a deployment?? is it anytime they are gone? or do you have a set amount of time they have to be gone before you consider it a deployment??

A deployment is anytime they are TDY. Although I don't think that going TDY for training is the same kind of deployment as a combat tour. Technically they are all deployments though.

for me its anything 6 month plus,i don't count underways as deployments but i know on subs some of their deployments are 3 months long but i don't know how often they go out and do work ups. but i can't deal without e mails.

We're Navy and DH says anything over 4 months is a "deployment" everything else is just a "underway" for work ups or a "run". (Boomer sub sailors do patrols, not deployments - his words not mine :giggle)

Navy does alot of in/out stuff that consists of a few days here, few days there, week there or week here. Those are not deployments. ;)

I think it's anything longer than 3 months, since subs deploy but it's only for three months. Carriers do anywhere from 5-9 months, with the average being about 6 months. Other branches do 12-24 month tours, with the average being 15-18 months. So, really, I think anything 3 months or longer would be considered a deployment.

We're Navy and DH says anything over 4 months is a "deployment" everything else is just a "underway" for work ups or a "run". (Boomer sub sailors do patrols, not deployments - his words not mine :giggle)

Navy does alot of in/out stuff that consists of a few days here, few days there, week there or week here. Those are not deployments. ;)

Technically speaking. But as far as spouses go, I think most boomer wives will refer to the 3 months as a deployment, because it basically is, just in other words.

When dh was on a boomer sub, I considered his 3 1/2- 4 month "patrols" a deployment. It may not have been as long as other deployments, but there is zero contact. No letters, no email, no phone calls, no internet, absolute nothing. We could send familygrams and the occasional care package, but we got nothing back. The isolation was tough.

I think, for me, a deployment is DH actually leaving the country. He is full time Air Guard so he gets "activated" to do hurricane duty whenever there's a bad storm (knock on wood, he hasn't been activated for hurricane duty since Katrina, he was gone for over a month for that). But he's still in the country, if I *really* needed him to be home, he could be.

Deployment is on a plane, headed away. Our last deployment was last year, he was gone from May thru October in Iraq.

I agree with the 4 months or more, I also consider an unaccompanied tour as a deployment for lack of anything better to call it.

According to the government.. just for reference...
A deployment is military duty away from home. It may be as short as a drill weekend or as long as an unaccompanied overseas tour. The purpose for these deployments or separations is to keep our military forces trained and at the highest state of readiness to meet our global military commitments. Your service member may deploy at any time, although most separations are scheduled well in advance. The nature of the military makes it extremely important to have you family affairs in order so that you will be able to take care of unexpected situations that may come up during a deployment or separation.

since subs deploy but it's only for three months.

HA!! subs, particularly fast attack submarines deploy for much longer than 3 months and they have less communications than the surface ships. they can deploy more often than surface ships. Their tempo tends to be higher but it can vary!

I've got 9 deployments of 6 months or longer under my belt as a submarine wife. I have several others that ranged anywhere from 3-5 months under my belt.

"boomers" are submarines that do patrols. They have 2 crews; each crew having it 3 months on/3 months off but their sea time is 6-8 weeks out of that 3 months - the rest of the time is refit and turnover time to the other crew.

ETA: the navy does give seperation pay for anything consistsing of 30 days or more consecutively so I guess "technically" you could say 30 days is a deployment. I can't count how many times though DH pulled in on the 28th day....I swear its so we didn't get our money LOL!!!

the reason i ask is i was at the bus stop and this lady said her husband was on a deployment and someone asked how long he was going to be gone she said 3 weeks. i was shocked. i was thinking about and i guess for me since my DH is on the surface. and NOTHING but respect for submariners spouses i couldn't do it. i really couldn't. i think of deployment anytime he is in the tax free zone, but i know that not all ships do over there either, they go rim pacs and crack pacs as well and i don't know if they get that tax free money or not. i am not looking for techincal terms just what YOU consider a deployment to be i am sure there are lots of places that define it. but before YOU will say your husband is on deployment how long does he have to be going for or gone for? that is more of what the question is. i know how i feel about it with the navy since we do a lot of underways and trainings and stuff like that but i have NO idea about the other forces. i know they go into the field and do drills and such. but i would have NO idea what the average time for that stuff is, just trying to educate myself :)

ETA: the navy does give seperation pay for anything consistsing of 30 days or more consecutively so I guess "technically" you could say 30 days is a deployment. I can't count how many times though DH pulled in on the 28th day....I swear its so we didn't get our money LOL!!![/QUOTE]



AMEN to THAT!! 29 days in july what was that about. one time his last ship pulled in on 28 days to leave the next month for west pac! URGH cheap bastards

If the branch calls it a deployment, then so do I :dunno

I never put a set amount of time on it, but Brandi summed it up quite well. :)

The thought of a 3 week deployment though does make me feel the need to laugh until I pee.

HA!! subs, particularly fast attack submarines deploy for much longer than 3 months and they have less communications than the surface ships. they can deploy more often than surface ships. Their tempo tends to be higher but it can vary!

I've got 9 deployments of 6 months or longer under my belt as a submarine wife. I have several others that ranged anywhere from 3-5 months under my belt.

"boomers" are submarines that do patrols. They have 2 crews; each crew having it 3 months on/3 months off but their sea time is 6-8 weeks out of that 3 months - the rest of the time is refit and turnover time to the other crew.

ETA: the navy does give seperation pay for anything consistsing of 30 days or more consecutively so I guess "technically" you could say 30 days is a deployment. I can't count how many times though DH pulled in on the 28th day....I swear its so we didn't get our money LOL!!!

You don't need to pick my post apart, sweetie, I know how long subs CAN deploy for. I was talking about boomers though, with the 3 on, 3 off rotation.

HA!! subs, particularly fast attack submarines deploy for much longer than 3 months and they have less communications than the surface ships. they can deploy more often than surface ships. Their tempo tends to be higher but it can vary!

I've got 9 deployments of 6 months or longer under my belt as a submarine wife. I have several others that ranged anywhere from 3-5 months under my belt.

"boomers" are submarines that do patrols. They have 2 crews; each crew having it 3 months on/3 months off but their sea time is 6-8 weeks out of that 3 months - the rest of the time is refit and turnover time to the other crew.

ETA: the navy does give seperation pay for anything consistsing of 30 days or more consecutively so I guess "technically" you could say 30 days is a deployment. I can't count how many times though DH pulled in on the 28th day....I swear its so we didn't get our money LOL!!!

Please let me know which boomer only goes out for 6-8 weeks.... I'd love for DB to get on one of those crews. :giggle

His turnover is more like 3 out to sea, 4-5 months home (with a month of refit before & after they go out).

:giggle refit might as well count as part of the deployment... it's hard for him to squeeze a life in when he's working 100+ hours a week, lol.

I don't think those 3 months are any less difficult than a longer deployment. Yeah, it's less time apart..... but there's slim to none when it comes to communication. :no And that's hard. For me at least.

The thought of a 3 week deployment though does make me feel the need to laugh until I pee.

:lmao yeah, it is kind of funny to hear a 2 or 3 weeker, or even a 1 or 2 monther called a deployment, but I guess it's all about personal preference. In terms of what I personally consider a deployment, I would say 3+ months, though the military seems to have their own definition of it.

In the Coast Guard its anything longer then 30 days.

I'm just :faint hearing about three month deployments! DH picked the wrong branch and job! :lol

All joking aside, I think any time your loved one is in a combat zone, it's a deployment, regardless of length. :yes

I think it's anything longer than 3 months, since subs deploy but it's only for three months. Carriers do anywhere from 5-9 months, with the average being about 6 months. Other branches do 12-24 month tours, with the average being 15-18 months. So, really, I think anything 3 months or longer would be considered a deployment.

:tu I agree!

I'm just :faint hearing about three month deployments! DH picked the wrong branch and job! :lol



There are shorter stints in the Navy, but I think they are gone just as much cumulatively. When a carrier goes out for 'only' 6 months, they come home for 1 month of downtime, then start doing workups for the next deployment. So, for the whole next 12-18 months, they are gone for a month, then in for a week, then gone for 3 weeks and back home for a week, then out for 6 weeks, then back home for a week, and this goes on for the whole time until they deploy again for 6 months. So, the time does add up. For every three years of sea duty, I think the service member is probably home a year or less of that. So, it's not all roses and sunshine, trust me :lol

The boomer subs do the shortest deployments but their rotation is pretty constant (3 months out, then 3 or 4 months home, repeat) and there is very very little to no communications during that time b/c they are supposed to be hiding :giggle So, I can see how that would be very tough.

we counted it out and out of our youngest sons first 24 months of life my DH was gone 19 months, not including duty days. but i would take that any day over 3-4 of no contact with him. i live for my daily e mail. i do get one every day if they are up, its not always long but its something. and OH how i excited i get if we can catch each other on the computer at the same time and play e mail tag that makes my week LOL

and carriers deployments are no longer averaging out to 6 months its pretty much promised its at least 7 months when they pull out for cruise. this is our 4th deployment and they have all been more than 6 months even our pre 9-11 one. the last one the ship was gone for 9 he flew off at 8 though because of orders.

There are shorter stints in the Navy, but I think they are gone just as much cumulatively. When a carrier goes out for 'only' 6 months, they come home for 1 month of downtime, then start doing workups for the next deployment. So, for the whole next 12-18 months, they are gone for a month, then in for a week, then gone for 3 weeks and back home for a week, then out for 6 weeks, then back home for a week, and this goes on for the whole time until they deploy again for 6 months. So, the time does add up. For every three years of sea duty, I think the service member is probably home a year or less of that. So, it's not all roses and sunshine, trust me :lol

The boomer subs do the shortest deployments but their rotation is pretty constant (3 months out, then 3 or 4 months home, repeat) and there is very very little to no communications during that time b/c they are supposed to be hiding :giggle So, I can see how that would be very tough.


ITA! :yes I don't think it's any harder/easier in general for anyone...I'm just a goof :lol

In this household anything longer then 3 months is a deployment. And with each length of deployment = how big the welcome home sign is

For me deployments are the long ones and work-ups are the short ones.

If the branch calls it a deployment, then so do I :dunno

I never put a set amount of time on it, but Brandi summed it up quite well. :)

The thought of a 3 week deployment though does make me feel the need to laugh until I pee.

LOL - agreed (with everything).
DH has had a range of deployments from an just shy of 12 months to as short as 3 months. The three month tours were no-shit deployments - his squadron was on a regular rotation of forces that were tasked with enforcing the no-fly zones over Iraq so they went to Turkey, Saudi, Saudi again and then were obligated to a 6 month stint in Iwakuni (they were home for 6 months between each 3 month and 12 between the last 3 and the 6 - if that makes sense). They were not "training exercises" and they were not "TDY"s - they were deployments :dunno

I think deployments depend really on what thier job is. When someone asks how many deployments my dh has done I only take into account the 6 plus month ones.

We're aviation Navy and usually I would consider anything over 6+ months a deployment.....but that is what we always did before. Now DH goes out for 2 months at a time, but let me tell you when he goes out only 2 months and then comes home for 12 days, 6 days etc it doesn't really seem beneficial.

He's been gone 80% of this year.....I'd almost rather him be gone one straight 6 monther than this crap.

We're aviation Navy and usually I would consider anything over 6+ months a deployment.....but that is what we always did before. Now DH goes out for 2 months at a time, but let me tell you when he goes out only 2 months and then comes home for 12 days, 6 days etc it doesn't really seem beneficial.

He's been gone 80% of this year.....I'd almost rather him be gone one straight 6 monther than this crap.

I've always personally felt that the work ups are harder than deployments are. What's worse is that on top of how hard they are, you know it's all building up to a big long separation anyhow. So, is there any good at all in work ups? :nocomment

I've always personally felt that the work ups are harder than deployments are. What's worse is that on top of how hard they are, you know it's all building up to a big long separation anyhow. So, is there any good at all in work ups? :nocomment

I'd hate that. DH doesn't have work ups......it's fly home, debrief etc etc and then go back out for 2 months.....they just have shorter det cycles, but the total time he's gone a year is MUCH more than if he was in a regular P3 squadron.........

I'm actually read to get out of Hawaii because of this squadron.....it's exhausting....he's always gone.

I've always said I'd take deployments over work ups any day. I really hate the in and out crap.

I'm not really sure what my defination of a deployment is.
I always say matt's been on 3 b/c he spent a year in Korea in 04 then 05 06 he was in Iraq and he's there now it's 07 and he'll be there till 08

I've always personally felt that the work ups are harder than deployments are. What's worse is that on top of how hard they are, you know it's all building up to a big long separation anyhow. So, is there any good at all in work ups? :nocomment

i am anti work up as well i hate them then come home for a stand down when everyone knows they are leaving and OH its so stressful. i honestly think not knowing is just better sometimes. our last deployment before this the 03 one was a bit of a surprise and it was so much easier. i am really having a hard time this time around. but when she said 3 weeks i almost started to literally laugh out loud. i live on oceana housing so a lot of the squadrons aren't ships company but i am sure they have their own work ups to do maybe she is just very new to it all. i wouldn't call it a deployment for it it would be a work up or an underway. he did a 6 week cabos run once and it was an underway not a deployment.

There are shorter stints in the Navy, but I think they are gone just as much cumulatively. When a carrier goes out for 'only' 6 months, they come home for 1 month of downtime, then start doing workups for the next deployment. So, for the whole next 12-18 months, they are gone for a month, then in for a week, then gone for 3 weeks and back home for a week, then out for 6 weeks, then back home for a week, and this goes on for the whole time until they deploy again for 6 months. So, the time does add up. For every three years of sea duty, I think the service member is probably home a year or less of that. So, it's not all roses and sunshine, trust me :lol

The boomer subs do the shortest deployments but their rotation is pretty constant (3 months out, then 3 or 4 months home, repeat) and there is very very little to no communications during that time b/c they are supposed to be hiding :giggle So, I can see how that would be very tough.

I agree with that, my dh hasnt been home much with being on the Big E. The work ups and all that drives me crazy. I am glad that after this deployment they are going to finally have some time off. :tu

According to the Encylopedia: Military deployment is the movement of armed forces and their logistical support infrastructure.

According to the Dictionary: deployment
nounthe distribution of forces in preparation for battle or work

Personally:
I don't consider it a deployment when my husband is gone for a couple of months or shorter and then is home or if he stays in the same country. I do consider it a deployment when he goes overseas for 6+ months at a time.

I think a deployment is LONGER than 6 months, (sorry if that offends anyone) only when they get hazard duty pay, OUT of country, and where they have the potential of getting killed every day. To me, that is a deployment, no matter what the government technically says.

Technically speaking. But as far as spouses go, I think most boomer wives will refer to the 3 months as a deployment, because it basically is, just in other words.

I can understand this point of view, but I think it is hard to say this to an army wife who knows they are facing a real deployment time of 12-18 months. I know for me, DH will be gone at least 15 months, so when someone calls a 3 month term a deployment, I have to say :puzz. As far as communication, I bet it is really bad on ships, but honestly on land in Iraq, at least for DH's unit, it's not very good either. Sometimes I am lucky to hear from him once a week, and for email? :rofl that just DOESN'T happen! Internet? What's that?! Lol. Not trying to say one branch has it harder than another, just something to think about KWIM? Plus this 15 month deployment, we don't get that cherished R&R, or break as it seems some subs have. I may have read that wrong though.

I've always considered 6+ months a deployment. I can tell you there is no way that I could have been a military wife this long if I had to face 12-18 months. We'd have bailed LOOONG ago and that is a fact! There just aint no way I could handle that:eek

3 months with no communication doesn't sound all that wonderful either! So I am now changing my opinion to anything 3+ months to be considered a deployment:D

I can understand this point of view, but I think it is hard to say this to an army wife who knows they are facing a real deployment time of 12-18 months. I know for me, DH will be gone at least 15 months, so when someone calls a 3 month term a deployment, I have to say :puzz. As far as communication, I bet it is really bad on ships, but honestly on land in Iraq, at least for DH's unit, it's not very good either. Sometimes I am lucky to hear from him once a week, and for email? :rofl that just DOESN'T happen! Internet? What's that?! Lol. Not trying to say one branch has it harder than another, just something to think about KWIM? Plus this 15 month deployment, we don't get that cherished R&R, or break as it seems some subs have. I may have read that wrong though.

Honestly, I would rather go without any communication for 3 months than not see him for 15. But I don't think being a boomer SO is as easy as a lot of people think it is. Even when DB's been between patrols.... he still works 12-16 hour days consistently. And when the boat is in and with his command, he has 24-hour duty every 3-4 days. He might as well be deployed :no I never see him anyway :giggle

I've always considered 6+ months a deployment. I can tell you there is no way that I could have been a military wife this long if I had to face 12-18 months. We'd have bailed LOOONG ago and that is a fact! There just aint no way I could handle that:eek

3 months with no communication doesn't sound all that wonderful either! So I am now changing my opinion to anything 3+ months to be considered a deployment:D

Your post just reminded me of an article I saw in Army Times a month or so ago. It was about a National Guard unit that just got home. They spent 22 months STRAIGHT in Iraq. Now how's THAT for a deployment!!!!

Your post just reminded me of an article I saw in Army Times a month or so ago. It was about a National Guard unit that just got home. They spent 22 months STRAIGHT in Iraq. Now how's THAT for a deployment!!!!


See now things like that make me wonder how we continue to maintain and all voluntary service. That's not a deployment, that is just CRAZY:wow

See now things like that make me wonder how we continue to maintain and all voluntary service. That's not a deployment, that is just CRAZY:wow

:yes

And what I thought was really interesting was that it was a National Guard unit. Now tell me how many of those soldiers got their jobs back after 2 years of being gone.... :no
As much as we like to think that employers are required to hold jobs for National Guard members who are deployed, it doesn't happen like people like to think it does. It's just very, very sad.

Here is the article, they were from Minnesota
http://www.mccoy.army.mil/vtriad_online/07272007/Minnesota_National_Gurad_Returns.htm

:yes

And what I thought was really interesting was that it was a National Guard unit. Now tell me how many of those soldiers got their jobs back after 2 years of being gone.... :no
As much as we like to think that employers are required to hold jobs for National Guard members who are deployed, it doesn't happen like people like to think it does. It's just very, very sad.

Isn't that Leftover's hubby's unit? :thinking

Isn't that Leftover's hubby's unit? :thinking

:dunno
If it is, then God bless her for her strength!

Deployment = 3+ months

Anything else is a work up or "spinning donuts" (my Dad's nickname for work ups).

I am still new to the "military way of life", so I didn't/don't know if what i consider deployment is right. My DB is in Korea for a year, I've been calling that a deployment. Since he is out of the country and he can't have family there (if we were married) then that to me is a deployment.

To add to my thoughts from last night - I do not consider unaccompanied tours to be "deployments". I consider those to be assignments/tours as they are not the same as a deployment in my mind.

We're on our 6th deployment, and that includes 6 month, 8 month and 3 month "deployments".

Anything longer than 90 days is a deployment, or ANY time in a war zone I consider a mini-deployment(they commonly send them for6-8 weeks here).

Well my husband is with MARSOC and he "deploys" for a period of 6-9 weeks at a time. I consider it a deployment because he is overseas in harms way for that time period.Also when you add all the time up that he is gone over a one year period it equals about 6 mths. I would never say that I have it harder then anyone else but I also don't think that its fair to say just because my husband leaves for only 6-9 weeks he is not deployed :-)