Aspiring AIRR

[Haasino]

I know there were some AIRR Candidates that have come through here... I'm not sure their status currently. I'm a fixed-wing guy, but I can shed a bit of light on the process:

You'll start in an 800 Division at RTC where you'll have daily PT both in and out of the pool... all the RSS guys I knew seemed satisfied with the level of conditioning. In the event you need a flight waiver and end up in THU after graduation, you'll continue daily PT through the DIVEMO program... so don't worry about falling behind physically.

Upon arriving at NACCS, you'll go through the standard Aircrew Candidate School pipeline alongside active, reserve, and FTS AIRC Candidates... as well as the Marines. You can check out the NACCS day-by-day here... but it should be no problem for RSS guys.

After NACCS, you'll go onto Rescue Swimmer School backlog... called "Starboard D" when I was there. Like a more intense DIVEMO, you PT early and often every day... most afternoons ended with a PST, and your score must not regress or you risk a Counseling Chit... too many chits means attrition from the program. Your PST scores while in Starboard D also resulted in your ranking... higher scores classed up faster for RSS.

As far as RSS... I really can't help you there. I know the majority of guys who DOR'd or got dropped were due to either running, or just not feeling confident in the water. You'll also be assigned to either the AWR or AWS rating at the end of RSS.

Following RSS, you'll move across base to NATTC to attend "A" School. AWS' have a simpler and shorter school dealing mostly with standard helo operations. AWR's go through AW(A1) School with the AWO's. Here's what that entails:

The AW(A1) "A" School that AWO's and AWR's go through is tough. The first 2/3 of the course focuses on acoustic analysis: it starts with oceanography and how sound propagates through water, then moves into gram analysis and submarine parameters for diesel and nuclear submarines. Then the final 1/3 is focused on non-acoustic radar/ESM: you'll learn basic scan types and how radar can be analyzed... then you'll have a final test where you have to memorize ~50 radar types, between 5-10 numbers associated with them, ships or aircraft that use them, what weapons they carry, the NATO reporting names of said weapons, and the range of said weapon. All said and done, I filled 3 11x17 whiteboards with words and numbers from memory... most of us actually left class with headaches studying for that damn test! Two classes ahead of mine, 15/17 people failed the final test and were rolled back into the class ahead of me. We lost 3 people in my class academically, and 2 of them were later dropped from the rate. If you fail a test, you'll have an Academic Review Board and they'll almost always let you re-test... if you fail the re-test, you'll roll back into the class behind you. If you fail again, you'll most likely be dropped from the rate.

With the exception of Oceanography, all acoustic and non-acoustic material is Secret... you will have class hours, plus an extra 2 hours of night school to study the material, but there is no studying beyond that. It's essentially designed to blast a fire-hose of knowledge at you and see if you can handle it; this is to make sure you have the aptitude to handle what's to come in Fleet Replacement Aircrew training and farther along once you hit your squadron and start your 18 months of upgrader training.

It sounds bad... and it kind of is... but as long as you have the aptitude for this job, and you're determined, your instructors will help you through it.

After "A" School... you'll usually go to SERE in Maine or San Diego, and then on to your Fleet Replacement Squadron in either Jacksonville or San Diego for AWR... or Norfolk for AWS. Just like RSS, I can't provide too much info on what you go through in helo FRS since I come from the P-3 side of the house.