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Stupid Questions about Naval Aviation (Part 3)

cfam

Well-Known Member
None
Super Moderator
Contributor
Post Department Head aviation shore tour. It's about as "on track" as a senior O-4 can be for command (essentially guaranteed to make operational XO/CO).
That’s definitely the case for VFA/VAQ (maybe also VAW?) but I seem to remember helo guys/gals doing it earlier in their career. I worked with a helo O-3 to get my orders for this tour (she was a detailer but also had a side job of working education placement). Any helo folks care to chime in?
 

HSMPBR

Not a misfit toy
pilot
That’s definitely the case for VFA/VAQ (maybe also VAW?) but I seem to remember helo guys/gals doing it earlier in their career. I worked with a helo O-3 to get my orders for this tour (she was a detailer but also had a side job of working education placement). Any helo folks care to chime in?
The FRS send their anointed ones there to manage their peers’ disassociated orders while writing themselves full time grad school orders before DH.
 

hdr777

Well-Known Member
pilot
Anyone know where the '99' radio call for everyone comes from? Talking to my dad it was a thing in the 70's, but he didn't know where it started. Was it just a thing that someone did and it spread or does it have another meaning?
 

DanMa1156

Is it baseball season yet?
pilot
Contributor
Do station SAR units ever pick up HSM pilots?

Don't plan on Station SAR, but if you want it and it comes up, take it. I can't tell you how many of my old students would say "I want to selection Station SAR Whidbey." So much of that is luck of the draw.

Make your decision on what you want to fly - not because you think flying S's will get you to Whidbey (or Key West... never met anyone who was really hoping for the others).
 

nittany03

Recovering NFO. Herder of Programmers.
pilot
None
Super Moderator
Contributor
Make your decision on what you want to fly - not because you think flying S's will get you to Whidbey (or Key West... never met anyone who was really hoping for the others).
I hear Fallon is nice this time of year. Just kidding; it's actually hot as balls this time of year, and no, the "dry heat" doesn't help.
 

MIDNJAC

is clara ship
pilot
If I had to hazard a guess, Whidbey Station SAR is probably the place to be. My understanding is that there are some institutional annoyances that would come along with the job, but man......great place to fly rotors I'd guess......and you could be pretty busy doing real things too if that's your jam.
 

DanMa1156

Is it baseball season yet?
pilot
Contributor
If I had to hazard a guess, Whidbey Station SAR is probably the place to be. My understanding is that there are some institutional annoyances that would come along with the job, but man......great place to fly rotors I'd guess......and you could be pretty busy doing real things too if that's your jam.

Within the HSC and probably to a slightly lesser extent, the HSM community, Station SAR Whidbey is a goal for many, many people.
 

DanMa1156

Is it baseball season yet?
pilot
Contributor
How many billets could they have there? 8? Sounds like the White Buffalo of SWO shore duty: Harpoon Missile Instructor to the RAN in Sydney, Australia. Billet goes to one very lucky dude every 2 years...

I couldn't say. Enough that they have a 24 hour alert, I think. Not quite as rare as every 2 years, but yeah, not the most common billet either.
 

HAL Pilot

Well-Known Member
None
Contributor
How many billets could they have there? 8? Sounds like the White Buffalo of SWO shore duty: Harpoon Missile Instructor to the RAN in Sydney, Australia. Billet goes to one very lucky dude every 2 years...
Back in the late 80s, there was a 7th Fleet liaison in Perth. A SWO Commander billet that was usually filled by a guy on his last tour before retirement.

In his office he had 5 4-drawer filing cabinets filled with single page data sheets to include a picture. All Aussie women with contact information and notes. Cooks, sings, dances, religious, college, dumb, takes you to parents for dinner, parties, fucks, swallows....

It was a 2 year tour with the option to extend a year. I met him when my P-3 broke there for a prop change. Aussie didn’t have one for us so we had a 3 week stay waiting for one from the states. He and I became good friends. I had 22 in my det and almost all 22 wanted at his file cabinets daily. He gave me a key to his office and we alternated days between 12 noon and 2 pm when “the store” was open for my Sailors shopping pleasure. It was a glorious 3 weeks.

His official reason for being was to coordinate ship visits. He said those were easy. The hardest was keeping the files up to date. You had to give him an after action report or you didn’t get another look.

Different time. Back then Aussie girls went ape shit over American guys. Aussie guys idea of a date was to take them to the pub, park them on a stool, and go play darts with their buds. Americans had more money and were willing to spend. Pay attention to the girl and buy her dinner put you far ahead of the Aussie guys. If you danced with her you were probably slipping on the wetness dripping onto the floor.

That was probably all time leading white buffalo SWO billet.
 
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