Platform Selection E-2 vs P-8

[Storm27324]

If you have ANY experience in the military, you should know that you're wasting your time with such planning.

Solid advice. Nothing I've planned over the last decade has panned out the way I thought it would.

 

[SynixMan]

I'd pick E2s in a heartbeat. The VP community is...weird...

 

[AIRMMCPORET]

Not looking for anything about "get out for/because" responses, I have known the navy since 17 I am a lifer through and through.

You won’t get that response on here for wanting to better yourself, we’ll find better ways to drag your moral down.🤣

Good luck on your selection, I wish I would have gone your route sometimes.

A bad day flying is better than any day on the ground.😉

 

[FLGUY]

I'd pick E2s in a heartbeat. The VP community is...weird...

As a VP guy myself I never really know how to explain our cultural weirdness. Parochial, insular, and detached just enough from the rest of the Navy come to mind.

 

[CommodoreMid]

I'd pick E2s in a heartbeat. The VP community is...weird...

We hate each other, but we hate you more 😇

 

[zippy]

The current CNATRA paddles is a great friend of mine. He's a great pilot, an even better IP, and awesome friend. @zippy will attest to this as well. His mark on Naval aviation is in flying around, and on to, the boat. He absolutely loves it, and he loves teaching young and old pilots how to do it. I've known him for 18 years and I've never heard him talk about the E-2 mission. But there are countless stories about being the first off as a weather bird, and being the last on a pitching deck in crummy weather at night.




If you have ANY experience in the military, you should know that you're wasting your time with such planning. Study hard, fly well, and get through tomorrow. What happens in 3 months is well beyond your control. Planning 3 years from now will only disappoint you.
Enjoy today. Don't worry about tomorrow.

Yes, I’ve never heard him or any other E-2 pilot talk about anything tactical or tacticool…
In the boat hierarchy, E-2 pilots are about 3 steps above whale shit. Right above the helo pilots, and the shooters. But they seem to have decent flying options outside of fleet squadron tours.

 

[Waveoff]

As a VP guy myself I never really know how to explain our cultural weirdness. Parochial, insular, and detached just enough from the rest of the Navy come to mind.

Part of our problem IMHO is that we can get away with sending people from the FRS to the fleet that are basically worthless in terms of tactical proficiency (FOs and pilots) because we have a crew mentality of “well the other two pilots will keep you in check” and “the tacco will teach the cotac”.

You’ll spend the first 18-24 months of your time in the VP squadron upgrading to the plane commander. This results in people spending on average more time unqualified than qualified, not signing for the aircraft, not being the mission commander, instructor etc. Until VP-30 starts giving the fleet level 200 qualified people, you’re going to feel like a warm body for a long while since they make the squadrons do all the actual tactical instruction. I have to imagine the FRS teaches and evaluates more tactical knowledge in 2 seat and 1 seat communities.

 

[Brett327]

Which is a damn shame. I get the why behind that decision, but I could never understand why many communities straight-up shun the VTs. We are training the seed corn of the entire enterprise. There are a ton of awesome guys and gals in the VTs busting their ass, doing a dangerous job in the Pensacola/Corpus heat.

The hard chargers we get in my squadron know the lay of the land. They know they have an uphill battle to be competitive if they want to stay in. It sucks.

That's mostly because in the realm of production gigs (VT, FRS, WTI), the VTs require the fewest prerequisite quals and tactical experience to teach effectively. As a result, first tour JOs with the bare minimum quals/experience (level 3 only) are better suited for VTs than FRS or WTI. It's a pretty reasonable way to do it, frankly.

 

[Brett327]

Lastly, merit reorder briefs ought to be goals if you want to promote, move up, etc.

Every EP FITREP I wrote at HAVOC going up for O4 got a merit reorder - 100%. TACAIR communities value WTI over all other production tours. The numbers speak for themselves. Food for thought.

 

[Storm27324]

Every EP FITREP I wrote at HAVOC going up for O4 got a merit reorder - 100%. TACAIR communities value WTI over all other production tours. The numbers speak for themselves. Food for thought.

Dumb question, merit reorder?

 

[FormerRecruitingGuru]

Dumb question, merit reorder?

Those selected for promotion and reordered to the top of the list (based on merit) in terms of when they can promote: say promoting on 1 Oct / 1 Nov instead of Sept 1 the following year.

More information is on the MyNavy HR website I provided in my previous response.

 

[Waveoff]

might be a dumb thought, but in VP land that sounds like that would cause you to removed from your rare good deal disassociated sea tour at a flying job (aka not shooter), after already having your shore tour cut short (because they still haven’t figured out how to keep us on track with non-aviators), and be forced into your DH tour. Again, might be naïve, but it seems like a “no good deed goes unpunished” situation. Is that different in other platforms? Based on some of my peer’s timing and how long it took to go from ROTC commissioning to winging, you’d think they would be inclined to stave off O-4 for as long as possible to avoid a pigeon hole. But that’s because it seems any pilot with a pulse that isn’t smart enough to get out for an airline gig is being picked up for DH anyway, WTI or not.

 

[Brett327]

Dumb question, merit reorder?

I like to refer to it as the Asterisk of Excellence. Think of it like making first increment for advancement based on performance.

 

[Mos]

might be a dumb thought, but in VP land that sounds like that would cause you to removed from your rare good deal disassociated sea tour at a flying job (aka not shooter), after already having your shore tour cut short (because they still haven’t figured out how to keep us on track with non-aviators), and be forced into your DH tour. Again, might be naïve, but it seems like a “no good deed goes unpunished” situation. Is that different in other platforms? Based on some of my peer’s timing and how long it took to go from ROTC commissioning to winging, you’d think they would be inclined to stave off O-4 for as long as possible to avoid a pigeon hole. But that’s because it seems any pilot with a pulse that isn’t smart enough to get out for an airline gig is being picked up for DH anyway, WTI or not.

Not sure what you're responding to. Are you talking about merit reorder? Why do you think that would cut your disassociated tour short?

 

[Meyerkord]

In the boat hierarchy, E-2 pilots are about 3 steps above whale shit. Right above the helo pilots, and the shooters

God damn this was the funniest thing I’ve read in a while 😂