Aircrew life

[bwall0430]

How fast are you able to rank up? Also is aircrew a good quality of life?

[FlyNavy]

How fast are you able to rank up? Also is aircrew a good quality of life?

In general, you'll promote a little faster than your peers in other rates. There's always going to be people doing it faster or better (that's anywhere), but as long as you keep your eye on the ball then your advancement is really in your hands.

Lifestyle depends on your particular platform; we all have different missions and different schedules.

For us EP-3 folks, life can be pretty busy. We're the largest squadron in the Navy and have crews deployed around the world 365 days a year. So keeping up that operations tempo can be work. The benefit however is that we are hands down the unquestioned experts in naval airborne SIGINT.

P-3/P-8 folks fly somewhat similar schedules as we do when they're deployed, but they're only deployed every so often. Outside of that, they're maintaining proficiency with flights at home and occasionally helping out with larger fleet exercises.

Personally I think the biggest perk for us fixed wing folks is that we get set up in hotels when on deployment. Coming from the ship previously, that was super nice haha They're not the swank 5 star hotels everyone always seems to talk about; majority of the time it's whatever is on base. But having your own space and being able to go do stuff after work is pretty legit when you're downrange.

As far as helo guys go, they're lives are much more dependent on the ships they support. Still a great lifestyle and that platform is great to work on, you're just typically deploying on a ship rather than by yourselves.

All in all it's a pretty good life, just a very different culture than the rest of the Navy. Some people enjoy that culture and thrive in it, others would probably enjoy ship life a little more. It all comes down to personal preference honestly.

/r
CTT1

[FlyNavy]

If you do go Aircrew though, just don't get a big head about it.

I see waaaay too many junior crewman come up and walk around their squadron like they're god's gift to the Navy. Especially when it comes to working with their maintainers (folks actually fixing and maintaining the aircraft).

Always remember, if those guys weren't doing their job as great as they do, you wouldn't be leaving the ground. On top of that, they also maintain all of your safety and survival equipment; so your life could quite literally be in their hands if the worst happens.

Food for thought!

/r
CTT1

[bwall0430]

In general, you'll promote a little faster than your peers in other rates. There's always going to be people doing it faster or better (that's anywhere), but as long as you keep your eye on the ball then your advancement is really in your hands.

Lifestyle depends on your particular platform; we all have different missions and different schedules.

For us EP-3 folks, life can be pretty busy. We're the largest squadron in the Navy and have crews deployed around the world 365 days a year. So keeping up that operations tempo can be work. The benefit however is that we are hands down the unquestioned experts in naval airborne SIGINT.

P-3/P-8 folks fly somewhat similar schedules as we do when they're deployed, but they're only deployed every so often. Outside of that, they're maintaining proficiency with flights at home and occasionally helping out with larger fleet exercises.

Personally I think the biggest perk for us fixed wing folks is that we get set up in hotels when on deployment. Coming from the ship previously, that was super nice haha They're not the swank 5 star hotels everyone always seems to talk about; majority of the time it's whatever is on base. But having your own space and being able to go do stuff after work is pretty legit when you're downrange.

As far as helo guys go, they're lives are much more dependent on the ships they support. Still a great lifestyle and that platform is great to work on, you're just typically deploying on a ship rather than by yourselves.

All in all it's a pretty good life, just a very different culture than the rest of the Navy. Some people enjoy that culture and thrive in it, others would probably enjoy ship life a little more. It all comes down to personal preference honestly.

/r
CTT1
Thanks for the fast reply, this is the exact type of information that I was searching for. I also heard that aircrew travels the most out of all rates, is this true?

[FlyNavy]

Thanks for the fast reply, this is the exact type of information that I was searching for. I also heard that aircrew travels the most out of all rates, is this true?

I wouldn't say that exactly. Do some Aircrew sailors travel more than non-aircrew sailors? Sure.

But even on a ship, I saw around 30 countries during those 4 years; most aircrew won't get to that number until they're pretty deep into their careers. It really varies honestly by each sailor's personal experience. I got lucky being on an FFG since we didn't deploy with a strike group, so we had the opportunity to port in so many places. A sailor on a Cruiser for example though will most likely be attached to the strike group, and probably won't see as many as I did. So like I said, it really comes down to each persons unique Navy experience.

If travel is important to you though, Aircrew is by no means a bad way to go!

/r
CTT1

[BonzerAsp]

Thanks for the fast reply, this is the exact type of information that I was searching for. I also heard that aircrew travels the most out of all rates, is this true?

If you want to see other countries, steer clear of TACAMO (AWV & AWF on the E-6b Mercury). You'll see a lot of other states, *EDITED BY ADMIN*

*Admin note: Let's try to keep it general. The E-6 is an incredibly important platform, so I'd like to not discuss here where it may or may not deploy to*.

[BonzerAsp]

If you want to see other countries, steer clear of TACAMO (AWV & AWF on the E-6b Mercury). You'll see a lot of other states, *EDITED BY ADMIN*

*Admin note: Let's try to keep it general. The E-6 is an incredibly important platform, so I'd like to not discuss here where it may or may not deploy to*.

Our planes can be found on Planefinder.net. When it comes to deployment locations, our squadron doesn't really care most of the time. We're one of the few platforms that actually allow civilian tracking on sites such ass Plane finder. It's everything else that we care about. Honestly though, I'm surprised myself that we are allowed to be tracked like that. But hey, that decision is wayyyy over my head.

[FlyNavy]

Our planes can be found on Planefinder.net. When it comes to deployment locations, our squadron doesn't really care most of the time. We're one of the few platforms that actually allow civilian tracking on sites such ass Plane finder. It's everything else that we care about. Honestly though, I'm surprised myself that we are allowed to be tracked like that. But hey, that decision is wayyyy over my head.

So can some SRO platforms around the world, I just don't want to advertise it any more than it needs to be.

/r
CTT1