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FNAEB or VOL. Term? Which is the Best of 2 evils?

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kasz

Registered User
My husband is a P-3 pilot and was two flights away from being PPC qualified when he was threatened with a FNAEB due to lack to situational awareness. In a fair world I think he has alot of arguments and quite possibly could beat this thing. But the P-3 is on its last leg and the squadrons are overmanned. And his squadron has a deadline to cut 3 pilots by July. So they are presuring him to Volununtary Terminate his flight status and in return he will get a good fit. rep. out of here and a co's recomendation for the November Lateral Transfer board. If he loses his FNAEB he will get a bad fit rep., no recommendation and have to sit in general aviation for a year before he could even go to a lateral transfer board. We have no one we can talk to about all this and get straight answers. He has just over 5 years so we have to stay in but I'm also afraid that even if he was picked up on this lateral transfer board that he would be behind on this fit. reps compared to his year group (00'). My husband was prior enlisted on subs. in the nuc. prog. then ROTC and now 5 years winged. He's a great officer and a good ( but not the best) pilot. We are now desperate... Going on a week and a half with no sleep mostly because we don't have answers. Looking for Anwers.
 

Brett327

Well-Known Member
None
Super Moderator
Contributor
I understand we (and probably even you as his wife) don't have all the details here, but it sounds suspicious to me. Although squadron politics can sometimes be a funny beast, a FNAEB is a tool available to apply when there is cause to evaluate a member's flying - not to cull the herd. If I can be blunt, if your husband does really suck to the extent that the command isn't comfortable with making him a PPC, then they may just be offering him an easy way out. It's really not all that uncommon. Every squadron has someone who just can't cut it and if you can't ever get PPC or MC during your initial sea tour, then your flying career is pretty much over. This probably isn't much comfort to you, but at the end of the day, it's the CO's call for who he wants to make PPC, so if he's not comfortable w/ your husband, then that's just how it goes.

Brett
 

Steve Wilkins

Teaching pigs to dance, one pig at a time.
None
Super Moderator
Contributor
Same is true in SWOdom. There are always a couple guys or gals that will not get their OOD qual, which for them means they don't have the option to go on and earn their wafare qual. Nowadays, they're done. They'll get a non-attainment letter for failure to qualify and soon processed out of the navy, with no chance for redesignation or lateral transfer. I only say this to give you some perspective.

If he has only been commissioned for 5 years, he is still fairly junior enough to lateral transfer to another community and still be a valuable asset to the organization. I think I can safely say that Gen Av is not a place a LT wants to be hanging out. You guys need to honestly assess the situation at hand and if you come to the conclusion that his flying career is over, accept it start making some phone calls to other communities' placement officers in Milington to get a feel for the climate. Other communities love to get warfare qualfied officers from lateral transfers. If you decide to go this route, find one or two that you think would be a good match up.

In my opinion, there are worse things that can happen. While none of this may sound encouraging, keep in mind it's just one man's opinion.
 

zab1001

Well-Known Member
pilot
Super Moderator
Contributor
Mefesto said:
Where are John and Zab to chime in on this???

Sorry I was "indisposed".

Voluntary terminate. With a family and factors affecting more than the pilot in question (kids?), this would be the smart move.

My sympathies, I've seen this happen before and it's a necessary option that still kind of sucks all around.
 

Scab

Registered User
pilot
FWIW, been through a FNAEB due to a mishap (class A). Whole experience took 4 months beginning to end. Stick a pencil in your eye painful (many different interviews, boards and witness statements), and at the end, the end of a long table and a long conversation with a 3 Star. My FNAEB was for a mechanical malfunction that led to me punching out of a plane...and it was still very, very painful (the FNAEB). Thankfully I'm back flying again.

The only good thing in your husbands situation concerning a FNAEB, are the various outcomes: possible A1- go back flying same model; to probation, same model; Xfer to a different aviation community; keep wings no longer fly(lat xfer), or lose wings get processed out (usually punitive).

Depending on your Husbands desire to fly, the FNAEB may be the route, but prepare for a painful process. If he feels aviation may no longer be the place to be, definately go with the Vol terminate and Lateral Transfer.

Hope this helps. Best of luck.

Scab
 

bunk22

Super *********
pilot
Super Moderator
I too have been through a FNAEB and it is indeed painful. I made it through okay but do have a mark in my log book. I also had to get the process ready for two FNAEB's due to poor performance by students. Letting one of them know he was getting FNAEB'ed was tough (not as tough on him obviously). The FNAEB is at times disciplinary in nature but threatening with that or turning in your wings doesn't make sense. Perhaps this is to simply save time and paper work? Probably more to it behind the scenes. I obviously don't know all the facts but sometimes, the FNAEB is necessary to weed out those who don't have what it takes. That means it may just save lives later on down the road. I'm not trying to say this is your case but sometimes, they are necessary evils.
 

Steve Wilkins

Teaching pigs to dance, one pig at a time.
None
Super Moderator
Contributor
bunk22 said:
That means it may just save lives later on down the road.
This was what I was kind of getting at when I said there are worse things that could happen.
 

zab1001

Well-Known Member
pilot
Super Moderator
Contributor
Have your husband look into the possibilty of transfering to a sister squadron at the same location. I saw 2 guys in the same situation come to my squadron for similar reasons. Basically the Wing decided to give them each one last shot. One guy just couldn't get the big picture, he is now a Weather Guesser with Navy METOC. The other guy did really well and became a great PPC. Shot in the dark, but couldn't hurt to ask around.
 

Kolja

Git-r-done
virtu050 said:
what might one get FNAEB'd for?

Automatically for a class A, but that's not at issue here.

Though I'm not privy to how the P-3 world works, in the VAQ community in the last couple years, a new instruction came out that said any first tour pilot or NFO who did not complete ACTC Level III (ie mission commander) within a certain number of months from checking into the squadron HAD to be FNAEB'ed. I've seen it a couple times where a somewhat subpar performer was basically given this same option. It went something like "look kid, you're not going to make level III, so we're either going to have to FNAEB you or you can punch out on your own..."
 

virtu050

P-8 Bubba
pilot
and this is common? any stats?

Kolja said:
Automatically for a class A, but that's not at issue here.

Though I'm not privy to how the P-3 world works, in the VAQ community in the last couple years, a new instruction came out that said any first tour pilot or NFO who did not complete ACTC Level III (ie mission commander) within a certain number of months from checking into the squadron HAD to be FNAEB'ed. I've seen it a couple times where a somewhat subpar performer was basically given this same option. It went something like "look kid, you're not going to make level III, so we're either going to have to FNAEB you or you can punch out on your own..."
 

skidkid

CAS Czar
pilot
Super Moderator
Contributor
Someon can talk to P-3 specifics but as a whole it does happen both green and blue the percentages are rare but it happens. What I have seen in skid land is that the new system at flgiht school is not attriting as many people. This coupled with a quality spread had caused 3-4 guys to be attrited from the RAG per year. Most dont go all the way to an FFPB (Marine for FNAEB) but they do leave the program.
 

Kolja

Git-r-done
As it's relatively new, stats (if they exist) are probably pretty low, but I think it's getting to happen more and more.
 

Goober

Professional Javelin Catcher
None
Same across the board for most Navy platforms. Level III in 24 months or find a new line of work. Seen it happen to several now.
 
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