NFO Deployments

[Sabre170]

Just curious.

When a NFO gets his wings and gets through the school and is finally getting to a squadron, does he get assigned to a paticular pilot, like Goose and Mavrick (just an example, I don't need feedback on how realistic Top Gun is), or does a NFO fly with anyone.

If a NFO is not in the Jets but in the Prowler does he fly with the same crew?

Same question for C130s etc...

Also, when it is time to deploy do the pilots and NFO say good bye to their families on the pier, or on the tarmack then fly to the ship once it is out of port? What about coming home, do they greet their families on the pier or the tarmack?

 

[Thisguy]

First of all, a prowler is a jet. I know people equate Jets with fighters, but the S-3 and prowler are jets too. Second, pilots are not paired off with NFOs. Everyone flies with everyone, with a good mix of junior and senior aircrew i.e. LTJG pilot with LT NFO and vice versa. For deployments, it depends. The get the aircraft on the carrier by flying it, but if there's more aircrew than seats, well, some guys are walking on the ship, others will fly it on. More likely it's about half and half. However, on the fly off, you can bet that every single frickin' seat will be occupied.

 

[zab1001]

Are there even any NFOs on C-130s anymore?

 

[NFOwife]

Leaving for deployment, depending on what your ground job in the squadron is, and pure luck and sometimes seniority, will decide whether you will walk on the boat or fly on. It's better to fly on because that usually gives you a few extra days at home-especially if the boat is not leaving from your home base.
Coming home, for my husband's fleet squadron at least, everyone (officers) flew off the boat pretty much, unless they stayed on for tiger cruise (where family members can spend a few nights on the ship to experience it). Even a few of the non-flying officers in the squadron (maintenance, intel) took part in the fly off! By that point everyone just wants to get the heckers off the boat. A few days later (2-3) the ship pulled in and everyone who had been in the fly-in still had to be at the ship (when it docked at our home port) to welcome back everyone else (the enlisted guys in the squadron). It was neat to see, but man that takes a LONG time to get people off the boat (they pretty much do it by rank!), like hours.

 

[Flash]

A really general question for a lot of different platforms and I will try and break it down for you.

P-3/EP-3/E-6 crews generally stay together for the length of their deployment. They are remotely deployed a lot of times so there is not even a choice to change crews. Sometimes there will be an adjustment if someone leaves but the crews generally stick together. The crews change from deployment to deployment. At home, you generally fly with whomever they schedule you with.

EA-6B/F-14/F-18/S-3 crews are a little looser than the land based bubbas but they usually have a crew they fly with on deployment. This is a little more squadron dependent. In my squadron, we would fly with a crew about 80% of the time but I flew with others pretty often. We would also switch up the crews about halfway through the deployment. At home, you flew with whomever you were scheduled with.

Navy C-130's do not have navigators, they are all Reservists. USMC 130's have enlisted Nav's and USAF 130's have officer Nav's, though the new C-130J's usually do not have Nav's, unless they are ordered with a Nav station.

 

[Flash]

Navy C-130's do not have Nav's because of the nature of their mission, general cargo and not tactical transport like the USMC or USAF, not because they are Reservists like I unintentionally implied in the post above.

 

[Thisguy]

(just an example, I don't need feedback on how realistic Top Gun is),

You'll be happy to know that after flights, the pilots and NFOs hang around the showers in their dog tags and tighty whities dissecting the days flights.

 

[Sabre170]

P-3/EP-3/E-6 crews generally stay together for the length of their deployment. They are remotely deployed a lot of times so there is not even a choice to change crews. Sometimes there will be an adjustment if someone leaves but the crews generally stick together. The crews change from deployment to deployment. At home, you generally fly with whomever they schedule you with.

Flash,

When you say remotely deployed are you talking about unaccompanied tours to the little islands off Alaska's coast or remotely deployed in areas like Atsugi, Japan and not on a carrier?

 

[sludge31]

My recruiter (a P-3 flight engineer-AD1) says his deployments are usually at some beach in Puerto Rico or Italy...his next duty station is Rota, Spain...he seems to enjoy the hell out of the Orion community.

 

[Flash]

When a P-3 squadron goes overseas it is "homebased" at one base in the region. A lot of the admin and support personnel will stay there for the length of the deployment, usually 6 months. While there are usually a few planes at that one base they are not all there. There is usually a semi-permanent det location in another part of the region and have a few planes there. In addition to that, P-3's go to small exercises, a single plane detachment or just on a goodwill visit to different countries. Some of my P-3 buddies got to go to some pretty exotic places. Singapore, the Seychelles, Malaysia and the promised land, Australia. The crews and the planes usually rotate between all the locations. They usually tried to give a good deal to each crew, though some were luckier than others.

EP-3 crews deploy individually, not as a squadron. They generally went to fewer deployment sites a while ago but have gone to some cool places lately. Their deployments were usually 2 months but they went on a lot more so a lot of times you spent more total time on the road than a VP guy.

E-6 guys deploy as individual squadrons at a few locations in the US for a few weeks at a time. They have a bit less indepedence in their operations due to their role as a C3 platform. Ocassionally they go overseas but not very often.

 

[Flash]

Maybe I should read your question a little better next time.

All your deployments are unaccompanied. Alaska is a rarity nowadays. In your first tour you will usually not go on a carrier unless it is a sightseeing tour.

 

[Nightfox]

How are long are deployments for Marine NFO's?

I'm wondering how long you can get deployed for after completing training if you are a Marine NFO?

Can you be assigned to a Navy aircraft carrier even if you're in the Marines?

For how long?

 

[wink]

Marines can be deployed to CVNs. But as an NFO it is very unlikely these days. The Marines will be on board later to give you specifics.

 

[Uncle Fester]

Say my Mahreen Prowler and "D" flying co-workers - technically possible, and never gonna happen. The Marine A+ and C Hornets do go to Das Boat as part of CVWs, sometimes.

How long you're deployed, like everything else...depends.

Bottom line: if you never, ever want to go to a Boat, join the Air Force. Everybody else in Navy and Marine aviation has at least some chance of going afloat at some point in their careers.

 

[SteveG75]

When you are done with training, you will be assigned to a Marine squadron. You will deploy with them, "usually" six months at a time. Expect 2 deployments in a 3 year tour. I say "usually" since people have deployed for 8/9/10/11 months at a time.

As for carrier time, the only Marine squadrons assigned to Navy air wings are single seat Hornets so the short answer is no. However, if you are lucky enough to be a EA-6B ECMO and come back to be a RAG instructor at VAQ-129, you might get some carrier time.