Naval Aviators.....
05-06-2006, 08:07 AM
#11
On Reserve
Joined APC: Mar 2006
Position: G-IV
Posts: 11
P-3 Bubba is right, they are currently sending Navy pilots to the desert for a year at a time to basically serve as Army officers. So far, the vast majority of those sent have been volunteers hoping it will be career-enhancing. Hopefully in a couple of years, when troop levels in Iraq and Afghanistan are reduced, those billets will vanish. Of course there's always Iran and North Korea...
Another new program in the Navy is that they're taking pilots right out of flight school to fly cargo (C-9's, C-130's, 737's and Gulfstreams). It used to be that you had to apply to those billets after two full tours. It's potentially a lot of flight time, early in your career, in turbojets. Amazingly, most guys are turning this down (command opportunities are very few). You might want to consider it though. Good luck!
Another new program in the Navy is that they're taking pilots right out of flight school to fly cargo (C-9's, C-130's, 737's and Gulfstreams). It used to be that you had to apply to those billets after two full tours. It's potentially a lot of flight time, early in your career, in turbojets. Amazingly, most guys are turning this down (command opportunities are very few). You might want to consider it though. Good luck!
05-06-2006, 10:18 AM
#12
Gets Weekends Off
Joined APC: Apr 2006
Posts: 1,151
Thank you P3 Bubba
Originally Posted by P-3Bubba
Im about to finish a 6 moth deployment to some pretty well talked about areas, and now Im sweating a 1yr set of orders back to those places.
Im all about my service to the country and my time in the Navy has been a great experience. The people that you meet and the friends you make are what make you want to go to work. You will make life-long friends with people from all over the country and world, but life in the military, and even more true post 9/11, is always changing. Whats true of the Navy and Marines typical lifestyles of yesterday will change tomorrow.
Good luck with your decision.
Im all about my service to the country and my time in the Navy has been a great experience. The people that you meet and the friends you make are what make you want to go to work. You will make life-long friends with people from all over the country and world, but life in the military, and even more true post 9/11, is always changing. Whats true of the Navy and Marines typical lifestyles of yesterday will change tomorrow.
Good luck with your decision.
God Bless
05-08-2006, 03:26 AM
#13
On Reserve
Joined APC: Jul 2005
Position: RETIRED T-34C Turbo Mentor IP
Posts: 24
Marine Pilot might be able to help...
Originally Posted by mtsupilot09
Hi all, as some of you remember I was considering going into the Marines through their PLC program. For those of you who don't know my situation, here are the basics: current college freshman at MTSU studying aerospace administration with a business minor, I've always dreamed of being a naval aviator, after talking to a Marine recruiter and flying with them in their King Air, I'm considering their PLC program. I understand that this isn't the route to build high flight time, and that's ok with me. I know all the technical jargon, but I'd really be interested in talking with as many of you naval aviators as possible about lifestyle. Just tell me what your life was like while you were in the Navy or the Corps. What you flew, your pay, how it affected your marraige/family, etc. Thanks a lot in advance guys, I certainly appreciate your advice.
Chandler
Chandler
Right now, since 9/11, after getting your wings in ANY platform and then your specific airframe type training, the average time before you are in Iraq is about 3 to 4 months. And you WILL go to Iraq, either as a pilot, as an Indiviual Augment (supporting a different unit and not through flying), or as a Forward Air Controller (FAC) which means that you are attached to a rifle or tank unit, carry a personal weapon AND a radio and translate all the grunt stuff into pilot stuff so you can talk the planes in for coordinated support.
I've got much more info if you would like to talk, but so I don't clobber up the forum, you can get your 25th post and PM me (yes, I can PM before 25, guess I'm special...).
Oh, and the advice to not get married is solid. It's truly a drain on your family for you to be gone 6 months, back 4 and then training for 8 to be gone another 6. But, on the flip side, when you have a family, it's nice to have someone waiting for you when you come home.
Hope this helps answer some of your original questions.
marinepilot
05-08-2006, 05:00 PM
#14
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Joined APC: Apr 2006
Position: B767A[ret.]
Posts: 593
05-08-2006, 07:41 PM
#15
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Thread Starter
Joined APC: Jan 2006
Posts: 33
Not sure why the F22 post got in here, but anyways marinepilot, thanks a lot for the advice. I would love to talk to you about the BDCP program. I'll be in Pensacola the third week of August for vacation (actually Destin) and I'm planning on going to the museum of Naval Aviation while I'm down there in FL. Is there any way you could get me in touch with an officer recruiter or (this would be great) find a pilot who would be willing to have lunch or just talk to me while I'm down there. Anyways, I'll PM you my contact info. Thanks a lot,
Chandler
Chandler
05-08-2006, 07:42 PM
#17
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Joined APC: Jan 2006
Posts: 33
05-17-2006, 03:11 PM
#18
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Joined APC: Jan 2006
Position: Drinking minis in a Hilton
Posts: 77
I have been a Marine pilot for 13 years. I agree with most aspects of what everyone here has posted but would like to add two things. First, I think the USN and USAF pilots who have posted here would agree that everyone's Ops tempo/deployments have increased, not just the Marines. Yes, we do have the AI billets which mean a non flying year in the desert, or a FAC tour, or a CENTCOM staff tour, ect. However, all services are shouldering the burden, as a Marine you shoulder it with a 9mm strapped on. My point here, as I have posted before, is that nobody should join the military today simply to get flight time, or school money, or any of the traditional recruiting catch phrases. Secondly, Marine pilots get the same amount of flight time as Navy and AF pilots who fly similar airframes. A Hornet guy will not get the same time as a KC-10 pilot but those are different missions and different types of flying. However, I know for a fact that tacair guys with half the flight time as their heavy counterparts are getting hired by FedEx, UPS, SWA, and Continental because they realize that an hour of tactical flying is not the same as a hour in a heavy. I've noticed in several threads it is assumed that heavy guys have an automatic advantage over tacair pilots.
05-18-2006, 06:01 AM
#19
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Joined APC: Apr 2006
Position: C-17 Sim Pilot Inst
Posts: 182
+
Originally Posted by atsfdx
Sounds great! I'm a 21+ year Navy Retiree now with FedEx. Did it the hard way. Enlisted at 17, college degree at night, then AOCS. I flew H-46's, C-12's, C-9's and then Gulfstream IV, all thanks to the Navy, and now collect a check every month. I agree with quaileman about the Navy over the Corps. No disrespect. But if I had to do it over again, I would probably go USAF. I believe their airplanes are better, they're more specialized, and the Bases are well-equipped and seem to guarantee a better quality of life. I have been removed from the military only a couple of years and have few regrets. All of the pay and advancement opportunities discussed above apply to e all military services. The rise to O-4/O-5 in the USAF may require a graduate degree but the military can provide time and money for that as well. Good luck with your career.
)I've been in for 24 years myself; 3 enlisted, 4 AF Academy Cadet and 17 as an officer/pilot. The quality of life has been better in the AF than the other services with respect to assignments and deployments although the AF is starting to do more deployments and joint service work than in the past, especially since 9/11 (Our days of air conditioned tents and cable TV are numbered
)Getting to O-5 will require a Master's degree and at least one deployment under your belt as well. (O-4 might be attainable without it, but most of your competition will have a masters by then) Unless you go Guard / Reserve, your chances of being just a "Line swine" pilot and getting promoted may be mutually exclusive; promotions in the AF depend also on other factors such as staff / office tours, additional duties, etc.
All in all, any military assignment will be beneficial to you as long as you ask a LOT of questions and go in with your eyes open. Some do better than others of course; ultimately it will be what you make of it.
Good luck to you!
05-24-2006, 04:56 AM
#20
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Joined APC: Feb 2006
Position: C47 PIC/747-400 SIC
Posts: 2,100
I went into Marine Corps OCS as an aviation guarantee, missed a few letters on the eye chart, then decided " what the hey,I'm here anyway" suffered through OCS,TBS,and IOC, and did a tour as a Grunt,before pursuing my wings CIVLANT. I loved my time in the Marine Corps, in fact if I didn't love flying so much I probably would have stayed in for a career in the infantry. The point I am trying to make is that the Marine Corps is a passion,a calling almost. Pick the Corps if being a Marine is as important to you as being an aviator,otherwise joining our brothers in arms in the USAF,or the Navy,is probably an easier road to hoe. Best of luck,Godspeed, and Semper Fi,to all my fellow jarheads out there in cyberland.
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