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Hi All, hoping for some guidance-

I got invited to the ‘return to home port’ ceremony for my best friends ship, from googling I know the ceremony is somewhat formal, but as an attendee is there any expectations? I asked and she said ‘wear whatever’ but that is.. not super helpful. It’s in San Diego so warm weather, I (M) am not sure if I should go like button up/ slacks or is just like pants / t shirt okay? Honestly considering bringing both in my car and trying to scope what other people are wearing, I don’t want to be severely over or under dressed for the seriousness of the occasion.

What am I allowed to bring to my shipmate at Portsmouth mental health? I’m thinking hygiene products or anything to make them feel just the slightest bit better.

I’ve seen an uptick in eval posts, this is a complete repost of something I wrote here four years ago when I was pretty recently retired. I think this advice still works:

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Eval season is starting so here’s my thoughts on how to write evals for future boards.

Me: I’m a retired Ech. 3 CMDCM (July, 2021). I’ve sat two SCPO boards, a continuation board, and have written thousands of evals. I was always above average advancement at boards.

Simple advice:

Opening and closing lines are fluff. There’s good fluff and there’s bad fluff. What is fluff? I never really understood it either so I prefer to call it “water bug speech”. Skims along the surface but doesn’t actually explain anything:

• ⁠Every full sentence in the body should be ACTION:IMPACT.

• ⁠Circle every word that begins a sentence. Every single sentence in the body should start with an “ed” word. Championed, initiated, chaired, developed, led, instigated.... Stay away from “coordinated”, that means you didn’t lead on your own. Co words are weak anyways. “Meticulously managed” means nothing; you’re supposed to be meticulous if you’re managing something. Look at the difference:

“As PRT Coordinator for 300 people, meticulously managed a flawless PRT and robust FEP programs.”

Ask yourself, how many CFLs are there in the Navy? Now times that by 5 years (at least). Change that to:

“Led massive command CFL changes, reduced PRT failures from 18 to 2 and FEP BMI from 24 to 21% in one cycle.” See the difference?

• ⁠Highlight every sentence in the body that’s purely complimentary. If there’s any yellow in the body, you’re wasting space. I’ve read, “His only weakness is cryptonite”. I can read what you’re saying, you like the guy, but that tells me nothing.

PO3/2: Bullets should go Technical Knowledge, Leadership, Command Impact.

PO1-MCPO: Leadership, Technical Knowledge, Command Impact.

Always hard ranks if possible.

Read convening orders and stay on top of current language/terms. The word “COMREL” usually doesn’t appear so like, hey, awesome, but unless you tie it in with leadership (which is on the convening order) no one gives a shit.

I think the jobs you’re recommended for are important.

I retired close enough to feel ok to post this but feel free to update it as necessary for the future or just add on to it.

How do I write a positive eval for my E3 who got an NJP? How could I shoot for them to get an MP?

Im not sure if its allowed but i wanted to take the time to appreciate the relief society and if any of the junior folks on here haven’t had much interaction with them, give insight to how clutch they can be.

A friend of mine just PCS’d to his second command and didn’t know he’d be getting a lapse in BAH and also his admin didn’t route his BAH package during check in so I told him to go to the relief society and they’ll take care of em with a 0 interest loan.

I only knew to send him there because I had to go May-December without BAH after command approval because of some admin issue above my command. Long story short no one really cared, not LPO, not chief and, not divisional leadership. I started selling my belongings and maxing credit cards to pay rent after the 2 months of rent I had saved up prior to routing BAH were expunged. To add to the situation my mom was dying in a hospital 100 miles away and I didn’t have gas money to drive to be with her. Finally one of my first classes catches wind of this and send me to the relief society and they were able to cover my rent for the last few months I was waiting for backpay. I truly am beyond grateful that we have access to their assistance.

I’ll take a spicy chicken deluxe, no tomatoes with chick fil a sauce and an Arnold Palmer, thank you.

TLDR: If you are having a financial stressor(navy related or not) the relief society should be able to help with something, and they’re super kind. So shoutout to them

Please feel free to reach me at hmongilio@usni.org or on Signal: HMongilio.52 if you would like to talk about this topic.

https://news.usni.org/2026/04/10/navy-marine-corps-see-drop-in-2024-suicide-rate-but-overall-trend-is-rising-new-data-says

I do have a wife and child. never been to cali but trying to be open minded when I start looking at orders.

Going to be in Norfolk for about 6 weeks starting in May. Work assignment, not a permanent move. I've looked at extended stay hotels and honestly they're depressing, overpriced, and feel like you're camping in a hallway. I'd rather have an actual space to cook and work from.

Looking at furnished rentals in or around downtown Norfolk or anywhere reasonably close to the naval station area. Budget is flexible but I'd rather not pay hotel rates for something with a kitchen that still feels like a hotel.

Curious what other people in similar situations have used. Don't have a ton of local knowledge on which neighborhoods are actually worth being in vs which ones look fine on paper but feel off in practice.

I will try to make this quick because I don't have anyone else I can ask. I am the best man and planning the bachelor party. Our friend group loved Top Gun. We would watch it together and crack jokes all the time from it, so I am making the bachelor party Top Gun themed.

I wanted to buy khaki garrison caps and get a custom bachelor party pin made for them, hand out aviators, and have the guys wear t shirts with the different call signs from the movies to bring it all together.

After a bit of research, it looks like wearing garrison caps as a civilian/someone who never served is disrespectful and to be avoided. Is this true? I wasn't aware of that, I was just going off one of the scenes in the movie is all (mean no disrespect).

If I can't go this route, do you guys have any suggestions for hats that would fit the goal and not offend/ be in poor taste?

Thanks in advance.

Does anyone here have any experience being sent IA to Overseas support group 15 in Australia?

I have two questions.

Where in Australia? and Is there per diem?

I went IA in Bahrain a few years ago, it was great but living in a CHU and getting no per diem kinda lowkey sucked.

Australia sounds dope, would like to go but also have a house and a baby on the way. Need to make sure it’s even worth it.