Ask a Naval Aircrewman

[LT Guppy]

Originally Posted by kforbs126

If you are talking about rescue swimmers that are ship personnel then that is it, unless they've changed the course recently. They are on ships for man overboard and all small boat ops.

As of September, it as still just a week.

[Haasino]

Originally Posted by Guppy2010

As of September, it as still just a week.

That's weird... there is definitely a 4-week RSS here in Jax, and it's not for Aviation Rescue Swimmers. Now I'm curious how many types of Surface Swimmers there are...

[Haasino]

Here's an article from last year when the pool reopened following storm damage:

Rescue swimmer students returned to the NAS Jax Rescue Swimmer School (RSS) for the first time in months on Jan. 8, after debris from an old ceiling had fallen into the pool and caused a safety concern, shutting the building down for repairs.

The rescue swimmer course is a rigorous four-week endeavor, subjecting students to all types of mental and physical stress in a water environment. The end goal is to create a group of rescue swimmers who are at home in a water environment with calm, collected heads and good decision-making skills.

According to AWR2 Lyle O’Dell, instructor with the NAS Jax RSS, “We like to think of this course as: Would I trust this person to be able to save my mother or grandmother if she was drowning? We purposely subject these students to rigorous tests and harsh conditions, because in the real world, they could be the difference in life or death for an overboard Sailor.”

The students are selected by their respective ships to attend the course in either Jacksonville or San Diego, as all ships must have a minimum of two certified rescue swimmers before they can get underway. After arriving at either site, students attend both classroom courses and exercises in the pool designed to strengthen their lifesaving knowledge and swimming skills. Typical classroom training includes first aid and CPR, while pool training encompasses advanced swimming, use of all types of water gear, and rescuing a drowning victim with multiple injuries. The course progressively gets harder as the weeks go on, and the instructors never let up in trying to mold the students into experts in the water.

“We stress a crawl, walk, run mentality. This course is extremely challenging, and while I never like to see anyone drop on request, there can be no mistake that we need to weed out the students who just aren’t suited to do this job,” commented O’Dell.

“We will do everything we can to push these students to their mental breaking points, and the ones who cope and keep their heads in the game are usually the ones who make it. It’s a lot like the stress of basic training, but in a water environment, which is already uncomfortable for most.”

In addition to the indoctrination course described above, designated as CAT I, the RSS also offers a two-week CAT II “refresher” course and an aviation search and rescue course, the latter designed to teach senior enlisted how to document training and evaluations of rescue swimmers in their helicopter squadron or wing.

With the repairs to the RSS ceiling completed, the staff was enthusiastic about getting back to business.

“It’s great to have this facility back up and running, and we will remain committed to providing the best training to these students that we possibly can,” said NAS Jax RSS Officer in Charge Lt. Kevin Harrington. “The lifesaving skill sets we teach these Sailors are invaluable to the fleet.”

^ So it looks like there is a second school in San Diego... probably one for West Coast and one for East Coast.

[LT Guppy]

I've never really looked into it, just know that one of our SAR swimmers went to a school for about a week to either certify or recertify before we could get underway this summer.

[Haasino]

Originally Posted by Guppy2010

I've never really looked into it, just know that one of our SAR swimmers went to a school for about a week to either certify or recertify before we could get underway this summer.

Probably CAT II... that's a refresher.

[mmm3]

Thanks so much for answering all of these questions. It's very helpful! I wanted to ask if you know what the pipeline looks like for a reservist (non-FTS). Are the same jobs and platforms available? Does it depend on where you drill?

[Haasino]

Originally Posted by mmm3

Thanks so much for answering all of these questions. It's very helpful! I wanted to ask if you know what the pipeline looks like for a reservist (non-FTS). Are the same jobs and platforms available? Does it depend on where you drill?

Sorry for the delay in response... the website hack kinda threw a wrench in the site for a while.

The pipeline for Reserve Aircrew is the same as the others up through A School... you'll go to RTC, then Candidate School, and then AWF A School... the only difference is that you can only get the AWF rating, and you will be waiting longer to class up for Candidate School than the Active Duty people (I don't know why... priority just goes AIRC, AIRR, Marines, Reserve). Your platform is also going to be limited... non-FTS all goes on the C-40 Clipper as flight attendants... and a very rare few can get orders to VP-62 in Jacksonville as P-3C Orion Flight Engineers... I believe there is a reserve squadron up in Whidbey Island, WA as well, but don't quote me on that.

It's also going to depend very heavily on where you drill... my roommate in A School was an AWF Reservist... he was in Pensacola for over a year, then graduated and went home to Indiana. It's going on 6 months later now, and he doesn't do any Aircrew duties, nor has he gone to follow-on schools... he just does computer-based training on his drill weekends. He also didn't have a career already lined up and was talked into Reserve Aircrew by his recruiter, so he's having a lot of issues right now.

It's possible that you might have more options though... there's a very real likelihood that, by the time you leave Pensacola, AWF might no longer exist and you'll leave an AE... AWF and AWV currently sit at 3% advancement to E-5, and 0% advancement to E-6... this is due to the disestablishment of the P-3 Flight Engineer and In-Flight Technician billets as the Orion is slowly replaced by the P-8A Poseidon. This is causing major issues for the F's and V's in the EP-3E and E-6B squadrons because, while the P-3 AWF's and AWV's are being given the option of cross-rating to AWO, the EP-3E and E-6B AWF's and AWV's are stuck with no advancement. To address this, there is a proposal to disestablish the AW[x] series ratings and go back to what it used to be prior to 2008... with the Aviation Warfare Systems Operators like me being the true AW's, and the Flight Engineers, In-Flight Technicians, and helo crewmen volunteering from the AE, AT, AM, AD, and other aviation mech, tron, and airframer ratings. This would allow them to remain Aircrew, while advancing at the % of their surface aviation ratings... it would also give regular AE/AT/AD/AM/etc. sailors the opportunity to volunteer for Aircrew duties after completing A School, should the need arise.

I realize most of what I just said might sound like Greek to you... so I'll simplify it with this: as long as you have a stable career and live near a Naval Air Station, Reserve Aircrew will be a fine opportunity. But if you don't already have a career, or you don't live near a NAS, you are likely to spend a long time away from family, only to come home and not use any of your training. If you fall into the latter category, I'd personally recommend either pursuing Active Duty Aircrew prior to shipping, or research other Reserve ratings that are useful at your local drill center.

That's just my $.02 as an Active Duty AWO who has seen what my Reserve AWF classmates are going home to...