Hey Devil Dogs, I am going to MCT in a week and then to Florida for my Aviation Mechanic MOS. I hear you don't get a big say on what you want to work on between fixed and rotary wing. I am really curious as to where I could end up after my training in Florida. I mean, I know my airwing divisions but I hear of Marines going to places like Yuma, Arizona for aviation mechanic related stuff. I would actually love to work their instead of California or N.C.

Another thing... what is the training like in Florida? How many hours a day do you work/train? I heard at boot camp that its one of the more laid back type of jobs compared to other jobs.

Thanks.

Hey Hawk

Congrats on being a Marine, not all make it as you know. Read all the threads here and you will get a good idea on what may happen. It all rests on the needs of the Corps where you go after school. Best piece of advice, the Corps gives you the school it's up to you to pass it. School will be hard, are you going to Avi or Air Frames? SAVE the partying for the weekends, if you bom the school it's up to the Corps what to do with you. You might get another Winger School or Gruntville. I had a great time in my 5 years in the Wing so work your butt of a little longer and you will have job most would dream of.... Ron Mann please chime in....check out he Art Nalls Tread, I knew him as Lcpl and was a green 1st Lt.....

What part of Minn are you from. My Parents where from SW Minn, Tyler and Lake Benton....

What part of Florida ya headed towards? My C school was at NAS Jax, Jacksonville. I was only there about 4 months but loved it (get night classes if they still offer them, the squidNavy instructors always let us out early).

Should be P-Cola...

quote:

Originally posted by TomHansen:
Should be P-Cola...

Yep, P-Cola it is. The "A" Schools were moved there in the '90's.

HawkSauce,
So, your a 6000 something right now. "A" school will give the basics, then the good ol' USMC will decide what to do from there. You will then go to "C" school based on what your specific MOS is. You could be "I" level, or "O" level. YOu could be fixed, or rotor wing. Don't get too upset if you get fixed. Having worked both, I can tell you, the fixed wing guys tend to get the best Dets. You said you are an Aviation Mech. Are you an engine mech, or airframer? If you had said aviation tech I would ask if you were ordnance, or avi.

I can't offer too much more than the rest of the guys here have except to tell you to just be patient, you'll find out what platform you'll be on soon enough. That, and keep in mind that P-cola is NOT THE WING! You will be in a student status and treated as such. Meaning that there will be a lot of seemingly silly rules that you must adhere to in order to stay out of trouble. "You can thank those that came before you for that" is what was told to me in Millington, where the schools used to be. Play by the rules, learn as much as you can, don't party too much, and STAY THE HELL OUT OF TROULBLE, and you'll be fine. Reason I'm harping like this is I've gone back to P-cola twice since getting to the fleet (NDI school and Aviation Physiology), and have overheard a lot of the A-schoolers sounding demoralized and complain about "being treated like a baby" while there. Believe it or not, it's for your own good and the good of the command to keep you on a short leash. Then you'll get to your first duty station and you will be on your own to do the responsible thing. Good luck in school.

Another way to put is what you see at School is not what the Wing and Fleet are like, they are not at all a like. Just do your best in school and leave the partying for the weekends....

quote:

Originally posted by TomHansen:
Another way to put is what you see at School is not what the Wing and Fleet are like, they are not at all a like. Just do your best in school and leave the partying for the weekends....

Ain't that the truth. Oh, and DO NOT salute the Navy Midshipmen! They will try to convince you that they rate one, but they don't.

I wnet through Air mech training at Memphis in early 68. I suppose many thing have changed. But I remember that were really just out of "boot". So we were expected to follow directions as given. It is school.

Learn as much as you can, somone's life will depend on you whether in peace or war.

You will have plenty of time to have fun when you get to your first station. But job # 1 - is well - job # 1 - Be an excellent Marine to the best of your ablility.

You will be learning all through your time in the Marine Corps. Those flying machines are extremely technical and need someone up to the job of maintaining them.
That's job # 2.

One more thing...you'll rarely hear the words "Devildogs", or "Leathernecks" in the Wing. Secure the motivation! You may hear FTS! Which of course is "**** This S**T!

Plus PT is on you own unless you fail a PFT but hta's hard in the Wing but has been done. The word PFT will become one you will shy at.....I knew smokers who brought their smokes with them on the run, that was a funny sight....

quote:

Originally posted by TomHansen:
Plus PT is on you own unless you fail a PFT but hta's hard in the Wing but has been done. The word PFT will become one you will shy at.....I knew smokers who brought their smokes with them on the run, that was a funny sight....

That's not how it was for me, in A school we had organized PT 3 times a week and if you failed a PFT you ran on the weekends. During C school we had PT 2 times a week, but wasn't there long enough to take a PFT. When I got to Mals 26 we ran squadron PT on Mon, and Wed, and on Fri we had division PT, which usually meant we played football, or soccer. Those who failed a PFT, had to run everyday at lunch.

quote:

Originally posted by TomHansen:
What part of Minn are you from. My Parents where from SW Minn, Tyler and Lake Benton....

I am far from there, I am from Duluth

I like what I hear from what you all are saying. It sounds like I made a sound decission; I switched from 0300 to 6200 the last hour at MEPS before I went to boot so I had really no clue what I was getting into as far as being an Aviation Mechanic.

I don't party and I don't get into trouble so that won't be a problem. My PFT isn't too bad, its like a 220... definitely some room for improvement.

Is there a lot of classroom type work or is it all hands-on?

My SDI told us that this job is a bit relaxed (when compared to other fields) and you call eachother by first names. Is this true?

quote:

I don't party and I don't get into trouble so that won't be a problem.

Good

quote:

Is there a lot of classroom type work or is it all hands-on?

Depends on the MOS you get, my MOS, 6072 had a mixture, the first couple of months of my A school was almost completely in a classroom, about 6 months. My C school was almost completely hands on, 4 months.

quote:

My SDI told us that this job is a bit relaxed (when compared to other fields) and you call eachother by first names. Is this true?

Helll NO, walk up to a SGT and call him by his first name and see what happens, better yet try that with a Gunny. You are a Marine and the standard for respect of rank does not change no matter what your MOS.

The only time we called each other by our 1st name was when we where equal rank give or take one either way AND if you knew the person for some time. If I as a NCO had a boot PFC or Lcpl call me by my 1st name in front of others I would look weak as a NCO. I can tell you that there where a few Officers that told me to call them by there 1st name unless we where in company of others. All of this earned over time and not given. Your SDI must not have had a good understanding of the Wing and we are not that lax.....

I don't know to much about Airframes, But I did attended the Powerline(Engine Mech) A school in P-Cola about 4 months ago. Their it's called by it's Navy rate AD. The school is 4 weeks long, and is an intro to the basic mechanics and theory of how a jet engine works. Most of the learning is classroom, with a few days spent in the lab messing around with engines. I'd say the course in medium in difficulty, as long as you pay attention in class you should do fine. You PT 3 times a week and class usually runs from 6 or 8 (depends on if its a PT day or not) to about 3. As stated above, your MOS is based on the needs of the Corps, when I was there, our Gunny let my fellow classmates(me being aircrew I had no other choice but C-130s) choose their MOS based on there rank in class from the slots he had open. If you are interested in possibly getting stationed in Yuma, I would say Harriers would be your best bet since there are several squadrons there.

Spec, I don't know what your prior back ground was before before the Wing, but if your Special Ops was just eating out Ol' Suzie in the back seat of your momma's mini van, then I would change my screen name before the Grunts see it and eat out your ass, raw and all.

Their funny on $hit like that.

They have a right to be.

And I'm not talking about those boot mutherfuckers either.

quote:

Originally posted by davekmiller:

quote:

Originally posted by TomHansen:
Another way to put is what you see at School is not what the Wing and Fleet are like, they are not at all a like. Just do your best in school and leave the partying for the weekends....

Ain't that the truth. Oh, and DO NOT salute the Navy Midshipmen! They will try to convince you that they rate one, but they don't.

On my first day at Millington checking in, I walked out of Admin and promptly saluted a couple of old Navy chiefs...(well, I'd never seen one before in that uniform) ...they had great fun chewing my boot ass...