Howdy. I signed an AV contract last week. I'm shipping off here soon, but I'm having trouble finding info on AE or AT and there respective A schools. I'm trying to learn as much as possible so that I have a good idea of what I'm going to be doing. As far as I found I'll be doing A school at NAS Pensacola, but not much else. I want to know what I'll be learning and what it will be like if there's anybody else that signed an AV contract out there who could give me some advice. Advice from an experienced person is the best path success. Thank you.
-
Please take a moment and update your account profile. If you have an updated account profile with basic information on why you are on Air Warriors it will help other people respond to your posts. How do you update your profile you ask?
Go here:
Edit Account Details and Profile
AV Contract
- Thread starter flyingpig
- Start date
FormerRecruitingGuru
Making Recruiting Great Again
When you enlisted, your Classifier at MEPS should have issued you a rating card explaining your job/rate. Concerning other enlisted jobs/rates, there is already a ton of information online and navycs.com (https://www.navycs.com/navy-jobs/) has roughly everything you need to know.
I would strongly recommend using the search function, mainly on the internet and of course here (if applicable, but note this is a Naval Aviation/Officer Programs - centric forum) before asking easy-to-find questions, as some of your previous posts have been.
FormerRecruitingGuru
Making Recruiting Great Again
It's not so much a stupid question, it's just more of a life tip. People are going to want to help you more if you do the research or exhaust resources.
Framer
Member
Hey 👋 I'm a currently enlisted AM2, and while I'm here cause I have aspirations of commissioning, I can talk to you about being an "AV", at least on H-60 aircraft.
AE's work really hard. My rate is known for having a really heavy workload, but I tend to find that at the end of the night, only two rates keep the squadron working overtime, AE's and AM's. AT's on the other hand, don't work a lot but when they have gripes, they tend to spend many manhours and shifts finding a fix for that specific issue. That is the nature of your field being avionics.
Both have great post-military outlook. The AT a school iirc is split into two different subrates, ATO and ATI, it doesn't matter what you get, I work with ATI's here at an o-level command. I very rarely see AT's using math in the fleet, and when getting my AT qualifications, I never worked with math.
Best of luck.
There's no real math, per se, other than basic arithmetic. If you want to study, learn about ohm's law. There's probably a good Khan Academy lesson on it. You'll be asked to do various series/parallel problems, but they literally teach you like you've never heard of an electron.
You'll be in Pensacola for a bit, which is a fun town. Don't get in trouble there. Do study hard and be #1 in your class. This may present the opportunity to advance to E-4 earlier, and get your pick of orders upon graduation. I was a maintainer for 8 years before I became in officer. Loved working on airplanes and fixing stuff. It's a pretty good lifestyle once you've got a couple years experience under your belt.
I may be misremembering, but I thought ATOs were at the O-level and ATIs were at the I-level.
Regardless, I-level is going to be a different experience than O-level. I-level is a bit more routine. O-level can be a bit more of a rush-rush-rush job getting what ever that next Mx item is done or working through your Plane Captain qual (at least at helo squadrons) and then Daily-ing aircraft.
I had an I-level AT come to an O-level command and she was a little overwhelmed initially because of how dynamic the environment is compared to working black boxes and shipping out of AIMD.
Framer
Member
It is, but you'll find that even if you went through ATO A-School or ATI A-school, it's all needs of the Navy. I work with plenty of ATI's here at my O-level command, and it is their first duty station. I don't understand why their community manager does this, maybe its to give people certain NEC's for the future? Or to fill AIMD billets when O-level manning is up to scratch? I don't know.
To OP, I am mainly talking about AT cause if I'm honest, that's the rate you want out of the both. AE's are very proud of their rate but honestly, AT's have it much better and cushier.
The grass is always greener.
"Reseated canon plug. Checks 5.0."
As a former AE (AE nicknames: One-Wire or Aviation Everything), it is a great rating. We worked on everything with a wire...we even helped the AT's troubleshoot, as their normal response is to change the box.
"Chose your Rate; Chose your fate" side story: I started out as a non-designated flight deck Airman on the Aircraft Carrier. I applied and was selected for AE 'A' school in Millington, TN. When I finished 'A' school, I took the AE3 (E-4) Rate exam. I showed up to my command as an AEAN (E-3) with an another guy that was an ATAN (E-3). I promoted a month later to AE3...he was still an ATAN. A year later, I promoted to AE2 (E-5)...he was still an ATAN. He ended up making AT3 the next cycle. While @Framer will tell you the AT lifestyle/workload is "better and cushier", it's a much tougher rating to make rank. So choose your rating wisely.
Like @Brett327 I loved working on the aircraft (I worked on UH-3As, and C-2As) and the work was very satisfying.
My advice while at A school: During the week (Sunday-Thursday), your sole focus should be to do your homework and study. Save the weekends (Friday and Saturday Nights) for partying. Stay out of trouble.
"Chose your Rate; Chose your fate" side story: I started out as a non-designated flight deck Airman on the Aircraft Carrier. I applied and was selected for AE 'A' school in Millington, TN. When I finished 'A' school, I took the AE3 (E-4) Rate exam. I showed up to my command as an AEAN (E-3) with an another guy that was an ATAN (E-3). I promoted a month later to AE3...he was still an ATAN. A year later, I promoted to AE2 (E-5)...he was still an ATAN. He ended up making AT3 the next cycle. While @Framer will tell you the AT lifestyle/workload is "better and cushier", it's a much tougher rating to make rank. So choose your rating wisely.
Like @Brett327 I loved working on the aircraft (I worked on UH-3As, and C-2As) and the work was very satisfying.
My advice while at A school: During the week (Sunday-Thursday), your sole focus should be to do your homework and study. Save the weekends (Friday and Saturday Nights) for partying. Stay out of trouble.