See my issue with it is, I do not want to rely on doing my job only in the event of nuclear Armageddon. I have a similar opinion towards the Air Force officers that hang out in a capsule in case Nukes need to be launched. You will in all likelihood never do the job you train to do all the time, and it’s a job I’d hope to god was never necessary.
Absolutely. Hopefully that job will always be used for political intimidation. However, (just playing devils advocate, I’m gunning for the growler 100%) I would imagine that with the responsibilities of that job and the clearances, you would be set up for a pretty cool job post navy.
No and I see your point. I’m young and naive and want something more…cool lol. Regardless, my dream is P-8 on either the Pilot or NFO side as I applied for both.
Yeah the P-8 is a real struggle for me. I’m a little later in the game at this point and I know that the P-8 would really help me out when that day for retirement does finally come around. However, backseating an E/A-18G sounds like a huge amount of fun. Either way I would still get to maintain a nice security clearance so I’ll be happy no matter what I get selected for, if I can at least make it to OCS first.
Yes, I try to worry about aircraft selection. However, when I was hating college in Jacksonville. Id go drive past NAS Jax late at night and see the P-8s parked on the flight line to remind myself why I’m doing this lol. I have a sentimental thing with P-8s I I guess.
The Navy seems to be developing it into a do it all plane.
If I only wanted to fly an aircraft I would have done the army warrant officer route. The things that appeal to me as an officer are the opportunities to be involved in things outside of just flying.
My uncle flew the EP-3E back in the day and had some pretty cool stories about the Gulf War, so I was curious to see what is going to be replacing it. Learning about the P-8s got me super excited to see what possibilities are out there. Something about tracking a Russian sub in the Arctic or intimidating a Chinese warship near Taiwan seems like the kind of day job I wouldn’t mind having.
It’s crazy how the EP-3 is still in service. It’s another platform I’d dread selecting only because it’s days are numbered.
Minimum I’m staying in (if picked up) is to 24 years. I’ll have to see how the career is looking at that point and decide if staying in till 30 would be the best option.
I’ve read a lot bios from Commander to flag rank to get an idea of their career path. One thing I don’t think I’ve ever seen from a URL that wasn’t prior enlisted is “commissioned out of OCS” or something similar.
Being an academy grad certainly seems to be a trend amongst the high brass, but I can’t imagine that it’s a requirement. Either way, if you’re good and you stay in long enough, you’ll end up with a command.
Could be worse, you could try applying to Air Force OTS off the street. From my research OTS seems like a myth.
