Fallen Angels - Admin Seps for all?

[Spoonman]

Back in the early 1990's we had the exact same problem as is currently going on right now. The A-pool at that time was upwards of 12 months, not the current 6 months you guys are experiencing. Rather than boot quality individuals out however, the Navy offered a great opportunity that benefited everyone. They allowed us to go to graduate school and provided tuition assistance, so nearly 100 of us took the offer to delay our start and persued a post-graduate degree. The pool immediately shrank by 100 or so people, so that helped the Navy, and we walked away with a Master's Degree which helped us. In reading the news article from Millington, TN above, it seems as if this option may actually be out there somewhere, albeit an option that is not being advertised in the Schools Command. If I were in your shoes I would take a copy of the article with you and ask LtCol Barbarissi if this is an option. It worked in the 90's during the reduction in force (RIF) don't see why it couldn't work now.

After a year of grad school the pool dried up, the Navy needed pilots again and we all started API. Win-Win.

 

[MIDNJAC]

Sounds like a good time to get your grad degree and (am I reading this right?) have big Navy pick up the tab, if you are a new ENS. Also, I like how they wrote that they have been having "challenges" with training aircraft.....

 

[KickintInSD]

It would seem that the Grad degree carrot is only being held in front of those JUST about to graduate, and not anyone in A-pool right now.
So I don't expect they are going to do what they did in the 90's for us, that is unless that is their idea for Plan C. I would rather see that
then the Navy lose 25% of skilled Aviators because they couldn't average 95% on their API Exams.

 

[Krafty1]

Someone asked the CO this during the first redes talk a few months ago, grad school is not an option to A-poolers unless they do it on their own time in A-pool. I do know a few Ensigns who studied and took the GMAT and GRE in A-pool but that is about it.

 

[SynixMan]

I'd jump on grad school in a heartbeat if they offered it. At least I'd be f'in productive. Short of IFS for 4 weeks, I've done nothing here yet.

 

[Swanee]

I'd jump on grad school in a heartbeat if they offered it. At least I'd be f'in productive. Short of IFS for 4 weeks, I've done nothing here yet.

On the Marine side of the house we are getting farmed out to classes at the SOF school house and the JAOC school at Hurlburt, as well as having an option to get some of the mods for EWS done, and we have a metric crap ton of dudes who are getting their MCMAP belts upgraded at the cyclic rate. (Green in the new Tan, and many are getting their brown belts) Between this and the other stash type jobs there is enough stuff to be productive around Pcola for us.

You guys don't have anything like this going on?

 

[CRJockey]

We can do the JAOC course at Hurlburt. I did it and would definitely encourage others to do the same. It kills about three weeks, you get a qual out of it (though it won't matter to you for at least 10 years or so), and you learn a lot about how the military works in general. The meat of the course will be over your head for the most part, but there was a ton of ancillary info I gained out of it.

There is a Navy CDR in the 505th at Hurlburt who is the liaison for the course and he is very accommodating. You can get his name and email from Flt Mgmt.

 

[SynixMan]

You guys don't have anything like this going on?

Since I got here in Feb, I've seen JOAC school, a few stash jobs at VFA-106 in Va Beach (no cost TAD though, so on your dime), one job at VX-31 that had a line around the corner for, and an offer to get your Rifle/Pistol qual. Oh, and various volunteer/voluntold events come up you can be staff for. *yawn* Thats about it. In the current climate, not being around seems to be the best thing. Being around only gets you in trouble. Can we come over and do MCMAP?