Reddit reviews Assumed the Watch. Moored as Before.

No. I was a SWO for seven years. I hated 95% of my day. Most of your time is spent in a shipyard with random BS that wastes your time because your boss doesn't know what he's doing; say goodbye to seeing the world because you'll be seeing mostly water. Also, if you're good at doing your work, then you get to do everyone else's work if they suck at it. Have fun getting to the ship at 6:30 in the morning and leaving well after 7 every day. Say goodbye to half of your Saturdays.

Underway, have fun going 5 knots in a circle. Oh, and you're not allowed to make a decision for yourself for the first 15 years or so. I still have nightmares about that floating grey prison. Oh, yeah, you're looking at about five uninterrupted hours of sleep on average. My record was 94 hours awake. Also, make sure not to crash the ship when you can't remember your own name due to exhaustion. Read this book: https://www.amazon.com/Assumed-Watch-Moored-as-Before/dp/1441567275. Don't go SWO.

After your first few years you can laterally transfer. Getting out of SWO is easy, getting into a different community may not be. I managed to, and I love my new job. But why not start somewhere that isn't literally the worst community?

How many people leave SWO? Well, there are about 20 SWOs at the first level, 5 at the next level, and 2 at the next, so you tell me. And that next level comes with a $100,000 bonus, plus free medical, housing, a retirement plan, and a six-figure salary. So, yeah, well over half of SWOs don't think another three years on a ship is worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.