I'm interested in maybe joining the army. I've been researching a lot getting ready to study for ASVAB test, looking into what jobs I'm interested in to see what I have to score. I seen that for 15Q - Air Traffic Control Operator, Experimental use of Marijuana after age 18 is disqualifying. I'm currently 19 and have been smoking marijuana for a little over a year now but just recently quit to join the service. Will I really be disqualified for this MOS if I meet all other requirements?

quote:

Originally posted by 19817691:
I'm interested in maybe joining the army. I've been researching a lot getting ready to study for ASVAB test, looking into what jobs I'm interested in to see what I have to score. I seen that for 15Q - Air Traffic Control Operator, Experimental use of Marijuana after age 18 is disqualifying. I'm currently 19 and have been smoking marijuana for a little over a year now but just recently quit to join the service. Will I really be disqualified for this MOS if I meet all other requirements?

Yes. Aviation MOS' have a Zero Tolerance for substance abuse, for obvious reasons.

Would you feel good if you were flying across the country knowing the Air Traffic Controller handling your flight was a pothead? I wouldn't.

Matt
SPC, AV
US Army
OCS Selectee
Class 303-10

yes I might, actually. ATC is a high stress career

Obviously you have never been on the controls in Class B airspace.....

SEA, HNL, etc., I want the the most alert dudes out there.


An actual clearance I got on a winter day in SEA:

King Air 4FT, climb and maintain 9,000. Proceed direct JAWBN and hold as published. You will be number 7 for the ILS in sequence. There are 6 ahead of you in the pattern. EFC 0945 hours, time now 0900.

Sounds much better than...

" Hey, um....dude in the King Air, go someplace and just chill for a bit. Oh yeah, can you bring me some Funyun's on your way in?"

Just wait, junior....your cherry-busting time is coming.

If that's really disqualifying for any aviation MOS, I don't know how I got to become a pilot. I admitted to "experimental Marijuana use" in high school. Of course, I'd already been enlisted for several years when I applied...

I would think it could be a bigger issue if you've been smoking pot often and recently, however.

From About.Com regarding MOS 15Q:

quote:

•Experimental use of Marijuana after age 18 is disqualifying
•Documented instance of the use, sale, transfer, possession, or manufacture of any narcotic or other controlled substance or dangerous drug is disqualifying

Matt
SPC, AV
US Army
OCS Selectee
Class 303-10

quote:

•Experimental use of Marijuana after age 18 is disqualifying
•Documented instance of the use, sale, transfer, possession, or manufacture of any narcotic or other controlled substance or dangerous drug is disqualifying

So... if the OP quit before he turned 19, he could qualify for the MOS. I guess his answer depends on how recently he quit and how recently he had a birthday.

OP you'll have to be clean when you pee into a cup anyway, so have you thought about waiting until you've detoxed and then never saying anything about your marijuana use?

traffic where do I start

The dude in the King Air will be fine with his TCAS.

I was totally kidding about the marijuana as a stress reliever thing; having been ATC in a past life, I know that weed would do nothing for the stresses of controlling. What WILL do the trick is strippers, gambling and alcohol.

The former smokers were the coolest-headed controllers anyway.

ATC isn't hard, it's just mind numbing. I have a sneaky suspicion it would feel the same as being a gate guard. ...or a traffic mp! *wave in, check id, salute, repeat*

As for that controller's phraseology, it's sloppy. I don't know what SEA is, but it must be slow airspace for there to be redundant and extra calls like "there are 6 ahead of you in the pattern".

At any rate. Approach. I was rated in Approach. Got out of it right after 9/11--there were things to see.

On the contrary, it was a hell of a busy day with one of the ILS being out of service, hence the stack up. I am glad I had fuel for the hold and anti-icing equipment. Winter in the Pacific Northwest is no joke. Granted I may be paraphrasing the holding clearance, it was two years ago. The point is, I was #7 in a hold on a $hitty winter day. I needed an alert controller. He did an awesome job, BTW.

On a agreeable note: I do agree about the strippers, gambling, and alcohol.

Further, why do you clowns always assume we have TCAS?

Do you have any idea how expensive TCAS is to put into an aircraft and how much individual training it takes to be proficient on that thing? Obviously not. That's like saying that Hudson River crash could have been avoided by TCAS. Come on...a Piper Warrior with TCAS? That system is more expensive that what the plane is worth. A tragedy to be sure, but the warrior was on FLIGHT FOLLOWING with (I think) Teterboro Approach.

SEA....Seattle. One of the busiest Centers on the west coast. Perhaps you've heard of it? HNL, Honolulu? Maybe? I seriously doubt a competent controller would not know either of those designations. That is unless you were being lazy in some ARTCC somewhere eating Cheez-Its and drinking Mountain Dew.

A small correction point: I did my time on the gates a private, yes it sucked. After that, my focus was DUI's and Traffic Accidents. After the 4 week school in accident physics and reconstruction, I spent the rest of my enlisted career as the Army's version of a State Trooper. I had to scrape a lot of dead soldiers off the road from bad motorcycle and vehicle accidents. So, before you go downplaying what we do....

I go by the Colbert philosophy of truthiness and gut instincts--if my gut can't tell me the answer, it must not be important.

To be honest I forgot that might be an identifier--I did that brain dump back in '02. It'll come back to me.

I never heard anything about Seattle, anyway. Ask any controller, and they'll tell you the facility they just came from is the hottest spot in ATC, in some way or another.

I don't claim them, otherwise my sn might be approachctrl or something like that. To be a controller people have to convince themselves repetitive and thankless = noble and elite, when really it's just repetitive and thankless. Doesn't take a special measure of intellect, just a specific personality type.

I like to play dumb and ask controllers, both in training and rated, what they think of authorizing flight suits for their MOS--and I use a tone that implies I think they deserve them? hah... and I just let them ramble on, and pretend they don't think they have every right to wear pickle suits.

My loathe for ATC and my old raters is rivaled only by my amusement with them.

Now, I know this is bad, and I shouldn't badmouth ATC--but they believe they're the masters of the sky and nothing I can say will convince them otherwise.

more like masters of the scope and flight data strips.

but anyway, if you know that I don't know what it's like to be in the air [yet], why point it out, other than to make me feel small?

see how ya are?

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Mr_Motivated:
I go by the Colbert philosophy of truthiness and gut instincts--if my gut can't tell me the answer, it must not be important.[QUOTE]

you sure you're savoring that stuff? Where's the LOVE man!