Ask a Naval Aircrewman

[ADbait09]

Im an AD and talked to an officer who said I could do rescue swimming as like a part time gig. How exactly does volunteering for aircrew work out. I didn't exactly want to give up my AD rate to contract as aircrew and miss out on any opportunities but I do want to do air rescue swimmer. any and all information is helpful.

[Haasino]

Originally Posted by ADbait09

Im an AD and talked to an officer who said I could do rescue swimming as like a part time gig. How exactly does volunteering for aircrew work out. I didn't exactly want to give up my AD rate to contract as aircrew and miss out on any opportunities but I do want to do air rescue swimmer. any and all information is helpful.

You can no longer volunteer for Aircrew as an AD... that ended on October 1st, 2008. You must now be contracted with AIRC (Fixed-wing/MH-53) or AIRR (MH-60/Rescue Swimmer) in your contract from MEPS, to ultimately receive a rating of AWO, AWR, AWV, AWF, or AWS.

You can possibly volunteer for surface Rescue Swimmer duties, which would be a part-time tertiary duty while on a ship... but Aviation Rescue Swimmer is a skill held by full-time flyers in either the Naval Aircrewman (Tactical Helicopter) or Naval Aircrewman (Helicopter) ratings.

[ADbait09]

Originally Posted by Haasino

You can no longer volunteer for Aircrew as an AD... that ended on October 1st, 2008. You must now be contracted with AIRC (Fixed-wing/MH-53) or AIRR (MH-60/Rescue Swimmer) in your contract from MEPS, to ultimately receive a rating of AWO, AWR, AWV, AWF, or AWS.

You can possibly volunteer for surface Rescue Swimmer duties, which would be a part-time tertiary duty while on a ship... but Aviation Rescue Swimmer is a skill held by full-time flyers in either the Naval Aircrewman (Tactical Helicopter) or Naval Aircrewman (Helicopter) ratings.

As a rescue swimmer what do you do when your not on a mission saving a life?

[Haasino]

Originally Posted by ADbait09

As a rescue swimmer what do you do when your not on a mission saving a life?

As an Aviation Rescue Swimmer, your primary duty is serving as a crewman on either an MH-60R or MH-60S helicopter, depending on rate... Romeo crewmen conduct Anti-Submarine Warfare, Counter-Narcotics and Counter-Piracy Operations, Search & Rescue, and limited Naval Special Warfare support operations... Sierra crewmen conduct Vertical Replenishment, Search & Rescue, and limited Naval Special Warfare support operations. Unless assigned to a SAR or CSAR squadron, most AWR's and AWS' spend 99.5% of their careers acting as helo crewmen... with that rare .5% spent doing actual rescues.

Surface Rescue Swimmers retain their normal rates and are called upon in the event someone goes overboard and needs to be rescued... it's an on-call duty similar to VBSS, Snoopy Teams, etc. You will spend your days as an AD... doing normal duties assigned as an AD... and will act as a rescue swimmer if needed. For Surface Rescue Swimmers, I'm not sure if it's a drop-of-the-hat duty, or if you are one of several assigned to occasional "shifts", similar to ASF duties on a shore command.

[ADbait09]

Originally Posted by Haasino

As an Aviation Rescue Swimmer, your primary duty is serving as a crewman on either an MH-60R or MH-60S helicopter, depending on rate... Romeo crewmen conduct Anti-Submarine Warfare, Counter-Narcotics and Counter-Piracy Operations, Search & Rescue, and limited Naval Special Warfare support operations... Sierra crewmen conduct Vertical Replenishment, Search & Rescue, and limited Naval Special Warfare support operations. Unless assigned to a SAR or CSAR squadron, most AWR's and AWS' spend 99.5% of their careers acting as helo crewmen... with that rare .5% spent doing actual rescues.

Surface Rescue Swimmers retain their normal rates and are called upon in the event someone goes overboard and needs to be rescued... it's an on-call duty similar to VBSS, Snoopy Teams, etc. You will spend your days as an AD... doing normal duties assigned as an AD... and will act as a rescue swimmer if needed. For Surface Rescue Swimmers, I'm not sure if it's a drop-of-the-hat duty, or if you are one of several assigned to occasional "shifts", similar to ASF duties on a shore command.

Sounds like I'll go the surface rescue swimmer route to begin with....how would I go about that. Is that something I start in boot or after I go to A school?

[kforbs126]

Originally Posted by ADbait09

Sounds like I'll go the surface rescue swimmer route to begin with....how would I go about that. Is that something I start in boot or after I go to A school?

Most ships already have their rescue swimmers in place. I've never seen anyone else other than the ships crew be a rescue swimmer. They are a part of the boat crew. But I've only been on small boys. This maybe different for larger decks.

[Haasino]

Originally Posted by ADbait09

Sounds like I'll go the surface rescue swimmer route to begin with....how would I go about that. Is that something I start in boot or after I go to A school?

Originally Posted by kforbs126

Most ships already have their rescue swimmers in place. I've never seen anyone else other than the ships crew be a rescue swimmer. They are a part of the boat crew. But I've only been on small boys. This maybe different for larger decks.

Yeah, I couldn't tell you what the process is for going surface swimmer... other than that the school you'd have to go through is here at NAS Jacksonville.