Scamahmrd said:
Not to totally hijack the thread, but is it possible for an Aviator (after multiple deployments) to earn a SWO pin? My understanding was that they could get the qual, but that they were not actually eligible to wear the pin. Granted, I'm not sure that there would be sufficient time for an Aviator to do all of their work and quals in addition to the massive amount of work it takes to earn a SWO pin. Just curious.
Now the only URLs that can earn a SWO pin are the 111X & 116X designators, but back in my day it was possible for any officer. A few of us while CVN ship's company on our disassociated sea tours did it but it was rare. As far as I know, I was the first on the TR and the only one during my time aboard who did it. While almost all did it completely on the carrier, I had to be stupid and went TAD to a Spruance in the Caribbean for their CD deployment while my ship was in the yards (bad call on my part, very professionally educational but also very sadomasochistic). I already had all the PQS done, but I got talked into this by a SWO friend that convinced me to "truly earn" my SWO pin I needed to "go SWO" for a while....I was also trying to convince a very non-cooperative Reactor Officer (head SWO on the carrier, post SWO command and in charge of the program) to give me my board to finish my qual. This seemed like it might be the ticket to get him on board but that was a whole different can of worms. He got relieved for cause and a new RO was in place when I got back - he loved that I what I was doing. (The whole thing convinced me to never again trust a SWO who says they are your friend - they'll still stick the knife in and give it a twist or two.....my so-called good friend thought my 6 months of misery in SWO-land was funny....)
There was a massive amount of extra work on my part to earn the SWO qual but I had a head start. Prior to reporting to TR I was a TAO school instructor at Dan Neck. This means I was basically already TAO qualified and just had to do minimal training/OJT & a review board to learn TR's procedures & SOPs vice the whole training program. My ship's billet included bridge watch so my normal watch training was for OOD. So I had 2 of the 3 big watch quals out of the way and just had Engineering remaining. Of course there was still all the other stuff like DIVO, Damage Control, NGFS, 3M, etc. to do.
It would have been difficult to do it as an aviator in an air wing. There would not be enough time to do it in one deployment or even two with your flying and squadron ground jobs. Plus you would have needed to do it all on the same ship as each ship's qualification program was slightly different. There was also some of the PQS that required schools such as Damage Control which would be hard for a non-ship's company guy to go to (most commands won't fund training not required for their unit). Further, TAO, OOD and EOOW quals have to be re-done on each new ship you go to.
And yes, aviators who qualified as SWOs could wear the pin.
Steve Wilkins said:
Well, the boarding officers are SWO's.
Not always. I was the TR's Boarding Officer after Desert Storm (before I got SWO qualified). I was OOD undeway qualed and my assistant was a LDO Gunner. I also had a friend a few years ago (another VP NFO) who was a Boarding Officer for his carrier.
But generally speaking I'd say your right. There are SWOs 99% of the time.
I concur it was a lot of fun and hard work. But climbing up that ladder on a tanker in ballast while wearing body armor and carrying a shot gun was not one of my favorite things to do....
