E-6B Career Progression

[leaf001]

Just interested in what the career progression is for an NFO on the E-6B's....Do you go to a carrier for a disassociated sea tour or do you complete a joint tour with the Air Force?

How about command opportunities? Does being on an E6 close any doors that carrier guys have open for them?

Are you forced to limit your advancement opportunities to have the family-centered lifestyle?

 

[leaf001]

Thanks. I had tried the search function for E6B but came up short, TACAMO hit gold.

http://www.airwarriors.com/forum/showthread.php?t=133444&highlight=tacamo

 

[leaf001]

Being stationed out of an AF base and WRT the mission of the E6, an outsider might interpret that as the crew would have more interaction with the AF.

Straight information is hard to come by. I've found so much conflicting info through my searches that I'm even more confused as to what the duty is like/ what career opportunities are available.

What other missions could a strategic national asset take on? It was my understanding that these airframes rarely left national airspace.

Thank you for the straight scoop.

 

[e6bflyer]

Being stationed out of an AF base and WRT the mission of the E6, an outsider might interpret that as the crew would have more interaction with the AF.

Straight information is hard to come by. I've found so much conflicting info through my searches that I'm even more confused as to what the duty is like/ what career opportunities are available.

What other missions could a strategic national asset take on? It was my understanding that these airframes rarely left national airspace.

Thank you for the straight scoop.

Times are changing. The mission is mostly the same, but there are some new missions that the community has picked up (no doubt to ensure our survival well into the next decade) that aren't appropriate for discussion on this forum. Rand is right about the family-centered lifestyle. The community does as good as they can when it comes to that stuff (I was home for MOST holidays, birthdays, etc. and I don't know of anyone who had a baby born while deployed), but due to some overmanning issues in the last few years and SLEP (meaning less hours flown), you can expect to be gone about half the time if not a little more. It is sea duty for Pete's sake, just really easy sea duty.

 

[leaf001]

4 days a month? That's f'n ridiculous; and I thought life sucked on a tin can.

Has the rotation of VQ/VP's changed from the 8 weeks out/8 weeks in(VQ) and 18/6(VP)?

 

[scoober78]

From talking to the VP/VQ guys here at -35...there really isn't a "standard" cycle. Nearly everyone has said that its more "Standby for revision 6.0..."

Some VQ guys were pushing 9 months or more gone in a 12 month...some weren't. Expect the unexpected.

 

[leaf001]

Sounds like everyone is being stretched to the limit. No wonder why the continuation pay is so high.

 

[Gatordev]

Agreed, it sucks that guys aren't home as much anymore. I am just saying as sea duty goes....it's easy.

Still 4 more days than someone on a boat, which I understand to be your point.

As for the "other missions," flying w/ a relatively new IUT the other day and he was saying that that mission requirement is almost over. Not sure how time-late his info was, but probably not very.

 

[Ralph]

Is the standard deployment still 3 weeks gone 4 weeks home?

 

[Gator NFO]

e6bflyer

RMDL (s) Nora Tyson will be TACAMO's first active duty Admiral. She was TACAMO's first female Skipper, and she was the CO of VQ-4 when I checked into VQ-3 in '97. I didn't personally know her, but passing her in the p-way, she seemed like a good person, and the guys I knew in 4 liked her as a CO.

http://www.defenselink.mil/releases/release.aspx?releaseid=10795


RMDL Wendi Carpenter was a former TACAMO pilot, and she's now a reservist. http://www.navy.mil/navydata/bios/navybio.asp?bioID=66 There's another female reserve Admiral that was formerly in TACAMO, can't remember her name though.

I expect to see CAPT Klein leave USNA with a star. She was my last CO when I left TACAMO.

The females are ahead of the guys when it comes to making Admiral from TACAMO.

 

[e6bflyer]

e6bflyer

RMDL (s) Nora Tyson will be TACAMO's first active duty Admiral. She was TACAMO's first female Skipper, and she was the CO of VQ-4 when I checked into VQ-3 in '97. I didn't personally know her, but passing her in the p-way, she seemed like a good person, and the guys I knew in 4 liked her as a CO.

http://www.defenselink.mil/releases/release.aspx?releaseid=10795


RMDL Wendi Carpenter was a former TACAMO pilot, and she's now a reservist. http://www.navy.mil/navydata/bios/navybio.asp?bioID=66 There's another female reserve Admiral that was formerly in TACAMO, can't remember her name though.

I expect to see CAPT Klein leave USNA with a star. She was my last CO when I left TACAMO.

The females are ahead of the guys when it comes to making Admiral from TACAMO.

I didn't know that Tyson had gotten a star, although I had heard that was a possibility. As far as Klein, who knows? She was certainly a decent commodore, unlike a couple of her predecessors.
I was obviously grossly misinformed. I sit corrected, thanks for the info, GatorNFO.

 

[Gator NFO]

I did a google search and found the other former TACAMO pilot that is now a RDML (s) in the reserves. RDML (s) Robin R. Braun. http://www.navy.mil/navydata/bios/navybio.asp?bioID=379

 

[leaf001]

I just received an email from a guy that is in the RAG. Apparently, the flight engineers are really getting the short end of the stick and the "deployment" schedules for FO's is ~3 weeks out and 1 to 2 weeks in.

 

[SnipeDude]

I just received an email from a guy that is in the RAG. Apparently, the flight engineers are really getting the short end of the stick and the "deployment" schedules for FO's is ~3 weeks out and 1 to 2 weeks in.

Does anyone know if this OPTEMPO has improved?

 

[East]

I just received an email from a guy that is in the RAG. Apparently, the flight engineers are really getting the short end of the stick and the "deployment" schedules for FO's is ~3 weeks out and 1 to 2 weeks in.

Can you explain what this means?