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Cutter or Flight School for Ensign tour?
- Thread starter SamAca10
- Start date
EA hit it. A few small additions:
I got to run three divisions for almost two years- Had a dozen or so guys in those shops. You won't get ANY personnel management at flight school or likely not much at your first unit in aviation. I also got to go out and do the missions (LE mostly, some SAR) which gave me some understanding and some motivation for learning to fly. "Knowing" the Coast Guard an being a subject matter specialist on some of the stuff we do was nice. Going operational was also a great break from being in school and it was also nice to go into the Navy school house as a JG.
Disadvantages: You'll have folks from your class, or the class behind you that will be more senior in the aircraft. A couple of the pilots from my wifes class that work in NOLA are already aircraft commanders...I'll be a little while longer before I make it. Not really a "bad" - Just can be tough for some folks to deal with. You will also have the "normal" career path...so you may only eek out two flights tours before you need staff or grad school.
I got to run three divisions for almost two years- Had a dozen or so guys in those shops. You won't get ANY personnel management at flight school or likely not much at your first unit in aviation. I also got to go out and do the missions (LE mostly, some SAR) which gave me some understanding and some motivation for learning to fly. "Knowing" the Coast Guard an being a subject matter specialist on some of the stuff we do was nice. Going operational was also a great break from being in school and it was also nice to go into the Navy school house as a JG.
Disadvantages: You'll have folks from your class, or the class behind you that will be more senior in the aircraft. A couple of the pilots from my wifes class that work in NOLA are already aircraft commanders...I'll be a little while longer before I make it. Not really a "bad" - Just can be tough for some folks to deal with. You will also have the "normal" career path...so you may only eek out two flights tours before you need staff or grad school.
SamAca10
New Member
I can see how knowing more about our service would be nice when going to a Navy school, but are there any disadvantages to being a JG in flight school? One of my teachers today mentioned that his classmate just finished up with flight school...as a LT. He didn't get recommended for it off of his cutter so went to a sector for awhile. One of our company officers also has a classmate who went to flight school after skippering an 87'. How usual is it for people to go to flight school 3rd tour? I thought there would be cut offs for that.
So those disadvantages...is it a "pride" type of thing? People have trouble coming to terms with a person from the class behind them being more senior in the cockpit? In regards to two flight tours...will those who go straight to flight school get at least 3 tours before they need staff or grad school? I'm sure you at least get better collateral duties than those who go straight to flight school...what about the people who spend their first 2 tours doing other things, like the two cases above? Will they get two flight tours as well?
Thanks for your answers!
So those disadvantages...is it a "pride" type of thing? People have trouble coming to terms with a person from the class behind them being more senior in the cockpit? In regards to two flight tours...will those who go straight to flight school get at least 3 tours before they need staff or grad school? I'm sure you at least get better collateral duties than those who go straight to flight school...what about the people who spend their first 2 tours doing other things, like the two cases above? Will they get two flight tours as well?
Thanks for your answers!
Disadvantages to being a JG in flight school-Not really. You get paid more for the same amount of responsibility as every other stud-That's not too bad. You do run a higher chance of being the most senior person in any given class/study group-Also not a huge deal if you remember everyone is a student.
I can't recall exactly...but you need to have been selected or reported in prior to making LT and meet the age requirements.
It can be difficult to swallow for someone that an officer junior to them is a pilot senior to them. There are guys/gals at my Air Sta who I outrank in # order but they are Air craft commanders and I am not. That bothers some people.
You are not guaranteed anything in regards to # of flight billets...but the longer you have before you need to go to the LCDR board-The better your chances are to keep flying. Conversely- The sooner you go to the board (like coming out of flight school as an LT) the more work you'll need to do to be ready for the LCDR board. IE-There is an LCDR here that is on flying job #3 and was a "normal" pilot- went to a boat and then flight school and etc etc. There is an LT here who is not yet an AC because between the boat and an MSST - he went almost 5 full years before flight school. He got a dept head job because he goes to the LCDR board this promotion year and is trying to make AC as fast as humanly possible. So there are exceptions to every "norm"
As far as collaterals go-Not really. I made LT about a month after I showed up at my Air Sta and didn't get any amazing deal on collaterals. Flight Services is important...but pretty menial as far as jobs go...but it has to get done and I was there to do it. Collaterals are more about what you make of them anyways.
I hope that all makes sense.
Lots of good advice up above. Me? If given the opportunity to go directly to Flight Training...do that and don't think even ONCE about it...let alone twice. If a first-tour cutter gig is what you get...make the very most of it...pay a lot of attention to any "stressors" you observe between the crew and the aviation det, and remember what caused those. Your conundrum is kinda like having to choose between the "our signature smoky short ribs" and the "world-famous pulled pork sandwich" on a menu...you ain't gonna f**k it up, my friend.
I recently learned this little factoid, never had a clue that was how the CG did business. It's a non-issue in the Navy, especially for the helo guys who have WO's as HACs. Routinely a junior officer will sign for an A/C with a senior pilot, especially if the senior guy isn't current on something (which is usually the case
)
No, I think it will help you. I went to Navy Dive School (scuba), and having a demanding Navy school under your belt will, (IMO) assist the board in thinking that you can do well under stress.
SamAca10
New Member
That's good to hear that you can go to dive school and then fly. How's dive school/dive operations/buoy tender life? I would like to go to flight school straight out, but doing dive school, afloat, then flight school wouldn't be a bad deal at all.
Well, I was prior enlisted and went to Dive School at that time, so I'm in a different boat (cutter?) than you. I was on a 180' out of Hawaii, diving around the islands as well as diving off Kwajalein Atoll, Midway, Pohnepei, Tarawa, Palmyra and a few other little Pacific islands that I've forgotten.
How was it?
It was the freaking ballz, that's how it was.
Morale was high, we were underway for 1-2 weeks at a time, except for an annual 2 month cruise to the farther reaches, got to get away from the boat a bit when diving, diving is fun, and when we were done doing dive work around the buoy we would do a little sight-seeing or bug-hunting (slipper lobsters) while the buoy was being worked on deck.
The best non-flying tour I've had, by far.
How was it?
It was the freaking ballz, that's how it was.
Morale was high, we were underway for 1-2 weeks at a time, except for an annual 2 month cruise to the farther reaches, got to get away from the boat a bit when diving, diving is fun, and when we were done doing dive work around the buoy we would do a little sight-seeing or bug-hunting (slipper lobsters) while the buoy was being worked on deck.
The best non-flying tour I've had, by far.