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Some New Questions

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DBLang

PLC Candidate
Are tours any different for marine aviators?

How does The Basic School for officers differ from what enlisted marines go through.

Why did you guys (naval aviators) go to the navy instead of the marines? What are some of the big differences between the responsibilities and tasks of officers in the two services?

Do all aviators go to SERE school or is API the only survival training you recieve?
 
Gatordev

Gatordev

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quote:
Oh come on guys. You were always helpful before:)




Well, I'll say what I know, but being on the Navy side of the house, it's pretty limited. First up, it's my understanding that the Marine Aviator tour is about the same. 3 years for the initial "sea" tour and then another 30 months or so for the shore tour. Based on what a buddy of mine I went to flight school told me, Marines are only committed to 6 years vice 7 for Navy (mind you, these are rotary wing numbers...not sure about the Marine Jet time, but I think it's 7 vice 8 for Navy).

As for going Navy...I have a lot of respect for what Marines have to do. They're ususally the first guys on the beach (in mass anyway) and are at the pointy end of the spear. That said, I don't think I have the patience to be a Marine. I'm not a big fan of the amount of ceremonial "stuff" they do. I find a lot of the time it gets in the way of actually doing a job. However, that same dedication to customs and courtesies makes them a tight group and is one reason why most Marines are so loyal to their service. There's all that, plus I hate having to run 3 miles for my PRT .

And yes, for the most part, as a Marine, you will have to go through SERE. Technically you're not required, but usually most people go. In my class we had a EA-6B pilot who was a Captain. He only then had had a chance to go to SERE, and he was about to put on Major.

If you do go, enjoy. It's six days of memories that you just don't want to repeat, but damn good training, nonetheless.

That's all I got. Anyone else more educated on the subject?
 
Machine

Machine

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When I went to SERE earlier this year there were a few Majors and Captains in the class. They weren't there by choice. I can't talk for actual policy, but the ones in my class were all forced to go if they wanted to keep flying. There were also some 1LT's in there that just got winged, so it sounds like the Marines are doing the same thing as the Navy as far as sending newly winged aviators through as well.
 
Gatordev

Gatordev

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What ceremonial stuff are you referring to? Can you give an example?




Well, first up, let preface this by saying that any "issues" I have are personal ones. I don't harbor any grudge or discontentment towards Marines as a group, so please take it for what it is.

That said, I have to admit that most of my Marine exposure has been in some kind of training command environment, but still... I know one thing that always irrated me was the way JO's were treated in flight school. I have no way of confirming this, but I'm convinced that the reason a Navy O-2 had to call a Navy O-3 "Sir" was because of a marine presence. Just kind of silly, but again, I can't confirm this is why.

I also found it amusing how the Marines as a whole wanted everyone to have blackened AND polished boots after climing around on an aircraft. It's even more amusing now, since we tend not to polish our boots so we don't leave big black streak marks all over the bird for our maintainers to clean up.

And don't get me started on marching...

Please let me reiterate, these are just oberservations (and minor nitpicking on my part), but just kind of stuff that I found amusing. Again, I totally respect the Marine Corps mission and it's individuals and have Marine buds I went through flight school with. It's an amazingly tightnit group of professionals. It's just interesting to see how different services execute their mission.
 
webmaster

webmaster

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Dev,

You forgot to mention the time you got "yelled" at in Primary for wearing your croakies and sunglasses with your flightsuit by a Marine Major while walking from gear issue.

Then again I got yelled at, helmet bag in hand heading to the line shack, and a Marine IP walking by me (no cover, no rank on shoulder, and a leather name tag that didn't have any gold left on it so you couldn't tell the rank), that turned out to be a Major with a bad hair day that tore me a new ahole for not saluting him.

I personally didn't take to well to getting yelled at, and apologized for not rendering a salute, gave him one (which he didn't return) and asked him to either wear a cover or get a new name tag with the lettering visible. I thought he was going to kill me! lol

Ahh the memories!
 
Gatordev

Gatordev

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quote:
Dev,

You forgot to mention the time you got "yelled" at in Primary for wearing your croakies and sunglasses with your flightsuit by a Marine Major while walking from gear issue.


Hehe...yeah, that's right! I forgot about that. And if you recall, that was later my on-wing!!! Too funny about your deal. I always loved how you were supposed to use the force in determining rank of someone who doesn't wear any. Kind of like me know in my khaki flight suit and no rank on my name tag.

Guy on ship: "Uh, who are you?"
 
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