Hornet vs F35

[pilot_man]

Blah, blah, blah

This thread is bizarre and I'm not sure why you are getting so worked up about it. You should lighten up before you give yourself a fucking stroke.

The op came here saying he was looking for some advice and listed what his priorities are. If you would stop eating your crayons for a few minutes and read his post you would see that his number one goal is to fly as much as possible. You then have a bunch of dudes chiming in that to do that he should probably go fly the F-35C since it has so much more gas and has organic tanking with it when it deploys with a CVN. This is called physics. You need not to have deployed on an amphib to understand these facts.

You then start talking about MEUs and MAGTAFs and whatever other bullshit you could come up with talking about what is best for his career progression. Nobody asked. The dude just wants to fly a lot. I do like your Target analogy though. The MEU with F-35s is like driving your McLaren while you pick up your groceries from your favorite store. You think you look cool but everyone else thinks you're a total douche.

I love how defensive you all get when people start asking what exactly you all do around here.

The funny thing is, I actually retired a few years ago so I don't really give a shit about any of this. If it doesn't involve which tropical Caribbean island I'm going to overnight on next I don't really care. It was a Marine O-6 who pushed me over the edge. Just loved taking away people's civil liberties, no matter what the 3 and 4 stars over him said. You all are a special breed. Well, you are special at least.

 

[Brett327]

This thread is bizarre and I'm not sure why you are getting so worked up about it. You should lighten up before you give yourself a fucking stroke.

The op came here saying he was looking for some advice and listed what his priorities are. If you would stop eating your crayons for a few minutes and read his post you would see that his number one goal is to fly as much as possible. You then have a bunch of dudes chiming in that to do that he should probably go fly the F-35C since it has so much more gas and has organic tanking with it when it deploys with a CVN. This is called physics. You need not to have deployed on an amphib to understand these facts.

You then start talking about MEUs and MAGTAFs and whatever other bullshit you could come up with talking about what is best for his career progression. Nobody asked. The dude just wants to fly a lot. I do like your Target analogy though. The MEU with F-35s is like driving your McLaren while you pick up your groceries from your favorite store. You think you look cool but everyone else thinks you're a total douche.

I love how defensive you all get when people start asking what exactly you all do around here.

The funny thing is, I actually retired a few years ago so I don't really give a shit about any of this. If it doesn't involve which tropical Caribbean island I'm going to overnight on next I don't really care. It was a Marine O-6 who pushed me over the edge. Just loved taking away people's civil liberties, no matter what the 3 and 4 stars over him said. You all are a special breed. Well, you are special at least.

Ordinarily, I would, more than likely, vehemently disagree with anything Pilot_man says… just on general principle. But in this case, he has it nailed. No notes.

 

[Roger_Waveoff]

A) There are 2 ACEs now (VMFA, VMM) and that’s the way of the future. MEU COs and XOs are aviators. Sometimes, even VMFA dudes/gals.

Having 2 ACEs is great until you're short amphibs and jumping through your ass to play the game of Tetris fitting 10x V-22, 10x F-35B, 8x H-1, and 4x CH-53 on 2 ships (or 1 ship and 1-2 shore detachments).

MEU COs and XOs *can* be aviators, but often they are not and nor is much of their staff other than the Air O and Assistant Air O. The one I'm currently on - it has been shocking how little experience with or understanding of aviation multiple O-5s and even a couple O-6s have. And it shows when we have a pilot standing LFOC LNO getting blasted because the watch floor doesn't instantly know something for which the comm pathways don't even exist.

Anyway, OP, go F-35Cs for sure. I have friends in both and the ones in Bs always say they wish they had the gas of the Cs. Never heard it the other way around (on any issue, not just gas).

 

[JTS11]

I’m not smart on it but from a manpower level view on it the 7518 MOS by itself is probably fine for big picture stuff. Individually your NATOPS will be different of course but it’s small enough of a community where I’m sure MMOA can more or less effectively track people individually, both with trucker comm and MSHARP electronically.

At least 12 years ago, it was trucker comm (never heard that term before, but it fits 😆) It seems like there have been efforts to assign AMOS's to help HQMC to have better SA...I'm sure the information systems are still wildly behind the times. M-SHARP should definitely integrate into manpower databases. It didn't, and I doubt it does now...but I could be wrong.

Do F-35Bs have water switches? 😆

 

[HSMPBR]

This whole thread is bizzare… Yet, here we are having a bunch of navy pilots here creaming their pants on…

Sounds about right for AW and the fleet

 

[Hotdogs]

The funny thing is, I actually retired a few years ago so I don't really give a shit about any of this. If it doesn't involve which tropical Caribbean island I'm going to overnight on next I don't really care. It was a Marine O-6 who pushed me over the edge. Just loved taking away people's civil liberties, no matter what the 3 and 4 stars over him said. You all are a special breed. Well, you are special at least.

Tell us where the Marine O-6 touched you…

Ordinarily, I would, more than likely, vehemently disagree with anything Pilot_man says… just on general principle. But in this case, he has it nailed. No notes.

Please show me the fallacy in any of the logic I submitted. Because what I just read was a bunch of hyperbole, and lack any additive facts that posit otherwise. Generally speaking most Naval officers are ignorant about the Marines, yet oddly feel comfortable making claims about it.

I have a feeling you’re still jaded about a Marine stealing your bike years ago.

Having 2 ACEs is great until you're short amphibs and jumping through your ass to play the game of Tetris fitting 10x V-22, 10x F-35B, 8x H-1, and 4x CH-53 on 2 ships (or 1 ship and 1-2 shore detachments).

MEU COs and XOs *can* be aviators, but often they are not and nor is much of their staff other than the Air O and Assistant Air O. The one I'm currently on - it has been shocking how little experience with or understanding of aviation multiple O-5s and even a couple O-6s have. And it shows when we have a pilot standing LFOC LNO getting blasted because the watch floor doesn't instantly know something for which the comm pathways don't even exist.

All LPD ARGs make deck space enough to do exactly what you say, and thats how we’re designing future deployments. The LSDs are old and on their way out.

By policy, either the CO or XO are aviators. You're always going to have outliers on a staff, and it’s an education process - sucks that he sounds like a clown. I’ve seen the good and bad of ground Marines integrating with the squadrons.

 

[blackngold]

Thanks for all the replies, they've told us there are only ~8 Hornet spots per year now so the odds look favorable.

 

[Swanee]

Thanks for all the replies, they've told us there are only ~8 Hornet spots per year now so the odds look favorable.

Those poor 8 souls...

 

[Brett327]

Generally speaking most Naval officers are ignorant about the Marines, yet oddly feel comfortable making claims about it.

And yet, here’s a Marine skids guy, remarkably comfortable weighing in on the nuances of CVN TACAIR. It’s fairly hilarious to watch a RW guy aggressively dispensing advice about a community he couldn’t be more divorced from. What’s next? Opinions on AIM-120 employment and proper ditch mech?

 

[Python]

Generally speaking most Naval officers are ignorant about the Marines, yet oddly feel comfortable making claims about it.

Yet when I tell the OP to listen to a poster here who is a Marine and has flown a legacy platform and the F-35, you tell me (and the OP by extension) that that’s not sound.

 

[Hotdogs]

And yet, here’s a Marine skids guy, remarkably comfortable weighing in on the nuances of CVN TACAIR. It’s fairly hilarious to watch a RW guy aggressively dispensing advice about a community he couldn’t be more divorced from. What’s next? Opinions on AIM-120 employment and proper ditch mech?

Except that’s not what we’re talking about at all, nor are any of the actual Marines here making any of the claims being asserted. Don’t try to gaslight anyone here on this subject.

Yet when I tell the OP to listen to a poster here who is a Marine and has flown a legacy platform and the F-35, you tell me (and the OP by extension) that that’s not sound.

If only that person actually put out some hard data or cited some facts that are based in reality. At this point I’d even take an MSHARP average of all F-35 pilots time and the B vs C comparison, but we apparently can’t even do that.

 

[sevenhelmet]

Except that’s not what we’re talking about at all, nor are any of the actual Marines here making any of the claims being asserted. Don’t try to gaslight anyone here on this subject.



If only that person actually put out some hard data or cited some facts that are based in reality. At this point I’d even take an MSHARP average of all F-35 pilots time and the B vs C comparison, but we apparently can’t even do that.

Whatever point you're trying to make is beyond the scope of this thread, and appears to be ego-driven. Questions about flying hours and potential future opportunity have been asked, and answered.

 

[Hotdogs]

Whatever point you're trying to make is beyond the scope of this thread, and appears to be ego-driven. Questions about flying hours and potential future opportunity have been asked, and answered.

I’ve been pretty forthcoming with pretty solid information, and have yet to receive valid responses outside of assumptions. That’s not ego, that’s correcting ignorance. I do agree the OP got what he wanted from this thread. So we can all just agree to disagree from here on out.

 

[Hair Warrior]

Something else for the F-35: there will be opportunities to support JSF JPO doing FMS, exchange tours with allied/partner squadrons, or test pilot stuff. These opportunities are probably more prevalent at O4 and above, but with 700+ aircraft sold worldwide they will be there for decades to come.

 

[gparks1989]

Thanks for all the replies, they've told us there are only ~8 Hornet spots per year now so the odds look favorable.

I honestly cannot imagine what it is like to be selected as a Marine Hornet RAG stud in 2024. I'm surprised they're still taking folks. It seemed like an old (but pretty cool) platform when I was at VT-22 in 2014.