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What High School Electives/USNA?

wink

War Hoover NFO.
None
Super Moderator
Contributor
When I was at USAFA, about 10 years ago, this was not the case. The exchange guys we have from USNA and USMA thought USAFA was more difficult academically, overall militarily, but the others were harder on the freshman. Also, I saw that USAFA ranked higher by the princeton review and US news. Having said that, the general concenus was they all sucked for four years then you graduate. Academically the difference between the five academies is proably the differenece between getting a 98.5 and a 99 on a test. The big difference is if you gradutae from USAFA you will most likely be in the Air Force. If you graduate from USNA, welcome to the Navy. If you are sure you want to fly, you will have the chance in the AF.

You obviously haven't been following the changes made by the latest Supe. I have talked to a firstie that did an exchange at AFA last semester. She said it was a breeze, militarily, compared to the USNA. That comports with other reviews I have heard.
 

TalonII

Banned
What changes? Which Sup, Navy or AF? When I was at USAFA we went through 2 Sups and 4 commandants. There were wild swings in the military training philosophy. Some wanted more time dedicated to academics, some wanted hard core military time all the time....marching to every meal, training 3 weekends a month. The one constant is change. My overall point is pick the academy based on the service you want to be a part of, not based on the school itself. You never know what it will be like until your are there. And your experience may not be typical. If you want to get into politics do it sooner rather than later. The one constant is it sucks for 4 years and then you graduate.
 

armada1651

Hey intern, get me a Campari!
pilot
How many NA's or NFO's are CO's or XO's in there first 10 years in the Navy? In the AF it takes a little longer... is that the difference?

No, the difference is that in the Naval services, Aviators and NFOs have significant ground jobs in addition to flying. So they ARE leading people, even long before reaching XO/CO level.
 

TalonII

Banned
That's not a difference. Do you think the AF squadrons run themselves? Pilots just show up and fly 5 days week, unless there is a federal holiday (the AF takes those off and don't even think about flying on the weekends). They have department heads for training, stan/eval (NATOPS), safety, all the same stuff. Tell me about all your great leadership opportunities in your six months at p-cola.
 

incubus852

Member
pilot
USNA the professors have a lot more leeway in what they want to teach and each teacher follows more of a guideline than a hard and fast syllabus, which sometimes works out great when you have a great prof and works out not so great when your prof isn't so hot.

That's pretty much the difference between naval aviation and the air force. The Air Force tells you how to do everything in life down to the last detail... the Navy is a little more hands off. Not saying one's necessarily better than the other but I think it shows in the officers...
 

incubus852

Member
pilot
And if you want to fly tactical, you're chances are slimmer than a bulimic crack whore in the AF right about now. All the communities are way overmanned and they're sending people left and right to UAVs... And you don't need to post "Go Cards!!" every time. No further transmissions needed.
 

incubus852

Member
pilot
When I was at USAFA, about 10 years ago, this was not the case. The exchange guys we have from USNA and USMA thought USAFA was more difficult academically, overall militarily, but the others were harder on the freshman. Also, I saw that USAFA ranked higher by the princeton review and US news. Having said that, the general concenus was they all sucked for four years then you graduate. Academically the difference between the five academies is proably the differenece between getting a 98.5 and a 99 on a test. The big difference is if you gradutae from USAFA you will most likely be in the Air Force. If you graduate from USNA, welcome to the Navy. If you are sure you want to fly, you will have the chance in the AF.

Last one. If you want to develop horrible grammar, spelling and writing skills, go to the AFA. :D
 

JimmySpank

Buenos días
pilot
Hi, I'm a plebe this year at USNA, and they have told us numerous time that as long as you can make it into the upper half of your class, you're pretty much guranteed whatever service selection you want. I think it's along the lines 90% of firsties get the service selection they want. So... if you want to fly, don't let the smaller number of slots affect your decision. Plus the campus here is way better.

That 90% figure is based on the academy saying that 90% of the graduates get one of their top three choices, so it's a little more convoluted than just everyone gets what they want. I had a friend who put down: 1)Pilot 2) NFO 3)SWO He didn't do so hot on his ASTB so got SWO and I'm sure the academy writes that off as giving him what he wanted (even though it was really the only three choices he had when it came down to service selection) He was still pretty bummed about it at the time. That being said, if you really want to be a pilot, you probably have better chances of picking up a slot at USNA since you are competing against a lot smaller number of people who want fly, as opposed to go subs or marine ground etc. I had friends in the 700's for class rank who got pilot slots. I'm sure that wouldn't work out that way at USAFA.
 

Spekkio

He bowls overhand.
That being said, if you really want to be a pilot, you probably have better chances of picking up a slot at USNA since you are competing against a lot smaller number of people who want fly, as opposed to go subs or marine ground etc.
If being a pilot/FO is OP's only goal, and he can't stand the thought of being a SWO or bubblehead, he might want to consider going to a regular college and applying to BDCP/OCS. It's the only way to be guarunteed a designator upon entering the Navy.
 

TalonII

Banned
And if you want to fly tactical, you're chances are slimmer than a bulimic crack whore in the AF right about now. All the communities are way overmanned and they're sending people left and right to UAVs...

What does "tactical" mean? And the pilot communities are not over manned. That is why they are trying to voluntarily recalling 1000 pilots.
 

zoomie08

Fast, Neat, Average...
Hey man. I graduated from USAFA but took at commission in the Navy. I am way biased because I went to USAFA so I am not going to try to convince you either way. I do know that it is very easy to get a pilot slot out of USAFA. In my class (2008) EVERYONE who was qualified and wanted a pilot slot got one. In fact, there were about 20 extra slots after they were all given out and they were begging people who didn't want to fly (but where qualified medically) to give up their jobs to be pilots. A guy who lived across the hall from me graduated 3 from the bottom and is at Columbus AFB, Mississippi in flight school.

One thing I have noticed though, is there seems to be less cynicism at Canoe U. The guys there seem to (at least the few times I went while I was at USAFA) enjoy their lives more than we did. Don't know why that is, but it is a factor to consider.

Oh yeah. And skiing kicks ass in Colorado!

Have you considered ROTC? I didn't really consider it except as a fallback but, looking back on it, I wish I had. You get sick of the military pretty quick when it is in you life 24-7.

Good luck!
 

Eli10

New Member
^^^ Yeah, I also stated this in the Service Selection thread. I have talked to more than one USAFA grad about this and they have had instances where pilot slots (about 500) are not completely filled. And each year about half of each class is DQ'd medically, and those that are DQ'd b/c of their eyes can have PRK to correct their vision.
 

scoolbubba

Brett327 gargles ballsacks
pilot
Contributor
As far as ACC goes, they aren't dropping anything to UPT grads for the next 5 months. Not one tactical slot. Guys who went 38s are lucky to Faip or go MC-12s or U-28s. The unlucky ones are UAV bubs now.
 
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