Question about ODS and Ultimate Duty Station - Navy Nurse Corps

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Hi everyone,

I am attending ODS on July 18th and will graduate from there on August 20th. I have been told a different information by different people. After ODS is done will I be able to fly back home to get my vehicle or does ODS arrange a flight directly to my ultimate duty station, which is San Diego Medical Center? I was under the impression that I could run home first but then I was just told by my administrative detailer that ODS will fly me directly to my first duty station. Does anyone know for sure what happens right after ODS? My orders say I need to report to my first duty station by the last day in August. Any information would be very helpful! Communication at this stage and getting a consistent answer has been difficult.

Thank you so much!

-Shaun D. OC-1/ENS

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I can tell you what happens in the USAF - and my guess is it works pretty much the same since travel regulations are written by the DOD and are not service specific.

My guess is you can drive to Rhode Island and then drive to your first duty station. You will only be given a certain number of travel days (and again, this is a DOD reg, not an AF specific reg). If you choose to fly to Rhode Island, then you'll be flown to your first duty station directly from Newport (nearest major airport I believe is Logan in Boston, MA).

Check the wording on your orders. Your report no later than date (your RNLTD) probably IS the first day in August, but you're only allowed that much leave if you have that much on the books - and you won't. You'll have two and half days' leave accrued by the time you graduate ODS (2.5 days for every thirty days served, and ODS is 5 weeks). You can burn that 2.5 days' leave en route on top of how ever many travel days you're authorized, but you really can't burn MORE than that. Travel orders are all written the same, and essentially have 14 days leave built in to the RNLTD. If you DON'T have the 14 days on the books, they don't give you those days on the front.

And never, ever go in the hole on leave; most commanders won't authorize it anyway unless it's a family emergency.

Check to be sure you can drive; I was considering the Navy at one point and my understanding was it's just like Air Force officer training - you can take your car but you park it for the duration of training until you're given privileges. I drove to COT and then drove from Alabama to San Antonio.

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I've read online people say you are authorized 3 days to get there. Is this true? Do you get the same amount of time regardless where final station is? I'm going across country. Doesn't seem safe to give everyone just 3 days.

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I've read online people say you are authorized 3 days to get there. Is this true? Do you get the same amount of time regardless where final station is? I'm going across country. Doesn't seem safe to give everyone just 3 days.

No. You are authorized travel days based on where you're ending up. There's no one magic number.

I got three days from Alabama to Texas - that's MORE than enough time. People heading to California got five days, Alaska got eight days, North Carolina got two days - there's a set number of miles the DOD does not want you to exceed (and off the top of my head I can't remember the number) in a day and they want a majority of your miles to be done during daylight.

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Thx carolina

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Thank you Carolina for the information! That helps quite a bit for planning my travel.

-Shaun D.

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