USMC Tailhook drops (Serious Answer?)

[BigRed389]

If you want to deploy on ships, brother have I got a deal for you. It's called SWO. You'll be a badass, can do VBSS, AND get to sleep on Sundays. Boom.

This man speaks truth. Did you SEE Battleship? Going SWO and killing aliens is the new SEAL accession program.

Except I made my own sleep schedule, whenever I felt like it, not just Sundays. Deployed on the USS PAR-TAY. Started every morning playing "I'm On a Boat."

Woke up everybody else in the middle of the night pinging sonar just because you feel like killing some marine mammals...but only after I got bored of just plain T-boning whales.

 

[HAL Pilot]

Alright, well I just wanted to know the chances of getting them, because in the video none got them. Just wondering how often that happened. I am going to be leaving AFROTC and going to the PLC program cause I like the idea of being deployed on a ship and all. So I just wanted to make sure and all.

Or is the real reason your GPA being too low to get a pilot/jet slot with the Air Farce?

 

[BusyBee604]

Uhh, NOT on my wing...!
BzB

 

[phrogpilot73]

...cause I like the idea of being deployed on a ship and all.

You want to guarantee to go to a ship? Fly helos or Ospreys. Go jets and you can get... F/A-18Ds. You'll CQ in that community, but that's about it. They do "expeditionary" deployments, no ships involved. Go Hercs? Not going to a ship. Everything else does, and 100% of the rotary wing/tilt-rotor community deploy on a boat.

Everything else goes to LHD's or LPD's.

There's never really a permanent ACE det on the LPDs. Sometimes you do split ARG ops, sometimes you don't. Example: My first deployment, we did split ARG ops during workups, and it was the most glorious week of my life underway (I was on the LPD). For the deployment? All 8 months of it? Nope. Big deck the whole time. Second deployment on the boat? ZERO split ARG ops between both the workups and the deployment. Which kinda sucked, because I could have met Anthony Bourdain after we evac'd his happy ass from Beirut...

For the OP - you're lucky that - 1. I'm sober. 2. I closed on my house over the holidays, and therefore... 3. I'm in a pretty good mood. Here's the answer you seek:

No one fucking knows. Seriously. It changes from week to week. A lot of it is timing, and the needs of the Marine Corps. The week I selected there were ZERO slots available for Marine studs to go jets. The only thing you can have an impact on is how much you study, that's about it. Some guys study their nuts off, but just don't "get it". They attrite because they can't land, or keep making errors in the plane - even though instructors recognize they are working their ass off. There are so many variables involved in getting your wings that NO ONE, not even Jesus Christ himself can tell you at this point what your chances are of getting jets. Two weeks before you select, Jesus may have a rough idea - but he still doesn't know. Seriously.

With that being said - do you want to be a Marine? That's the single most important thing you have to be able to answer before you switch, rather than whether you get jets. It's not unheard of to find out that you're not going to be a SNA after the NAMI Whammy, and find yourself being an officer that serves in some other capacity in the Marine Corps.

 

[Renegade One]

NO ONE, not even Jesus Christ himself can tell you at this point what your chances are of getting jets. Two weeks before you select, Jesus may have a rough idea - but he still doesn't know. Seriously.

Sheesh…16 years of Parochial School education down the drain...

Prior to this, I thought the only things you didn't pray to JC for were the Super Bowl and the Kentucky Derby…cuz He has bucks down on those...

 

[StarDust]

Or is the real reason your GPA being too low to get a pilot/jet slot with the Air Farce?

Here is how the USAF selection method works, it has been recently changed (Information from the AFROTCI-2011)

PCSM - 40%
RSS - 20%
PFT - 15%
FT - 15%
GPA - 10%

So my chances in the Air Force would be much higher as long as I do well on the AFROTC and the TBAS. I also liked the Euro-Nato Join Jet Training program quite a bit cause it would let me improve my languages. But the boat thing wins over all of this.

Also, I'm under the impression that you think I messed around in college, partied, and dropped my GPA the 1st semester. This is far from the case.

 

[StarDust]

Also, from talking to some family friends who went through USAF UPT in recent years, they also tend to have very few T-38 slots. Some classes (although this is rare) had none, but that might just be rumored as it wasn't the case for anyone I knew personally. The other thing to consider is that the navy has nothing like the ENJPT (spelling?) program, which sucks up some T-38 drops. I do get the impression that there is less variability in the Air Force when it comes to how each UPT class is divided up. Also, drones are a separate designator (or whatever the AF calls that) and so you don't need to worry about that if you get UPT.

The "what are my chances?" questions are less frowned upon on baseops.net (USAF forum), go over there and get a feel for what's going on the AF right now before you do something drastic like drop out of ROTC. Also realize that as a Marine officer there are certain tours that you are expected to do that don't happen in the AF, so probe around the Marine Corps related subforums on here to learn about that as well.

Yea I know how the USAF works for the most part from AFROTC. It's spelled ENJJPT and they don't need to track select. They all automatically go to T-38's. Though most get assigned to fighters, some have been assigned to RPA's and Heavies.

 

[jmcquate]

Wow.......you guys are getting mellow in your advancing years.

 

[scoolbubba]

Yea I know how the USAF works for the most part from AFROTC. It's spelled ENJJPT and they don't need to track select. They all automatically go to T-38's. Though most get assigned to fighters, some have been assigned to RPA's and Heavies.

While I'm sure you've got the AF all figured out from AFROTC you might want to check your info about ENJJPT. More than a few guys' drop nights have ended up with heavy drinking when a UAV, FAIP, or BUFF slot shows up on the projector screen. ENJJPT is not the end all be all, you still have to perform/time it right/be super fucking lucky to get one of those coveted mud hen, viper, raptor, etc slots.

Also, the whole improving your languages? Not sure what you're smoking; it is not an exchange program for the US guys who go through it. Their syllabus is the exact same as anyone at any of the other training bases.

The NATO dudes are there to learn how to fly jets and go back to their home nations. You'll speak English in the aircraft, you'll speak English in your flight room, and you'll speak English when you're chasing whatever tail there is to be had in Laughlin.

 

[jtmedli]

Yea I know how the USAF works for the most part from AFROTC. It's spelled ENJJPT and they don't need to track select. They all automatically go to T-38's. Though most get assigned to fighters, some have been assigned to RPA's and Heavies.

Dude, just stop. If all you want to do is fly jets then that's fine, but you don't belong here. Nothing is worse than being THAT guy who wanted jets and got helos or whatever else and is all butt-hurt about it. You're here to get your wings of gold.

I know 5 guys from AFROTC who went ENJJPT, every single one of them is flying MC12s or UAVs or something other than a jet. Not a single one got F-anything out of it. So good luck with that.

 

[Recovering LSO]

Dude, there's NOTHING wrong with wanting to fly jets - and there is NOTHING wrong with telling people that you want to fly jets.

That being said - you have displayed an amazing lack of SA with your posts. Focus on the task at hand and set your sights on blowing it out of the water. When you've done that, move to the next one.

You need to realize that you have essentially walked into the clubhouse of a professional baseball team and said "I want to be the closer for the Yankees - what are my chances...?" Seems pretty stupid right?

Focus on what's in front of you - this really should have been your last post:

So I'll take your advice now and concentrate on getting into PLC and getting through it this summer! Happy New Year!

 

[Swanee]

If flying jets is your end all be all for service in the military go pledge an Air Guard unit or two that fly them.

 

[Brett327]

If flying jets is your end all be all for service in the military go pledge an Air Guard unit or two that fly them.

Yeah, with his personality, he'll be a shoe-in.

 

[81montedriver]

While I'm sure you've got the AF all figured out from AFROTC you might want to check your info about ENJJPT. More than a few guys' drop nights have ended up with heavy drinking when a UAV, FAIP, or BUFF slot shows up on the screen.

Not to mention that in the last few years, it has been common for T-38 guys to select C-17's and I've even heard of KC-135's. The only guarantee is there is no guarantee.

OP, see my signature. There are a couple less baby seals on this earth.

 

[jmcquate]

But if you get 38's, you still get to bust the number, so you have that going for you.