Primary Location

[E5B]

Each company assigns an "aviation rep" to a Lt in the Company. This Lt will coordinate with the Air Officer to get Aviation meetings lined up throughout the POI. Don't worry, you won't leave TBS without knowing your Primary location.

I'll tell you how our company did it, but I can't garuntee that yours will do the same. The aviation rep went to every air contract and asked him/her where they wanted to go and we told him. It was pretty much split down the middle between Corpus and Whiting so that meant that almost everyone got what they wanted. (MATSG sends the #'s to the TBS air officer, ie we need 25 Lt's at Whiting, and 21 Lt's at CC) The 4 Vance guys didn't want Vance, and there were a few guys that wanted Whiting but got sent to Corpus. But thats not bad considering we had close to 50 air contracts.

 

[towbubba]

I highly recommend going to whiting. The CC guys are going to miss the next war it takes them so long to complete primary. It also works out well if you want/get helos since you don't need to move. Shortage of good looking chicks here even my wife admits that but it may be the same in CC. Nice beaches here but don't show up for a fam brief sunburnt on monday morning. Not as much wind to deal with when landing here but I enjoyed xwinds. Either way primary was a blast and the T-34C is a fun plane and easy to fly. You can also change your primary location when you gat here for Marines. You might end up with a stash job though. Good luck and trim trim trim

 

[Jrunbel]

towbubba - Could you elaborate on how it is possible for Marines to change their primary location? Can this be done after you are assigned a primary location at TBS? Could you change your location if you were unfortunate enough to get Vance AFB out of TBS? Sorry if the questions seem repetitive, but I'm extremely curious how this all works. Towbubba and E5B thanks for your input.

 

[towbubba]

When you get to Pcola just tell Capt Macevoy or Capt Thrall you want to change your primary location. Most likely it won't be a big deal unless lots of other want to do the same. They told us don't worry about what is on your orders out of TBS for primary. Now if you get sucked into the hAir Force black hole you are screwed. Remember no light can escape the gravity of a black hole. My advice is not to be that guy and if you are going to be a beatch about it do it ASAP from TBS. Don't bring it down here because they are tired of hearing it. The more lists your name is on with that Vance next to it the harder it is to shake it. You would think the fly boys were lepers the way Marines avoid that duty station. Probably for good reason.

 

[Fatboy]

Towbubba is right about CC and yes there is a lack of good looking chicks here also. I look forward to getting back to Florida.

 

[phrogdriver]

Must be looking in the wrong places. I thought CC was much better in the booty dept. than P-cola, but things are always changing. Hell, I heard that Tomfoolery's and Yucatan aren't even there anymore. My theory is that good-looking women are fairly randomly distributed across the country, you just have to be Indiana Jones and know where they're hidden! Take NC for example. The hot women aren't in Jacksonville, they're all hiding in Wilmington and Greenville. Anyway, now I'm married and don't have to worry about all that stuff...sniff...sniff

 

[BigWorm]

I'll tell you how our company did it, but I can't garuntee that yours will do the same. The aviation rep went to every air contract and asked him/her where they wanted to go and we told him. It was pretty much split down the middle between Corpus and Whiting so that meant that almost everyone got what they wanted. (MATSG sends the #'s to the TBS air officer, ie we need 25 Lt's at Whiting, and 21 Lt's at CC) The 4 Vance guys didn't want Vance, and there were a few guys that wanted Whiting but got sent to Corpus. But thats not bad considering we had close to 50 air contracts.

Hey, that was me. Also, it will depend on the XO (who was a logo with us). Of course knowing nothing about aviation, he will come up with an idea. Either it will be the best guys (higher ranking #, and more logged flight hours) or the lowest ranking guys (to reward those who worked harder with a better choice). Some of the other things the staff considers are that the AF guys (I think) have at least their PPL before going to primary, which add the extra incentive to send people with flight hours. Fortunately for me, our XO, asked for the volunteers, and then voluntold those with the lowest class ranking to Vance.
Supposedly, the Marines were attriting at a higher percentage from Vance than the other choices – I don’t know if that correlates with sending the bottom feeders, or if the AF just makes you hate life.
Ultimately, there is no method to the madness. Sorry for the generic answer, but it will depend on you company staff – get to know the right people. After that, changing dates/locations can also depend on being in the right place at the right time. If you are aggressive about asking for what you want – I was able to change my class date, since things changed at the last minute.

 

[Jrunbel]

BigWorm - Thanks for the info, it gives me a good idea what to expect. Hell, I might volenteer to be the aviation rep, it can't hurt. Is the aviation rep selected right around the start of TBS?

 

[E5B]

I checked into MATSG early to save my leave and I also got to change my class date. I was lucky enough to be the first class from my company to start API, the bad part about that is I had to put up with Bigworm for another 6 weeks......

 

[BigWorm]

BigWorm - Thanks for the info, it gives me a good idea what to expect. Hell, I might volenteer to be the aviation rep, it can't hurt. Is the aviation rep selected right around the start of TBS?

One of the TBS terms is that the "WORD" is very elusive. Getting one of the aviation rep billets at least means that you will be the first to find out.

 

[skyhigh32]

There will be some good JPPt gouge coming out. And a lot is specific for RI's in Corpus.