If not Pilot, NFO?

[HAL Pilot]

"Back in the day" when pilots had to have 20/20 and there were no waivers, PRK, etc. many went to P-cola as SNAs and emerged from NAMI as SNFOs. The vast majority were bitter at first but ended up loving being an NFO.

I would take NFO over SWO any day even if pilot was my first choice. There is a world of difference in lifestyle and how you are treated.

As an NFO doing your job, you don't have time to think about not controlling the plane or being sick. You are too involved in the mission and your duties.

I never had the opportunity to be a Navy pilot due to eye-sight. My brother went to AOCS as a pilot and was immediately NAMI whammied into NFO. We both always wanted to drive, went in disappointed and ended up loving it. We both found great satisfaction and made careers out of being an NFO.

If there is one thing I've learned between a full Navy career and my 2nd career in the airline world - Quality of Life means everything. A bad quality of life can make a dream job miserable where a good quality of life can make a so-so job a dream. Your quality of life will be a lot better as a NFO.

 

[Brett327]

To say the least, you all got me laughing instead of freaking out after having read the last two pages of comments. so thanks! But I do have to say that I somewhat feel the same way that Bunk22 feels. I know that it may sound bad, but I am not sure how much I would like not being in the driver's seat, AND I dont know if my stomach/head could take it sitting in the back of a jet/helo that I am not controlling...just another thought. I guess I am leaning towards SWO as second choice. Again, something that I hope only is an issue now and not a realistic outcome because being a Pilot is still my number one choice!

This kind of thinking baffles me.

Brett

 

[SlickAg]

I put pilot as my first choice, SWO as my second, and NFO as my third. If you don't get pilot, I think that SWO leaves you with the most options. My reasoning was that if I didn't get pilot, I would become a SWO and attempt a lat transfer. If I decided that I was so miserable as a SWO that I would take an NFO lat transfer, at least I still tried to live my dream. Worst case scenario, I do my four years, I'm a 26 year old SWO, and I can apply to become a CG or Army pilot. If that's your dream, do everything you can to live it.

 

[Harrier Dude]

Do you guys think of SWO as sort of an Infantry equivalant in the navy? Kind of the "backbone of the service" sort of thing? I'm just curious.

If I couldn't be a pilot, I'd rather be a FO or a grunt. I think I had it the other way at TBS, but there was a lot of Kool-aid drinking involved in that decision matrix.

Not being in the navy, it's hard to say, but from what I know I'd WAY rather be a FO than a SWO. No question.

 

[Hursel110]

...
I would take NFO over SWO any day even if pilot was my first choice. There is a world of difference in lifestyle and how you are treated...

If there is one thing I've learned between a full Navy career and my 2nd career in the airline world - Quality of Life means everything. A bad quality of life can make a dream job miserable where a good quality of life can make a so-so job a dream. Your quality of life will be a lot better as a NFO.

Well Said, couldn't agree more.

After I was picked up for STA, I began to hear some interesting things from the Divo's and DH's on my ship. I'll just include a few quotes here:

"I hate my life"--SWO Divo 1

"I should have gone air, I would have liked it better"--SWO Divo 2

"Don't make the same mistake I did, go air"--SWO DH, former enlisted man

There's more, but you all get the point, I'm sure. Never once did I hear anything even close to that from any of the air det officers/enlisted that were onboard. just my .02

 

[HeyJoe]

ANother thing, what is the career span for NFOs? I dont know what my future holds and am not completely rulling out going as far as I can in the Navy. Does going NFO have an impact on possible reaching 0-6 and above? Not that I will make it there, but I dont want to end my chances before I even get out there...

LOL...I was on a deployment when fortune had it that our Carrier Group Commander was an NFO, so was skipper of the carrier, and both Fighter Skippers (as well as the E-2, EA-6B, and S-3 Skippers). SECNAV Lehman paid us a visit and he sported NFO wings on his flight jacket, too. The planets kinda lined up on that one and never heard of such a coincidence before or after. That was twenty years ago and things haven't gotten worse since. If anyhting, they are better. If you are asking if there is a glass ceiling, there is not, even in USMC. Last ACMC was a F/A-18D WSO (that's a four star job).

 

[bunk22]

I concur. Avoid being an NFO in the C-2 at all costs... :sleep_125

I'm sensing a tear :weeping_1 I could fly grocery carts and would feel the same way..........then again, I kind of do.

 

[Spot]

Well Said, couldn't agree more.

After I was picked up for STA, I began to hear some interesting things from the Divo's and DH's on my ship. I'll just include a few quotes here:

"I hate my life"--SWO Divo 1

"I should have gone air, I would have liked it better"--SWO Divo 2

"Don't make the same mistake I did, go air"--SWO DH, former enlisted man

There's more, but you all get the point, I'm sure. Never once did I hear anything even close to that from any of the air det officers/enlisted that were onboard. just my .02

The NSI instructors here at OTC Newport can't say enough about being SWO. Not sure if it's something they put in the water here or what.

 

[Thisguy]

maybe I'll just flip a coin =)

That's actually a good idea. Flip a coin, and if you're disappointed with the outcome, you know which way to go.

 

[Brett327]

I'm sensing a tear :weeping_1 I could fly grocery carts and would feel the same way..........then again, I kind of do.

You're a known double anchor hater. Nobody cares what you think.

Brett

 

[Huggy Bear]

Dude,
Put NFO as your second choice. I started out in a single seat squadron but am now at the FRS working with and training WSO's. Almost all of them are happy with what they are doing. They grumble even less than us pilots. With SWO, you can get out sooner, if that is the way you lean, but it will be a tough four or five years. All of my buds who went SWO got out, and none of them speak of those years without reservations. If you go NFO, you may have a few more years, but those extra 2-3 years will be shore duty and not too stressful. If you stay in as an NFO, you have the same career path as a pilot.

 

[Huggy Bear]

Doh, I just noted your name, fly girl. Change dude to dudette- the rest stays the same. Which school did you go to, if you don't mind me asking?

 

[navychick]

"Back in the day" when pilots had to have 20/20 and there were no waivers, PRK, etc. many went to P-cola as SNAs and emerged from NAMI as SNFOs. The vast majority were bitter at first but ended up loving being an NFO.

I would take NFO over SWO any day even if pilot was my first choice. There is a world of difference in lifestyle and how you are treated.

As an NFO doing your job, you don't have time to think about not controlling the plane or being sick. You are too involved in the mission and your duties.

I never had the opportunity to be a Navy pilot due to eye-sight. My brother went to AOCS as a pilot and was immediately NAMI whammied into NFO. We both always wanted to drive, went in disappointed and ended up loving it. We both found great satisfaction and made careers out of being an NFO.

If there is one thing I've learned between a full Navy career and my 2nd career in the airline world - Quality of Life means everything. A bad quality of life can make a dream job miserable where a good quality of life can make a so-so job a dream. Your quality of life will be a lot better as a NFO.

THis reason is why I am having such a hard time. I do realize that the quality of life is what makes a job something that you love. Once I rethink it in this way, I always feel NFO. Okay, now I am back to NFO as second choice...it's just more me...damnit!

 

[Pugs]

Although late in the thread let me toss my 2 cents in. Like HAL I started my career when it was 20/20 pilot anything else NFO so I was NFO bound when I went to AOCS and knew it. There are always ups and downs through Naval Air, got jets (yea!) got Tactical Nav (yea!) got Prowlers (WTF?) but I ended up having a great time the next twenty years in the Prowler cockpit. Yea, us single and double anchors toss crap back and forth but it's in fun and in the jet you're a team. The only other place in the Navy I've heard that the teamwork and camaraderie is like this is in the SSN community. Having been on a LOT of boats you will never see it in the SWO community. Maybe that's OK for you but I can't imagine ever putting up with that environment.

The Navy will very much be your life for a bit. I'd much rather spend it around a bunch of people who like their job.

 

[HAL Pilot]

The NSI instructors here at OTC Newport can't say enough about being SWO. Not sure if it's something they put in the water here or what.

Pure politics & self-preservation. If they knock their own community, their leaders will find out and kill them......