NFO vs. Pilot vs. SWO for longterm career

[nickerus]

This is my first time posting, and I chose to post here because I've spent countless hours researching Navy careers on various sites, especially this one. I'm a recent college grad (go Bears), degree in physics, decent ASTB scores (64/7/7/8), and I am really into a long-term career as a naval officer. My concerns are now due to the recent cuts going on that have put officers into early retirement and whatnot (mainly NFOs and SWOs, if I'm not mistaken).

My question is this: Am I going to be forced out early going down one career path versus another, all things the same?

I would love to be an NFO, I'd love to be a pilot, and I'd love to be an SWO. I've read all about their differences, and the one thing I haven't really been able to figure out is how they differ long-term, mainly due to people being very concerned with getting out as soon as possible (no offense to anyone). Thanks for reading.

p.s. how can I change my name on this forum from my real name to something a little more anonymous?

 

[Glider3]

You'd love to be a SWO? That combination of words makes no sense...

F/A-18F's are fairly new, EA-18G's are new, P-8's are new, and E-2D's are new. All those have NFO's.

 

[insanebikerboy]

Aircraft need pilots to fly and a large number of Naval aircraft need NFOs too. I can't speak to SWO but if you're getting forced in to an early out/early retirement situation as a pilot or nfo, there will be a good number of other people in the same situation as you. I'd try for something you'd enjoy doing vice worrying about being forced out right now.

 

[robav8r]

I've spent countless hours researching Navy careers on various sites, especially this one . . . . . I would love to be an NFO, I'd love to be a pilot, and I'd love to be an SWO.

I think you need to reevaluate your research methods. There is a ton of info on this site alone that will help you determine if the various community lifestyles are a good fit for you. Question: what community gets your heart racing when you think about? What job would you be willing to give everything up for? What do you REALLY want to do ???

 

[Brett327]

My concerns are now due to the recent cuts going on that have put officers into early retirement and whatnot (mainly NFOs and SWOs, if I'm not mistaken).

From what source of information did you base this conclusion on?

 

[Renegade One]

From what source of information did you base this conclusion on?

Brett...c'mon...he's a "truth seeker".

 

[Brett327]

Brett...c'mon...he's a "truth seeker".

And I shall grant him that which he seeks.

 

[BigBadBoJenkins]

I'd like to see the data that motivates nickerus to go SWO. I just.... I can't believe it exists until I see it

 

[PropAddict]

I'd worry less about the Navy making you to retire because of your community and more about choosing a community that won't make you want to run away and get out at your first opportunity.

As I see it, if you've made it to the point where you're seriously concerned about a SERB (24+ years last time, I think), you've probably had a pretty good run and you've already "won".

 

[Spekkio]

My question is this: Am I going to be forced out early going down one career path versus another, all things the same?

I would love to be an NFO, I'd love to be a pilot, and I'd love to be an SWO. I've read all about their differences, and the one thing I haven't really been able to figure out is how they differ long-term, mainly due to people being very concerned with getting out as soon as possible (no offense to anyone). Thanks for reading.

Big Navy has various ways to "shape" the composition of its Officers, but mostly that comes down to how high the bar is set for the next promotion or career milestone screening. There haven't been any Officers that I know of below O-5 that were simply told "see ya" for no other reason than the Navy is downsizing.

If you do a good job wherever you are assigned, it's likely you'll screen to at least O-4 and continue to have the opportunity to serve until you are retirement eligible. Obviously, the higher you promote, the more competitive that gets.

As for predicting which community will have more restrictive promotion statistics 12-20 years from now, that's anyone's guess.

The jobs of Pilots, NFOs, and SWOs differ substantially. There are many threads on here that illustrate the "long term" careers of Officers.

See the below sites and find the community status briefs/promotion zones for current information on promotion rates. You can also fish around to find out some job descriptions along the line, although many of the acronyms and descriptions will probably be meaningless to you.

Current aviation information
Current SWO information

 

[helolumpy]

My concerns are now due to the recent cuts going on that have put officers into early retirement and whatnot (mainly NFOs and SWOs, if I'm not mistaken).

The only folks who were "forced" into an "early" retirement in recent times fell into two catagories:
1) O-5's who have failed to select for O-6 twice (IZ and AZ looks)
2) O-6's who have been wearing it for 4 years. (Up for Flag)

The Navy selected about 100 folks from each group, but here's the thing, everyone who went into that board was over 20 years of active service. So they forced to retire earlier than planned, but they still got a full retirement. The head of Navy personnel recently stated there are no plans for future forced retirements for Officers.
I have never heard of the Navy forcing Officers out "early" as a manpower shaping effort. By "early" I mean less than 20 years active service and qualified for full retirement.

In the mid-90's all the Services has excess personnel that come in during the Reagan years and following Desert Storm the military had to cut back. To do this, the Navy offered some year groups a buy-out at year 15. You could take a big old check and walk away at 15 years. It was voluntary. You could refuse and stick around to 20.
It differed from how the Air Force worked their manpower issues. I heard that the AF forced a bunch of O-4's out in the early 90's during the post-Desert Storm draw down. I don't know if this is true, it was just word of mouth.

Historically the Navy has controlled manning by shutting off people at the source, vice forcing them out once they were in (that is what we did in the mid-90's and it's called "T-Notch").
So, if you get in, stay competitive and promote, then you should make it to retirement.

 

[MasterBates]

I have never heard of the Navy forcing Officers out "early" as a manpower shaping effort. By "early" I mean less than 20 years active service and qualified for full retirement.

.

Please explain the LCDR selection rates and screen group shenanigans of the last couple years on terms other than manpower reduction.

Sent from my PH44100 using Tapatalk 2

 

[revan1013]

I'm not going to repeat the good info above.

Unrestricted Line is going to allow you to pursue a 20-year career, assuming you select LCDR around the 9-11 year mark. You probably won't get forced out if history is any indicator.

Props to you for thinking ahead though. Good to know what you're getting yourself into before jumping in head-first.

 

[BackOrdered]

Please explain the LCDR selection rates and screen group shenanigans of the last couple years on terms other than manpower reduction.

Sent from my PH44100 using Tapatalk 2

Are you referring to straying from "the golden path"?

 

[Renegade One]

This is my first time posting...Am I going to be forced out early going down one career path versus another, all things the same?
I would love to be an NFO, I'd love to be a pilot, and I'd love to be an SWO...

Dating myself yet again, but the thought of "being forced out" never EVER entered my thought process at the beginning. All I ever wanted to do was "something extraordinary" in the service of my country. That turned out to be NFO for me. Before it started, I had no idea what "doing that" would mean.

WAAY too early to be thinking (IMHO) about the 20-year possibilities, life after three tours...you get the idea. Fairly early on, I guess I "kinda sorta" understood that I'd probably get one sea-duty tour and one shore-duty tour. Everything after that was on my shoulders (depending on how the first two went....).

Do what you love ...make memories and friends/boon companions for life...if it goes on and on and on...great. If it gets truncated before you might want it to...you still have the memories and friends for life. No one ever actually said that that was a "sucky" outcome...I don't think.