CDN Aviator said:
Once again :
While you can state your preference .....the decision is not yours.
However, requesting a Home Port Division (HPD) is not the same as putting in choices for a posting. Yes, the exigencies of the service take priority, but HPD choices are considered more carefully because they're virtually permanent. Hard sea trades don't move as much as other trades, so you will spend most of your career on one coast or the other. Then, even if you are posted to Ottawa or as regular support staff at a Reserve unit, chances are you will be returned to your HPD afterwards. Be prepared and put some thought into your choice. It is also worth noting that not all Navy trades have HPDs. The smaller ones do not and that means you can still be posted from coast to coast periodically. Coast to coast postings for trades with HPDs are rare. Furthermore, officers do not have HPDs.
Having said all that, I have been posted both ashore and afloat on both coasts and will state this without hesitation: Canada has two navies. We dress alike and we paint our ships the same colour, but after that, the differences start to emerge. There are good thing and bad things about how the Navy works on each coast, but my preference is East. I find I like the Navy better there. In my view, the East Coasters seem to have a better sense of what's really important and the West Coast gets too wrapped around the axle about things that really aren't that big a deal. I had a lot more fun on the East Coast then I did on the West.
I also enjoyed living in Halifax a lot better. Halifax and Victoria are about the same size, but Halifax is a regional centre of many things, whereas on the West Coast, everything is in Vancouver, which can be a $200 round trip, depending on the size of your family. I also find Maritimers a lot more friendly than the granola crowd out west. We moved into a house in Halifax and knew all the neighbours within a week. In Esquimalt, it took us almost five years to make any friends. As an aside here, don't poo poo Esquimalt as a place to live - it has a bad reputation it does NOT deserve. In fact, the "bad" part of Esquimalt is actually Vic West - part of Victoria. The bar scene in Halifax is definitely superior and the natives are friendlier.
We live in Ottawa now and we really don't miss Victoria. In fact, in our view we've found that Victoria makes Ottawa look like a warm friendly place.
PS: The weather in Victoria is overrated. Average annual rainfall in both Victoria and Halifax is about the same. The only real difference is that you don't have to shovel rain. We like seasons though.