Interservice Transfer

[Steve Wilkins]

I'm currently a 1st LT in the Army flying Apaches. It's always been a dream of mine to fly fast movers from a carrier. I went through college on an Army ROTC scholarship and started asking questions to a USN recruiter my senior year. I was told that they could not gurantee Aviation. The Army already had, so I went with it.
Now, a few years later, I still have the desire to make the switch. I know a few "higher-ups" in the USN (retired 2-star, who has an active 2-star son; retired CPT). I'd like to compile a good amount of information before I go and talk to them. Can anyone offer any information about interservice transfers? I have some civliian fixed wing time under my belt as well.
Thanks!

Now, back to the original question. While it's great you know some "higher ups," I find it doubtful that they will be very helpful, other than being a good resource for the right people to talk to. The following link is to a portion of the Navy's MILPERSMAN (Military Personnel Manual). It's a reference you are going to need. Scroll down to article 1300-080, Part 2 - Interservice Transfer of an Officer into the Navy. Good luck.

http://buperscd.technology.navy.mil/bup_updt/upd_CD/BUPERS/MILPERS/MILPERSMAN 1300 - GENERAL.pdf

The article references an Army regulation that you may want to look at as well: U.S. Army Regulation 614-120

 

[Gatordev]

Right now, it is a bit easier than the Navy. However, these things go in cycles.

Correction, when you were in Primary, USMC was "easier" than the Navy. Not so much now. You're absolutely right about cycles, and we're in a shift now. For those interested in my comment, see your student control.

 

[winger]

Not to mention the Marines force people to get jets, so as long as you dont kill yourself in primary you should be able to get a jet slot.

bad gouge

 

[Harrier Dude]

I'm currently a 1st LT in the Army flying Apaches. It's always been a dream of mine to fly fast movers from a carrier. I went through college on an Army ROTC scholarship and started asking questions to a USN recruiter my senior year. I was told that they could not gurantee Aviation. The Army already had, so I went with it.
Now, a few years later, I still have the desire to make the switch. I know a few "higher-ups" in the USN (retired 2-star, who has an active 2-star son; retired CPT). I'd like to compile a good amount of information before I go and talk to them. Can anyone offer any information about interservice transfers? I have some civliian fixed wing time under my belt as well.
Thanks!

Is your commitment to the army finished yet? If not, you can probably forget about a transfer for now. Once your commitment is done I don't think it will be a huge problem. I know two former army Cobra guys and an air force B-52 guy who switched to the Marines. They all fly/flew jets. Not a big enough sample to make it certain, but your SA and basic flight experience will put you high enough up in primary to keep you competitive for what you want.

 

[snake020]

Here's the deal - download the latest copy of SECNAVINST 1007.F and it's pretty clear about what needs to be in the package.

Before you can even start anything, you need to get permission from the Army for conditional release. I am trying to transfer from a support job in the Air Farce to Naval Aviation and my release started with getting my chain of command to sign off (squadron/group/wing ccs), then having that request forwarded to SECAF's office who ended up approving it and forwarding my request to SECNAV's office.

What the package doesn't tell you is you only can apply for one job - so if you are planning on putting down SNA as choice one and SNFO choice two, forget it. Also a good idea to talk to the AOCM for Aviation at Millington to find out how many slots are open for interservice transfer - they have a limited number each fiscal year. If your package is incomplete or doesn't get picked up, you have to wait another year before you can apply again.

I myself have been working on this since March, and expect to finally have everything I need checked off to send to SECNAV's office at the end of this month. This process is not for the faint of heart.

 

[BigIron]

Is your commitment to the army finished yet? If not, you can probably forget about a transfer for now. Once your commitment is done I don't think it will be a huge problem. I know two former army Cobra guys and an air force B-52 guy who switched to the Marines. They all fly/flew jets. Not a big enough sample to make it certain, but your SA and basic flight experience will put you high enough up in primary to keep you competitive for what you want.

These guys had to go to TBS as well?

 

[Harrier Dude]

These guys had to go to TBS as well?

Yes.

Funny enough, one of the guys that did it (the B-52 guy) was hanging around OCS waiting for TBS (kind of a mandated project for him to see how things are for candidates) and I remembered seeing him there. He was in Charlies with air force wings. I remember thinking how odd that was, but being a candidate and all, I didn't go up to him and ask "WTF?". I floated with him a decade later and ended up having some grad school classes with him. It's a small world.

 

[Xcraftllc]

Well, it's been a while since this was posted. Does anyone know how it turned out?

 

[phrogdriver]

Generally speaking marines fight to get helo slots. Then the guy with the highest NSS goes Helos and the other guys get told to go jets. And yes the marines send charlie hornets to the boat although I think now they are doing more land based stuff than carrier ops. Not to mention harriers fly off of boats all time, not sure if that is the type of jet you are looking at though.

That might be overstating things a bit. Marine helos are more alluring to high-scorers than Navy helos, but saying that a whole bunch of Marines are forced into jets is laying it on too much. As with anything, it goes in cycles, though.

 

[FlyBoyd]

That might be overstating things a bit. Marine helos are more alluring to high-scorers than Navy helos, but saying that a whole bunch of Marines are forced into jets is laying it on too much. As with anything, it goes in cycles, though.

Although your post fit the thread....

For God's sake man the thread is 4 years old!!!!!

 

[phrogdriver]

It popped on my "subscribed" list because of the post before mine, then I reviewed it and had to correct something.

"I can't go to sleep, honey...Someone is WRONG on the internet!!!!"