What will happen to me after boot camp in the navy?

It varies from command to command....but in general..if you are sent to a ship, then that will be your new home. You will be assigned a bunk, in a berthing area. I was mostly foward deployed, and the way it worked was......in foreign countries, you needed written permission from your Chief or even the CO, to live off the base. That was usually reserved for E-4's and up...........permission rarely given to anyone under E-4. Married couples of course, regardless of rank, get base housing.....but again, rank also plays a role in who gets what, first. Lower ranks will be forced to live on the ship, until such housing opens up, if housing is tight or scarce. Obviously, higher ranks take precedence .

When I decommissioned the Truxtun in Seattle, we were given base housing, because of the noise and dangers of taking the ship apart.....so you couldn't live on it, at the same time.

In Japan, I had no real permission, but then, never asked for any either.....and sometimes slept over my girlfriends apartment. As long as you muster on time, no one noticed or cared.....although technically, I may have been breaking the rules.....but I wasn't stupid about it, and Always made sure I showed up well on time. Never got caught, but that may have been just luck.


In Sardinia........our sub tender was fairly stationary.......with the occasional deployment.....so I rented an apartment off base just to have a place to chill. Our second year there, we never moved at all.....so I lived in the apt. all year round.....ferrying out to the ship each day.

But if you cause *ANY* problem off base.......non payment of rent, destroying your apt.....wild parties, that get reported to the command......your priviliges to live off base, are at the discretion of the command, and can be instantly revoked at Capt. Mast. When you are foward deployed...you are Ambassadors of your country, and any nonsense......will get you confined to the ship, permenantly.....until you transfer.

Shipmate, where's your recruiter!? Once you graduate from Basic Training and whatever PACT program your signed up for then you'll get orders to go to ship or shore. If you go to shore duty then of course you'll live in the barracks. If you go to a ship, well things are a bit different. Typically, there's not enough room to house hundreds of junior Sailors in the barracks. The way I did business was the Sailors who go to the barracks first are those were the more senior ones and have proved that they are mature enough to do so.

I determined who lived in the barracks based on their performance, qualifications and maturity they displayed. No one wants to be embarrassed especially your superiors, so if you get your qualifications done ahead of time, keep your nose clean, and are a model Sailor you'll have no problem getting into the barracks. Also, you are correct in assume that while in port the barracks are your home. Therefore, unless someone didn't show up for work I wasn't in the habit of sending folks over to little Johnny's barracks room because he didn't wake up on time and missed liberty expiration. If I had to send someone over to find little Johnny, then it was time for little Johnny to move back on the ship.

In the event that we deployed, all of my Sailors were recalled back to the ship and turned over their barracks rooms and keys. On deployment we all live on the ship of course.

PACT does not matter as far as the nature of your question is concerned.

Your First permanent duty station will be a Ship.
You will live aboard ship
Even when the ship is in port you will live aboard ship (unless you're married with a family)
When it is after hours and you don't have duty section you can leave the ship on liberty call. You can even get a hotel room for the night, just so long as you are back in time for the next day's work... but you will LIVE on ship, not in a barracks.

If the ship is going through serious yardwork/overhaul/repairs... they may have barracks to put the crew up in... depends on the nature of the work going on and whether the Berthing compartments are livable or not.


Living off ship is for married individuals or those of senior rank/Officers.
Everyone else lives aboard ship, but can leave the ship so long as they are not on duty.

You'll go to A School in Great Lakes for like two weeks. Then, off to a ship where you'll definitely earn your pay. Enjoy it though. Some of it's going to suck. But a lot of it will be awesome. I promise.

whatever recruiter chain of command you have has failed you. you go to A school after bootcamp and then you get assigned to a ship or if you are unfortunate a shore command.

if you are on water you are on water for months ,I think

Ships in the Navy do NOT go sailing, it isn't a sail boat, it goes out to sea. They are not in a harbor, they are at a base on a pier.

You will report to whatever command you are assigned to. If it is a ship then it will depend on which one you are assigned to. Some you will be living on the ship as well (ie a carrier) and others you will live in barracks when not at sea. How long the ship is at sea depends on what is going on. It can be a few days, a week, a few weeks, a month, several months or over 7 months. One year you can be gone 80% of the year and then the next one it is only 50%.

you wil be assigned to a ship. whether that ship has shore side barracks for its' enlisted personnel is unknown.. many do not. if they do not than you reside on the ship and have a rack and a small locker n a great big room with you and 50 roommates.