Marine Jet Fleet Health

[Achilles]

The good news is that the majors are directly hiring Marine jet guys with 400 grey jet hours and a VT tour B billet, so even if you're looking to build airline hours, you're not shooting yourself in the foot too badly if you're just making 100hrs a year mins in the hornet or harrier communities.

To the OP. Go where you think you'll enjoy the flying. All the ground job/BS will be in any community.

On this note, has anyone heard anything about VT B billets for 7523s? I've heard rumors that there were no more B billets for 7523s at VT-86 or primary squadrons. I'd love to fly T-45s again, but I'd rather set myself on fire than live in Meridian again.

 

[Treetop Flyer]

On this note, has anyone heard anything about VT B billets for 7523s? I've heard rumors that there were no more B billets for 7523s at VT-86 or primary squadrons. I'd love to fly T-45s again, but I'd rather set myself on fire than live in Meridian again.

I have no inside knowledge but that sounds like Grade A Monitor Bullshit.

 

[Hotdogs]

Rumor mill says that there are not enough jet dudes to send to the VTs (Primary or Adv). Evidentially having a hard time puttting jet asses in jet fleet units. Also the reason why a lot of poor unfortunate RW dudes are getting shoved down to Corpus and Pcola to make up for said lack of jet manpower.

 

[Treetop Flyer]

Rumor mill says that there are not enough jet dudes to send to the VTs (Primary or Adv). Evidentially having a hard time puttting jet asses in jet fleet units. Also the reason why a lot of poor unfortunate RW dudes are getting shoved down to Corpus and Pcola to make up for said lack of jet manpower.

I have no doubt they are hurting for jet guys in the fleet. It's laughable that "there are no 7523 billets at VT-86". They just don't want to send people there. Let the navy make up for the marine manning problems.

Also, I have a hard time mustering sympathy for poor RW guys getting forced to log FW time. Sounds like a good opportunity.

 

[pourts]

Slowly backing away from Austin Power's mom and robava8r....

It's been a really bad week for Marine Hornets. Without speculating on the specifics of the two mishaps, is there anyone here who can speak to the state of maintenance, supply, and overall aircraft health? I have some hunches, but they're just that.

The following statement is in no way related to the current mishap, or any specific mishap...

A large number of Class A's are caused by human error. Class B's and C's are where you feel the pain of thin maintenance budgets, inexperienced maintainers, etc. The classic bullshit from NSC that "human factors" are causal in 99% (or whatever) of mishaps is kind of a bullshit statement though. I like my version better because I think its important to break out human error at the pilot vs. maintainer level.

A huge generalization, but the general trend nonetheless.

 

[Hotdogs]

I have no doubt they are hurting for jet guys in the fleet. It's laughable that "there are no 7523 billets at VT-86". They just don't want to send people there. Let the navy make up for the marine manning problems.

Also, I have a hard time mustering sympathy for poor RW guys getting forced to log FW time. Sounds like a good opportunity.

When CNATRA threatens to shut down Marine SNA production due to lack of Marine IPs in Flight School it tends to get people's attention. I have a hard time believing we should be making the Navy pony up manpower for self-induced manning issues. The appropriate and honest conversation should go like this: "There are 7523 billets at VT-86, but due to the needs of the Marine Corps there is a snowball chance in hell of you going there right now, so congrats here's your extension."

Some guys want to goto flight school and some guys don't. The idea of flying 1.5s of fam and instruments everyday makes me want to gouge my eyeballs out with a spoon. I'd rather sit on a hill and watch it rain GBU-12s, 20mm, and minigun than do that - to each their own. Then again I'm not trying to bounce to the airlines anytime soon.

 

[Treetop Flyer]

When CNATRA threatens to shut down Marine SNA production due to lack of Marine IPs in Flight School it tends to get people's attention. I have a hard time believing we should be making the Navy pony up manpower for self-induced manning issues. The appropriate and honest conversation should go like this: "There are 7523 billets at VT-86, but due to the needs of the Marine Corps there is a snowball chance in hell of you going there right now, so congrats here's your extension."

Some guys want to goto flight school and some guys don't. The idea of flying 1.5s of fam and instruments everyday makes me want to gouge my eyeballs out with a spoon. I'd rather sit on a hill and watch it rain GBU-12s, 20mm, and minigun than do that - to each their own. Then again I'm not trying to bounce to the airlines anytime soon.

I wasn't advocating making the navy pick up the slack due to marine manning issues, I was just pointing out that it seems to be the strategy. I think we are on the same page here. It would be super neat if monitors gave people the real information, but of course that would make their jobs harder, so don't count on it.

I thought sitting on a hill making shit explode was pretty cool too, but when it came time to fly again, I did what I could to avoid being greeted back to a MAG with an IA to bullshitistan. To each their own.

VT-86 is a desirable option, so rather than saying "sorry my dude, I have that saved for someone else" it's easier to say it's not an option so don't ask.

 

[Achilles]

When CNATRA threatens to shut down Marine SNA production due to lack of Marine IPs in Flight School it tends to get people's attention. I have a hard time believing we should be making the Navy pony up manpower for self-induced manning issues. The appropriate and honest conversation should go like this: "There are 7523 billets at VT-86, but due to the needs of the Marine Corps there is a snowball chance in hell of you going there right now, so congrats here's your extension."

Some guys want to goto flight school and some guys don't. The idea of flying 1.5s of fam and instruments everyday makes me want to gouge my eyeballs out with a spoon. I'd rather sit on a hill and watch it rain GBU-12s, 20mm, and minigun than do that - to each their own. Then again I'm not trying to bounce to the airlines anytime soon.

I understand where you're coming from with the FAC tour and going to the VT's. Part of it is I'm attracted to working 8 hrs day with no ground job and flying 30+ hrs a month. Aka the opposite of the hornet fleet. I'd like to do the FAC tour but right now I don't really want to come back to the fleet. I'm not overly interested in going to the airlines but I think it's a good backup. If the AF wasn't trying to shard to get rid of their A-10s I'd probably just try and go Air Guard. I'm definitely not opposed to switching uniforms considering they're offering their tacair guys almost 50k a year in blood money.

 

[zippy]

I understand where you're coming from with the FAC tour and going to the VT's. Part of it is I'm attracted to working 8 hrs day with no ground job and flying 30+ hrs a month. Aka the opposite of the hornet fleet. I'd like to do the FAC tour but right now I don't really want to come back to the fleet. I'm not overly interested in going to the airlines but I think it's a good backup. If the AF wasn't trying to shard to get rid of their A-10s I'd probably just try and go Air Guard. I'm definitely not opposed to switching uniforms considering they're offering their tacair guys almost 50k a year in blood money.

Aside from one CO... I don't recall any marine I knew at the VTs going back to the fleet, or even staying in the Marine Corps. Many became LT/LCDR USNR in the reserve SAUs instead, so that's always an option while you pursue other interests...

 

[Gatordev]

...and going to the VT's. Part of it is I'm attracted to working 8 hrs day with no ground job and flying 30+ hrs a month.

I actually just posted something similar in another thread... If you think the VTs is a 8 hour day, be forewarned. It's not. Is QOL good? Of course. Are ground jobs minimal? They can be, depending on what you're gunning for. But there's more to it than just a clock-punching day schedule.

 

[zippy]

Only people I knew who worked only 8 hr days in the VTs were non-flying civilians and one DH who was afraid of flying and used any opportunity to cancel. The front office had a pretty light schedule depending on how many meetings they wanted to go to. The rest of us flew 2-3x a day for about 10-12hrs.

Ground jobs were minimal... Unless you worked for a DH who didn't like to fly then you had to deal with the busy work they created to compete with fully qualed DHs.

When the wing is behind in Xs... Which seems to be all the time since the T-6 came on line... Squadrons implemented weekend flying. Some squadrons a mandated and assigned people to fly 2 weekends per month, others asked for volunteers and there were usually enough IPs who liked going on the road or wanted to build hours to fill the weekend schedule.

 

[MIDNJAC]

I actually just posted something similar in another thread... If you think the VTs is a 8 hour day, be forewarned. It's not. Is QOL good? Of course. Are ground jobs minimal? They can be, depending on what you're gunning for. But there's more to it than just a clock-punching day schedule.

My friends who are VT(j) IP's are currently flying their asses off, real long hours. Then again, so are the FRS guys as well. If you want "shore tour" working hours, a production tour is not for you these days

 

[Achilles]

Aside from one CO... I don't recall any marine I knew at the VTs going back to the fleet, or even staying in the Marine Corps. Many became LT/LCDR USNR in the reserve SAUs instead, so that's always an option while you pursue other interests...

Given the current state and impending future state, which looks worse, I wonder if this will be the case anymore. Granted I haven't been around the fleet that long but I'm seeing several guys come back from what I've been told are career killing tours (TRACOM, MOI, lack of quals).

 

[zippy]

Given the current state and impending future state, which looks worse, I wonder if this will be the case anymore. Granted I haven't been around the fleet that long but I'm seeing several guys come back from what I've been told are career killing tours (TRACOM, MOI, lack of quals).

Make no mistake-most of these individuals did not want to go back... Especially once they got settled in the VT lifestyle. Some resigned when their commitment was up... Some intentionally did not send in a photo to help them get passed over for O-4 so they could get out instead of going back to th fleet.

The one Individual I know who did want had an injury related to a helo crash that prevented him from going back to the Hornet.