. It is so, so different than what DH (and everyone we know well, though they are generally in the same community and platform) goes through, so I thought it would be interesting (to me, at least!) to talk about this.
Post your DH's branch, O or E, and if you feel comfortable, something about his job, and then a brief description of how the orders selection/assignment works.
My DH is a Navy O aviator.
Mostly, he figures out what job he wants (through what's standardly accept as good for a career and/or through personal research if one wants to do something a little different), contacts his detailer, who sees if that job has any openings anywhere that work for one's timing and if one has the proper quals and ranking to be given that job, and then one either gets it, or not. This is usually started about a year out from current orders ending.
Timing is crucially important. Leaving a job too early or too late can destroy a career so there isn't a ton of wiggle room that can be used to make a job work, so you can't delay much in order to make a cool opportunity work for you.
There is never any list of available jobs. It's up to the person to figure out what opportunities exists, or a detailer might be able to help with a specific request. (For example, if you wanted to do an Exchange job with a foreign military, you would tell him that and he might be able to get a list of those jobs and see if you have the correct timing for them.)
I have never heard of anyone getting a follow on, ever.
That's about it, I think. You?
Bookmarks