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Life as an NFO

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M

Meegz

Registered User
I was wondering if there is anyone out there who would be willing to share what lies ahead after an NFO gets winged? Some of my specific questions are: With good grades, what are your chances of actually getting assigned to your preferrred location? How often will your family have to move? How much time will you spend away from your family and for how many weeks at a time? I know some of these questions vary a lot given the aircraft you are assigned to. So to the extent I can get answers to these questions for an NFO assigned to jets and an NFO assigned to P-3s, that would be really helpful.

I know some of these questions have been answered generally on AW, but my boyfriend won't believe anything until he hears it from an NFO. I think he is in complete denial about what lies ahead for him.

If anyone would like to PM that would be great.

Thanks,
Meghan

Meghan
 
A

aoconnor

Registered User
I further this question, are EA-6B's hard to get?

My goal is to get Prowlers and be stationed at Whidbey Island.
 
wink

wink

War Hoover NFO.
None
Super Moderator
Contributor
EW Super Hornet (Growler) is far off. None of you guys need worry about it. You want Electronic attack it will be EA-6Bs for you. Hang around long enough you may see the EF-18G, or whatever.
 
H

Haze

Registered User
aoconnor,

as long as you can dodge the E-2 bullet at the end of intermediate, and get into advanced, you'll get prowlers no problem. thats where im going. im almost at the end of advanced and as much as i love the ea6b, im not looking forward to whidbey. you know something about the area that i dont? id love to hear it.
 
P

Phiman

Registered User
How hard is it to dodge E-2's if you want to? Are there a lot of billets for them or not, etc.?
 
Thien

Thien

Registered User
As anything in the Navy, #1 student will most likely get what you want. I know you've hear it many of times, but it's true. Finish #1 and most likely you'll get whatever your heart desires. As for E-2 spots...from what I have experienced it's about 1 to 2 spots per class at the most. Sometimes there are none like my class, but you never know those needs of the Navy! So, the recommendation is kick butt, finish first in Primary, first in Intermediate and you will have no worries about the Hawkeye!
 
N

NFOwife

Aviator Spouse
M,

Flight school is approximately a year long for carrier NFO's and is started and completed in Pensacola. As far as who gets what they want: I got exactly what I wanted, as do the bulk of people, however there are some that don't get what they want at first. Those people who don't get the first choice usually end up loving whatever platform/community they wind up in. In hindsight there is a lot more to
each platform/type of plane than just the flying, that's something few students consider. There is time away from home and deployment schedule, location, future of communities, and overall feelings of the communities. For carrier guys you can wind up in Whidbey, WA, Lemoore, CA, Jax, FL,
Norfolk/Oceana, VA.

A typical airwing (group of squadrons assigned to an aircraft carrier) has about a year off before starting work ups and deploying (although there are detachments in there that last from 2 - 4 weeks). Once work ups start, usually the squadron is gone for 9 out of 12 months. When they return from deployment, there is a period of time where the squadron goes on leave and then does not work on Friday's for several months.

There are opportunities to visit your NFO during workups (there is a port call in there and some of workups are done in Nevada near Reno and Tahoe) and during deployment (when the ship pulls into European or Pacific ports). Sounds like a lot of time away, but the wive's club, email, and the occasional visits make it much more bearable for that period of time.

As far as moving, you have a year in Pensacola, then move on to the FRS/RAG for advanced training. Usually (community dependent) the FRS/RAG is where you wind up for your fleet tour (3 years) so that's a total of four years in one place. After your fleet tour you can try to be a FRS/RAG instructor and spend another 2 years in the same location or move to some other place (almost wherever you want in the country).

Hope this answers some of your questions. Let me know if you have any more.
 
jacksonwt2g

jacksonwt2g

Registered User
I have a few questions for everyone. I am getting commissioned in May as a future nfo and will be leaving for api sometime this summer. Everyone keeps saying #1 gets their first choice, and 2 people go E-2s, but how many are in a class? How many are going to prowlers, 18s, etc? I know it is needs of the navy and dependant on the week, but what are the averages? How are the rest of the class (after #1) assigned specialties? Is it all order of merit, first come first serve, or is there a quality spread where the top of each third gets to pick first, etc? Thanks in advance.
 
Thien

Thien

Registered User
OK, there are about 25 in each class, but that gets cut in half on the flight side of things (FAMS and ANAVS) when you fly with your squadron (VT-4 or VT-10). Your class gets back together for acedemic portions of training. That being said, selection is for your squadron only, so you really are competing against the guys/gals in your squadron. It verys from class to class, but the competition is usually to go to Randolph for Panel Nav (P-3s, EP-3s, E-6s). Those that want to go carrier aviation usually get it. This selection is after Primary and then after Intermediate you either select E-2's or jets. I'm at Randolph so I'm not the best guy to talk with about carrier aviation. I know what goes on, but there's probably someone out there that is reading this and can help you more than I can about the averages of jet spots and stuff. Hopes this helps a bit. Later!



From what I saw during my short stay in Pensacola at VT-4 the skipper really worked with the students in getting what they wanted. That said, of course, sometimes they can't work it out. My class and most of the classes ahead and behind
 
J

jmac12

Registered User
Jackson,
Thien pretty much covered it. When I went through VT-4 I was a few classes ahead of him, but I think there were 8 Navy people selecting out of Primary, and all that wanted P-3's or pannel nav got their choice. This is usually a pretty competitive selection. For intermediate selection there were 7 or 8 Navy people, and we had two that wanted E-2's, so everyone got what they wanted there also. Lately there has been one E-2 spot per class, so if no one wants it, someone gets screwed, thats just the way things go. At advanced, selections get a little tighter. You select after about 2 months (9 flights, 4 simulators, and 3 weeks of academics) between strike (EA-6B and S-3) or Strike fighter F-14 and F-18's. Lately there has only been one or two fighter spots per class, but our class had five, so only two guys didn't get fighters that wanted them. There really isn't any quality spread after maybe the P-3 selection that I have seen. The only cut off is with NSS. If you don't have above a 50 for 86 selection, you aren't elidigable for jets. Hope this cleared some things up. Good luck.
 
D

Doc33

Registered User
Greetings

Hello. I chose to write you because my wife is going to be in the same spot as you. I am prior Navy and was recently accepted into the NFO program. I leave for OCS in August/September time. She has a load of questions as she's not prior military. I guess the biggest questions are how long will I be away when she and my children cannot be there? Deployments? Additional training? Studying? Coping etc. If you have any suggestions, they would all be appreciated. Thank you.
 
N

NFOwife

Aviator Spouse
Doc33,
I am pretty sure that as an NFO, once you are done with OCS and start API, it is a PCS move for your family, since all the NFO training is at NAS Pensacola. As far as I know OCS is not a PCS move (but my husband (who wrote the above reply) did not attend OCS so I'm not 100% about that). So, after the ~3 months of OCS, and you get your commission, you should be able to get PCS orders immediately to move your wife, etc. down to Pensacola. It took my husband about a year from API to winging (but this was before NFO's did IFS, so it might be a bit longer now). After that, depending on what you select, you'll go to Randolph if you select P-3/EP-3/E-6 or just finish in Pensacola for Jets. Then, you'll PCS move again to wherever your FRS is and then possibly PCS again to your fleet squadron. So, really, as a married NFO, the only time your wife can't go with you is to OCS. Otherwise, the navy will move you and your family to all the other duty stations (I'm not sure how Randolph works- my husband was a jet NFO).
Good luck! Have your wife join and she can ask whatever she needs to know over in the Spouses Corner/Private Spouses Corner. We're a helpful bunch :) .
 
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