Marriage during the aviation pipeline

[Skywalker]

If this has already been answered please forgive me but, for those of you who got married prior to joining the Navy and going to flight school, Any advice? I've been married for a little over a year and while I am confident that it was the right decision based on the circumstances, I am acutely aware that Navy flight school is going to put a ton of stress on most relationships during the pipeline and beyond. How did you all balance it?

You'll have gaps between stages of training - take leave, take trips, make memories. Try to make a couple of hours pf time for your spouse during the week - even if that's a movie or a board game, just something. Make sure they know you get your schedule 24 hours at a time and that the schedule is non-negotiable. Explore the local area together - the Pensacola beaches are legendary and has great restaurants (Corpus less so, Kingsville certainly not). There are also lots of places within liberty radius of the training bases that are worth checking out. If you already have one or more hobbies in common, make sure you're continuing to invest in that, even if to a lesser extent.

My wife and I make a game of making sure we've explored every park, museum, and high-rated restaurant within the liberty radius. Over the course of pool times and 72s/96s, we make sure to see all of the national parks that we can.

 

[taxi1]

I actually think flight school is a great time to be married. When I went through last century, I went from FAM 1 to wings in 11 months, flying twice a day 5-6 days per week. Yet we still found time to hit the beach, go to bars, watch movies at the beer and movies place, etc. Based on what I read here, flight school pacing these days is a lot slower. You will have down time.

One thing I recommend is to get into a local friends group. We played beach volleyball, and hooked up with a regular weekend crew at the beach. My wife is a horse person, and hung out at a local ranch between Pensacola and Milton. The navy can be overbearing, and the outside activities give space.

So don’t dread it, look forward to it. It’ll be a fun adventure.

 

[Highlander51]

I’m currently going through NIFE (formerly API) I can tell that the Marine Corps command and NASC have been largely willing to work with people who have major life events. Everyone I’ve talked to who has needed leave has gotten it. This isn’t to say that your situation would be one of those but my experience thus far has been positive. Most people understand you have a life outside of flight school and seem willing to accommodate that life when possible. I wouldn’t plan on taking leave during BLADE or NIFE but you should have plenty of time when you get down here to take some leave before starting NIFE, my wait time was 6 months between finishing BLADE and classing up for NIFE.

 

[Finister6]

Can someone explain what "72s and 96s" are?

When you check into flight school/when it actually starts, do they give you any kind of syllabus/timeline for moving from section to section? IE - would you know, "In October there's going to be a # week break between XYZ part of training and ABC part of training" so you can request leave in advance during that time?

Generally speaking how long are these "gaps" between training periods and what do you do during them?

I'm getting that the general consensus is that if you request to use PTO during the wait period in Pensacola for school to actually start or during those in-between times, that it's not too difficult/impossible, which is encouraging.

Edit - sorry, I see this is a marine corps thread, Im asking about naval aviation, unsure if there's a difference.

 

[FormerRecruitingGuru]

Can someone explain what "72s and 96s" are?

When you check into flight school/when it actually starts, do they give you any kind of syllabus/timeline for moving from section to section? IE - would you know, "In October there's going to be a # week break between XYZ part of training and ABC part of training" so you can request leave in advance during that time?

Generally speaking how long are these "gaps" between training periods and what do you do during them?

I'm getting that the general consensus is that if you request to use PTO during the wait period in Pensacola for school to actually start or during those in-between times, that it's not too difficult/impossible, which is encouraging.

Edit - sorry, I see this is a marine corps thread, Im asking about naval aviation, unsure if there's a difference.

72 and 96 (hour) are 3 and 4-day weekends respectively. Some holiday weekends might be 3 days (72), some 96... typically the bigger holidays like July 4th, Memorial Day, Labor Day, Xmas/New Years, Thanksgiving, etc. 72 and 96 can also be command discretion and can be given as a reward for personal/team work.

 

[FLGUY]

I’m currently going through NIFE (formerly API) I can tell that the Marine Corps command and NASC have been largely willing to work with people who have major life events. Everyone I’ve talked to who has needed leave has gotten it. This isn’t to say that your situation would be one of those but my experience thus far has been positive. Most people understand you have a life outside of flight school and seem willing to accommodate that life when possible. I wouldn’t plan on taking leave during BLADE or NIFE but you should have plenty of time when you get down here to take some leave before starting NIFE, my wait time was 6 months between finishing BLADE and classing up for NIFE.

Wtf is “BLADE”? As if “NIFE” wasn’t pretentious enough for Schools Command….

 

[Swanee]

Can someone explain what "72s and 96s" are?

When you check into flight school/when it actually starts, do they give you any kind of syllabus/timeline for moving from section to section? IE - would you know, "In October there's going to be a # week break between XYZ part of training and ABC part of training" so you can request leave in advance during that time?

Generally speaking how long are these "gaps" between training periods and what do you do during them?

I'm getting that the general consensus is that if you request to use PTO during the wait period in Pensacola for school to actually start or during those in-between times, that it's not too difficult/impossible, which is encouraging.

Edit - sorry, I see this is a marine corps thread, Im asking about naval aviation, unsure if there's a difference.

The Navy training pipeline doesn't work that way. You won't know you're in a break in training until you're in it. Some folks may only get a weekend between phases, others may get a month or more.

The Air Force has published, hard scheduled, dates that must be met, thusly they have a rigid timeline. The Navy does not.

 

[FLGUY]

The Navy training pipeline doesn't work that way. You won't know you're in a break in training until you're in it. Some folks may only get a weekend between phases, others may get a month or more.

The Air Force has published, hard scheduled, dates that must be met, thusly they have a rigid timeline. The Navy does not.

Which begs the question…how does the USAF respond to Students going Med down, needing emergency leave, contractor issues, extended periods of weather cancellations, and maintenance issues while still maintaining that rigid timeline?

 

[Highlander51]

Wtf is “BLADE”? As if “NIFE” wasn’t pretentious enough for Schools Command….

Basic Leadership and Aviation Development, essentially a lite version of NIFE, it can get you attrited from the program now if you fail it used to not be that way.

 

[HSMPBR]

Which begs the question…how does the USAF respond to Students going Med down, needing emergency leave, contractor issues, extended periods of weather cancellations, and maintenance issues while still maintaining that rigid timeline?

Cold, hard, big, blue directives, and…

 

[Swanee]

Which begs the question…how does the USAF respond to Students going Med down, needing emergency leave, contractor issues, extended periods of weather cancellations, and maintenance issues while still maintaining that rigid timeline?

Extended med down will get a stud rolled back to a different class. Emergency Leave may do the same. Weather isn't as big of an issue as UPT bases aren't generally in bad weather/coastal areas.

Everyone in a class is required to be in their student ready room all day, every day and has to be ready to fly their next event. If one person starts to get ahead IPs can flex and fly the student who has been unlucky with weather or maintenance. That way everyone is within the same not only phase, but within a couple of flights of each other.

They also don't PCS students who aren't going helicopters, they just send them to the squadron next door.

But they do a really good job of meeting a winging date as a class. My brother knew his winging date the day he showed up to UPT (53 weeks from check in day), as do all AF studs. It should be noted that AF Jet pilots wing at the end of what we call intermediate. Our Jet Advanced syllabus is called Introduction to Fighter Fundamentals in the AF and they do that as winged pilots.

It's an entirely different philosophy from Navy flight training. I'd take the Navy way as it's a much more enjoyable experience. But it did take 26 months (not including the year long wait I had to start API at MATSG-21) for me to do what the Air Force does in 14.

 

[FLGUY]

Cold, hard, big, blue directives, and…

View attachment 38937

I guess the weather is the part I don’t understand the most. They either have better year round weather in their UPT locations, or push into worse weather situations than we would. 99% sure it’s the former.

Milton/Pensacola (and to a lesser degree Corpus) have long periods of weather cancellations that can’t be avoided without a training detachment, which doesn’t happen every year.

 

[FLGUY]

Extended med down will get a stud rolled back to a different class. Emergency Leave may do the same. Weather isn't as big of an issue as UPT bases aren't generally in bad weather/coastal areas.

Everyone in a class is required to be in their student ready room all day, every day and has to be ready to fly their next event. If one person starts to get ahead IPs can flex and fly the student who has been unlucky with weather or maintenance. That way everyone is within the same not only phase, but within a couple of flights of each other.

They also don't PCS students who aren't going helicopters, they just send them to the squadron next door.

But they do a really good job of meeting a winging date as a class. My brother knew his winging date the day he showed up to UPT (53 weeks from check in day), as do all AF studs. It should be noted that AF Jet pilots wing at the end of what we call intermediate. Our Jet Advanced syllabus is called Introduction to Fighter Fundamentals in the AF and they do that as winged pilots.

It's an entirely different philosophy from Navy flight training. I'd take the Navy way as it's a much more enjoyable experience. But it did take 26 months (not including the year long wait I had to start API at MATSG-21) for me to do what the Air Force does in 14.

Seems like they mask the jet time to train a bit by doing it that way, but still pretty efficient.

The “you must be at work all day no matter what” thing is what always bothers me. I’m sure it’s efficient, but my God does that sound miserable and micro-managed. The worst squadrons in the fleet are the ones who mandate working hours or do things like require everybody to go to Fod walkdown every day. The best ones are the ones who trust you to be an adult and to get your work done on your own schedule, and I can’t help but draw a similar parallel to the Navy vs. USAF training command mentality.

 

[Fallonflyr]

I mentioned in a different thread that I got married during flight training. Got married in the morning, went out and did T-2 CQ bounces that afternoon and partied in the O Club that night. You can make it work if you have the right lady and a princess wedding is not required. Still married almost 40 years later.

 

[Fallonflyr]

Basic Leadership and Aviation Development, essentially a lite version of NIFE, it can get you attrited from the program now if you fail it used to not be that way.

Is that a Marine thing? Do all SNA’ s do it now? How long does it last?