Mechanics Chime Time

[Yamer]

ok guys,

 

if you come from an enlisted background in an Aviation MOS, chime in and tell us about your MOS, why its the best in the shop/tower/office and what you didn't like about it...

 

also, if you regret it, or shoulda coulda woulda done something different if you had to start over...

 

lastly, I know what the military says a specific job "does" but what does your MOS REALLY do... were you a 15H Pneudraulics repairer, but in fact you never ever rarely do that job, instead most of your shop time was spent sweeping floors and stuff.... that's an example.

 

in your eyes, what is the BEST MOS in the shop to have, 15 series... considered among the shop peeps to be the coolest and awesomest.

 

OR if you are a warrant or officer now and never did the enlisted thing, which job would you pick, and why, if you have to do the enlisted route before your WOFT/OCS time. Does it seem to be the coolest job around town or what have you seen that makes you want to be that...

Edited August 14, 2012 by Yamer

[nightsta1ker]

I was a 15U for 6 years. 3 of those in the 160th SOAR(A). Being a mechanic in Army Aviation is not very glorious. I did get to spend a few years crewing and accumulated about 1000 hours of mostly NVG combat time in the back of a 47. Even the crewdogs work their tails off. Be prepared for 12-14 hour days/nights of technically challenging and physically strenuous labor. When you aren't flying, you are turning wrenches on your bird and trouble shooting problems. I don't regret a minute of it, but at the same time, I came in to go to flight school and never got the chance.

 

Also, there is no guarantee of a crew position in the Army. You are a mechanic first and if you impress the right people you may eventually work your way into a flight slot. Hope this helps.

[Yamer]

I was thinking more of a place to share your story than advice really but advice is good too

[aeroscout]

67Y10 Attack Helicopter Crew Chief. I liked turning the wrenches. I started out in a Signal Battalion HHC working on Hueys, a little out of my MOS, but then after a year or so got to the Cav, and worked on the Cobra. Then I found out about the enlisted scout, and those guys got flight pay, and a lot of flying with their OH-58's they wrenched on. Right about then I became very jealous.

[RagMan]

I was a 15T H-60 Blackhawk crewchief for 6 1/2 years with tours to both Iraq and Afghanistan. If I had to go and do it all over again, I had thought about doing the Coast Guard mission as a flight mechanic. I crewed medevac missions in Afghanistan during 09' and thought that was just the best damn mission I had ever crewed during my service in the military. Would have been great to do it for the Coast Guard for 6 1/2 years. But I don't regret anything I ever did during my military service. It was a hell of a ride!

[nightsta1ker]

I was thinking more of a place to share your story than advice really but advice is good too

 

I thought I was sharing my story.

[Yamer]

I thought I was sharing my story.

 

you're right, sorry i misread the things you posted... I must have been edgy the first time i read your post lol

[JBX11B]

16 yrs army, 8yrs infantryman, 67N, 67T Utility Helicopter Repairer- UH-1's and UH-60's w' occasional OH-58A assignment for the rest of it.

 

Enjoyed the challenges of both occupational fields, had intended to go WOFT but wasted too many yrs doing the above and vision had detiorated a bit below 20/20 uncorrected, no such thing as waivers for corrected vision for WOC's back in the day, so left in disgust and became a civil service firefighter and useless commercial helicopter and fixed wing pilot.

 

About to retire in a few short yrs and hope to become a useful helicopter pilot somewhere, even if just a short run at a third career.

I will say that I did learn how to fly as a crewchief in the army, "bootleg" hrs in the left seat of Huey's and '58's, courtesy of the ol' time Vietnam hands, saved me lots of $$'s when I pursued ratings on my own. I'm not to sure if the current generation of crewchiefs get that kind of unofficial training, I was being groomed for WOFT by these oldtime mentors but was offered a "Walking Warrant" opportunity in same maintenance field after the vision issue, I passed.

 

This may offend many of you on this forum, but I am of the biased opinion that all army aviators should come from prior enlisted service ranks- with particular advantage going to those with aviation MOS ratings. Your experience as a professional soldier first should be assured, I've seen

too much of the "flying club" mentality by those whose only care was to fly w/o consideration for the overall picture and the enlisted folks that make their experience possible, being a soldier was

just incidental for these folks rather than the other way around.

 

I solidly came to this conclusion after going into the fire service, where all in supervisory ranks from lieutenants thru chiefs, start out at the bottom with time in grade requirements for advancement.

 

I actually feel that way abt the entire military officer corps, the existing Prussian model that allows people off the street, to include ROTC AND service academies, to serve in command assignments over many, w/o ground level experience is flawed, offensively lacking in empathetic experience and has bred some of the most contemptible charactors that I have ever met.

 

Well that's my Forrest Gump story and yes, life is like a box of chocolates!

[Bobsyouruncle]

I was a 58D Crewchief and little bird crewchief in SOAR. I hadn't planned on making the Army a career so I had 9 years in before I put in my packet. We couldn't fly on missions in little birds but were able to get stick time on MTF's and other flights. I liked my job but it was alot of work, plus there is all the extra Army stuff that takes up more time than it should. I had a pretty good understanding of the Army and aircraft maintenance when I left for WOC. I was a SSG and about to be promoted.

 

At SFC and more so as a 1SG and CSM you get out of doing missions and become an administrator. I had to be honest with myself in that I really didn't have any desire to be a SFC or 1SG and there were people who were better at being NCO's than me. I did fine and always had good NCOER's but NCO's must deal with some people who need constant supervision and motivation and do what we called "pushing soldiers". I just got tired of it, I was of the opinion that if a soldier couldn't or wouldn't do his ob well than I wanted him gone, the Army is of the opinion that NCO's must fix the soldier. I wanted to keep doing missions so I put in my packet.

 

When I get to my unit I see most of the senior Warrants have as much time in the Army as me or less, they were just smart enough to put their packet in within the first few years in the Army. But it's my own fault, I could have done it.

 

So did all that experience help me? A little. I thought some of the best Warrant officer pilots I have met came from other than aviation MOS's. Sometimes the former aviation guys try to make the job about what they already know and focus on the mechanics side of knowledge. I decided 1. That I was going to focus on being the best WO and not try to bring my old job into it unless it was part of my new job.

2. I didn't have an aircraft that I owed anything to, so I would decide what aircraft I wanted to fly based on what was best for me and my family not just fly what I already knew.

 

I'm glad I had the experience and it gives me an appreciation of the work that goes into making aircraft fly. I hear some pilots complain how the maintenance is bad because of some minor thing, or something they know nothing about and it annoys me. I try to tell them they have no idea the amount of work that goes into keeping these things flying, All of the CE's are doing their best and that we as pilots would be better off focusing on ourselves and being better at our jobs because the vast majority of time, if we die it will be from pilot error and not from a mechanical problem.

[Yamer]

Great stories!

[revaequitas]

I was an MV-22 Airframe Mechanic (6156) and am one now as a civ. Basically we are responsible for the Hydraulic Components (5k PSI), Tire/Wheel Assy's, Composites/Sheet Metal repair, APU Operator, Blade Fold Wingstow Operator, and applicable Ground Support Equipment to include: Hyd Carts (Jenny), Portable Hyd Servicing Units (Pig), Nitrogen Bottles/Carts (NAN Cart, Pop Bottle), Composite Repair Kits. I was a Sgt. and I was in for 5yrs, I think that's about it.

 

It was fun, very diverse skillset I suppose but not very helpful for getting an A&P as the Flightliners get the better experience for that. The crappy part would be on Night Crew when another shop would secure we would stay until the last shop was done, just in case they stripped out a screw. Apparently since we went to Airframes School we are automatically trained to extract worn/broken fastners. Whatever, that was annoying. We usually worked 12hr days, even on three shifts, apparently 12 times 3 equals 24 lol. It's not too bad of a job, Composites are probably the most fun and there are very little troubleshooting opportunities. It's mostly AVI the troubleshoots and calls components bad.

 

We could become Aerial Observers which is close to q Crew Chief but not quite wich is awesome if you like flying like I'm sure we all do. I have no regrets for my time served but I could really use that 70k re up bonus to do a lateral move to Crew Chief right now haha, ours was 40k for 4yrs. My only regret is that I didn't do the move to become a WO in the Army like some of my friends did. Now I'm stuck between GI BIll flight school and a WO Package which I have no idea what I'm doing since all the Army Recruiters I've met (so far) SUCK haha.

 

Anyway, thanks for letting me share my story, it's always fun to do that and if anyone has question about the Osprey I'd be happy to answer to the best of my ability without getting fired.

 

Corey

[Yamer]

Thanks corey that was a great view of the other side of the fence... Marines. That aircraft sounds really technical...

[revaequitas]

It's really not too bad, I'n pretty sure it's more challenging to work on than to fly, I've spent a decent amount of time with my old pilots in the sim and have done quite well by their admissions. It's an awesome bird but it's time for me to move on.