How often and for how long are typical deployments for marine pilots after winging. After their initial tour do they get assigned to a "shore tour" like the navy does? Are there marine pilots currently deployed for extended amouts of time (over 6 months) in Iraq like other marines and soldiers are? or are they only deploying for 6 or 7 months? Thanks.
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typical marine deployments
- Thread starter jason7801
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The standard deployment used to be 6 months. Of late, they have been longer. The Marines in Iraq are supposed to be there for only 7 months, though that's subject to change.
Generally after 4 years in a squadron you will go to a "B-billet." That subject has been beat to death, but such jobs include instructor pilot, NROTC instructor, SAR, etc,etc.
Generally after 4 years in a squadron you will go to a "B-billet." That subject has been beat to death, but such jobs include instructor pilot, NROTC instructor, SAR, etc,etc.
squadrons that are attached to the Boat are gone a lot more than guys on a UDP rotation ... Boat squadrons do a lot more workups, which include several weeks out at Fallon as well as several 2-4 week workup exercises. one of the Marine squadrons here that is attached to a Boat will have been gone at least 3 of the last 5 months since chopping over to the CAG, and they have yet to leave for their 6 month deployment. the flying is great around the Boat, but your gone all the time ...
the career move for first tour Marine Hornet pilots (first tour lasts around 3 years), and probably the same for Harrier pilots, is to go do a FAC tour of 12-13 months. after that you usually have priority of orders back to a fleet gun-squadron (for another 3 years). the other career move is EWS, which gets you 2nd priority choice for orders behind the guys coming off of FAC tours. going to a VT, RAG, or Reserve sqd is not a good career move, unless you are getting out of the Corps and want more flight hours ... any other billet that keeps you out of a gun squadron for over 18-24 months is usually gonna hurt you if you want back into a gun squadron
my advice to any SNA is to enjoy the hell out of your "free" time when you aren't scheduled to fly because those days off come to a rapid halt after the RAG ...
S/F
the career move for first tour Marine Hornet pilots (first tour lasts around 3 years), and probably the same for Harrier pilots, is to go do a FAC tour of 12-13 months. after that you usually have priority of orders back to a fleet gun-squadron (for another 3 years). the other career move is EWS, which gets you 2nd priority choice for orders behind the guys coming off of FAC tours. going to a VT, RAG, or Reserve sqd is not a good career move, unless you are getting out of the Corps and want more flight hours ... any other billet that keeps you out of a gun squadron for over 18-24 months is usually gonna hurt you if you want back into a gun squadron
my advice to any SNA is to enjoy the hell out of your "free" time when you aren't scheduled to fly because those days off come to a rapid halt after the RAG ...
S/F
jj said:
If you can't qual at the boat, you are attrited from jets. There are no jet guys in the Navy/Marine Corps who haven't qual'd on the boat.
The way the Corps does it (and jarhead, correct me if I'm wrong here), is to send the single seat squadrons to the boat. (AW)'s don't go to the boat, but ferry and then fwd-deploy. It's an issue of range with the D vs the C. As for selecting C's vs D's, it's been kind of up in the air recently I've heard. Lots of guys select one platform, then get switched around in the RAG... it's all about the Corps needs.
Currently there are 10 active single-seat squadrons (+2 reserve) and I believe all but one are boat squadrons at the moment. There are 6 two-seat squadrons and none of them go to the boat.
Hope that's all accurate and helpful...if not, jarhead will smack me on it. :icon_smil
jj said:
squeeze is mostly correct ...
all Harriers can deploy on a boat, no Marine Prowlers deploy on a boat (though they have to carrier qual while in the Prowler RAG), and currently only single seat Marine Hornets that aren't at their trap life (the "hand-me-down" F/A-18C's the Squids gave us are trapped out) can goto the boat. at present, higher HQ is trying get a waiver to extend the trap life of the Hornet, as well as raise the "bring back" weight. F/A-18D's aren't well recieved by the boat because of it's ~700 lbs < gas than the F/A-18A & C ... at the boat, gas is life
at the Hornet RAG, you will fly F/A-18 A's, B's, C's, & D's ... you aren't assigned single seat Hornets or single seat w/ baggage (two seater
) Hornets. you don't know which fleet squadron you are going to until you check in with your MAG, though you might get some SA if you have the sack to call the MAG OPSO as you get close to finishing up at the RAG ... hmm, let's think, a nugget 1st Lt 'pilot who flies fighters' bugging a salty LtCol 'fighter pilot' who's marking time in the MAG in order to pick up a CO job, hmm not a wise move IMO ... sometimes you'll find out through your RAG OPSO if he has the time to find out for youthere are 8 Marine F/A-18 A+ & C squadrons: VMFA 323, 232, 314, 251, 115, 312, 122, 212 ... 6 Marine F/A-18D squadrons: VMFA(AW) <whatever the hell (AW) means, all Hornets are All Weather> 121, 242, 225, 533, 224, 332 ... 4 Marine reserve F/A-18A/A+ squadrons, one of which is going away in the fall : VMFA-142, 134, 112, 321
semper fi
Let me add to what Jarhead has said, the Marine Corp is shutting down one of the reserve F/A 18 squadron VMFA 321. The Corp does not have money to keep the Alphas flying and besides those things cannot land on carriers, the best they can do is westpac and you know what those airframes are reaching high times. I have yhe opportunity on working on one of the oldest F/A 18 in the Marine Corp, some of the ones that have now gone to the Blue Angels
jboomer said:
Prowlers & F/A-18D's goto Japan on UDP
..........
321's Hornets are the only straight A's in the Corps, the rest have been upgraded to A+ ... Marine F/A-18A+'s do goto the boat, in fact, they are anywhere from 1000 to 1500 pounds lighter than C's & D's, thus increasing there "bring back" weight to the Boat, plus Marine A+'s do not been to the boat much so they still have a lot of trap time life left on them
semper fi
Jarhead,
if you will remember that the A were the top of the line ones. I don't think it would be right for you to say that they do not have much boat time. The reason they are being passed down to the reserve squadron and UDP squadrons is that their is weakness in the airframe. I am not sure all the reserve squadrons have completed the upgrade, i think they are still in the process. I have never heard that the A's are that much lighter than a regular C. They use the same GE 404 engines and are equiped with up to date radar packages, but i might be wrong.
KILL
if you will remember that the A were the top of the line ones. I don't think it would be right for you to say that they do not have much boat time. The reason they are being passed down to the reserve squadron and UDP squadrons is that their is weakness in the airframe. I am not sure all the reserve squadrons have completed the upgrade, i think they are still in the process. I have never heard that the A's are that much lighter than a regular C. They use the same GE 404 engines and are equiped with up to date radar packages, but i might be wrong.
KILL
Since I am an NFO contract I am curious to what exactly a UDP is, how long? Also thats a long way for the VMAQ's in Cherry Point to go so I would guess they are there a while. So then i am correct in assuming that this "AW" means "Add Wso" and they only have the D models in AW sqdn. Are the UDP's as often as a deployment?jarhead said:
one of the A+ squadrons here at Beaufort just returned from a deployment on the USS Enterprise, and the other A+ is about to leave for a 6 month deployment on the Boat. the Corps A's & A+'s have a lot less trap time as compared to the Navy's Hornets. the A's & A+'s are lighter than the C's & D's, 1000-1500 pounds lighter ... they don't have all the upgraded avionics that the C's & D's have ... the A's & A+'s, as well as some early lot C's, still use the GE404-400 engine. are you a PC in -312? i know some fellas in that sqdTANGO 1 said:
UDP is a 6 month deployment rotation to Japan and you are attached to 1st MAW. there is one single seat Hornet squadron permently based in Japan. there is always at least one Marine Hornet squadron on a UDP in Japan, sometimes two. F/A-18D's normally fulfill this requirement but Marine single seat Hornets are also in the rotation. i'm not too familiar with how the Q's deploy on UDP, though i'm sure it's 6 months also. all Marine F/A-18D squadrons are known as VMFA(AW)Killer2 said:
semper fi
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