1/C Cruise: FOREX or Aviation?

[Brett327]

Come on, people. It's a midi cruise. Let's not do too much hand-wringing over something which will have absolutely no bearing on anything once you're in the fleet. If you think you need/want an aviation cruise to make up your mind as to whether you want to go aviation, then you might be barking up the wrong tree. Pick something, enjoy it, move forward.

Brett

 

[NozeMan]

Aviations cruises could be a hit or miss then? ...

I'd vote for FOREX as well. I passed up an aviation cruise and did FOREX with Japan, an awesome and rewarding experience. Unfortunately it's not open to women, but there are a ton of countries can work with. Ask your cruise advisor at the unit, it is a TON of fun. Another guy at my unit did FOREX w/ France, he was on a patrol boat in French Polynesia allll summer....fun in the sun. We all had great times.

 

[NozeMan]

Come on, people. It's a midi cruise. Let's not do too much hand-wringing over something which will have absolutely no bearing on anything once you're in the fleet. If you think you need/want an aviation cruise to make up your mind as to whether you want to go aviation, then you might be barking up the wrong tree. Pick something, enjoy it, move forward.

Brett

Exactly right! That's why I say go FOREX and get an awesome experience w/ another country's Navy. If you know you want aviation, do you really need a crusie to convince you further?

 

[Fly Navy]

F that... you know how many foreign countries you're gonna visit flying? You could spend the summer in France (yay) or boozing with your future instructors and squadron mates.

That's not the same as a FOREX cruise, not even close.

Do the FOREX cruise. Serving on a British warship is a once in a lifetime opportunity. Or maybe the Dutch, or German. There are lots of cool FOREX cruises. The aviation cruise, it's a blast, but if you're going to flight school, you'll get more than your share of it. If you want to do something different, do the FOREX.

 

[MIDNJAC]

I went on 1/c aviation and although getting to fly was fun, there was so much down time that it wasn't even funny.....and if you are in a place like Lemoore (like me) there is not a whole lot to do during the week. Bottom line: aviation ashore can get boring

That said, I have never heard anything bad about FOREX cruises....I know people who have done them with the Japanese Navy as well as the Italian Navy and both had an awesome time (in port and underway). You be the judge, but I would also vote for the FOREX

 

[redmidgrl]

I don't need another cruise to decide I want to go aviation. I JOINED so that I could have a shot at flying for the Navy. Now that it's uncertain whether or not I can fly (no waivers for failing Anthro... of course the one thing out of my control), and if you need to pass Anthro for an aviation cruise, I would pass or fail this year or next year when I commission. I suppose this is my one opportunity for a FOREX, and if I pass Anthro, I get the best of both worlds

Now if only some other countries took women...

Red

 

[NozeMan]

I don't need another cruise to decide I want to go aviation. I JOINED so that I could have a shot at flying for the Navy. Now that it's uncertain whether or not I can fly (no waivers for failing Anthro... of course the one thing out of my control), and if you need to pass Anthro for an aviation cruise, I would pass or fail this year or next year when I commission. I suppose this is my one opportunity for a FOREX, and if I pass Anthro, I get the best of both worlds

Now if only some other countries took women...

Red

Trust me, it's a great choice. It's really cool to meet your counterparts from other countries....and get WASTED with them. Bodes well for international relations (it was my major, i KNOW this!)

 

[llnick2001]

I've never heard anyone not like an aviation cruise. I only know one person who has done a FOREX (with the Polish navy) and it didn't sound great, but that was her. Personally, I loved my aviation cruise.

 

[GatorP]

Trust me, it's a great choice. It's really cool to meet your counterparts from other countries....and get WASTED with them. Bodes well for international relations (it was my major, i KNOW this!)

Well than we have great relations with the Japanese navy. Those kids can DRINK!

 

[Flash]

I did a FOREX cruise with the Italian Navy and I had a blast. I know other guys who went to Argentina (Spanish speaker, absolutely loved it) and some that went to Turkey (the guys hated it.....really, really hated it....one of the few times they left port they were going to do a live-fire with a missile, and then had to cancel it right before launch because a missile tech spilled tea all over the control console.....oh yeah, they couldn't do laundry either )

They told me to put down 5 countries I wanted to go to but did not tell me which ones were on the list . I asked for the UK, Australia, Canada, New Zealand and Germany. With the exception of NZ (who we did not do an exchange with), those countries were 4 of the top 5 on the list that later came out, France was 5 and Italy was number 6 (they were not officially ranked but the list got worse and had empty spots further down, there was definitely a ranking though I have no idea how they chose who went where). Further down on the list were South Africa (I just went there on vacation, you would be out of Simons Town, near Cape Town, one of the most beautiful and nicest places I have ever been, it was awesome) and Sweden. Several of those slots were not filled.

I spent 6 weeks in Italy and had 3 days and one night out at sea (30% of their navy takes off July and the other 70% takes off August, that is not a joke ). They really did nto know what to do with me since they were really doing nothing. I did not speak any Italian but that was not as big a problem as I feared, most of them spoke English. The best part was that they let me go to Rome and Florence for 5 days, I went with another mid and we had a lot of fun.

So, I say go for the FOREX cruise. You will likely not get another chance at anything like that again. I would request western European countries where they speak a lot of english (Netherlands, Sweden, Norway, Belgium, UK), Australia, Canada and South Africa (though you would probably not get to go to sea much down there, they are still fitting out their new corvettes.....though that might not be a bad thing). That is, unless you know a foreign language. Best of luck!

 

[raptor10]

Given the choice I think I would still pick Aviation cruise, but since the FOREX is something that you want also and would be harder to get no matter where you are at in the fleet I would recommend FOREX for you. Just means another slot for me

 

[MIDNJAC]

Given the choice I think I would still pick Aviation cruise, but since the FOREX is something that you want also and would be harder to get no matter where you are at in the fleet I would recommend FOREX for you. Just means another slot for me

jeez man...you need to get out of Lemoore :icon_tong

 

[NozeMan]

Well than we have great relations with the Japanese navy. Those kids can DRINK!

Ya, took Maker's Mark like it was water....insane.

 

[MIDNJAC]

Ya, took Maker's Mark like it was water....insane.

must be a big difference between the officers of the Japanese Navy and the rest of Japanese nationals. The exchange students in my engineering classes won't touch anything but sake and girly drinks

 

[zippy]

I've never heard anyone not like an aviation cruise. I only know one person who has done a FOREX (with the Polish navy) and it didn't sound great, but that was her. Personally, I loved my aviation cruise.

I hated my aviation underway cruise... but, being assigned as ships company onboard a carrier underway with no assigned airwing and being told "you aren't going to fly so don't ask" on the first day was the cause of that.

So, unless you can get an aviation ashore cruise, go FOREX.