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NFO to NSW support?

Coffee & JP8

Well-Known Member
Hey all,
Im getting ready to ship to OCS for NFO and decided to search Naval Flight Officer on Apple Podcasts to fuel the motivation. One of the first things that came up was SOFcast Episode 06 "D.B. - Naval Flight Officer and Special Warfare Combat Support". It described a Female LT NFO (did not mention what aircraft community) that did a tour with NSW and worked with Seal Teams and other SOF units. However, they did not really describe the actual assignment and what exactly she did as a NFO with the Teams. Instead, they dived into how she experienced working with SOF units as a Female (which is cool and not knocking it). Im curious, if anybody on here has any information about this or has experience in the field with this. Im guessing its another special assignment that one could take instead of going to TPS, HAVOC, Flight Instructor...etc? Is it highly desirable or detrimental to one's career?

Cheers.
 

Brett327

Well-Known Member
None
Super Moderator
Contributor
Did someone say HAVOC? ? I can tell you that NSW does have some aviators in fires support, but the ones I know are more senior. I’m sure the landscape will change by the time you’d be up for anything like that, but it’s worth exploring it it still interests you by then.
 

Gatordev

Well-Known Member
pilot
Site Admin
Contributor
A lot of times, females working with SOF are part of the community interaction team (my words...I can't remember the official name). They'd take the women of the house/village/etc and extract info while male SOF would work with the males of the village. Obviously it's far more involved and complicated than what I've described, but it gives you the basic gist.
 

OscarMyers

Well-Known Member
None
I know a few E-2 NFOs that have gone to the teams to be the maintenance officer for their UAS programs and deploy with them. It’s considered an off track billet.
 

zippy

Freedom!
pilot
Contributor
Hey all,
Im getting ready to ship to OCS for NFO and decided to search Naval Flight Officer on Apple Podcasts to fuel the motivation. One of the first things that came up was SOFcast Episode 06 "D.B. - Naval Flight Officer and Special Warfare Combat Support". It described a Female LT NFO (did not mention what aircraft community) that did a tour with NSW and worked with Seal Teams and other SOF units. However, they did not really describe the actual assignment and what exactly she did as a NFO with the Teams. Instead, they dived into how she experienced working with SOF units as a Female (which is cool and not knocking it). Im curious, if anybody on here has any information about this or has experience in the field with this. Im guessing its another special assignment that one could take instead of going to TPS, HAVOC, Flight Instructor...etc? Is it highly desirable or detrimental to one's career?

Cheers.

It’s rare, but possible for those who are looking to do it.

Know two dudes who sought to do it and got selected for it. One is a Growler pilot, the other was a Super Hornet WSO. Both did it as a disassociated sea tour. The Growler guy had a bit of a reputation for being a glory hound, got a conventional SEAL team and was put on a Fitness Enhancement Program not long after arriving, deployed and had an unremarkable tour. Went on to be a DH and later a CO. The WSO was a gym rat artsy type who liked the idea of going to a command with a fitness culture, where he could work out for hours on end every day as part of his job. He got selected to go to DEVGRU spent a couple years tied to a beeper and deployed a lot, helped many people meet their demise and has since left the Navy to become a physically fit hippie.

Two vastly different career backgrounds and experiences at the teams but an otherwise neutral career tour for both. Having an unremarkable tour with a SEAL team did not derail a community golden child from becoming a CO, nor did going to DEVGRU for a very operationally impactful tour put a non command path guy back “on path” in his community.
 
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GroundPounder

Well-Known Member
I The WSO was a gym rat artsy type who liked the idea of going to a command with a fitness culture, where he could work out for hours on end every day as part of his job. He got selected to go to DEVGRU spent a couple years tied to a beeper and deployed a lot, helped many people meet their demise and has since left the Navy to become a physically fit hippie.

So the WSO had some technical skill they needed and gets assigned to DEVGRU, did he go through BUDs, or just get trained up to accompany the guys on the ground and run the disgronificator? I guess I always figured that they trained their own guys up, rather than bringing outsiders in to deploy.
 

ABMD

Bullets don't fly without Supply
A lot of times, females working with SOF are part of the community interaction team (my words...I can't remember the official name). They'd take the women of the house/village/etc and extract info while male SOF would work with the males of the village. Obviously it's far more involved and complicated than what I've described, but it gives you the basic gist.
Are you thinking Cultural Support Teams?
 

zippy

Freedom!
pilot
Contributor
So the WSO had some technical skill they needed and gets assigned to DEVGRU, did he go through BUDs, or just get trained up to accompany the guys on the ground and run the disgronificator? I guess I always figured that they trained their own guys up, rather than bringing outsiders in to deploy.

The several dudes from non SEAL communities I know that ended up at DEVGRU for a tour were seen by them pretty much daily at the gym for quite a bit of time prior to DEVGRU offering an opportunity to come work with them and paving the way to making the detailing progress a lock. Any skill set/ course that DEVGRU wants an individual to have gets funded by DEVGRU if they don’t already have it.
 

Coffee & JP8

Well-Known Member
Thats pretty wild they would let an outsider (let alone an aviator) into their community like that. I understand the UAS Engineer Officer position, but what the hell would an aviator do within DEVGRU and be deployable like that?? Ill most likely want to stay in the aircraft for my career, but I had no idea that this is something NA/NFOs could do. Thank yall for the insight.
 

Scruff

Registered User
None
Contributor
I know a few E-2 NFOs that have gone to the teams to be the maintenance officer for their UAS programs and deploy with them. It’s considered an off track billet.

Former UAS-OIC here. Not a ton of MX responsibilities, but more of a "Troop Lead". The MX billet may be a G10 shore billet that doesn't deploy. Roles and responsibilities do change with the wind so this could have been a thing a 5+ years ago.

It is off-path, but becoming more known in the Helo community as a good gig. No where near golden path though, so don't get that confused. E-2 and Maritime still aren't up to speed. Won't find any pointy nose guys in the job.

The UAS Wardroom was split 4 Rotary, 2 Maritime, 4 Pilot and 2 NFO when I departed.

Let me know if you have any questions.
 
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wlawr005

Well-Known Member
pilot
Contributor
I wouldn't necessarily equate working at DEVGRU with kicking in doors and being Mr. Sneaky Man. Lots of gold wingers have positions within their command structure. One of my COs did a tour there as a fires liason officer post DH. He got the opportunity go to jump school and some other stuff but he didn't ever "move and shoot" with the boys.

Another friend of mine went to TOPGUN and subsequently STRIKE where he became a JTAC. Post DH he was also recruited to DEVGRU and spent most of his time training up SEAL JTACs to go downrange.

It's a highly selective process, usually including a polygraph and tends to be on track for guys who possessed the qualifications to be recruited there in the first place.
 

Scruff

Registered User
None
Contributor
I wouldn't necessarily equate working at DEVGRU with kicking in doors and being Mr. Sneaky Man.....
....but he didn't ever "move and shoot" with the boys.

This should be the biggest take away from this thread. NSW 13XX billets are support role jobs, you're not going to be slinging lead down range. Even as a JTAC, you're gonna be chilling in the JOC assisting the Team JTACs on the ground. (In today's climate at least)
 

Coffee & JP8

Well-Known Member
This should be the biggest take away from this thread. NSW 13XX billets are support role jobs, you're not going to be slinging lead down range. Even as a JTAC, you're gonna be chilling in the JOC assisting the Team JTACs on the ground. (In today's climate at least)
Exactly what I was looking for and thank you for the clarification. I was truly curious what exactly aviators were doing there and didnt fully comprehend the assignment.
 
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