He said one of the more common neutral duty assignments is an afloat training group. Since the team only spends a portion of their time on a ship, they don't actually count the job as sea duty. But with the new regulation, if they are underway for more than 150 days a year, they get the sea duty title. If sailors spend less than 150 days away from their duty station, it's counted as shore duty. With the new cut, there are currently five classifications of duty for the Navy.
Sailors serving on a base in the States, such as Norfolk, Va., are on shore duty.
If the sailors are serving on a ship homeported in the States, they are on sea duty. If assigned to a base outside of the United States, such as the Navy's base in Rota, Spain, a sailor's tour is counted as overseas shore duty. Lastly, some overseas locations count as sea duty, even though the sailor serves on land. Sailors at Sigonella earn sea duty credit the whole time they serve in Sicily. Now that neutral duty is gone, the Navy is hoping that in time, the change will increase the numbers of sailors available to fill important slots on ships.