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Is Military Aviation Worth It?

Definitely worth it. Especially when a little kid snaps a Polaroid of the jet in the pattern then asks you to sign it.
 
Worth every second. Any young 2ndLts (preferably TBS complete) want to switch places with me?

*note: I get to keep the wife and kids. You can have the pay and staff job.
 
Worth it. But something I mention when I talk to people: it is not for everybody. Flyboy, if you want the military flying life then you should try to get there. But if you want certainty, then don't get involved and blame the military if it doesn't work out exactly as you hoped.

I know guys that flew all types and loved them. I know guys that flew all types and were not happy, got out as soon as they could. It's probably like that in most jobs.

I'll go back to your question: "Was the whole process of becoming an officer with the amount of time it takes, OCS, API, intermediate flight training to finally get to a squadron and fly every few days for an hour worth it?" I'm with cosmania - worth it.
 
flyboy said:
I have a question for current Naval Aviators....... Im going to make a decision between military or civilian aviation ....
Click to expand...
I'm not even going to read the rest of the posts ... if YOU don't know which kind of logbook you want and are wanting us to help you along with the decision -- don't do the military. Just go civie street and be like the rest; be one of the grey masses ....

Military: it's special; and you gotta WANT it -- it's NOT just a job like that Navy ad used to say ...

I've got >3500 hours military and >17000 civilian. So I guess I've seen both sides .... the guys I flew with in the airlines who were prior military were far, far, far better people to work with than the guys who's only experience was flying civilian. Better SA, better headwork, usually better skills, and certainly better tolerance for the pain and bullshit that IS the airlines. They also seemed to be less self-involved and narcissistic than their civilian-only brethren. Of course, I'm generalizing here; there's ALWAYS individual exceptions on both sides of the logbook.

If you want a flying job -- go for the airlines. It's a great job.

If you want to see and experience things that will stay with you for your entire life -- FLY NAVY. Then go into the airlines ...
 
A4sForever, thank you for your opinion. its rare on this post to have someone respond with the flight experiance that you have. of course when i was a kid, i wanted to be an airline pilot....mostly because of the glitz and glam of the job. that was before i knew better. the military right now is booming with the budgets they are receiving for war operations. i dont see a slowdown anytime soon. i have found with military aviation that theres a whole lot more to the job than just flying. the responsibility, the hard work, and the type of flying is something i would never have a chance to do again. like before, i have my mind made up but just wanted to get others input, and to introduce myself to the AW community. thanks to all that have responded to this post. you have given me the encouragement ive needed. Thanks.
 
I'm fortunate enough to have experienced both sides (A4s has nothing on my 65 hrs of civilian and 7 hrs of military time). I'm in primary right now and it's tough requiring a lot of work and sacrifice. It's long hours of studying and being on top of your game. However, there's times in the plane when you forget about all the stress and realize how fortunate you are. Already I've had several "I can't believe I get paid to do this" moments. I agree with A4s though, you have to want it. Remember, you can fly civilian whenever you want, but you only get one shot to fly military.
 
xj220, how do you compare the studying for military aircraft and that of civilian? there is probably a lot more systems you have to account for and can you tell me which route you took to get your commission. im looking at both bdcp and ocs. i have about a year and a half left and my package set to send up to the board. i am also going to try seaman to admiral this july if i dont get selected for bdcp. im really anxious to experiance some really challenging flying.
 
Military is a lot more intensive than civilian and does require a much more in depth knowledge of systems, emergency procedures and flight characteristics. You'll do some civilian flying with IFS so you'll get some of that no matter what you choose, however IFS is a "taste." One thing I noticed is that military is a lot more uniform in instruction than the civilian world. Whereas we have an actual syllabus for Primary, the civilian world was more "make sure these things are completed by your checkride." As for commissioning, I went through the Academy so I'm not very familiar with the programs you mentioned, unfortunately. That's something I should brush up on.
 
I remember a kid at West Palm, coming back from AUTEC, asked if we were mechanics because apparently we reeked of JP5.
 
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