Questions about international opportunities

[Caesium]

I'm a long-time (about two or three years I believe) lurker here, and I want to start by thanking you all for being a great resource for naval aviation questions--I'm sure you don't need me to tell you this, but as someone considering naval aviation you really have been extraordinarily helpful.

Anyway, I looked this up and found some helpful information, but I have a more specific question that I thought might be worth asking. I'm really into foreign languages and living abroad and international "stuff" in general. I'm totally aware that as a naval aviator all that would most likely be irrelavent to the job, and I'm absolutely fine with that.

However, I have read some interesting things about PEP tours with foreign militaries and ground tours working with (for example) NATO. So my question is, if a naval aviator were particularly interested in maximizing time spent doing "stuff" (whether a tour with a foreign military or a ground job or really anything else) abroad, is it likely that he/she would get to spend a good amount of time working abroad over ten years or so of service?

Also, would I be able to practice my languages while underway during my spare time (as a hobby)?

Thanks in advance. Also, I'm sure that my question is naive or stupid in some way, so I apologize in advance too.

 

[IRfly]

The short answers are these:
1) During your first sea tour, your only real international opportunity as a carrier aviator will be if you are in CVW-5, stationed in Japan. For the big-wing assets (P-3/8, EP-3, and E6) you might see some international deployments. I spent 10 months deployed as a P-3 NFO--8 months in the desert on a U.S. base, 2 months in Okinawa.

2) Your shore tour is an opportunity for PEP tours or to fly with a NATO command. You can also look at the possibility of an overseas staff. None of these are particularly career-enhancing in the aviation community, but can provide you a solid case to lateral transfer to Foreign Area Officer, for example.

Between the two tours, if you want to be in overseas, you can definitely spend 3-6 years overseas, and then tack on another two if you stay overseas for disassociated (again, not that difficult to do).

3) You can do whatever you want in whatever spare time you have underway. It might be a choice between studying languages, working out, or BSing in the wardroom/ready room. Conjugate verbs while you're waiting for your laundry, whatever.

 

[Caesium]

Thanks a lot for the reply!

Few questions:
1. Assuming I'm selected for an aircraft that is part of CVW-5, what is the chance that I would be sent to Japan for my first tour? I understand that the needs of the Navy come first and that it's probably impossible to say what the chances are, but in very broad terms is it particularly difficult to get Japan?
2. If I'm not interested in the golden path and envisage getting out after my committment (or even transferring to FAO, that would also be great if I'm good enough to do it), are these kinds of foreign shore and disassociated tours hard to come by? If I don't care what country I get, are PEP tours difficult to be selected for?
3. A bit off topic, but what is the difference between an FAO and a Naval Attache? Sorry if this has already been discussed somewhere.

Obviously I understand that this is all very premature, but given that I have a few years to go before I can apply to OCS, I can't help but think about this stuff a lot.

Again, thanks a lot for your help.

 

[zab1001]

You should focus on the closest goals, commissioning, API, primary, etc. You also need to stop asking "what are my chances for..." there is no solid answer. Needs of Navy, your performance, your desire, in that order, with a dash of timing/chance/luck. You may as well learn that right now.

If you still want to explore options way down the road, do some research on your own, Google and Wikipedia are your friend. Go run a search on FAO and Attaché, get some knowledge on the basics. Also:
http://www.public.navy.mil/bupers-n...gers/restricted/Pages/ForeignAreaOfficer.aspx

For #3 - An Attaché can come from the FAO community, you don't have to be a FAO to be an Attaché.

 

[Caesium]

For what it's worth I did hesitate before asking the question about my chances since I know it's not a highly appreciated question here

I do think it's worth looking into what I could be doing in the navy before I sign off, for obvious reasons.

I don't really have questions about the FAO lateral transfer process since I've already read about it a fair bit and it's far enough away to not bother worrying about--things that might happen in my first sea tour and ground tour on the other hand are probably important to think about IMHO.

But I absolutely agree with your main point that OCS and so on are more important, I have done quite a bit of research on that stuff thanks to this forum and my buddy google

 

[snake020]

You should focus on the closest goals, commissioning, API, primary, etc. You also need to stop asking "what are my chances for..." there is no solid answer. Needs of Navy, your performance, your desire, in that order, with a dash of timing/chance/luck. You may as well learn that right now.

If you still want to explore options way down the road, do some research on your own, Google and Wikipedia are your friend. Go run a search on FAO and Attaché, get some knowledge on the basics. Also:
http://www.public.navy.mil/bupers-n...gers/restricted/Pages/ForeignAreaOfficer.aspx

For #3 - An Attaché can come from the FAO community, you don't have to be a FAO to be an Attaché.

+1 to all this. Attachés are typically senior officers from URL designators and a one assignment gig.

FAOs select through lateral transfer as senior LTs / junior LCDRs. I don't think Navy has direct accession into FAO. Hence, your focus should be on what you're initially looking to do with the Navy long before doing down that road.

 

[zab1001]

I don't really have questions about the FAO lateral transfer process since I've already read about it a fair bit and it's far enough away to not bother worrying about--things that might happen in my first sea tour and ground tour on the other hand are probably important to think about IMHO.

And if you click on some of those links, you might even find links to what FAOs do and what Attachés do, which was one of your questions...

 

[Caesium]

Yes I know. I'm not worried about laterally transferring anywhere.

 

[Caesium]

And if you click on some of those links, you might even find links to what FAOs do and what Attachés do, which was one of your questions...

Thanks for the help.