• Please take a moment and update your account profile. If you have an updated account profile with basic information on why you are on Air Warriors it will help other people respond to your posts. How do you update your profile you ask?

    Go here:

    Edit Account Details and Profile

Fastest Pipeline to Afghanistan?

Deror

Deror

How can I make this thread more awkward?
Quick question for anyone in the know or $.02 to throw in the pot.

I'm at the very beginning of flight school. With Afghanistan wrapping up, what platform and coast is most likely to get me over there? I know statistically there will be some other dictator/shithole in a decade or so, but I'd really like to get in this one if at all possible.
 
Quickest way to the fleet is rotary wing. However, don't make decisions in haste. Shitcanistan will end, then you're stuck in a platform/community that you may or may not like for the better part of a decade. Plus, who's to say that you ever get there to begin with? You could end up in the ACE on a MEU... Way too many variables for you to make life decisions based on wanting to get in the fight.

Not to mention, the Commandant said the USMC is done in Afghanistan next year. No platform or coast will get you there, unless you're winging next week...
 
Deror said:
Quick question for anyone in the know or $.02 to throw in the pot.

I'm at the very beginning of flight school. With Afghanistan wrapping up, what platform and coast is most likely to get me over there? I know statistically there will be some other dictator/shithole in a decade or so, but I'd really like to get in this one if at all possible.
Click to expand...

Don't wish for war, wish for peace, train for war. Consider yourself lucky if you never get shot at. Your time will come, focus on getting your wings before worrying about Afghanistan.
 
Thank you for the reply sir. I'd heard politicians talk about getting out next year, but I didn't know the CMC had said that. Looks like I'll catch the next one. Thanks again.
 
I agree with biker boy, concentrate on your training. No need to stress yourself over what the policy makers decide upon.
 
We'll be in Afghanistan "en masse" until the end of 2014, then to a lesser extent after that, FWIW. Concur with the others - war sucks and so does getting shot at. To glamorize or fetishize it now will just lead to disappointment. We all want to practice our art. Trust us when we say, "you'll get your chance."

Brett
 
Brett327 said:
We'll be in Afghanistan "en masse" until the end of 2014, then to a lesser extent after that, FWIW. Concur with the others - war sucks and so does getting shot at. To glamorize or fetishize it now will just lead to disappointment. We all want to practice our art. Trust us when we say, "you'll get your chance."

Brett
Click to expand...

^Wut he sed.

I get where you're coming from OP, but I think you'll find the novelty wears off pretty quickly and it starts to suck.... a lot. Going to a "combat" zone sounds really cool and novel until you realize that people are actually trying to kill you.
 
I remember when I was 19 and wanted nothing more to get orders to Iraq. Well, if you want it bad enough, sometimes you get what you wish for. 15 months worth of deployment later, I wanted to look back and kick 19 year old me's ass.

The moral of the story is this, don't be in such a hurry to get to war. If you want to know what a combat zone has to offer, have someone shove a dildo up your back side without any lube and I imagine the sensation would be about the same as being in Afghanistan. For added reality, you can place a burning can of feces nearby as the act is performed.

Just my $.02, YMMV
 
Thank you all for your replies and your service to our country. I fully believe you when you say that war/combat will suck, and I don't want to deploy because it's "cool/novel". I simply don't want to miss doing my share as you all have done.
 
Deror said:
Thank you all for your replies and your service to our country. I fully believe you when you say that war/combat will suck, and I don't want to deploy because it's "cool/novel". I simply don't want to miss doing my share as you all have done.
Click to expand...

Even worse than just wanting to get in the fight, is watching your unit get ready to deploy while you'll still be in middle of training. Like you, at some point I'd like to deploy, otherwise I wouldn't be particularly good at the job I signed up for. Being down in the mud was one of the primary reason I decided to go the route I did and watching my unit getting ready to go into the thick of it, knowing I won't be going, sucks. Especially when the likelihood of another deployment with the current state of affairs is rapidly diminishing.

That being said, running around as a military aviator, even during peacetime certainly isn't a bad gig. I figure I'll try and enjoy it while it lasts, because eventually our time will come. Try to find a time in last century when we've gone more than around 20 years without some sort of a conflict. As others have mentioned, select based on what you want to fly. When that time comes, it's a lot better for the country to have you enthusiastic and kicking ass in whatever that is.

I try to be philosophical about it. In the rescue business it's a mixed bag, if we're out of a job, it's ultimately a good thing. For all I know, after I finish training I could never deploy, but what that also means is our planes aren't getting shot down and unlike now, the guys on the ground aren't getting seriously wounded or dying. That's a trade off I can live with.
 
Original Poster:

My guess is it doesn't matter what platform you choose, you will not go to Afghanistan. I joined in early 2007, got my wings in 2010, and I won't be going either.

To be perfectly honest, in this conflict it is probably just as dangerous for a jet guy to go do Mojave Viper in 29 Palms than to go to the 'Stan. Not sure about the helo perspective so I won't speak for them.

"Sic pacem para belum" (sp?). Got it. We have all heard it. We all understand it. However, its a little different being an aviator and thinking "Hey, if the grunts are going to be in harms way, I want to be there to help them."

God Speed 1/8.
 
Im going to second "Pourts" when I say that unless something sigsignificantly changes in the current conflict you will not find yourself in Afghanistan. Fear not, im certain you'll get your chance.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top