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Fired up 13 year old looking to join ranks of USMC Pilots

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GO_AV8_DevilDog

GO_AV8_DevilDog

Round 2...
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When A4's was 13, he was asking for advice on how to become a NA over one of these puppies:

telegraph1.jpg

:p
 
A

ag74683

New Member
just browsing through this real quickly, saw something about CAP...

I was in Civil Air Patrol for a bit, and while I may ruffle some feathers by saying this, its a joke. To me, it seemed like a bunch of old guys playing dress up. They never got ANYTHING done, it took forever to get uniforms, none of the very few activities we participated in was interesting...

That may have just been my local CAP wing, but I have a suspicion they are all like that. IMO, Boy Scouts is a MUCH better option. While I did learn some military practices (marching, all the footwork, getting my uniform set up correctly), I dont believe it will be practical in the long run. You do learn some Air Craft history, but its mostly from an Air Force point of view, very little interaction with anything Marine or Navy. I was in it about a year, and only made it to Airmen Second Class or something because it was so uninteresting, and a TON of drama (Cadet CO's dating girls in group for one..)

Do boy scouts, and once you hit high school do ROTC and continue boy scouts as well (even if you dont go to the Marines in the long run, they are good on a resume...). If you go the college route, do ROTC there as well, MUCH more practical than CAP.

EDIT*

Did forget to mention, the only useful thing I could see with CAP, is that it puts you on a pretty good track to get your PPL. Im was not particularly interested in doing any actual piloting myself so this was kind of a null point for me.
 
T

Tovarish1

Account won't be used 'til further notice...
heyjoe said:
Both worthy goals, just don't expect to be both. Either one requires your full attention.



You're young enough to pick any one of several paths that lead to flight school:

US Naval Academy (USNA) where you compete to be a marine and for flight school

Platoon Leaders Class (PLC) during college with aviation contract

Officer Candidate School (OCS) after college with aviation contract

You can also enlist and try for a USNA or OCS slot, but Warrant Officer option is not a USMC path to flight school (don't confuse USMC with Army that features a majority of Warrant Officers that do bulk of flying)

Don't sweat the ASTB. Check out the threads here and the study guides. You have 5 years or so to get ready and if you use that time wisely, you'll ace it.

Like others said, get into sports, team sports and look at PFT threads. If you're not a strong runner or done many pull-ups, get on those as soon as you can.
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Oh yeah about the 5 more years thing. I'm gonna start studying for it when I'm about 18 but here's what I never got. You're suppose to be 18+ years of age to be a pilot, but you need a BA, and most people get a BA at around 22. So shouldn't the age requirement be 22+ to be a pilot or is 18+ just to get into indoc or something like that? By the way, if I take JROTC when I'm a HS freshman, should I put JROTC on the education part of a resume?
 
T

Tovarish1

Account won't be used 'til further notice...
ag74683 said:
just browsing through this real quickly, saw something about CAP...

I was in Civil Air Patrol for a bit, and while I may ruffle some feathers by saying this, its a joke. To me, it seemed like a bunch of old guys playing dress up. They never got ANYTHING done, it took forever to get uniforms, none of the very few activities we participated in was interesting...

That may have just been my local CAP wing, but I have a suspicion they are all like that. IMO, Boy Scouts is a MUCH better option. While I did learn some military practices (marching, all the footwork, getting my uniform set up correctly), I dont believe it will be practical in the long run. You do learn some Air Craft history, but its mostly from an Air Force point of view, very little interaction with anything Marine or Navy. I was in it about a year, and only made it to Airmen Second Class or something because it was so uninteresting, and a TON of drama (Cadet CO's dating girls in group for one..)

Do boy scouts, and once you hit high school do ROTC and continue boy scouts as well (even if you dont go to the Marines in the long run, they are good on a resume...). If you go the college route, do ROTC there as well, MUCH more practical than CAP.

EDIT*

Did forget to mention, the only useful thing I could see with CAP, is that it puts you on a pretty good track to get your PPL. Im was not particularly interested in doing any actual piloting myself so this was kind of a null point for me.
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I kinda thought about that too. Putting the fact that you were part of ROTC on your resume is really really useful, boy scouts are pretty useful, and CAP might be pretty useful too, getting some hands on experience. I read CAP meets one Saturday every month and I'm kinda busy on Saturdays all the time anyway so I probably should go back to Boy Scouts. Problem is, is that again, my den # became inactive but I'll have to check it out. W/e it takes. And don't worry, I'll join the Marines. I wouldn't be on this forum if I wasn't planning to lol. There are just too many options and sort of a little time. I don't know but I'll probably never know what CAP is like until I try it myself. Sorry that it's so long.

Godspeed said:
I don't think this is a 13 year old boy we're dealing with.
ChrisHanson.png
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lol why do you say that? That's what a Marine said to me once on a forum called Leatherneck he's like : "Are you sure you're 13?" lol.
 
HeyJoe

HeyJoe

Fly Navy! ...or USMC
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Tovarish1 said:
Oh yeah about the 5 more years thing. I'm gonna start studying for it when I'm about 18 but here's what I never got. You're suppose to be 18+ years of age to be a pilot, but you need a BA, and most people get a BA at around 22. So shouldn't the age requirement be 22+ to be a pilot or is 18+ just to get into indoc or something like that?
Click to expand...

You're thinking too hard about it and worrying about things that aren't consequential (like minimum age; people graduate from college much younger than 21 especially if they skip grades along the way). Depending on which path you take, you'll be faced with different tests or "filters" you have to pass to continue towards flight school.
 
T

Tovarish1

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AJTranny said:
Hey man, best of luck to you. I'd take this job over anything else out there. I just want to emphasize to stay away from drugs. Some of your friends may start messing around with that stuff soon and the military wants nothing to do with a kid that's into that. I'm sure you know better, but peer pressure can be tough. Keep your eye on the ball. I look forward to sharing the skies with you in another 9 years or so.
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Hey thanks. Yeah I'll give up my friends (I know crazy) just to do this job. But sometimes I look up at the sky and see those fighter jets overhead sometimes and I'm like...yeeeeah....

heyjoe said:
...and resist temptation to "get ink done". Getting a Tattoo waiver or removal is another headache/delay you can avoid.
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Oh yeah. I'm not getting a tattoo. I was considering it but then I thought that I'm gonna get it, but in a few years I won't want it anymore.

The signature Can't Truck it? F-- it!...? that one. That was a sig that another guy on my friends list had on a USMC forum. Sounded catchy but yeah you're completely right. My new one I think is better. I'll admit that some of the things I type up on forums won't impress anyone but yeah.

I guarantee you they've changed too much already. But then I saw a show on the Military channel called "Great Planes" and I fell in love with aviation and dog fighting.

I'd rather enjoy aviation than my youth. There are things I enjoy in youth... I just gotta think of them.
 
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