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Anyone not take a Commission?

I just graduated from OCS 196 as well and I say don't take your commission....less competition for me.
 
You only live once and do you really want to be 45 looking back on your mundane life saying "what if"?. Life is too short man, enjoy it while you can and live a life worth telling your grandchildren stories about. Even if you only get to fly for a few years, you would still get to do what thousands of dudes would give a testicle for.
 
I was winged in 99 and have been in the cockpit for all that time except a little under a year and a half. I have had numerous ground jobs, sometimes they seemed to take up a lot of my time. All in all it was a small price to pay to go out flying and shoot stuff. A lot of that ground job stuff was leading Marines and I wouldnt trade that for anything.

If you are unsure because of the standard "you wont fly ever blah blah blah" jealous ground guy BS it is just that and they dont know what they are talking about. If you are unsure for other reasons you are going to have to decide real soon.
 
Ygtbsm!

I have been blessed to have flown in Naval Aviation for the last 18 years, and I would even trade to be in your shoes.

Life style? Unless you really want to be a metrosexual living in NYC or spend your life in a cubicle, the "life style" of a Marine Corps Aviator is enviable. You'll never get that kind of comaraderie in a McJob.

Just do it!
 
Just my .02 here, and from a completely different angle, but when I put together my STA-21 package and was concerned about my age and the pilot option for STA-21, my mom told me the most profound thing I've needed to hear in a long time:
"Look at it this way: you aren't getting any younger. You don't want to look back on your life and ask yourself, 'What if?'"

That was the best advice I've heeded in my life.

And as someone else already said, you aren't getting any younger, and you don't want to look back on life and say, "What would have happened if I did go through with the Marine Corps aviator pipeline?"
 
If you don't take it, don't be that guy who comes up to me in the airport and thinks we're buds because he you went to OCS but didn't take the commission. (Yes, this happened.)
OCS isn't the Marine Corps. That last sentence might have some weight in this debate, too...
 
How can you go through all the bull shit of OCS and consider turning down you're commission? You're fucking crazy!
 
buddy if you daon't take it i will be glad to slide into your spot. I comend you though for making sure it is the right desicion for you though. I think that the second your in the cockpit of an f-18 you will be glad you did though. i say go for it.
 
what everybody else said...

Take it. I have been applying (Ground and Air) for the last 3 years unsuccessfully (pneumonia after freshman year of college, now I'm 23 and a professional firefighter). They won’t even let me go to MEPS, and I keep applying.

One of my friends in college applied for shits and giggles cause his father was retired USMC Enlisted, he got a flight contract, graduated PLC-C, and then turned down his commission. He told me about a week ago that he wishes he could have taken his commission because now he could be in Florida picking up college chicks at a bar and killing his liver... and flying. He now works at Ruby Tuesdays and is waiting to 'hopefully' get picked up by a Federal Law Enforcement Agency.

Like all else have said, there are no doubt a thousand or more guys and gals who would give most anything to be selected, much less have made it through OCS in top 10% with a SNA contract.


My .02

-But seriously...Take IT.
 
SNA2007 said:
Of course you have to do what you want, but I will say this: Just about every senior aviator Marine and Navy alike have told me they would give anything to be able to start over and do it all again. That is something you will never hear out of a fortune 500 CEO or other similar civilian counterpart. If you love aviation flight school for Marine and Navy is like living a dream. There will be many days when you are sitting with you buddies amazed at the fact that you get paid for this stuff.
Click to expand...

This is absolutely correct. I can't imagine any senior aviator not wanting to go back and relive it all. I would. I left with over 5,000 hours in attack aviation and over 400 traps, made cruises to Westpac, the Med and IO, plus workups in the Caribbean and South China Sea, saw places I'd never visit otherwise, lived all over the US (V Beach, Whidbey, Meridian, Pensacola, Alameda), Japan, Philippines, Puerto Rico. I still miss it.

Granted, there are aspects that suck. That's why only 25-30% of naval aviators stay past their original commitment. But even those who leave, at any stage, will, I believe, say they wouldn't trade it for anything that follows.

"Living the dream" is an understatement.
 
Intruder Driver said:
I can't imagine any senior aviator not wanting to go back and relive it all. I would...I still miss it...

...But even those who leave, at any stage, will, I believe, say they wouldn't trade it for anything that follows...

"Living the dream" is an understatement.
Click to expand...
I still miss it, hence the reason I'm working so hard to come back into the Reserves. And you are correct, I wouldn't trade my experiences/memories/friends for anything in the world... I still keep in touch with my buddies from the squadron, and some of them may be joining me at my future reserve unit.

"Living the dream." - even with all the shitty aspects of the job, it really is... As a matter of fact, those three words can't possibly capture the feeling. It is the understatement of the century.
 
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