Marine Aviation questions

[Tessone]

I'm working on submitting my package for Marine Officer programs (I'll be doing the 10-week PLC next summer), and my recruiter keeps reminding me that the Corps will guarantee me aviation if I want it. I have a few questions regarding that.

First, I'm a Russian and mathematics major. Will not having much physics and aeronautics background be a significant disadvantage at flight school? I study well and I'm not the type who'll be out on the town every night, but I'm afraid I'll still have trouble competing with people who have degrees in Aeronautical Engineering and the like.

Secondly, does anyone know how entering aviation affects chances to do other programs later in one's career. One program I'm looking at is the Foreign Area Officer program for the former Soviet Union. My Russian is very good and I'd love to work in Moscow or Petersburg as a defense attache. I don't care about the service requirements for aviation (I plan to stay in the Corps for my entire career), but will those requirements keep me from pursuing something like FAO? I know it keeps you from doing the law program in the Navy, for instance...

Thanks in advance!

Chris

 

[Tessone]

Also, what's IOC? acronymfinder.com isn't any help at all. How does it differ from API?

 

[tsannk2]

Tessone,
Your recruiter was right about the "guarantee aviation", however, you have to pass the ASTB first and got accepted to be an Aviation candidate before you show up at OCS.
I am not a pilot, but I have numerous classmates who were "aeronautical engineering" major in college, but they did fine in Flight shool.
Like you, I would like to go back to Vietnam and become the Marine attache there because Vietnamese is my first language. But, I was told that I can't because I still have relative there. If you are in the same situation, you can't be a defense attache in Moscow or Petersburg. Aviation wouldn't prevent you from pursuing the FAO as long as you fullfiled your aviation commitment.

 

[DBLang]

I believe IOC stands for Infantry Officer Course or something along those lines. After the basic school you'll be a basically (no shit) trained infantry officer. After IOC you would be a highly trained infantry officer. Or something like that...take what I say with a grain of salt.

 

[Tessone]

Everything's fine with my ASTB scores and stuff. I took it last year when I was thinking about going Navy, but the recruiter didn't even need to know the score when he found out my SAT score. We'll just have to see if they pick me up for a pilot contract when my package is finished. Even if I don't get picked, I'm pretty psyched about being an Officer of Marines and would love infantry.

I don't have any relatives in Russia--I was born here to American parents and don't even have Russian blood--but it's nice to know that I have a shot at that after my aviation committment is up. Does doing something like that essentially take you out of aviation, though, or would I get to go back to the flight line after finishing a tour in Russia?

As for IOC, do some SNAs go there before hitting Primary? Maybe it's rare, but not getting to do infantry was actually a tough thing to get past in trying to decide about aviation. If I could go to IOC and at least be trained, that'd be a lot of fun.

 

[Rainman]

It seems between 2 and 8 aviation students from each company attend IOC. Your CO CMD will get so many slots and will decide who goes usually based on your standing. I don't think aero engineering gives you a distinct advantage. Don't worry about it. API isn't all the technical--but they have a knack for getting students to miss at least a few questions.