At the end of your first tour, after numerous deployments, work ups, and upgrades, everyone is ready to leave. The fleet is tough work, the Squadron always comes first, sometimes it can be very hard to see the forest for the trees, and it's not all just Day VFR 2.0s with a minimal brief and high fives by all the "bros (really?)", which can result in a lot of bitterness after three years.The night is young.
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Are There Any "Good Gigs" Left?
- Thread starter LPO Beck
- Start date
These days, with everything being some flavor of Hornet, it's all about location, location, location.
The only dudes I've met that wanna go to Lemoore are either from CA or want Supers with Lemoore as #2
Let me interpret: Lots of getting your $hit pushed in, squadron drama over stupid (i.e. one of the girls in my squadron flipped out over not having a fancy smancy paper cutter on the boat to cut her KBCs with when she had 3 pairs of scissors sitting right in front of her like using a pair of scissors was so utterly beneath her), inherent back-stabbing as if it's going to get said back-stabber anywhere, and dealing with all those big boy issues (like getting called at 2am on a saturday night over Sailor Johnny getting a DUI or punching someone during your weekend duty) that you never had to deal with in flight school.
So yeah, Pags is dead on. It wears on you quickly and, after 3 years, I'm absolutely sure everyone is ready for some form of normal shore duty.
As a 'vet' of 7 years total based at NAS Remorse.. er, Lemoore, I think it gets a bad rap. Operationally, facility & weatherwise, it's head and shoulders above Oceana or Whidbey. It's a great, wholesome place to raise a family, and the locals are Navy fans, and very friendly as is the norm in the more rural areas of our country. Like Whidbey, lots of attractions for nature lovers, with the Sierras (Nat'l Parks), Pacific beaches, SFO & LAX within day-trip range. You'll soon be able to distinguish instantly, a cotton field from alfalfa, from a vineyard or peach/walnut orchard.
OK, for the tail-hunting bachelors, yeah, Oceana is a much better choice, but you'll also have to absorb the constant whining of the locals, who hate "the sound of freedom", and are not Navy friendly, and often suffer overwhelming commutes. Over the past 52 years, many young NAs met & married Lemoore, Hanford and Visalia HS grads, and many retired and settled down in the central valley area.
It has been often heard that the Navy's most instrument proficient carrier jet jocks are Lemoore based/trained, due to surviving one or more of Lemoore's annual 2+ month foggy seasons, when conditions hover around mins for days on end.
*Besides there is no bigger or better ice cream sundaes, or banana splits on earth, than at Hanford's Superior Dairy!
BzB
There is always the California Trifecta: Skiing in the morning, nine holes of golf at lunch, finishing the evening boogie boarding at Pismo...(surfing for you guys with balance)As a 'vet' of 7 years total based at NAS Remorse.. er, Lemoore, I think it gets a bad rap. Operationally, facility & weatherwise, it's head and shoulders above Oceana or Whidbey. It's a great, wholesome place to raise a family, and the locals are Navy fans, and very friendly as is the norm in the more rural areas of our country. Like Whidbey, lots of attractions for nature lovers, with the Sierras (Nat'l Parks), Pacific beaches, SFO & LAX within day-trip range. You'll soon be able to distinguish instantly, a cotton field from alfalfa, from a vineyard or peach/walnut orchard.
OK, for the tail-hunting bachelors, yeah, Oceana is a much better choice, but you'll also have to absorb the constant whining of the locals, who hate "the sound of freedom", and are not Navy friendly. Over the past 52 years, many young NAs met & married Lemoore, Hanford and Visalia HS grads, and many retired and settled down in the central valley area.
It has been often heard that the Navy's most instrument proficient carrier jet jocks are Lemoore based/trained, due to surviving one or more of Lemoore's annual 2+ month foggy seasons, when conditions hover around mins for days on end.
*Besides there is no bigger or better ice cream sundaes, or banana splits on earth, than at Hanford's Superior Dairy!
BzB
I know the wife and I are not too keen on Lemoore. Specifically, since we are the family raising home body types. Hanford ranked the fifth most polluted city in America, with something like 15-20 permanent asthma inducing days each year. Not exactly something I would want to force my kids to have to endure. We would both prefer to live on the west coast and more specifically, someplace in California, but living in the valley is not worth it. 
RadicalDude
Social Justice Warlord
If by "all the speed and adventure," you mean, "orbiting in the rear, comm out, and 3 G limited," then yes. Don't get me wrong, they have a very important mission, and it's undoubtedly more exciting than the Prowler, but a Rhino/Hornet it is not.
Jet guy attitude/cynicism combo? Isn't that called being in naval aviation?
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Even if your squadron has none of the above or you manage to ignore it all, it's still a tiring couple of years due to the hard work and long hours. As a new guy, there's lots of studying and constant upgrading until you're a contributing member of society. At that point, you start contributing by instructing, FCF, running larger programs, etc. I think the hardest thing for a lot of guys (or at least on this website) is seeing past some of the nonsense and, if you're in a bigger squadron, finding a feeling of relevancy. That may not be as hard if you're an NI and the QAO or AOPS, but if you're the ground training officer or the assistant admin officer, it can sometimes be harder to see that your work is contributing (it is, but it may not be as immediately relevant as running the NATOPS program or overseeing the sked). When you're done with shore duty you'll also be ready for something else after three more years of long hours and hard work.
mostly just talking about the platform itself. Not saying no one will get pissed off at the Navy after getting ridden hard and left out to dry. Personally I think its perspective, anyone can f-up a wet dream if they try.
My point was more along the lines of "don't judge a community off of what a senior JO / new IP says" or "no matter how cool the job, there comes a time when you're ready to move on to the next thing." Even folks with a great attitude and love for the job will be tired after three years of sea duty; it's sort of like asking someone how they feel about running during the end of a marathon.
I know the wife and I are not too keen on Lemoore. Specifically, since we are the family raising home body types. Hanford ranked the fifth most polluted city in America, with something like 15-20 permanent asthma inducing days each year. Not exactly something I would want to force my kids to have to endure. We would both prefer to live on the west coast and more specifically, someplace in California, but living in the valley is not worth it.
It's not that bad.
Yeah, prison wouldn't be so bad if it weren't for all the butt-rape...
I grew up in Porterville (<40 min from Lemoore) and I can vouch for the SJV being a shithole...all the "fun parts" require a 2-3 hour minimum drive...
Pickle
Unfortunately, yes it is.
Just give me the facts, man
http://www.lung.org/associations/st...fs/sota-2013/sota-2013-san-joaquin-valley.pdf
This one only shows the "stats" for Fresno, but it also talks about Hanford
http://www.areavibes.com/hanford-ca/health-safety/
States 24 days "unhealthy" meaning potentially asthma inducing, although I tried to find where they got the info, and their website just states "National Weather Service" and I could not find that data on their website.
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/state-o...-in-us-air-quality-but-smog-problems-persist/
States that Hanford is the fourth most polluted city, with regards to annual air quality, and it comes straight after Fresno.
http://www.cdc.gov/VitalSigns/Asthma/index.html
CDC says 1 in 12 people have Asthma (or 8% of Americans)
http://www.californiabreathing.org/asthma-data/county-asthma-profiles/fresno-county-asthma-profile
States 17% of all people in Fresno and 20% of children from Fresno... have lifetime Asthma
I am not saying the place is bad with respect to non health issues with regard to air quality.... it is just not someplace I want to raise my kids... you know, that whole "developing lungs" idea....
Sorry for all the nerd stats, just a different perspective than the conventional "Lemoore suck's because it is out in the middle of nowhere".
In the end, being in the military means you won't always have a say on where you get to live, so you better be well informed and prepared for the consequences.
