Yep, I didn't re-up early because I wanted to have max bargaining power once my hitch was almost up. Oops..
To be honest, I wanted to pull another sea tour if I could as an ET1 but would have also taken instructor duty in Pearl or back in Groton if I had to. By then I was also a QAI (masts and antennas) and a referee on the DC team so the only watches I had left to qual was COW or maybe ANAV*.
Like I said, I had some pretty nice bullets in the old personnel file.
BTW, if you were on the Pasadena we might know some of the same names.
If you were there when we pulled the Bremerton in with an imploded
sonar dome, there's a great story behind it.
*- ANAV is one of those goofy quals that exist but usually no one goes for it. I knew a QMC on the Barbel who did it and as an ET1 I would have had plenty of time to qualify QMOW (I was already qualled Duty QM and Duty RM on my first boat as a back-up) before going for ANAV.