New Lt. for Aviation

[LEG DAY]

Just wanted to drop bye and say hey. I'm a new Marine 2nd Lt. just finishing my first year of Law School. Realizing this past year was the most boring year of my life I am in the process of switching to an Air Contract. I took the ASTB and scored a 7/8/8, am a private pilot with about 65 hours logged and have taken the flight physical. Although the Navy Flight Surgeon who gave me the physical at Tinker AFB said my eyes were g2g (20/40 right and 20/30 left, both correctable to 20/20) NOMI shot it down saying I was just outside were I needed to be, but am a good candidate for PRK. Now their saying I can go NFO or take a ground contract. My OSO is fighting for me, he owes me because I won the Commandant's Trophy at OCS and made him look awesome (LOL), but it might not work out. If things don't go the way I planned I guess i'm looking at NFO, which i'm not sure about because I always wanted to be a pilot. The thing I need to do now is cruise the NFO forum and figure out what the hell one is/does, or take a ground contract and shoot for Tanks. Anyway, just wanted to introduce myself and share my story, maybe someone will have some insight on my options or possibly be aware of a route I might be able to go to get a pilot slot...

 

[JD81]

Coming from a guy(myself) who took a navy NFO pro-rec and commisioning prior to exercising all my options for SNA, DO NOT GO NFO IF PILOT IS WHAT YOU WANT. If you try everything you can to go pilot and it doesn't work out for whatever reason and can still go NFO, by all means do it. IF you have the time and resources to wait for an SNA spot to roll your way, whether its get PRK or fight NOMI a little more, DO IT. In the end I got my SNA designation by pure luck and timing so I can't complain, BUT, if I could do it all over I would have waited before signing the paper for NFO before I used all my options to get SNA instead, again, my situation was the exception to the rule. Hope that helps some.

Josh

 

[LEG DAY]

Thanks for the reply Josh. I'm gonna try PRK, i'm just not sure if i'll have enough time to get it done with the post op checks etc before going to TBS. How unlikely are NFO to Pilot Transitions?

 

[Mustang83]

Thanks for the reply Josh. I'm gonna try PRK, i'm just not sure if i'll have enough time to get it done with the post op checks etc before going to TBS. How unlikely are NFO to Pilot Transitions?

NFO to Pilot transitions are increasing in the Marines because of the expected phase out of NFO's (lots on here about that...). Like stated above, go for what you want. I'm an NFO and love it but completely understand not wanting to feel like you 'settled' for something.

You need a minimum of three months post op after PRK for them to sign a waiver (got it done back in 06')

By the way, increasing numbers means it's gone from 1 per year to 4 per year in the last 5 years, still a tough spot to get.

 

[JD81]

The NFO-Pilot transition is pretty much non-existent prior to wings and completion of your first fleet tour. I was lucky in the fact that there was a pilot shortage right when I commissioned and I had a couple other checks in boxes to get me the switch prior to API. IIRC all you need is 20/40 correctable to 20/20, if you have this there is either something else with your vision like poor depth perception holding you up or you need to do some asking around what is the problem.

J

 

[LEG DAY]

^^^Roger that. I would think if they thought I had poor depth perception than PRK would also be out. I guess I should call and figure out what exactly the problem was, especially since the examining doc thought i was g2g, eyes included. Does anyone know what the needs of the service currently are? I heard a rumor they were heavy on ground officers...

 

[SynixMan]

If you mind me asking, what did NOMI say was your vision?

 

[LEG DAY]

^^^I'm calling tomorrow to find out exactly what the problem was. At Tinker AFB, where my flight physical was conducted, my vision was 20/30 left and 20/40 right both 20/20 correctable, which is g2g. It must have been something else, when I get knowledge i'll update.

 

[JD81]

It must have been something else, when I get knowledge i'll update.

Yea dude, you need to find out what the deal is before you do anything. I've also gone through a hell of a waiver process(my waiver was the first of its kind, so I'm told). Don't let them jerk ya around, if it hadn't been for a solid Doc at P'cola I would have gotten shown the door.

 

[Lonestar155]

I thought you can wear glasses now when you fly. You have correctable so you should be good to go correct? I've been granted permitted to wear glasses.

 

[LEG DAY]

^^^Yea thats what I thought. I actually just got contacts the other day to try them out ( i usually wear nothing) and with them my vision is 20/15.

 

[pourts]

You can fly with glasses in Tracom (I started doing this 1/2 way through advanced)

There may be something specific and rare wrong with your eyes, not just the 20/40 aspect so get the details (like others said)

There's 2 different situations being discussed here with regard to NFO-Pilot, and there are differences between Marines and Navy:
-You could wing as an NFO, go to the fleet, then transition to Pilot (which will take several years)
-Or, you could get to A-pool, and transition to pilot before API. This has been very easy to do lately for Marines.

 

[LEG DAY]

^^^In regard to transitioning once in A-pool, I plan on getting PRK regardless (NOMI said I was g2g for that) and by the time I get to Pensacola it would be like 1 year after surgery. At that point I should have all my boxes checked, hopefully having a pilots license with logged hours/solo time, commandant's trophy (if that still counts for anything) and needs of service, it may work out. I won't take NFO banking on that happening, but if I decide to take NFO anyway that might be an option I could try.

 

[Clux4]

Repeat after me " I will resist the urge and will NOT go to TBS without a flight slot".

 

[LEG DAY]

Ok, just talked to the NOMI. It was the Cycloplegic Refraction. In one eye it was By - 100 S. - 50. The numbers are supposed to be added together. In my case it came up to -150, which exceeded the standard of 100 either way (+ or -). The Corpsman who looked at it first sent it to the Corpus Christi Optometrist and they both thought I was border-line. Then they sent it to the P-cola Opthamologist and he quashed it for SNA and said NFO only. My OSO is having a meeting with the Major of my district today to see if he will allow me to get PRK and re-apply before getting a TBS date. Sounds like it might take a miracle...