AIRR ?'s

[Haasino]

Originally Posted by FutureAW

Haasino: is it considered a special privelage to receive the helo spot? What types of things are there to excel at during naccs? What sub rate have you selected? How was your a school?

Im not too concerned on airr, I realized I am lucky enough to even have aircrew as a job.

Not necessarily a privelage... but they do come up less often. Sometimes people are fighting over spots... sometimes nobody wants it and they force it on someone. You'll learn once you get here that fixed-wing has some major advantages. As far as how to excell - don't get any counseling chits (That's actually a lot harder than it sounds here), pass your swim evolutions on the first try, keep up during PT.

[FutureAW]

Originally Posted by Haasino

You'll learn once you get here that fixed-wing has some major advantages.

Can i skip that wait please? haha. Is the major advantage that the helo's go on a sea tour and the large aircraft are back at base at the end of their flight? Im hoping my training will help me for when i get out, and i assume thats the second reason aircraft have the advantage...any insight will be appreciated

[Haasino]

Here's the blunt truth of it, as delivered to us by two AWS2s and a Marine 53 crewman:

53s crash... Helos in general have a higher likelihood of a catastrophic Class A Mishap because they're closer to the ground... less time to fix a problem if one comes up. Both of my instructors have been injured in a mishap... one also lost a good friend when the 53 he was supposed to be flying on went into the water off Hawaii. We lost 2 MH-53Es last year alone... one with the loss of 2 aircrewmen. The last fatal P-3 mishap was in 1991. 53s are also only stationed at Norfolk, and mostly deploy to Bahrain and South Korea, because those are the two regions that need a mine countermeasures helo. Per diem is possible, but not as common.

Fixed-wing has its perks because you take off and land at a NAS. When you deploy, it's often on per diem... that means you sleep in a hotel and get paid an extra ~$150/day. Our AWV1 told us about his last deployment to Sicily where he made enough per diem to fly his wife out 3 times and take several ~$4k weekend vacations to mainland Italy.

It's all about personal preference though... I love helos, but I don't like 53s. That's why I'm happy I'm going AWO!

[FutureAW]

That's great information! I'll have to do some research on per diem. I'm thinking helo or cod is the route for me, I want to be out at sea. As for awo, is that fairly transferable between platforms? Meaning, can you go from operating on a p3 to c130 or other platforms? The p3 is gone soon so I'm curious to what the navy's plans are to convert there current operators.

[Haasino]

AWOs are being transitioned onto the P-3's replacement, the P-8A Poseidon. They're also reel and comms operators on the E-6B Mercurys. We're also going to operate the new MQ-4C Triton UAVs.

[Beebee]

I read a previous post and understand that I won't be able to volunteer for Aircrew at boot camp (I ship on April 3). My recruiter looked at AW jobs and they are overmanned until the end of the fiscal year.
Being a female, what do you think the chances are for me to reclassify as an aircrew later, perhaps during the next fiscal year?
My 500 swimm is a 6.30 (without really trying), I run an 8 min. mile. I just don't want to wait until the new fiscal year to go.

[Haasino]

I may be mistaken, but I believe there are only certain windows of time where you can try to re-class or cross-rate from one rating to another. With the exception of Aircrew itself, I don't think you can just stop doing the job you enlisted into at any time, and choose to do another. For you, it may be 18-24 months down the road before you're given the opportunity to cross-rate... and at that point, hard to speculate where the manning levels will be.

[bhr07]

Originally Posted by Beebee

I read a previous post and understand that I won't be able to volunteer for Aircrew at boot camp (I ship on April 3). My recruiter looked at AW jobs and they are overmanned until the end of the fiscal year.
Being a female, what do you think the chances are for me to reclassify as an aircrew later, perhaps during the next fiscal year?
My 500 swimm is a 6.30 (without really trying), I run an 8 min. mile. I just don't want to wait until the new fiscal year to go.

I would say try out for AIRR, but you ship in a week or so. I don't know much about reclassification, but I've read you can only do that now 15 or something months prior to your EAOS, but then again, I've heard others say after two years so I don't really know for sure. Also, it's never guaranteed either if you can cross-rate. It depends on quite a few factors if one wants to convert into another rate as in the rate you want to go into needs to be undermanned and the rate you're in now needs to be overmanned or something like that. Other qualifications would be being a PO1 or below, no NJP's within 18 months, and you need to be recommended by the CO.

Your times are very competitive for swim and run though, insanely jealous. I got picked up for AIRR and my times for those two weren't that good either.