Brothers and sisters, we have lost two of our own over the last couple weeks, at least in this area.

Sometimes there are signs and sometimes there aren't. Check in on your teammates and colleagues.

It kills me to see these things happen and the after effects on a small, tight knit team. It can devastate even the most efficient teams.

I’m currently active duty Navy and I’ve been seriously thinking about transitioning to the Reserves when my active contract ends in 2029. I’ll have around 8.5 years of active service by then, and ideally I’d like to finish the rest of my 20 in the Reserves rather than stay active duty.
My husband and I are also both active duty Corpsmen right now. He plans to remain active duty after I transition to the Reserves, so I’d be a Reservist married to an active duty service member. I’m especially interested in hearing from anyone who has a similar setup and how you manage PCS moves, Reserve units, school/civilian employment, and your spouse’s active-duty career.
My biggest reason is quality of life. I’m ready for more control over my schedule and my career outside of the military.
The plan I have in my head is:
• Transition from Active Duty to Navy Reserve
• Go to school for sonography using my GI Bill
• Work part-time/PRN while I’m in school if my schedule allows
• Drill with the Reserves and do my annual training
• After school, work full-time as a sonographer while continuing in the Reserves
• Eventually reach 20 years total service and qualify for Reserve retirement
I know Reserve retirement works differently than active-duty retirement and that I wouldn’t immediately start collecting a pension at 20 years. I’m more interested in whether this is a realistic lifestyle and career plan.
For anyone who went Active → Reserve around the halfway point of their military career:
How was the transition?
Do you feel like the Reserves actually gave you a better work/life balance?
How manageable is being a full-time student while drilling?
How often does “one weekend a month, two weeks a year” turn into more than that?
Did you have issues balancing a civilian healthcare career with Reserve obligations?
If your spouse stayed active duty, what happens when they PCS? Were you able to transfer Reserve units relatively easily, or did you end up traveling for drill?
And most importantly — if you were already around 8–10 years in when you left active duty, do you feel like finishing 20 through the Reserves was worth it?
I’m not expecting the Reserves to be completely hands-off. I just don’t want to stay active duty solely because I’m approaching the halfway point if I can still serve, finish my 20, build my civilian career, and have more control over my life.
I’d especially love to hear from prior-active Navy Reservists, Corpsmen, healthcare workers, or Reservists with an active-duty spouse.

Good afternoon,

I understand there is a lot of confusion in regard to Billet Based Advancement (BBA) so I want to provide some very basic insight to better educate those who may have questions.

** These notes are from me, and do not reflect NPC or PERS-40/PERS-407** If you / your Sailors have additional questions please have them contact their CCC/COC/ or rating detailer. **

· BBA is now live for the HM community for E-5’s who have taken the Rating Knowledge Exam (RKE) and have the appropriate Detailing Marketplace Eligibility Indicator (DMEI) on their MNA profile, in this case it will say Other-ADV related.

· I took the RKE, how do I know if I am eligible for BBA? Login to MNA, select My Info > My Personnel Info > Personal. The pop-up will have a DM Eligible box, which if eligible will say Other-ADV related. If it is not there, that means you are not eligible to negotiate for a BBA billet at this time.

· What do BBA Billets look like on MNA? They are not coded any different when searching for jobs, please search for jobs within your respective NEC (if applicable) and simply apply for E-6 jobs instead of E-5 jobs.

· Can I apply for a billet that has a closed loop NEC (L01A,L02A,L04A,ETC) if I don’t have the NEC?

No, for HM’s specifically, they should only apply for billets for which they meet the NEC requirements for. (Exceptions to this are those NEC’s such as 805A, 806R, ETC)

· Do I have to be in my PRD window to apply for a BBA billet? No Sailors are encouraged to apply for BBA billets once they have the DMEI.

· I am in my PRD window and eligible for BBA, how should I proceed? While in your window, Sailors are encouraged to apply for both BBA and in-paygrade billets.

· I have HM2 orders already and see there is an HM1 billet where I am going, can I get an ORDMOD to the HM1 Billet? No, sailors must compete for and win a billet via BBA to be selected for the A2P position.

· How do I win a billet? Please refer to the MyNavyHR BBA page and review the Sailor Scoring Criteria (SSC) DGM.

Additional information/resources can be found at the MyNavyHR BBA Page: https://www.mynavyhr.navy.mil/career-management/detailing/enlisted/billet-based-advancement/

HM Detailing: https://www.mynavyhr.navy.mil/Career-Management/Detailing/Enlisted/Corpsman/

HM "C" Schoosl: https://www.mynavyhr.navy.mil/Career-Management/Detailing/Enlisted/Corpsman/C-School/

Has anyone ever gone through fmtb with your spouse while having a kid?

Going to C school beginning of September in San Antonio. Where and what barracks will I be living in. I’m sure everyone has seen the news about Jaenke and Fralish.

How does it work?

As an E5, are any E6 orders up for grabs? I know they were advertised as “A2P” at one point but there are zero A2P billets advertised right now on MNA. To advance do I just have to score an E6 billet?

Also what’s up with this BBA interim score? The higher it is the better chance I have at scoring the billet?

Any knowledge helps.

What’s up yoohoos. Do I rate this ribbon? I was stationed at Great Lakes and worked all the clinics some years ago. Read the instruction. Red Rover and Tranquility are basically NSTC? Anybody write a letter or whatever so it can get in your NSIPS. Or did anybody just get it?

Hello,

I am on my 3rd windows for orders and I know I want to go green side, I was reading a post from a while back saying that if you choose mardiv, you won’t be an infantry corpsman, but most likely support. I was just wondering how do the deployments for those units work, and if there was any way to search up uics. Thank you.

Hello,
Was wondering if anyone has had experience being assigned to CLB 31 31st MEU, 12th MLR 3D MARD, or 2D Mar RDR BN? Can’t seem to find much info regarding these billet on Reddit.

I just got orders to South Carolina Beaufort and I have a couple questions one of them is I have brown boot I bought like a month ago and wanted to know if it’s ok to wear them they’re in regs and everything just don’t know if it’s like a scrubs type of command sorry if it sounds stupid it’s my first command I
And I’m confused what to do but if you have any tips I’d love them

I’m soon to finish Corps school and just got soft orders to the Mercy. Anything I should know?

I’m a Corpsman picking orders from Walter Reed, Blueside Hospital, I’ve worked in the emergency room for two years and I enjoy it, I’m wondering, what’s the difference between all the different infantry Victor units in the Marine Corps and how to pick between any of them, ie 1/5, 2/4, 1/1..etc.

It’s hard finding real resources on them like day to day work, medicine, deployments, etc. wondering what orders to look out for?

What does it mean (FMC required) on orders? I’m up for orders and I see this. Does it mean I would have had to go to FMC first or would they send me through ?

Can anyone thats gone through the c-school share advice or a "everything you need to know"

I am a HN, soon to be HM3 and just got orders to 2d MAR RDR BN. I am not a SARC or ATF corpsman just a quad zero. what should I expect?

Hello everyone,
With HMU being down and that was my main method of studying for the advancement exam; I was wondering if anyone had any study guides of quizlets that helped them with the exam. I use Bluejacketeer but I would love to expand my resources to study as much as possible for this exam.
Please feel free to pm me anything that helped you.

Thank you!

It’s been about 6 months I’ve been waiting on new orders. Still nothing yet. They show up on my MNA but nothing official yet. Anyone know why this could be ? #Navy

I got orders to NMRC GL D FISH in Great Lakes .. I see it’s the dental clinic at RTC .. I haven’t heard from my sponsor as yet and I haven’t met anyone who has worked there before. Anyone here has any idea what it’s like working there as a dental assistant? Any information would be good please

what do you guys think of the e5 billets this cycle? Why are they all ships ?

Just got orders to Red Rover. Anyone been there? What are the hours like, what’s the job like day to day, and how is it there overall?

HM3 heading to 3rd LCT. What does day to day look like or duties and such?

I’m trying to make E-5 on this next cycle. Anyone have any study tips and suggestions?