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Marine Jets: The Good, Bad, and Ugly.

Erin M.

Well-Known Member
pilot
Yep, Miramar was the #1 but believe me I am extremely happy with Beaufort.

I don't know if I'll be 106 or 101 yet. Stucon didn't know when I asked and I was too busy today to ask again later. I'm sure I will find out tomorrow. Speaking of which, after tomorrow, who do I message about getting a pair of wings with my avatar? :D
 

BusyBee604

St. Francis/Hugh Hefner Combo!
pilot
Super Moderator
Contributor
Yep, Miramar was the #1 but believe me I am extremely happy with Beaufort.
Cool, and congrqts on your NA Wings.gif achievement! :D
Speaking of which, after tomorrow, who do I message about getting a pair of wings with my avatar? :D
Go to Forum Faq and Help... the first thread on top is the 'sticky' Add Wings... post your request there. Semper Fi! ;)
BzB
 

wlawr005

Well-Known Member
pilot
Contributor
Yep, Miramar was the #1 but believe me I am extremely happy with Beaufort.

I don't know if I'll be 106 or 101 yet. Stucon didn't know when I asked and I was too busy today to ask again later. I'm sure I will find out tomorrow. Speaking of which, after tomorrow, who do I message about getting a pair of wings with my avatar? :D
Well, I was supposed to class up Aug 11, but all the Charlie guys got rolled back and we don't start until late November now...you'll have plenty of time to explore VA.
 

Erin M.

Well-Known Member
pilot
Dry cleaners ruined my blues and I didn't notice until an hour before the winging. I am am idiot and should've checked earlier. The liner on the inside of the coat appeared long and stretched out and the coat was too small. Not too small like I gained weight, it was too short on my torso and my arms and tight everywhere. I actually weigh less than when I bought them.


I felt like a jack ass. It was awesome.
 

Johny0nThaSp0t

Member
pilot
Dry cleaners ruined my blues and I didn't notice until an hour before the winging. I am am idiot and should've checked earlier. The liner on the inside of the coat appeared long and stretched out and the coat was too small. Not too small like I gained weight, it was too short on my torso and my arms and tight everywhere. I actually weigh less than when I bought them.


I felt like a jack ass. It was awesome.
Don't forget to get a copy of the Flying K for the picture, man. Priceless.
 

Swanee

Cereal Killer
pilot
None
Contributor
:cool:And post it here. I can promise your future squadron won't get ahold of it before you show up!
 

pourts

former Marine F/A-18 pilot & FAC, current MBA stud
pilot
Miramar is currently my number 1. I loved San Diego, and my wife is out there right now for a wedding and she is loving it. I would be absolutely ecstatic if I could be gifted with a Miramar slot. I'm surprised that the Marine Corps needs Hornet pilots because from our limited perspective in Orange and white land, Hornet slots have become extremely rare, and most dudes are getting Harriers or Prowlers. We've also been told that the wait for the Hornet rag is very long because it is so backed up. So, honestly, throughout flight school I've felt like Hornets were a pipe dream.

It bears a little clarification that the Marine fleet being short of Hornet pilots and there being lots of Hornet slots available at the end of advanced are not necessarily the same thing. They are related though. But, it sounds like you got Hornets anyway.

Miramar has always had horrible problems with throughput. They can never produce as many pilots as they claim they can/ need to/ whatever.

The fleet is hurting for Hornet pilots. There are 3 aviator MOS's that aren't eligible for the VERP righ now: Osprey, F-35, and Hornet. Its so bad with Ospreys right now that I hear they cannot get FAC tours even if they want them.
 

Erin M.

Well-Known Member
pilot
:cool:And post it here. I can promise your future squadron won't get ahold of it before you show up!


I'm sure it is already out there. All I can do is embrace what happens and learn from it. Getting upset will only make it worse.
 

jarhead

UAL CA; retired hinge
pilot
The fleet is hurting for Hornet pilots.
The MC Hornet community went from ~115% manned in 2012 to ~60% manned in 2014.

MMOA & HQMC has mismanaged the 7523 community since ~2006...so mismanaged that I know dudes who bailed on the MC Hornet community in 07/08 time frame to avoid all of the IAs to go do NPS, Attache, and VT gigs, who never expected to fly the F/A-18 again, that are now getting orders this summer & winter back to Hornet MAGs, as O4s, with nothing more than the old section lead qual (7 flights and a check) and 6-7 years out of the F/A-18.

We send our "best and brightest" first tour guys to go do 12 month FAC tours, expecting them to come back to the squadron afterwards to go to a weapons school and be the squadron training officer, only to have them sucked up for another 12+ months due to the random ass CCLEB board ... it seems lost on MMOA/HQMC that the majority of those guys have already completed the non-resident EWS and now it's going to cost the MC more time and $$ doing a CAT 3 instead of a CAT 4 FRS syllabus (and it's common knowledge that 101 hasn't been the fastest place to complete the FRS lately) on those guys just for "quality spread" and to fill quotas.

It blows me away how most Navy Hornet guys can leave their first tour with a div lead (level 4) qual but maybe half of the MC Hornet guys will leave with only a section lead (level 3) qual ... guess that's what happens when half of your assigned jets are sitting at depot waiting to get fixed ...

S/F
 

whitesoxnation

Well-Known Member
pilot
Contributor
I wonder what the will happen when all the guys who took 5 to 6+ years from commissioning to RAG completion are up for O-4. Something like the Navy board I would guess.
 
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Treetop Flyer

Well-Known Member
pilot
It bears a little clarification that the Marine fleet being short of Hornet pilots and there being lots of Hornet slots available at the end of advanced are not necessarily the same thing. They are related though. But, it sounds like you got Hornets anyway.

Miramar has always had horrible problems with throughput. They can never produce as many pilots as they claim they can/ need to/ whatever.

The fleet is hurting for Hornet pilots. There are 3 aviator MOS's that aren't eligible for the VERP righ now: Osprey, F-35, and Hornet. Its so bad with Ospreys right now that I hear they cannot get FAC tours even if they want them.
The osprey people may not be doing their fair share of FAC tours, but there was an osprey guy in my TACP class.
 

Swanee

Cereal Killer
pilot
None
Contributor
The MC Hornet community went from ~115% manned in 2012 to ~60% manned in 2014.

MMOA & HQMC has mismanaged the 7523 community since ~2006...so mismanaged that I know dudes who bailed on the MC Hornet community in 07/08 time frame to avoid all of the IAs to go do NPS, Attache, and VT gigs, who never expected to fly the F/A-18 again, that are now getting orders this summer & winter back to Hornet MAGs, as O4s, with nothing more than the old section lead qual (7 flights and a check) and 6-7 years out of the F/A-18.

We send our "best and brightest" first tour guys to go do 12 month FAC tours, expecting them to come back to the squadron afterwards to go to a weapons school and be the squadron training officer, only to have them sucked up for another 12+ months due to the random ass CCLEB board ... it seems lost on MMOA/HQMC that the majority of those guys have already completed the non-resident EWS and now it's going to cost the MC more time and $$ doing a CAT 3 instead of a CAT 4 FRS syllabus (and it's common knowledge that 101 hasn't been the fastest place to complete the FRS lately) on those guys just for "quality spread" and to fill quotas.

It blows me away how most Navy Hornet guys can leave their first tour with a div lead (level 4) qual but maybe half of the MC Hornet guys will leave with only a section lead (level 3) qual ... guess that's what happens when half of your assigned jets are sitting at depot waiting to get fixed ...

S/F


Couple the above with higher attrition rates at the RAGs (especially -106, where some miscommunication between the MC and Navy lead to losing about 5 or 6 guys within the time frame of about a year) and the fact that at home new guys are only getting a few hours a month and things get tricky. A couple of my buddies are trying to work on their section lead upgrade only getting 5 hours a month. That's almost criminal. An IP at -106 just got super JO orders back to a squadron because he has his div lead. When asking the powers that be if it is going to get better, the answer is always up in the air. It depends on congress giving money that we need (which it didn't for FY15) and when the F-35B is going to come online on time (is it really? Some say yes, some say no, most just shrug)

I have to be honest: I loved flying the Hornet, and it was a kick in the nuts when I was told that I wasn't going to do it again (for a requirement that is now being waived for 1/2 the Marines) but going into the VMU community is a sigh of relief in a way. They don't fight for "hours" or training money, and there are more than 12 officers in the squadron. They don't have to give away most of their airplanes when they come back from deployment to another squadron who is going out.
 
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