Ask a Naval Aircrewman

[Haasino]

Originally Posted by tyler_____

One more question, how's the travel for an aircrewman? I mean I know you fly all over the place, but do you get to sightsee and whatnot?

If you end up AWO, AWV, or AWF on a P-3 or P-8, you're going to travel a lot and learn to carpe per diem, lol. We don't deploy on ships and sleep in racks... we go to foreign air bases, always on per diem, and stay in hotels. Sometimes a mission might take you to South America for a short period, or a longer deployment could put you in Italy, Australia, Japan, S. Korea, Bahrain, etc. Some of the best per diem locations will net you over $100/day in addition to flight pay, and your base pay + whatever allowances you have for family, etc. My instructor is an AWO2 SS1, and on his last 3 month deployment to Sigonella, Italy, he flew his wife out twice and met her in Rome for a weekend... and he still came back with a lot of $$ in his bank account. We don't do a lot of tertiary BS... we don't stand watches, we don't field day/clean the hangers, and we don't work too much overtime because we're required to get 8hrs of sleep a night when on a flight schedule. As an AWO especially, you're gonna pre-mission brief... fly... debrief... work out... and then probably sight-see or sleep if deployed; depends on where you are, what type of missions you're flying, and how long you've been there.

P-3s also break... sometimes at convenient times. You may land in Ireland on your way to a NATO deployment in the Netherlands and your engine breaks; guess who spends almost a week pub-crawling in Dublin while they fly out a new engine and a crew to replace it? The pilots, TACCO, and Aircrew!

[tyler_____]

Haha wow that's so awesome. I can't wait, 20130909! Thanks!

What would you recommend someone who is trying to go into the AIRR rating?

[Haasino]

Originally Posted by lilmoemito91

What would you recommend someone who is trying to go into the AIRR rating?

PT, swim, swim, PT, and then PT some more... lol! The PST requirements should be an easy workout for you; you not only need to pass one almost every day at RSS, but your eligibility for when you class up is based on PST scores. You also need to be very comfortable in the pool... both for NACCS and for RSS.


This video gives you a little example of what to expect...

Aviation Rescue Swimmer School

[jhollan2]

What are the rules for NAC on having cars during training

[Haasino]

Originally Posted by jhollan2

What are the rules for NAC on having cars during training

No motorcycles anymore... cars are authorized once you hit Phase II after about 14 days. You'll have your own parking lot next to the sea wall.

[jhollan2]

When you have weekend liberty how far can you go from pensacola? My HOR is 330 miles from there