I'm currently an E-2 at STA Morro Bay, and have slowly been narrowing down what rate I would like to go.
I think I've decided AMT is the way to go for me. But a question I have is what exactly is the best path, or how does one go about getting qualified as an AG? Is AMT the only rate that can become an AG? Is it difficult to become AG qualified (in terms of, say, lots of people trying to become AG qual'ed).
I just can't seem to find too much information on it. I did find that there seemed to be different types of AGs. Like the PWCS AG, and a couple others that are slipping my mind right now. Can anyone shed some insight onto these different types of AGs as well?
Do you want to just fly, or do you want to fix aircraft? That should be the question..... But, to answer the question; the AG qual is open to both AMT & AET.
And you can have it, I'll keep turning wrenches and doing SAR
I have two friends that are AG's. But what they said is that you need to be a second class to be elligable for the gunner program but you can go either AMT or AET rate and pursue AG. Third classes are maintainers only, no flying. But try to graduate top of your A-school class to get first pick.
It is also possible to be an AG without being an AMT or AET. The Deployable Operations Group also has AG's which are not based on rate. Just an idea in case if you wanted to go the Aviation route just to shoot out of helos. Good luck.
I think that there is a few misplaced rumors out there about HITRON, due largely to the fact that it is a new program (relative to the rest of the well-established aviation routines throughout CGAS). I fought for HITRON out of A school, and I heard a lot of conflicting rumours about it while in E-city.
The short of it is: There -are- third classes flying. I don't know of any thirds as AGs.
From my brief experience, it seems that it is a little harder to get all your quals together to be a BA due to the new rules set in place regulating qual sign offs, coupled with the high rate of deployments we do.
The reason I figure there are no 3rd AGs is because it takes such effort to get all the quals balanced that most end up making second by the time they comply with all the training.
Both AMTs and AETs fill AG billets, and even 3rds without wings get deployed to help with shipboard operations.
Originally posted by Valtron65: I think that there is a few misplaced rumors out there about HITRON, due largely to the fact that it is a new program (relative to the rest of the well-established aviation routines throughout CGAS). I fought for HITRON out of A school, and I heard a lot of conflicting rumours about it while in E-city.
The short of it is: There -are- third classes flying. I don't know of any thirds as AGs.
From my brief experience, it seems that it is a little harder to get all your quals together to be a BA due to the new rules set in place regulating qual sign offs, coupled with the high rate of deployments we do.
The reason I figure there are no 3rd AGs is because it takes such effort to get all the quals balanced that most end up making second by the time they comply with all the training.
Both AMTs and AETs fill AG billets, and even 3rds without wings get deployed to help with shipboard operations.
Hope that helps!
Hitron eh? Congrats buddy! Not even a courtesy email to your old AN program peeps?
Haha! My most sincere apologies...I try not to think too much about my time spent in San Fran...those memories of burrito runs were just to crucial to remember without a tear rolling down my check.
But you are definately right, all the valuable lessons I learned from you guys in the airman shack and on the line crew definately prepared me for my role here at HITRON. Because the pace is a lot different than at San Fran, I can spend more time like really digging into the helicopter systems, and I've managed to only get one mishap report published about me here than the 3+ I got when I was an Airman!!
