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USN USNPGS Billet

Skywalker

Skywalker

Student Naval Aviator
From what I can gather on here, non-flying billets seem to be bad for the health of one's flying career - but I can't seem to find anything on here connecting that phenomena in reference to the Navy Post-Graduate School. My long term goal post-Navy is to be an astronaut, for which it is "suggested" that you have a grad degree in a STEM field, and test pilot experience. Combined with the TPS requirement of 1,000 jet hours, this kind of implies I'd have to/want to try and get selected for Strike, and the only base that's near a school that offers a grad degree in the field I'm currently studying is Oceana (the nearby school being Old Dominion). If my understanding of dream sheets is accurate, I shouldn't necessarily gamble on ending up there.

Should I postpone getting a commission and get a grad degree first, before going in? Or do I go in and try and get a USNPGS billet on one of the shore tours?* I'd only be 25 instead of 23, so I'd be safe age-wise. But I'm also mind-bogglingly bored with college life, and am itching to get into the Navy as soon as possible.

*the actual question in this post
 
P

Pags

N/A
pilot
A shore tour at either TPS or NPS is mutually exclusive unless you get picked up for the TPS coop program where they send you to NPS or AFIT first to do grad school.

Are you ROTC or OCS?
 
IKE

IKE

Nerd Whirler
pilot
Pags said:
...unless you get picked up for the TPS coop program where they send you to NPS or AFIT first to do grad school.
Click to expand...
The NPS-TPS co-op no longer exists. TPS Class 147 was the last to have co-op students. TPS grads can get credit towards an MS in Sys. Eng. at NPS or JHU, and I think a 148 grad is trying to work an Aero MS from NPS. All of that is distance learning (DL), of course.

I'm one of the few test pilots at my squadron who didn't apply to the astronaut program, but I imagine TPS + easy MS is more competitive than rigorous MS w/o TPS. The 1k jet time is only required if you want to fly the space vehicle, not if you want to be a mission specialist.

Unless NAE (Naval Aviation Enterprise) seriously shifts its priorities in the future, NPS is not a good place for stick jockeys. It's good for shoes and bubbleheads, but not us.

Lastly, make sure you're joining the Navy to be a Naval Officer, probably be a Naval Aviator, maybe get your platform of choice, and hopefully go to TPS. Getting astronaut after all that is a remote possibility (not that you shouldn't try).
 
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