Possible assignments out of cockpit following first operational tour

[TwosBlind]

After getting your MOS, getting your aircraft, and flying a few tours/deployments ive been told that most guys get temporarily "reassigned" to a different mission. For example, some pilots go to ground and serve a tour as a forward air controller, and in another instance i know a prowler pilot who is currently flying a Marine king air doing public relations for a couple years. I was told by my recruiter that The Corps likes to build "well ronded" officers and that is why they are kind of rotated into other temp assignments after a few years. My question is..are these assignments picked by the officers/pilots themselves or are they at the mercy of the corps?

Thanks guys

 

[WingForce87]

I have also wondered about this--what if you want to continue flying after your first tour? I just don't understand why you would spend so much time training to be a pilot and then be assigned to something else after one tour. It doesn't seem to make much sense to me.

 

[BarrettRC8]

I have also wondered about this--what if you want to continue flying after your first tour? I just don't understand why you would spend so much time training to be a pilot and then be assigned to something else after one tour. It doesn't seem to make much sense to me.

Marine Officer first, pilot second.

 

[skidkid]

You will be "up for orders" at some point after X number of years in a squadron. There are numerous options available to you and they have been discussed here in great detail. How you would go about getting one of these various jobs depends on numerous variables: #1 The needs of the Corps #2 The desires of the individual officer. Those two things are arbittrated by a Monitor, he will be a pilot doing a B billet filling all the various jobs out there. Your qualifications and proven track record will also influence where you go.

After many years in a squadron you might well be looking for the break a B billet offers.

 

[HeyJoe]

There are some detailed and very informative threads on this if you rummage around the forum

 

[phrogpilot73]

After getting your MOS, getting your aircraft, and flying a few tours/deployments ive been told that most guys get temporarily "reassigned" to a different mission. For example, some pilots go to ground and serve a tour as a forward air controller, and in another instance i know a prowler pilot who is currently flying a Marine king air doing public relations for a couple years. I was told by my recruiter that The Corps likes to build "well ronded" officers and that is why they are kind of rotated into other temp assignments after a few years. My question is..are these assignments picked by the officers/pilots themselves or are they at the mercy of the corps?

What skidkid said certainly applies. Your recruiter is right, the Marine Corps likes well rounded officers. They have been discussed ad naseum, but there are a number of B-Billets, both flying and non-flying that are open to pilots after their first tour (generally 4-5 years) in a squadron.

I have also wondered about this--what if you want to continue flying after your first tour? I just don't understand why you would spend so much time training to be a pilot and then be assigned to something else after one tour. It doesn't seem to make much sense to me.

You can continue flying. Some of the B-Billets are flying, some are not. Some people want a break from flying, some don't. Ultimately, what trumps it all is needs of the Marine Corps. Like skidkid said, the Monitor will balance the needs of the Marine Corps and what you want.

As for not making sense, I'll try to explain beyond the "Marine Officer first, Pilot second." The workhorse pilots in a squadron are the company grade officers for the most part. That's your first flying tour. After that, the Marine Corps is looking for you to round out your resume to be an effective MAGTF officer (think bigger, like future CO of a MEU). In order to do that, you may have to go on a B-Billet you don't like, or that's a non-flying B-Billet.

 

[WingForce87]

You can continue flying. Some of the B-Billets are flying, some are not. Some people want a break from flying, some don't. Ultimately, what trumps it all is needs of the Marine Corps. Like skidkid said, the Monitor will balance the needs of the Marine Corps and what you want.

As for not making sense, I'll try to explain beyond the "Marine Officer first, Pilot second." The workhorse pilots in a squadron are the company grade officers for the most part. That's your first flying tour. After that, the Marine Corps is looking for you to round out your resume to be an effective MAGTF officer (think bigger, like future CO of a MEU). In order to do that, you may have to go on a B-Billet you don't like, or that's a non-flying B-Billet.

That makes sense. So I guess after you go on that non-flying B-Billet, and then if you wished to return to flying, you probably could. Well, I'm sure I can handle not flying for a while. Thanks for the information!

 

[SemperGumbi]

I have also wondered about this--what if you want to continue flying after your first tour? I just don't understand why you would spend so much time training to be a pilot and then be assigned to something else after one tour. It doesn't seem to make much sense to me.

There are many highly trained (read: lots of money invested) Officers who are religated to something little more than a desk clerk for some tours. Is this a smart finincial decision? I don't think so, but hey, I'm way down the totem pole. There are some positions that are awesome career wise but the most important thing you do is really make coffee for someone with a much higher rank than you. And we aren't just talking JO types, either. I knew 06's who basically answered phones and did filling all day. They looked at the situation with a very grim sense of amusement. And these aren't sh*tbags, they were looking to screen for flag.

And what about the guys who don't want to be a CO but would rather be a subject matter expert for their weapons system and continue flying while having awesome expertise to bring to the fight? Well, in all reality the Military doesn't seem to have a really good way to address that. They are an up-or-out organization. That has some really good benefits, but also some drawbacks, like the two previous examples.

It's the current system. Perhaps there is a better solution, but it is the system. It works, and you can try to work around it if you are willing to sacrifice. Or you could go be an Army WO and be a high hour guy with vast knowledge. But then you have to be in teh Army, so there's that.

 

[phrogdriver]

The Army system has some bad unintented consequences, too, like leaders of large aviation units having less flying experience than a first tour WO.

The up-or-out thing is a truism in the military. There was an article in last month's Gazette about adopting a civilian model for promotion, where you could more easily fasttrack superstars (think colonel by 35), shitcan losers, and keep talented specialists where they can used their talents. Unfortunately, in our current paradigm, if you eliminated up-or-out, distinguishing between those who want to be career pilots from the merely lazy would be difficult. You have to be able to attrite mid-career officers.

Anyway, you can make major staying all in the cockpit. LtCol is a little harder, but can be done, and I'm damn sure trying. I'm going to give 20 years in the cockpit a shot. I'm just a couple months shy of 13 now, with a squadron tour coming soon!

Making colonel while staying entirely in the cockpit is almost impossible, though.

 

[TwosBlind]

search turned up a good thread or two on the subject...sounds like pilots really get screwed around sometimes as far as b billet. Do the other services do things this way as far as the flyers are concerned?

 

[phrogdriver]

Screwed? I'll take a Marine FAC tour over the Navy's disassociated sea tour any day. Handler, anyone?

Like anything, there are good and bad ones, but out of my year group at my squadron, we all got pretty close to what we wanted.

Usually the guys who get truly burned on their first (captain-level) B billets had it coming--their command got a levy for a bad deal and said, "Eeny, meeny, miney, shitbag."

As you get more senior, the good deals like flt school, FRS, etc get fewer, though.

 

[WingForce87]

As for me, I'm not sure what it will take to fly the majority of my career in the Marines, but I'm sure gonna do all I can to be able to. If I could get a good 10-15 years of being in the cockpit, I think I would be happy.

 

[Birdog8585]

Figured I would resurect an old thread rather than start a new one...

Ok so other than the usual (FAC, TBS, OCS, BN Air Officer, MOI, FRS, FLT School, USNTPS, OSO) what are some of the not-so-often heard of billets available to aviators. I have heard of Embassy type billets. But are those flying billets or are you the sitting Embasy district XO?

What about OSA (C-12, C-21, C-9) billets? Career killer?

I went on the manpower website but you can only get so far with out a CAC card and I don't feel like driving my lazy pajama wearing ass to the squadron on a Saturday if I don't have to.

 

[phrogdriver]

There are few "career-killers" out there, just positions off the beaten path. The further you go off the beaten path, the more care you have to take to get back on it after that tour. I.e. take the station pilot job, but you'd better come right back to the fleet after 3years, and not apply to be a NROTC MOI or something.

The embassy jobs have a limited number of billets open to any officer MOS and given to the different monitors by allocation. They aren't flying jobs, but are usually jobs at the HQ for a given region. One would typically spend a lot of time on the road checking up on the various embassies in the reqion.

 

[exhelodrvr]

I have also wondered about this--what if you want to continue flying after your first tour? I just don't understand why you would spend so much time training to be a pilot and then be assigned to something else after one tour. It doesn't seem to make much sense to me.

Easy: X amount of flying billets, X + Y amount of pilots.