What to fly... Advice?

[thebluto]

Sorry, but I am going to drone on just a bit more, because I've seen students base their careers on some things that became misnomers:

Don't base your decision on:

1. How soon you will get out of the training command

- just because you get your wings quicker a certain way doesn't mean you're done - the upgrade process in some communities takes a while (do you want to sign for a plane right away in the fleet or wait one to two years with a bunch more studying?)

2. The personalities of Training Command instructors from the community

- the instructor in question could be the best guy/gal from that community or the biggest buffoon/jerk. Although they should strive to be the best representative of a community, they may not be what the community is all about.

3. Whether or not the community in question is the quickest route to the airlines

- there are plenty of helo pilots at major airlines and plenty of multi-engine pilots who are not - it all depends

* One thing I was told as an Ensign that I will never forget - "Every community you can go into has a certain "suck" factor to it."

whether you are stuck on a boat or in a community of workaholics, egos, anal retentive types, jokesters or whatever, you won't find any utopias out in the fleet. Find out what the gouge is on each community and weigh the options carefully.

 

[Pags]

whether you are stuck on a boat or in a community of workaholics, egos, anal retentive types, jokesters or whatever, you won't find any utopias out in the fleet. Find out what the gouge is on each community and weigh the options carefully.

to piggyback onto what you're saying:

you're gonna find all the above people in each community.

and another common pitfall to avoid:
don't base your selection of where you might live. because in the end, you're only gonna spend a short amount of time at home. i've spent 8mo out of the last year away from home.

 

[insanebikerboy]

For me, one of the biggest reasons I wanted jets was because I personally like flying as the sole person in the cockpit. Plus, I wanted to be the one signing for the plane every time I walked out to fly. Just my thing.

Of course it would happen I'm in helo's now.

My recommendation, think about the type of flying you enjoy the most, and weigh that against all the other options (type of people, duty stations, etc). Put it down and hope for the best.

 

[Rg9]

Ok, my bust for jumping the gun here. After re-reading the OP, I don't think it was Rg9's intention to be a helo hater. I don't want the spirit of his post to become why each community has to defend itself. He's asking any advice what to chose.
Press on.

You are correct. I have no problem with helos, and I'm sure I'd love them if I went that way.

 

[Rg9]

...there are a lot of pitfalls in P-3/E-6 world that people don't realize...

Can you elaborate? I've been leaning towards P-3's due to the crew/traveling/shore based ("family friendly") aspects, but I've also heard the community's going downhill right now.

To help the discussion...

...Do you want to go to a boat or the boat or would you rather live on the beach?

I'd rather live on the beach, but I'd give it up to work with a good community. To be completely frank, however, I'm not sure if I fit in with the tailhook personality. I can't stand guys who are overly cocky or stuck on themselves (even if they are good), and obviously there is that reputation there. But then again, that doesn't make it true. I like working with friendly people.

Do you want to fly fast and drop bombs, or are you cool with flying a plane full of cargo?

I wouldn't mind doing cargo from time to time, but I think I'd be bored if that was it.

Do you want to deploy with a det or with the entire squadron?

Det preferably.

And thebluto, thanks for the advice. I've been careful not to make those errors (since almost all the IP's here are P-3 guys with some helo pilots mixed in). Also, I have no desire whatsoever to fly for the airlines.

 

[cosmania]

Can you elaborate? I've been leaning towards P-3's due to the crew/traveling/shore based ("family friendly") aspects, but I've also heard the community's going downhill right now.

To help the discussion...
I'd rather live on the beach, but I'd give it up to work with a good community. To be completely frank, however, I'm not sure if I fit in with the tailhook personality. I can't stand guys who are overly cocky or stuck on themselves (even if they are good), and obviously there is that reputation there. But then again, that doesn't make it true. I like working with friendly people.

I wouldn't mind doing cargo from time to time, but I think I'd be bored if that was it.

Det preferably.

And thebluto, thanks for the advice. I've been careful not to make those errors (since almost all the IP's here are P-3 guys with some helo pilots mixed in). Also, I have no desire whatsoever to fly for the airlines.

Geez, can you throw a few more random stereotypes around. Not all jet guys are a bunch of a-holes. I would count them as the same as any community in the Navy. . .a cross section of Americana. Shoot, we had guys that didn't drink, guys that were quiet and mousy and we had bubble-headed nerds as well. Oh, by the way, that whole thing varied squadron to squadron, year to year. Be the best at your job and you'll enjoy whatever you get. By the way, select jets

 

[bunk22]

There are aholes in all communities. The majority of guys you meet, fighter guys, helo's, etc are good dudes. I've known many, many pilots in my years and the two that stick out the most, the biggest aholes, high on themself, bigger than shit were both E-2 pilots.

 

[Pags]

Can you elaborate? I've been leaning towards P-3's due to the crew/traveling/shore based ("family friendly") aspects, but I've also heard the community's going downhill right now.

To help the discussion...
I'd rather live on the beach, but I'd give it up to work with a good community. To be completely frank, however, I'm not sure if I fit in with the tailhook personality. I can't stand guys who are overly cocky or stuck on themselves (even if they are good), and obviously there is that reputation there. But then again, that doesn't make it true. I like working with friendly people.

I wouldn't mind doing cargo from time to time, but I think I'd be bored if that was it.

Det preferably.

And thebluto, thanks for the advice. I've been careful not to make those errors (since almost all the IP's here are P-3 guys with some helo pilots mixed in). Also, I have no desire whatsoever to fly for the airlines.

Yeah, I thought the same thing about the stereotypes a few years ago, and it's not true. Being a good guy knows no race, religion, rank, or community boundaries. Unfortunately, the same is true for being an ass-hat.

I just got finished with a class that had guys in it from just about every community in both the Navy and Marines and I'd drink a beer with any one of them. Good folks all around.

 

[HooverPilot]

I have flown 2 of the best kept secrets in the Navy & have had a great fucking time doing it. No one claimed either one was glamorous...Get beyond the flash and the hype and do what you want to do. If you can't get beyond it, you won't be happy & we don't want you in our community.

 

[Rg9]

Well, now they're doing the whole tailhook selection thing, so I have to decide if I want F-18/E-2/C-2 out of Primary. I could get any of them while in Advanced.

I know everyone says, "put down what you want and see if you get it..." but the problem is I don't know what I want (hence, this discussion). I mean, I do know what I want, I just don't know which community that would put me in.

So... what's good about helos (again, not helo-bashing, I mean the question as is)? I've gotten a lot of info being at Whiting, but from those who have been around awhile: any thoughts? What are the chances of firing weapons (the gouge is the Navy's trying to make helos more combat-able)?

Also, thoughts regarding family? Of course we expect I'll get deployed, etc. but it is a concern of mine. I don't have kids yet, but might soon.

Thanks for all the discussion so far. This has been really good. Keep posting, please.

 

[Huggy Bear]

I do not know if it is still this way, but when I was in primary we did not have a single jet guy in the whole squadron. I remember some instructors being very vocal in their stereotypes of the jet community. They were all wrong.

 

[Herc_Dude]

You are quite an anomaly my friend. I don't think I have known anyone going through primary who didn't have their mind pretty much made up by mid-point of RIs. Good on ya for asking around. Im not doggin on you or anything, don't get me wrong. It just seems very rare to me. Hope you select whats right for you. Keep us posted on where you end up.

 

[trongod46]

you should DOR now!!! it only gets more complicated than selection.

give me a break

(here comes the negative feedback)

 

[cosmania]

you should DOR now!!! it only gets more complicated than selection.

give me a break

(here comes the negative feedback)

He only wants you to DOR to get rid of the competition.

Look, I wouldn't try to base your decision on deployments. You are in the military. You are going to deploy. If you don't enjoy your day job then you, and your family will be miserable. If you want to employ ordnance, then find which platform delivers ordnance the most and go get it. If you want daytime flight hours, then pursue that. Priortize what you would like to do for 14 hours a day and drive towards that. I had no idea, but it all worked out.

Oh, and by the way, select jets.:icon_tong

 

[Himbo]

What to fly?

"I'm married, enjoy flying, but I don't want flying to be my life. I enjoy working with other people and desire leadership opportunities. I'm not an Air Force officer that only flies during his career; I'm a Naval Officer, and as such, seek to be diverse in my abilities and jobs.
I find that if I am working with people that I get along with on a common goal that I can enjoy almost any kind of work."

Well, don't I wish that I would have found this site about seven years ago before I went into OCS and Flight School blind..LOL I am new to this forum and I see that there is a lot of good info on here. I am an EP-3E Seval/MC and just left the community 3 months ago. I am in an O-4 coded Joint billet so I am one of the new O-3's actually getting Joint Credit. I should be able to give you all up to date answers on the VQ/VP community and if I don't know them, I can just contact someone who is still there. I will also be posting some questions soon on some Sea Duty options.

I agree with most of the replies on here, you will be happy with what ever community you pick and you will also think IT is the best. I actually love pilot/nfo, jet/helos/heavies and VP/VQ jokes and jabs...and I usually have a good comeback for most of them.

To answer your question all I can do is give you my own personal experiences as examples. I, like you- am married with children so my first priority was my family...hence choosing heavies. I liked the det rotation for VQ better than VP because I was gone for shorter periods of time. I was usually gone more days per year than my VP buddies but not 6 months at a time. I was also much happier with the VQ mission because it is an NFO ran platform (pilots can be MC's too), intel heavy, NFO's have three position to transition through....Nav'ing got real boring after my first det., and as stated here before-you will be in charge of an entire crew of multiple rates and ranks to just about anywhere in the world. You are given a lot of responsibility with some room to make changes and give ideas. The training process is a little harder though (so I have heard), you get real pale after the first year of living in a Scif but the VQ guys/gals seem to be more well rounded than Officers I have met from multiple platforms. There is also a difference in the qual process between VQ-1/2. I was a little jealous of the places the VP guys went to but I usually found out that where ever they went they didn't get to fly much due to Hona or maintenance issues. This seemed to be more of an issue in Japan and strangely....Australia-hmmmm. -The word is, don't go to Australia if you want to stay married.

It is a little boring for pilots, take-off and landing is about all the fun you get. But, pilots are also involved with the mission and pilot MC's are in control of it. I used to pray for turbulence in hopes of getting a couple G's here and there. I am not a puking NFO with bad eyes so I got a little restless. I wish that I could go into the classified portion to give you a better picture but that you will only find out if you end up in VQ. Hope this helps and shoot back any more questions if needed.