Hi! I am a wife of a Naval Aviator (hubby just retired after 28 years-8 were active duty). He flew the MH-53 Sea Dragon (huge helicopters) and since they were too large to really go out on carriers, he was never stationed away on a ship. He did land on ships now and then, but they were not assigned to one. We were always stationed stateside in Virginia and California. He did get deployed to the middle east during Desert Storm, and that was for about 5 months, but that was during war time.Hi all. I hope this is the right place to post this, if not, please be so kind as to redirect me...
My husband is putting his packet together to apply to be a pilot in the Navy. Recently, things have been kicked up a notch because he made it through MEPs (a process that took nearly a year) and it looks like he has a decent chance of making it it given his background and scores. The first board he would apply to would have a due date shortly after our first child is born in June. I have a few questions/concerns that have been burning the inside of my head, and have had some difficulty getting some of them answered. Hopefully you ladies (and men?) can help me out
1. How much time does you spouse spend away from home? I realize that this is different for every career and pipeline, but I would LOVE to get some anecdotes on this so I can start piecing together what reality looks like so we are fully aware what we're getting into. I would really like an idea of what percentage of nights I should expect to spend with my spouse gone so I can begin mentally preparing myself.
2. For those with kids, how do they handle their parent being away so often? Do they like the lifestyle of moving around a lot? Do you feel it has been beneficial to your kids' character and development to live a Navy lifestyle as opposed to one where their parent has a regular 9-5 job and is home every night?
That's it for now! Any other general advice is greatly appreciated as well.
Pilots don't always have a say about which aircraft they are assigned to fly, but there is a chance that yours may end up in a similar situation. Just wanted to help you to know that not all pilots are "away" for extended periods of time.