Generally agree with some exceptions on some of the IA's I've seen that appear, at least on a surface level, to be good(ish) deals.
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Stupid Questions about Naval Aviation (Part 3)
- Thread starter Top_Gun_1_0_1
- Start date
Generally agree with some exceptions on some of the IA's I've seen that appear, at least on a surface level, to be good(ish) deals.
They're not. Thats just BUPERS salesmanship. Whether 1yr making slides in a "war zone" or the boat is worse is up the individual. Both suck but in different ways. As a guy who still makes slides I'm glad I got the ship's company Mini Boss experience. Some of that is that it gave me a lot of perspective so that these days I'm happy making slides from an office (yes, you can read that as, "it sucked a lot").
Yes, I understand that you're describing the ideal situation.
I really hope options 3-5 are not first shore options for helo dudes. That would be just depressing as hell.
Generally not. I suspect similar options to you guys: Instructing at some level, earning a patch and then instructing, station SAR, C-12s, VX/HX options, some good deal shore duties and some bad deal shore duties that you thought would be a good deal.
Yeah, for us expectation is flying production, whether that be FRS, VT, patch or TPS/VX. VFC is another route of course. I was more speaking to the long list of non-flying jobs. I've known a couple cats who went to NROTC or USNA tours, but that was generally by choice or was mutually beneficial. Have not heard of someone going to a staff tour or ship's company. I have heard of a couple IA's but that is super rare as well.
Same, same. I know of a couple people that did aide gigs IOT to count as their disassociated tour, but they were exceptionally rare and one for sure had to fight uphill with a detailer that said it didn't count and the previous detailer made a bad promise.
I’d rather go to a war zone than being on a staff or ships company.
For first shore tour, not really. It's something flying or decently "good deals" for shore duty. After that, game over though.
@insanebikerboy I asked! My options leaving my shore tour were boat, boat, boat, staff bahrain, staff japan. Leverage, as they say.
For expeditionary helo squadrons, are the numbered DETs (e.g. HSM-XX DET 5) always attached to the same ship? If you go out with a specific DET, is it common to stay with that one or can you volunteer to go on other DETs as well? I assume the quals you possess also play a big factor.
The DET isn't tied to anything. It's just who's up next for which ship and what capabilities that DET has for the ship's mission (less of a concern with Romeo now). Sometimes, in locations with less Navy, the same DET may go with the same ship, but that's just coincidence. This was common for the Pearl ships when I was a JO because there were only 5 (then 4) ships of the line with hangars. The deployment rotation just made it convenient to keep the same DET on the same ship, and usually that DET would inherit some of the people from that same previous DET. But in larger locations, there can be more variety.
As for who goes where, it's mostly timing and quals (HAC being the big one). There can also be one-off short DETs that someone can try and volunteer for. Things like fleet week and such, but underway time is limited, so Ops is probably trying to maximize the bodies that need it.
VMO4
Well-Known Member
Moving things around on my man cave wall and when I noticed this.....This is my father's Naval Aviator certificate, dated September 1942, what do the letters after "Evans" and before "USNR" mean? I would ask him, but he died in his sleep at the age of 90 in 2010, plus he would just say, "It meant I was the best pilot"
Close. In terms of the day that is an officer designator meaning:
Aviator…A
Grneral Service Reserve
(T) Temporary Status
This means he is a designated aviator but not yet fleet qualified. The D allowed the navy to shift people if needed for many purposes. Say, for example, he was selected for carrier fighters but couldn’t hit the boat…well, the navy allows him to keep the aviator designator (in the reserves) but ship him off to war as a seaman in “general service.” Thus the T. Towards the end of the war lot of guys finished flight school but never went to a RAG.
VMO4
Well-Known Member
wow, thanks, if it clears things up, my father graduated college in 1940 , he had his PPL through the CPT program at his college, further CPT classes got him his commercial and CFI ratings, he then was turned down by both the Navy and Army Air Corps pilot programs. (said he was knock kneed bad which he was) He got a job as a civilian instructor at an Army Air Corps base teaching Army studs to fly. The Navy was short IP's so he was eventually accepted, sworn in March 1942, did knife and fork school, primary, advanced, etc...and was winged in October 42, he was then sent to a primary base to be an IP, was an 0-2 for eleven days, then he finished the war as an 0-3 flying FM-2's in VC-8 on the CVE Guadalcanal when it captured U-505. War ended he was sent to the street, recalled for Korea, spent it playing golf around the Med on CV-42. Thanks again.