Special Forces for NAs/NFOs

[Hopeful Hoya]

Hey everyone,

Just thought I'd introduce myself. I'm a student at Georgetown working towards graduating and hopefully getting a SNA slot from OCS (still a couple of years away though).

Anyways, I'm a long time lurker and I'm just trying to soak in everything I can about Naval Aviation in general. I was curious as to what kinds of opportunities there are for aviators and NFOs to serve in the special forces. It seems like the Navy has no special squadrons (a la the Army's 160th SOAR or the AF's Special Operation Wings), although I seem to remember reading somewhere that the best NAs can serve as JTACs for SEALs and other forward-deployed special operations groups.

Is there anything else that I missed? And I'm just asking out of curiosity, I know that all I should be focused on right now as far as my path is concerned is keeping my head down and trying to graduate with a good GPA.

Thanks guys, and I'm proud to finally be (officially) part of the AW community!
Chris

 

[CommodoreMid]

Not officially flying dedicated for them and only them if that's what you mean. The HSC types have done stuff like that before, and if you go pointy nose you have the opportunity to get a JTAC qual. Other than that any work you would do would be on a shore tour or something like that, unless you get some weird special gig that no one here has likely heard of. Currently in a class with an O-5 pilot type whose last shore tour was with SOCOM, but likely the exception to the rule.

 

[Hopeful Hoya]

Yeah I figured as much, I just found it surprising that the Navy doesn't even have a Helo squadron dedicated to SEAL support. Although, I guess it would be kind of redundant with the special forces now being more and more under the single umbrella of SOCOM as opposed to being divided by service.

I bet doing a shore tour with SOCOM or the Pentagon would be unbelievably cool though.

 

[exNavyOffRec]

Yeah I figured as much, I just found it surprising that the Navy doesn't even have a Helo squadron dedicated to SEAL support. Although, I guess it would be kind of redundant with the special forces now being more and more under the single umbrella of SOCOM as opposed to being divided by service.

I bet doing a shore tour with SOCOM or the Pentagon would be unbelievably cool though.

http://hsc85.ahf.nmci.navy.mil/home.htm

http://navyseals.com/2227/navy-seal-air-support-helicopter-sea-combat-squadron-85/

 

[CommodoreMid]

Reserve being the key thing there, not active duty.

 

[croakerfish]

Reserve being the key thing there, not active duty.

A lot of AD pilots have been there and 84 in recent years.

 

[Gatordev]

Reserve being the key thing there, not active duty.

I'm a Reservist and I'm on full-time Active Duty. But your point still stands. While there's been some exceptions in the past (and currently), -84 and -85 are a Reserve gig and will continue to be weighted that way.

A lot of AD pilots have been there and 84 in recent years.

That's because the HCS part of the Reserve HSC community was pretty thin for a while. They're getting much healthier now on the FTS side, so the need for the AC dudes is greatly reduced.

 

[exNavyOffRec]

A lot of AD pilots have been there and 84 in recent years.

I have a friend there that is a AWC?, he is AD and many of those he works with are AD, not sure of the complete makeup though.

My impression was that even though they are reserve they are supposed to be able to be loaded and transported anywhere on short notice to support the SEALS, I am sure there those here that have better knowledge of those 2 squadrons.

 

[Pags]

There are a few options for working with NSW, as others have mentioned the rotary wing side has HSC-84/85. Gatordev has accurate info in the future of these squadrons, but it's still an option for you down the line after a sea tour. I've seen a few billets with NSWG in the past for disassociated tours as well, but I don't know exactly what they entail, but since they're for a senior LT I'd imagine it would be more planning in nature than trigger puller.

I'm not up to speed in the finer points of JTAC, but I thought that was a ground guy qual and not something that the teams used aviators for, unlike USMC FACs.

 

[Hopeful Hoya]

This was the quote I was referring to:

You or whoever gave you this gouge may have misheard someone talking about an aviator going on a FAC tour. As I mentioned above, this is very common the Marines and rare, though not unheard of, in the Navy. SEALs specifically have a very small number of handpicked aviators who are their FACs.

If true that would be very interesting. I assume the NAs would go through some sort of SEALs/special forces training regimen to prepare them for ground ops?

 

[llnick2001]

I'm an active duty LT in HSC-85. 85 and 84 are dedicated SOF support and "reserve" (the reserves pay the bills and we answer to CNAFR) squadrons as others have mentioned. I can't speak for 84's exact make up (though the short answer is similar to ours) but we have a fair amount of active guys (2nd, 3rd and DH tour guys) on the pilot side. I'd say, ball park, a little less than half our guys are "normal" active component guys, and we don't seem to be trying to change that. FTS make up most of the rest with a smattering of SELRES thrown in for good measure. On the JTAC thing, I know a few Navy pilots (both helo and fixed wing) who are or have been fires officers (think head JTAC, responsible for making sure the other JTACs have their shit in one sock) for NSW groups or teams.

 

[Hozer]

There are a few operational flying slots with AFSOC/JSOC for "seasoned" NA/NFO's. It was supposed to be temporary, but going on 8~ish years now.
A former JSOC NA is now a Det OIC at a west-coast HSM squadron and also a JTAC.

Clearly, I need to work in some more acronyms.

 

[xj220]

There are some "special" squadrons and units in NA, but they're not part of SOCOM if that's what you're looking for.

 

[wink]

There are some "special" squadrons and units in NA, but they're not part of SOCOM if that's what you're looking for.

What, they fly the short bus?

 

[Gatordev]

I'd say, ball park, a little less than half our guys are "normal" active component guys, and we don't seem to be trying to change that.

Not according to the Program Manager (your PXO) and the just-recently transferred FTS detailer who did a brief in your very spaces a year ago about this. HCS FTS is getting healthier, so the long-term plan is to start replacing those AC LTs with FTS board selects like it was in the past. Will it go completely RC? Probably not in the short term, but the billets you fill (as it was explained to me) are FTS billets with a few AC plus ups for good measure.

I have a friend there that is a AWC?, he is AD and many of those he works with are AD, not sure of the complete makeup though.

Just to clarify, there's Active-component AD and Reserve Component AD. He may very well be Active component, since they have them, but just because he's active duty doesn't mean he isn't a Reservist.