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Grabbing a few hours Rotary time before Helo advanced?

croakerfish

Well-Known Member
pilot
Pretty solid Japan advice. With the air wing moving to Iwakuni, time away from home is going to get worse before it gets better. All my bros over there love it though, as long as you don't mind flying around the boat and dealing with all the liberty shenanigans.

The helo squadrons are staying in Atsugi. For now at least.
 

Igloojam

Well-Known Member
pilot
Haha, you win new guy.

I will agree, with your 2.8 GPA in meteorology you haven't genetically guaranteed their future success. They may, in fact, need all the help they can get.

I hope you get Japan, and I hope you enjoy it. I also hope the pre schools are not WHY you want to go there.

Ya I’m not too concerned with genetics, wife has a masters in economics, and I was semester out from a Masters in physical oceanography ... he’s going to a regular crayola preschool here in NW Florida and he seems to be doing well, but I’m mostly concerned with whether or not they’re good person, not what GPA they get.

Any other relevant wisdom?
 

wlawr005

Well-Known Member
pilot
Contributor
Ya I’m not too concerned with genetics, wife has a masters in economics, and I was semester out from a Masters in physical oceanography ... he’s going to a regular crayola preschool here in NW Florida and he seems to be doing well, but I’m mostly concerned with whether or not they’re good person, not what GPA they get.

Any other relevant wisdom?
Nah. Enjoy Japan, it's a blast from what I've heard. Although I know nothing about pre schools please realize shit like that doesn't matter in the long run. Even lowly Norfolk has some pretty advantageous educational opportunties.

Admitting to anything otherwise might make you come off like an elitist fuck...and being a prior Marine I don't think that's what you are.

Unless you are, then I'd just keep that stupid shit to myself and tell STUCON you really like sushi...at least that would make sense and keep people from wondering what the hell is up with you.
 
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Pags

N/A
pilot
Yochiens. You got kids? Shit is important to both my wife and I.
One of my kids went to yochien the other went to a US preschool. The difference is totally negligible a few years on. Sure my first kid spoke fluent Japanese for a year but a few years later and she doesn’t remember a lick of it (besides being unable to pronounce “cotton” like a real American). It probably actually set her English reading ability back a bit. Living in Japan was an AMAZING experience and I’d highly recommend a tour there to anyone at some point. But yochien ain’t gonna make or break your kids and don’t go there just for preschool. If you end up there and you have preschool aged kids totally send them and have pictures of them dressed like sailor moon.

Also, The view you get living in Norfolk is very different from the view you get making a port call there. If Norfolk is the worst place you ever live you’re doing ok.

Quite frankly if I was going through HTs again and know what I do now HSM would be my first, second, and third choice. HM would remain at the complete bottom because it’s a broke dick death machine.
 

Griz882

Frightening children with the Griz-O-Copter!
pilot
Contributor
Ya I’m not too concerned with genetics, wife has a masters in economics, and I was semester out from a Masters in physical oceanography ... he’s going to a regular crayola preschool here in NW Florida and he seems to be doing well, but I’m mostly concerned with whether or not they’re good person, not what GPA they get.

Any other relevant wisdom?
Sure, finish the HTs before you start making pre-school enrollment plans. Oh, and skip the R22 time unless it is free, that bird is a pile of poo and others are right, the first few weeks of HT flying will blow all that Robinson junk out of your brain.
 

mad dog

the 🪨 🗒️ ✂️ champion
pilot
Contributor
...the first couple flights aren't graded.
WTFO??? :eek:

Not graded??? :eek:

What the HELL is going on down there in South Field??? :eek:

Back in our day...back in ‘87 and ‘88...we were on ‘quadruple secret probation’ from FAM 1!!! [I think] ;)

If I would have known that the first couple flights aren’t graded [in HT-8, HT-18...and that new-fangled HT-28]...I would have ordered the ‘Candidate’ @ChuckMK23 to personally pay a visit to the Skippers of each one of those HT squadrons and order the ‘Candidate’ Chuck to ask, “WTFO???” I would have been backing up the ‘Candidate’ Chuck and have been taking pics...and the @picklesuit would have been backing me up and have been taking backup pics...since the picklesuit was our most honorable tour guide at NASWF that day in December of 2017. :D

Pictured left to right...the ‘Super Badass’ mad dog and the ‘Candidate’ ChuckMK23...our most honorable tour guide, the picklesuit, took the pic...December of 2017 at NASWF...

731B6FAA-D85C-4F00-B018-8A6D119D302E.jpeg
 
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picklesuit

Dirty Hinge
pilot
Contributor
Just came back from two years in Norfolk. There are good parts and bad parts, just depends on where you live. Virginia Beach wrapping West to Chesapeake was all very family friendly.

Definitely a lot to do, some decent schools, and an easy day drive to much of the country east of the Mississippi.
 

fc2spyguy

loving my warm and comfy 214 blanket
pilot
Contributor
Depends on what you like I guess. The flying for helos is probably better overall in Iwakuni but you can have a lot of fun living next to Tokyo.
Only if the admirals let you have recess, I mean liberty. Hard pass for me.
 

croakerfish

Well-Known Member
pilot
Only if the admirals let you have recess, I mean liberty. Hard pass for me.

Haha yeah in 2016 our det arrived just a couple of days before all off-base liberty got banned for nearly a month, including on-base alcohol. Shit got old fast.
 

DanMa1156

Is it baseball season yet?
pilot
Contributor
Glad to hear FDNF is viewed on par with HM, which exists solely in Norfolk and has maybe 2 up birds to rub together. Who wants to have an awesome sea tour anyway?

@Igloojam , keep in mind that, Japanese pre-school thunderdome notwithstanding, you go to Japan you'll be gone a LOT, frequently with less-than-normal advance notice. Your working hours at home will be extended as well. This is true everywhere else as well but CVW-5 is on another level. HSM-51 and HSC-25 have a pretty savage OPTEMPO as well. It's totally worth it, but know what you're getting into.

To be clear, Japan is still competitive, but mostly because spots are so limited - they just don't exist in every class like Norfolk, San Diego, and Jax do. My experience has been San Diego is typically the most desired / sought after spot and most SNA's don't care which platform they get anymore as long as it's not the 53. If anything, the S probably still has a slight edge on what students put on their preference sheet, but I'd say if it hasn't already, the R is going to surpass that soon.
 

Igloojam

Well-Known Member
pilot
To be clear, Japan is still competitive, but mostly because spots are so limited - they just don't exist in every class like Norfolk, San Diego, and Jax do. My experience has been San Diego is typically the most desired / sought after spot and most SNA's don't care which platform they get anymore as long as it's not the 53. If anything, the S probably still has a slight edge on what students put on their preference sheet, but I'd say if it hasn't already, the R is going to surpass that soon.

Why is the sierra more sought after than the romeo? What little I've heard the romeo sounds more up my alley.
 

DanMa1156

Is it baseball season yet?
pilot
Contributor
Why is the sierra more sought after than the romeo? What little I've heard the romeo sounds more up my alley.

I'll say when I was a student, there were no R instructors, and the B guys were telling us to stay the hell away from the R. Some guys wanted to do VERTREP, others wanted to do CSAR and SOF training (secretly hoping they'd do it for real, of course), and others wanted all the gucci weapons, and plenty more wanted the shorter FRS.

Nowadays? I'm not sure. The tide is shifting. Some still want to do the overland missions (fair), some want to S expeditionary and hope they get a hospital ship, Italy, or Bahrain (kind of, but less fair, since they can't select exped out of HTs), and others still want a (now slightly shorter) FRS. But I think the word is out: the R is the future, has all the weapons the S has for the most part, and has a clear path for its mission, and to be frank, students are nerdier now than 5 years ago. My peers (2011-2012 ish) were all about going to Iraq and wanting to do "real pilot stuff" in the Medevac or SOF missions (we are almost all a day late for that war/enemy/campaign, but some of us did stand alerts in Iraq against ISIS, or deliver bombs in VERTREP to our ships and allied pals to go drop bombs on ISIS as well). Now, it's very common to hear a student say "well, I really like video games / computer games / technology, so I think the R would be a better fit for me." And that's fair - there's less dynamic flying and plenty more system operating and gucci technology in the R than the S.
 
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