phrogpilot73
Well-Known Member
As much as any other ground contract officer going through TBS. You get to provide your preferences, and they tell you what you're going to do.
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Marine Corps Career
- Thread starter kacraven
- Start date
Dude, don't worry about the deployment cycle as nobody's guess means jack shit. The best you can do do is plan for the worst case and be pleasantly surprised if it's better.
So far as the eye-gouging is concerned you really don't have much of a choice, per se. You would then fill out a 'dream sheet' that gets placed in the TBS raffle and get what you get based on the needs of the Corps. Your performance at TBS has some impact on what you would get but quality spread can still bite you in the ass (ie. supply officer in Barstow, CA or something of the like).
So far as the eye-gouging is concerned you really don't have much of a choice, per se. You would then fill out a 'dream sheet' that gets placed in the TBS raffle and get what you get based on the needs of the Corps. Your performance at TBS has some impact on what you would get but quality spread can still bite you in the ass (ie. supply officer in Barstow, CA or something of the like).
Because you probably won't deploy but you'll still get credit for doing a FAC tour. But I've never heard of anyone on active duty getting a FAC tour with a reserve unit.
phrogpilot73
Well-Known Member
It USED to be non-deploying...
And I know at least two AD guys who went to a Reserve battalion for a FAC tour.
One, don't let anyone tell you that you HAVE to be a FAC, or even that most do. If you don't want to and you're in the half of your peer group that is regarded as not sucking, you probably won't be forced into a FAC job (not to malign anyone who rocks and got drafted--I'm just speaking to my experience in my squadron). That said, I chose not to do it, and I kind of regret it, mostly because I think I've missed out on learning more of the big-picture "MAGTFery" stuff I used to mock in my younger days. As long as people are talking about good FAC deals, I've known 3 guys who FACed in 2nd Tank Bn and said it was the best thing since pop-top beer cans.
That said, being what is called a "team player" by some, or as "taking it in the shorts" by others, is a good way to get what you want later. Often by filling a job the monitor has a hard time filling, you'll get a better deal on the backside. A lot of guys took an unwanted FAC job and got the orders to be an IP they wanted on the other side. Others do the FAC thing and want to go right back to a fleet squadron. There is not schedule set in stone, but there are what are called "left and right lateral limits" that you figure out as you go. For example, going from your first fleet tour to a FAC tour to FRS instructor is firmly in the straight and narrow. Going from the fleet to be a SAR pilot to the fleet is touching the left boundary and coming back again. Going from the fleet to grad school is going completely outside the lines and you'd better get back inside if you want to stay for a career.
Take it for what you will though. I've been on flight orders for nearly 14 years and have a letter in my OMPF from the Deputy Commandant for Aviation stating that no one should judge me for deviating from a normal career path, but that's another story.
That said, being what is called a "team player" by some, or as "taking it in the shorts" by others, is a good way to get what you want later. Often by filling a job the monitor has a hard time filling, you'll get a better deal on the backside. A lot of guys took an unwanted FAC job and got the orders to be an IP they wanted on the other side. Others do the FAC thing and want to go right back to a fleet squadron. There is not schedule set in stone, but there are what are called "left and right lateral limits" that you figure out as you go. For example, going from your first fleet tour to a FAC tour to FRS instructor is firmly in the straight and narrow. Going from the fleet to be a SAR pilot to the fleet is touching the left boundary and coming back again. Going from the fleet to grad school is going completely outside the lines and you'd better get back inside if you want to stay for a career.
Take it for what you will though. I've been on flight orders for nearly 14 years and have a letter in my OMPF from the Deputy Commandant for Aviation stating that no one should judge me for deviating from a normal career path, but that's another story.
phrogpilot73
Well-Known Member
I hate to say it, but needs of the Marine Corps. What will happen is that sometime between your first and second deployment the MAG will tell the Squadron that they need to cough up X bodies for X FAC tours. The Monitor may have one or two that are more lucrative, but most of the ones I've seen were from group.
For example - our XO came to us and said "I have two deploying FAC tours available, 2/6 and 3/8. They're going to Iraq. Who wants 'em??"
Oh, and what phrogdriver speaks is true with one caveat. If you get a CO that "thinks outside the box" and decides that HAC to FAC is the wrong answer, and that he wants to send only his finest to a Battalion... You could be a player in the squadron and still get drafted for a FAC tour.
eurotrash
USMC SNA
As long as we are on the subject of "lateral limits" of your career, I was wondering if down the line after a squadron tour one was to take a PEP tour billet. You are logging hours (possibly even combat hours), just without a FITREP for 3 years, and with a different country. Anyone do this and care to share? Is it a career stopper? Appreciate it...
The exchange tours all have WTI as a prerequisite and are pretty hard to get. The prestige kinda cancels out the lack of competitive fitreps. Not a negative, to be sure, but probably have to be followed by a solid fleet department head tour.
The exchange tours open to Harrier drivers include the Spanish and Italian Navies (both AV-8) , RAF (AV-8) and USAF F-16. WTI wasn't a hard pre-req for any of them, though if you were trying to get one and competing against a WTI for it you'd be at a disadvantage. When my peers applied the minimums were somewhat negotiable but generally hovered around LATI and either NSI or ACTI (which basically means you have done at least one and maybe two fleet tours). Long term impact varied but could negatively affect your career progression - the tricky part would be satisfying the out-of-cockpit tour that would almost surely constitute your payback for the good deal and still making it back to a squadron to knock out a dept head tour.
All the helo ones have WTI prereq. I assumed the FW ones did too.
eurotrash
USMC SNA
Awesome, thanks for the PEP gouge gentlemen, I'll keep in my nomex hippocket until after my first squadron tour...should everything continue to pan out nicely on the training side that is. Saw the AV-8 job in Italy on the link posted, doesn't sound like a bad gig at all. Might be worth dancing around the "lateral limits" on the backside.