former DI/ Grunt turning NFO needing mentor/gouge

[killdaddy]

I am a former SSgt of Marines who is now the latest 2nd LT to come out of Penn State and the MECEP program there. I have NFO orders and could use any helpful information related to NFO training and Marine Corps aviation in general. Also, I am married with two young children who will need to be in grade school while I train in Pensacola. Any advice on schools for my children or housing would be greatly appriciated. Thanks.

 

[Pat1USMC]

Congrats on getting an NFO slot. I'm graduating from NFO primary tomorrow. Its been pretty awesome. Tough as hell, but great training. I could give you some more gauge on it, but to be honest, if you haven't gone to TBS yet, by the time you get down here you'll probably train in the new T-6, which will be pretty different from what i hear. For the first several months anyway... Basically, you'll do API, Primary, Intermediate, and then Advanced Strike or Strike Fighter depending on whether you select Hornets or Prowlers. All at Pensacola. You'll train in every aicraft we have down here. Marines are "lucky." We get to train in the T-34, T-1, T-39, and T-2.2
As for schools around here, i don't have any kids, so i can't really give you too much info. I could find out for you though. I don't think its too hard to get housing on base though. I know several guys who live on base and they love it. Some had to wait like 3 months though. But since you'll be at NAS Pensacola the whole time, thats not too bad. I live off base at Governors Gate apartments. Really really nice. Theres plenty of nice houses around though.

Well let me know about any specific info you need. I'll be more than happy to help you out.

 

[jwnole]

Schools: McArthur Elem., Lipscomb Elem., Ferry Pass Elem., Scenic Heights Elem., all good public schools. Stay away from OJ Semmes, Belleview, Brentwood. I am very familiar with the area and neighborhoods. Write me if you need.

Josh
Future OC, USMC

 

[webmaster]

Congrats! As for your question, when I went through API and Primary, I had a house in the Scenic Heights area of Pensacola, a really good area, and both my kids went to Scenic Heights Elementary. Nothing but good things to say about that school.

We did the typical things first, went online to the Florida Dept Of Education website and looked up all the schools stats for scores and student teacher ratios. Then went around and visited them. Then of course went house hunting.

 

[killdaddy]

Thank you all for your feedback. My wife and I appriciate it. HQMC pushed all of the TBS dates for MECEPS to April 1st. This means I won't even get out of there until late September or early October. Does any one know when API classes pick up around that time frame? Thanks again.
killdaddy

 

[airwinger]

API classes pick up every week. From what I could gather, the Navy tells us they've got 3 pilot slots at whiting, 3 at corpus, 1 at vance and 2 NFO slots. Then when you're at TBS, your staff will assign you a start date. In my case, they had a draft based on class standing at TBS. For the FO's, only meant a difference of 4 weeks in start date from the first guy to last, for the pilots it could mean upto 4 months. We graduated TBS oct 11, and our top ranked FO started on the 1st of Nov.
Between API and primary there seems to be either a 2 day(weekend) or 1 week wait since they start classes every other week.
Hope this helps,
airwinger