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Surface Warrior to Air Warrior 2007

HotCarl

New Member
Why are there so few billets for lat transfer into Aviation at each semi-annual redesignation party at NPC. Sure, I realize that there are a ton of new Ensigns every year and they need a home but.... what about the guys that are proven officers with great evals who have outstanding potential. Arguably aren't they much more qualified then a bootcamp ensign?

On The NPC website at:
http://www.npc.navy.mil/Boards/Admi...ransferRedesignation/StatusandPastResults.htm
Its also intersting that there have not been ANY billets for transfer into aviation since the June 2006 transfer/redesignation board.

I know all of the requirements for transfer and have a package active for the NOV 07 Board. I have really loved learned to love NAVADMIN 1212-010 and 1542-010.

Am I missing something here is there any other way for a SWO to get to the cradle of Naval Aviation?
 

BigIron

Remotely piloted
pilot
Super Moderator
Contributor
Arguably aren't they much more qualified then a bootcamp ensign?

Arguable indeed. Maybe have some fleet experience, but so do the rest of all of the prior enlisted dudes trying to get an aviation billet. I don't think that being a SWO makes you better qualified. Yes, you have a warfare qual, did all of the PQS, and stood the watches, but the SWO/Aviation worlds are apples/oranges respectively in getting qual'd.

I don't know if the SWO NPC folks are letting too many of their SWOs go either.

Also there are career timing milestones that don't match up when SWOs go aviation. You might be a terminal LT or LCDR. All good, depending on what you want to do career wise.
 

Mav0130

New Member
Well thats easy--if there were more slots every moron with a heartbeat would apply for the transfer. But seriously, its all about economics. It costs around a million dollars to train new pilots and it costs significantly more to train an officer in something else and then have them switch to aviation, especially if they do not have much time left on their obligation.
 

HH-60H

Manager
pilot
Contributor
... especially if they do not have much time left on their obligation.

While I do imagine money has something to do with it, any problem with the amount left on an obligation is easily remedied by BUPERS when you request the Lat transfer.
 

e6bflyer

Used to Care
pilot
RetreadRand said:
Maybe by changing your name, shipmate.
Not sure we want to be surrounded by a dude named "Hot Carl"

Nice shoe reference, Rand, with the "shipmate"!
That callsign takes balls, and he would end up getting it anyway if he was in aviation. I think we should teach him the secret handshake and let him rush the frat.
 

xj220

Will fly for food.
pilot
Contributor
Yeah, but when you get your SWO quals, I don't think it's as much an investment into you as it is getting work out of you. In aviation, the money is spent on fuel, aircraft, instructors, sims, maintenance, etc for the individual whereas any money that is put in is mainly focused on the ship and crew.
 

brownshoe

Well-Known Member
Contributor
RetreadRand said:
Maybe by changing your name, shipmate.
Not sure we want to be surrounded by a dude named "Hot Carl"


Didn't even read the rest of the thread, but this was "way" funny. Now I'm gonna be chucklin' all night long.:D

Steve
 

flyingswodaddy

New Member
Why are there so few billets for lat transfer into Aviation at each semi-annual redesignation party at NPC. Sure, I realize that there are a ton of new Ensigns every year and they need a home but.... what about the guys that are proven officers with great evals who have outstanding potential. Arguably aren't they much more qualified then a bootcamp ensign?

On The NPC website at:
http://www.npc.navy.mil/Boards/Admi...ransferRedesignation/StatusandPastResults.htm
Its also intersting that there have not been ANY billets for transfer into aviation since the June 2006 transfer/redesignation board.

I know all of the requirements for transfer and have a package active for the NOV 07 Board. I have really loved learned to love NAVADMIN 1212-010 and 1542-010.

Am I missing something here is there any other way for a SWO to get to the cradle of Naval Aviation?

Lat xfer's the only way I've ever heard.
Arguably proven officers with great evals who have outstanding potential could very well be more qualified than a bootcamp ensign, but a proven officer is not a bootcamp ensign anymore. Now that you've been commissioned for a few years, you are no longer compared to those bootcamp ensigns. Except in flight school; you are competing with them for assignment. But when fitrep/DH screening/promotion comes around, you will not be compared with them. You will be compared against your peers, those who commissioned when you did and those guys are already seasoned pilots with a lot of flight hours.
So when it comes to NPC deciding on how many pilots they need for each individual year group, newbie ensigns are in one group and you're in another. But your year group already has a lot of qualified, proven, experienced pilots. If there are too many pilots in a designated year group, then the amount of lateral transfers diminish or disappear. I originally considered a lat xfer to supply, but they were so overmanned IN MY YEARGROUP they were not even accepting applications. It's all a numbers game.

Also consider the fact that even the best SWO in the Navy could end up being the worst pilot in the world, meaning they fail out of flight school because they just can't pick up the skills. I've seen it happen to a couple of my prior swo brethren.
I'm not trying to discourage, if you want to fly, keep droppin' those lat xfer requests. You never know what's going on up at NPC.
 

Steve Wilkins

Teaching pigs to dance, one pig at a time.
None
Super Moderator
Contributor
Good post by Flyingswodaddy above. I'll add that the NPC also allows only so many lat xfers OUT of the parent community as well, based on year group. So HotCarl (we have got to get you a new name btw, cause that one is just gay), if NPC says that only so many of your fellow 1110's in your year group can lat xfer REGARDLESS of what community you want to lat to, then that could be causing a problem for you to getting pick up for aviation.
 

Uncle Fester

Robot Pimp
None
Super Moderator
Contributor
Been dere, done dat.

When I exchanged Black shoes for Brown (summer of '01), there wasn't any formal board action; it just had to be signed-off by the head aviation detailer. If that's still the case, it may explain why there weren't any Air billets on the redes board.

Ultimately, it's strictly 100% needs of the Navy. If they need pilots/FOs in your year group, you've got a good shot. If they're overmanned, you don't. Got nothing to do with you or your quals or how handsome and powerful a man you are. I was just very lucky in that they happened to need FOs when I applied.

If you get in, I'll say this: the extra pin buys you a pinch of salt, but no more. Expect to be treated no differently than any other fresh-from-OCS cone Ensign in the TRACOM. Your experience can come in handy every once in a blue moon when you get back to the Fleet, but otherwise, a nugget is a nugget. You'll still be competing against your YG, but they'll probably just count your Shoe time as a disassociated tour and roll you right from JO Shore to DH. That's what they told me, anyway.

If you just throw your paperwork into the void and hope for the best, your chances go down dramatically. Email and call up the Aviation re-des/lat transfer detailer and get him to give you a no-$hit answer on whether they need folks in your YG. Keep calling and emailing him until you get the Yes or No from the head detailer.

Good luck, and good choice. Your worst day in the TRACOM is much better than your best day in the Shoe Navy.
 

snake020

Contributor
That would be if I took the suggested route. I cut down the west coast and took the 10 instead and got stuck with the wasteland of West Texas.
 

phrogpilot73

Well-Known Member
That would be if I took the suggested route. I cut down the west coast and took the 10 instead and got stuck with the wasteland of West Texas.
I would have taken the suggested route over West Texas. However, my reply was because you are in P-Cola now, you're not on the West Coast. It is INTERSTATE 10, not "The" 10... Wacky West Coasters...
 
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