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Advanced Maritime to Reserves?

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bluesmobile

P-3 copilot
pilot
Rumor has it that when you get winged in the P-3 pipeline, you might be headed to a reserve squadron and fly other multiengine aircraft instead (C-130, C-12, C-9, etc). I think a majority of the recently winged aviators will still be headed for the P-3 FRS, but some will go elsewhere as active reserves. Anybody have any info on this?
 

zab1001

Well-Known Member
pilot
Super Moderator
Contributor
You're in prop advanced right now, has anyone winged been sent to a reserve squadron lately? Where's your gouge coming from? That's pretty big news, and sending an active duty O-1 or O-2 to a reserve squadron would require some kind of TAR set up. That and those guys aren't hurting for people by any means (and if they are, where can I sign up...). Is there some kind of back-up at the FRS or is the Maritime Pipeline clogged up right now? Going active in a reserve squadron as a newbie would suck pretty bad, since everyone is severely senior to you. I had an old squadron buddy get a C-12 station pilot at a large NAS (name withheld for his well-being) and he said the already limited flight hours were being sucked up by the reserve guys trying to build time, not to mention getting drive-by tasking all day every day. I'd also be pretty pissed about not going to the fleet.

A few years ago, they sent a bunch (ok, like 5-7) of new Navy wingers to the USCG to fly Falcons, since there was a huge gap in their pipeline. Those guys did 3 yrs with them, and then followed on with P-3 FRS and a fleet tour. That's all good, but that also burned thier initial commitments, and if they wanted to stay in, no shore tour, straight to the boat baby.
 

bluesmobile

P-3 copilot
pilot
The rumors are coming from the students in advanced...I haven't started yet, and don't class up until next month. There have been quite a few P-3 slots selected in the past few months (4 of the 8 slots in my squadron's selection were P-3, and this has been fairly common), so I would guess the FRS could be looking at a backup, if they don't have one already. Anybody nearing their winging date that can shed some light on this?

As for my preference, I would definitely choose the fleet over the reserves option...I really wouldn't feel like I was in the Navy if I went straight from flight school to being someone's chauffer. Definitely not what I envisioned my career to be like when I signed the paper...
 

Flash

SEVAL/ECMO
None
Super Moderator
Contributor
Like Zab said, the reserve squadrons already have a bunch of out of work airline pilots scrambling for time, I doubt they would send a brand new wingee there. If they did, expect to be bi#$% boy/girl when you are there, even O-3's are rare, almost everyone is an O-4 or above.

As for the C-12's, they are getting rid of some of them. Whidbey got rid of theirs in May or June.

Ofcourse, who am I to dispute the word of a flight student? They are just as infallible as a new boot camp grad or API stud.
 
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