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Short answer: most first your aviators go to San Diego/Lemoore or Norfolk/VA Beach. After that things get more diverse.

I think the correct way to ask that question is "where is the flight line stored?" ;)

In other news, it looks like they've adopted a working uniform as equally retarded as the NWU.

They're also soliciting HSC guys to go 53s to try to help get some diversity in that community.

It's "real enough" to get you DQ'd from aviation and is way more thorough than any other flight physical I've ever had in the Navy so don't take it too lightly.

This is pretty amazing stuff.

Damnit. You beat me to it. We called it that for the whole boat det that we were on with it. Pretty fitting.

Obviously there are guys who will stay no matter what. Even if that means making less money. That's not the argument here. The argument here is that making the military "competitive with the civilian world" by making it have the same retirement structure is not good for business because the...

Just one: how are we going to shut down the carrier L/R cycle while we land what is essentially an H53 every day? I watched it during the testing and it looked to me like everyone wanted it so badly to be the "new C-2" and refused to accept the idea that it's a giant helo when it's on deck.

You're living in a dream world of you think that quality people are going to stick around purely for the hell of it. That whole "yut yut" / "I'm gonna be popeye the sailor man" bullshit thing wears off about 5 minutes into boot camp for about 90% of recruits and within the first 12 months in the...

I agree with you. I'm here for the same reason. And I happen to like my O3 pay too. But you and I arent the people in talking about. I'm talking about senior enlisted primarily. I've had numerous enlisted 'get out' under the current system having already had 8+ years of service under their belts...

Yes there will always be career guys. The question lies with what kind of quality you'll be retaining when the juice isn't worth the squeeze to stay in for deployments and all of the other crap that goes along with being in the Navy. If you can roll out at 10 years and get some GS job or a job...

If you think that this change in retirement plan is going to result in you, or anyone else, ending up with more hours in your logbook, bombs to drop, good deal CCXs to go on, or per diem in your wallet then you're living in a dream. And the 83% aren't "winning" anything. They're simply getting...

Any idea what the changes to TRICARE are going to be? You keep saying it's not pretty but what is "it"?

THIS!! The current retirement plan is one of the best retention tools that we have. Keeping talented and hardworking people in at both officer and enlisted pay grades is going to be incredibly difficult when they get out, take some GS job, and make about 5x as much. Why stay in after 10 years...

How fast is the osprey flying approaches? I feel like the actual instrument knowledge from primary carried over well to advanced and tied together well.

Pardon my ignorance here, but is there really a necessity to put them through the instrument syllabus in the T6? Why not just treat them like a helo guy and do the instrument (read normal HTs) syllabus at South Whiting?

Or you get to be the lucky guy that comes in the next day and flies it for 5 hours chasing vibe runs. ;) It's hit or miss on those things...mostly miss though!

FWIW, in the HSC community I average about 15. Some months as low as 5 hours and then some as high as 45+ hours. The 45 hour months are rare. 25 hours is more normal for busy months and 10 hours is more normal slower months. To reiterate what has been said, it all depends on workups and what...

So basically, welcome to helos my point nosed brethren. The land of milk and honey (and tailhook and per diem) shall now become the land of outcast with follow on orders to South Whiting. You too will soon be CAGs red-headed step-child. Prepare yourselves. ;)

Unless you have a reason to come to Norfolk, then don't. For me it was family. I have 3 hours North and 7 hours South. Buying a house here is insane. 300k for new construction that was built next to a crackhouse/section 8 housing? No Thanks. Rental market is also much higher than what it should...

Yeah I know it does. Just hoping that my future employer isn't one of these types of places. Anyone who says having an Engineering/Tech degree is "no better than (insert basket weaving here)" is lying to themselves or pissed off about how they wasted their time in college. Sorry, but that's the...

Making all of those assertions based on a 1 page piece of paper? Sounds like a great place to work.

Chix and Ghent are nice. If you want to live close to work then the North Granby drive/Bayview area isn't bad. It's nice to be right by the gate and you're never more than 2 miles from the gate so the morning traffic is a non-issue. 5 of the guys in my squadron (myself included) live over here...

Most John Q Taxpayers that I know personally don't seem to have a problem with giving a guy his pension who served in the military for 20 years. There are still a lot of people who are perfectly fine with saying, "You can have that. I'll keep my day job" when it comes to talking about what we do...

It costs millions to fully train a Naval Aviator. Sims be damned. Ain't nothing cheap about that. I would gladly sit down with good ole "John Q" and explain to him why. And in the process I'll explain to him all about how his job doesn't require 9-10 month deployments, extremely hazardous work...

20 year retirement seems to be everyone's favorite punching bag these days but what about those Aviators and SWOs and whatnot that we spend millions to train and just end up getting out because they have no choice? There's your retirement money right there. Stop getting rid of people who want to...

Just a few points: -Everyone fails something or fucks something up along the way. EVERYONE. The system is setup to challenge you and force you to learn, get qualified, and get smart as fast as possible. If it's easy, you're probably not doing it right. -Airsickness gets A LOT of people. Like...

That's because he's one individual who's butthurt about how he didn't get to fly an F15 or his small dick or some shit. Military Aviation and our aviators are, for the most part, MUCH safer and MUCH more competent than what this type of comment would insinuate.

I think what he's referring to is letting LTs stay LTs and re-route them back to a fleet squadron or instructor billets vice just handing their walking papers if they don't pick up DH. Every system has it's downfalls, but for a bunch of people who bitch about "not having enough money" and...

Point 3 is something I agree with a lot. One of the biggest money holes in our system is the fact that we're essentially throwing away trained aviators, mechs, ship-drivers, etc... because we live in an 'up or out' system. There are plenty of good JOs and Enlisted that we are losing to a broken...

Don't mess with the Capt Ron crap. Focus on flying. No one cares if all you have is a McDonalds Ribbon right now. We all know how it works 'round here. You WILL get your pistol qual at a minimum when you get to your fleet squadron. Us helo guys still get the M4 qual too. And if you're real...

What cracks me up is that she's got her own set of pink david clarks!!

Norfolk is fine. The hipster crowd in Ghent is cool and there are some cool restaurants. Things to do usually aren't lacking. The city overall is kind of a mess and is very street by street in terms of liveability or whatever. It's not San Diego or Hawaii and J-ville is overall a nicer place.

Don't get wrapped around the axle about the whole officer first, pilot second thing. Especially based on some crap your dad said because he read a book or two. The shit they say in military books and the actuality of being in the military are two different things. Just gey commissioned, do a...

Let it go. Being a prior doesn't make you a special ENS or whatever. If you show with a shitty attitude and a sense of entitlement then you're probably not helping anyone. Helping people with ribbons or BS or whatever is great so don't get me wrong. That's why it's a good thing to have prior-Es...

...and, God forbid, fly the whole time? Say it ain't so!!

Hasn't that always pretty much been the way it is? Transferring throws you off the "golden path" and, compared to your buddies in your new community, you don't have any quals or experience.

Hearing it from someone's mouth directly to your ear when they're standing there saying to their son/daughter to get out and take the better paychecks on the civilian side because "the Navy isn't what it used to be" is a little different than "reading a dozen clickbait headlines." YMMV in this...

I would like to also add that these two are NOT the first ones I've heard who said they wouldn't. I've personally heard retired Officers and Chiefs alike who gaff at what the Navy has become in the last 20 years. So while I have appreciated my time and, like I said, would do it again, I...

Google the Navy PRT standards. I think that, for a girl, you running 25 miles a week and doing 52 pushups and 63 curlups means you should be pretty good to go. I wasn't a ROTC guy though so they may have more stringent standards than the minimums during the admissions process.

I think a lot of people in the Navy would still use these statements to describe how we operate. Pilots going through 2 years of flight school to do 1 flying tour and then never see a grey aircraft again means something is pretty broken over on our side too. Albeit that may be helo community...

We keep the aux tanks in all the birds and most squadrons have the EWS (DAP style) wings at least half their birds. With 2 pilots and 2 crewman in there and 3700lbs of fuel we're almost always around 21.5k. Sometimes we are at max gross weight w/ass and trash in the back and we have the C...

In a heartbeat and I don't even know how the next 6 years OR 14 years are going to go yet.

I'd be very interested to see how much a -60 weighs without any blade fold installed. Kind of an all else equal situation just to see exactly how much all of the harnesses, motors, and hinges add to the weight of the bird. FFWS are great. Kinda wish the Navy had gotten us the 30mm instead of...

Oh great, we finally found a use for our birds other than plane guard and vertrep and it's in a whole other service. :)

I'll second the above. You will have fun wherever you go. Every community has their ups and downs.

FWIW, the examiner that signed me off said to keep all of those grade sheets because they SHOULD say "INST X Complete" on them and then your INST X paperwork is other proof that you have been signed off as an instrument capable pilot in the military. The SFS should in the front of your logbook...

You may want to look into this again. The FAR/AIM changed a couple years ago as it relates to military equivalency. The verbology that said "signoff in logbook within previous 12 months" (in order to get the endorsement) to just say "signoff in logbook". So the word of the law is now that you...