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Selection today


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When I go to the desk I don't see any assignments? Has anything really changed since 2015? I have Lindsey's list.

 

UH-60M

Bliss – El, Paso TX

Carson – Colorado Springs, CO

Drum – Watertown, New York

Hood - Texas

Hunter AAF – Savannah GA

Lewis – Tacoma, WA

Bragg – Fayetteville, NC

Riley – Manhattan, KS

Irwin/Polk** - CA/LA

Benning/Yakima** GA/WA

Rucker- AL

Alaska

Hawaii

Korea

** the new assignments mentioned earlier

 

CH-47F

Bliss

Bragg

Drum

Hood

Hunter AAF

Riley

Carson

Alaska

Hawaii

 

AH-64D

Bliss

Bragg

Carson

Drum

Hood

Hunter AAF

Lewis

Riley

Korea

 

Don't mind the coloring...it's all based on personal preferences lol

As an aside, we're being told my the accessions HRC lady that Irwin/Polk and Benning/Yakima are not open to new 60M pilots until after time at one of the other listed duty stations.

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Yea, but that's was told to another individual, who went to Yakima from Rucker...

Me *and* my stick buddy, who'd both gone to an HRC brief a month-and-a-half prior that said Yakima was closed, ended up in Yakima. Sometimes you just have to shake your head.

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  • 3 weeks later...

The C-12 was a tradeoff. I loved flying helicopters, especially the 60, but overall I deemed the fixed wing course a better option for several reasons.

AD Helicopter pilot (UH-60):

Pros:

-exciting flying

-variety of missions

-tons of cool duty stations (Carson, Lewis, Hawaii, Germany, etc)

Cons:

-Quality of life compared to fixed wing (both in garrison and in the field)

-deployment length

-relatively low flying hours

-somewhat over strength community (varies of course by location)

-more in depth flight planning

-lots of absolutely soul wrenchingly terrible duty stations (Ft. Polk, Ft. Irwin, Ft. Rucker, etc)

-ruthless job market when/if you decide to get out. Tons of qualified helo pilots out there, not enough (good paying) jobs for them.

-Flying everywhere all the time in full kit with no A/C. Flying around Rucker in the summer in the 60 was warm. Flying around Dothan in an air conditioned C-12 was the tits.

 

Alright I beat up helos enough, now for the C-12:

Pros:

-quality of life (hotels, TDY, rental cars, warm beds and hot meals)

-flying is still fun

-mostly awesome duty stations

-zero time in the field

-climate controlled aircraft

-variety of missions (not as diverse as the 60 of course)

-multi-engine turbine type rating and license right out of the gate (for me anyway)

-insanely well paying job prospects for military fixed wing guys getting out after just 6 years (we're talking 6 figures easily with a decent work schedule)

-more traveling to cool/exotic places

-short deployments (~ 3 months vs 9 months to a year)

-more regular flying/work day schedule (you aren't supporting the ground guys 99% of the time)

-excellent promotion outlook to CW3 for FW right now compared to 60's (or so I'm told)

-no flight vest, no helmet, no ALSE worn on your body (hooray headsets)

-flight hours by the truckload (FW is much cheaper to fly)

-super chill community

-extremely good chance to pick up additional air frames within just a few years.

Cons:

-they aren't helicopters

-they can't hover

-can't reduce visibility by half haha

-the flying is definitely not as fun hour to hour as a rotorcraft

-not quite as cool/wow/whizbang as the helo guys.

 

Overall, in the long term for what I wanted to do, the choice for me was clear. It's all about what you want. That was about the list I used in my head to decide. It's kind of obvious to see the FW community is pretty bomb. But I do miss helicopters now and then. It's just a trade off.

Here is a list of pros and cons for C-12.

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Here is a list of pros and cons for C-12.

 

 

- 80% of the flying is done on autopilot at FL250. So much for fun flying, but it does allow you to catch up on your Netflix.

- Active Army is moving to a MI heavy FW setup. Even more so than it already is. Most of the VIP slots are going away. This means the duty station choices will primarily be Fort Bliss, Korea, Fort Hood, etc etc. So much for awesome duty stations.

- Your 1st 6+ years as a civilian pilot will be at a pay scale between 27K and 55K annually. Then, as you progress to the position of Captain, you will be stuck on the horrible routes and making not much more until you are senior and flying with one of the big carriers.

- The exotic locations are being dramatically reduced due to the transition of Army FW to almost all MI slots. Hope you consider combat zones as exotic.

- I know multiple FW pilots who would like to talk to you about these 3 month deployments.

- Excellent promotion rates for FW? Now that's funny. Maybe 10 years from now once all of the current W3s and W4s are retired or attrited.

- The FW job is primarily supporting the ground guys seeing that you are an aerial intel asset.

- I averaged fewer flight hours annually in FW than I did in RW

- Super chill community? Nah. It's still an Army aviation unit. You still have the additional duties, annual requirements. BS meetings, and typical Army frustrations.

- Yes, you wil be afforded the opportunity to pick up different airframes. C-12/RC-12/Dash 7. Get the picture?

 

Yes, there are sweet jobs in FW, just as there are in RW. Yes, there are cushy exotic locations in FW, just as there are in RW, but it's true that FW does have more currently. Reality is the majority of future FW jobs are going to be MI, in direct support of the ground guys, which means you deploy. If you pick an airframe off future possibilities, you might be thoroughly disappointed with the present reality.

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Selection today:

 

2 AH-64D

2 CH-47F

3 UH-60M

 

Apaches went first and last, a Chinook went second-to-last, the rest were somewhere in the middle. TH-67 class.

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