My last job was doing two 12's every Sat and Sun. It was great but ya know having them all off it better.
Good grief, what kind of RHIP is that? If you kept your nose clean and did a good job would they let you sign up for double-shift holidays, too?!?
One of the biggest problems of the submarine force is that the junior officers keep looking around them and using their brains. They see the department heads working at least as many hours and standing the same amount of inport duty & underway watches but with lots more responsibility & accountability for not enough more pay. Admittedly DHs don't stand Christmas duty or midwatches (unless they want to) but the pay raise isn't
that good.
Meanwhile the DHs are hearing the XOs talk about not having to stand any duty or watches ("Sign up for another five years and run your own ship-- you'll love it!"), and then watching the XOs stay up all night as CDO (so the CO can catch up on sleep) and having to bull through another six-eight hours to make sure the day's drills & training get carried out by the DHs. Hopefully XOs get a good nap before stationing the CDO again.
The XOs, if they're still awake to see the COs nod off during every meeting, are thinking to themselves "Geez, I could run this show better than that. One bad move, skipper, and I'm right here behind you!!"
Meanwhile the COs are telling everyone they know "Yeah, command is the last good job in the Navy!" and dreading being sent to the [-]Pentagon[/-] next career-enhancing opportunity with less than 20 years in the service and perhaps an obligation from a bonus contract.
Meanwhile everyone looks forward to shore duty to get that graduate degree, get that joint learning out of the way, get that prestigious joint staff job, and get that pre-command staff experience. If you're lucky you don't have to stand duty, either! No wonder JO retention is under 40%...
You guys served your time-- you've more than earned an early release. There are plenty of other [-]suckers[/-] eager career aspirants to fill in behind you.