College grad looking to join the service

hmmm, why is that? becuase O's are the boss and gotta do the admin crap?

 

If you want to pm me I'll send you my phone number and we can talk via land line. I am a Warrant Officer (CW5) in the Army with aviation as my speciality....

 

thanks man, i'm just curious. i'm back in school using my GI Bill and planning on returing to military once i'm done and was thinking about flight school. i'll PM ya if i have any more questions

 

AFAIK there are only flying WOs in the Army. Correct me if I'm wrong.

 

I think your asking or stating a fact in which your saying the Army is the only branch of service that uses WO to fly. Is that what your saying. If so you are correct. We have WO's in many other area's or specialities within the Army as well.

 

The Navy has a limited number of slots in Helos and Maritime Patrol A/C (P3s) for WOs. I went thru flight school with one.
Army uses them far more regularly.

 

Yes that is what I meant, only the Army uses WOs as pilots. I know the Navy and Marine Corps still have WOs in different billets. I wasn't aware that the USAF has any WOs.

 

Funny you should mention a/f and wo's. I bought a car in Tahlequah Okla in 1979 from the last active duty w/o in the a/f. He thought the a/f really screwed up getting rid of them....so do I.

 

No...That's what I was saying. The there are WO pilots in the Navy too. I went thru flight school with one. They can't go TacAir but I think that the only limitation on them. You are right about the AF not having WOs...all the other services use them in some capacity...

 

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I didn't read much through the other posts but no matter what you do and no matter which service it is not a bad way to go. Im only 20 who's been in for 3 years and i've got a brand new fully loaded 30K tacoma, that i've paid for by myself. Good choice on a direction to go in life man. Take it easy.

 

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I just saw this thread again. Without "the data" and googling the info. .. it sure seemed to me that the rotary wing pilots in RVN went down in higher ratios (KIAs) that the fixed wing guys.

FWIW ... in helicopters (RVN, circa '67-'68) you also got lots of flight hours and had very little paperwork, and CAS was real Close Air Support ... (with virtually no "smart weapons") And with that lack of smart weapons and doing CAS that was in very close proximity to our little adversaries on the ground, I had deducted that the KIAs would be higher in helicopters. It was possible, although highly unlikely, that even a "far off small arms round" or "well placed thrown stone" could have brought down a Huey in RVN. We called those "lucky shots" or "lob shots", "Golden BBs". I just didn't see this in jets. Plus we had NO "morality of speed" and/or "morality of altitude" or "morality of distance" either.
IMO, back then, the "gentlemen of the air" flew jets ... and the "street fighters of the air" flew helicopters and had higher KIAs, WIAs and loss of aircraft.

Several of us were "verbally b!tch slapped" by the XO for questioning (and documenting via paperwork ) the accuracy (or lack thereof) of some of the instrument(s).
I guess things were a little different "back in the old days".

Back to the topic .... if I could do it all over again .... I would go for "fixed wing jets" first .... then "rotary wing" next .... and I would go for USAF first too. AF bases tend to be nicer (have no "data" on this) too.

I matured and grew up fast in the military ... and that structure & discipline helped me later in life too ... go for 20 and get the retirement bennies too.

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From one Marine to another, SOS, in the Corps we have a different mindset which we think the Corps is the end all be all in life. Our history instills quite a bit of ego and rightly so. However, later in life as one matures, the ego becomes more grounded and we see the bigger picture. I know from having both parents as Airforce/Air Guard officers that yes the AF/AG does tend to treat its members better. I don't know if this is from the amount of money they have, difference in missions, and/or distance from the fight. Hell I'm a former winger, grunts see all other Marines as just that-POGs(people other than grunts).

back to your regularly scheduled program...where's the OP and what has he decided upon?

 

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...ETAV8R ... ... ^^^ ... Ditto that ....... and I must admit to some serious ... "aircraft envy" ... "equipment envy" ... and ... "base envy" ... from the other branches (especially AF).

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i didnt see that anyone mentioned this but through the Marine Corps they have the program called Officer Candidates School (OCS). its basically a 10 week "officer boot-camp"(not the same as enlisted boot-camp at all). but you can go to OCS with an air contract. this guarantees that you will be given a slot at flight school after tbs. this does not mean you will be able to fly for sure. still gotta pass flight school. Im in this program right now but in a ground contract. im sure the other services have similar programs but i dont know anything about them. feel free to pm me any questions if you want to know anymore about this program

 

Like it has been stated before as an officer your job will involve alot of paper pushing. I am a nco and my job involves alot of paper pushing. you could look into becoming a warrent officer. the air force does not have warrent officer but the other branches do. say you become a warrant officer in the army and become a helicopter pilot, you will spend your whole career as a pilot. it is just something to think about.

 

OP, and SOS it's 3am so I'm tired as hell, but remind me when I wake up and i'll dig up a video our air wing gave us from helmand.
OP, as a grunt I talked to both fixed and rotary wing pilots. I can tell you, as the guy on the ground with the radio, I'll take cobra's and huey gunships any day over fixed wing. They're easier and they're right there with you...

 

what about a college grad like myself who has a BFA in theater and is 25 going on 26 this year? any chance of officer stuff there? In any branch?

 

in the army yes. Subtract your active duty time from the requirement age then you would probably qualify. Or at least that is how they normally do it..

 

sorry it took me a while to get you guys the video I told you about, I forgot about it.

http://www.vimeo.com/12165693