Best Army post location

[tangowhiskey]

Wow, what's the deal with the unit in Egypt? That sounds pretty cool.

It's not

[kona4breakfast]

Wow, what's the deal with the unit in Egypt? That sounds pretty cool.

Egypt is multinational observer mission. Used to be cool. VIP unit in Japan still? Med det in Italy still? VIP unit in Belgium. For all of these, you probably ain't heading there out of flight school. The best secret spot is Hondo, for sure, and you might actually get a slot straight outta Rucker.

[BM1]

Japan does come up occasionally, if you put korea or hondo for 60s youll get it. You might even get forced into them back to back. Ive spent almost two years now in Korea and love the country. Units are overworked and can go from amazing to crap in weeks due to high turnover

[Spiffy_cup_of_coffee]

Japan does come up occasionally, if you put korea or hondo for 60s youll get it. You might even get forced into them back to back. Ive spent almost two years now in Korea and love the country. Units are overworked and can go from amazing to crap in weeks due to high turnover

By overworked do you mean lots of flying hours... or lots of being in the military. Aka additional duties/billets/death by PowerPoint briefs

[StockTrader]

By overworked do you mean lots of flying hours... or lots of being in the military. Aka additional duties/billets/death by PowerPoint briefs

You will be doing more dumb sh*t in Korea than you can imagine. But its a really fun country if you get out and explore.

[BM1]

Straight overworked. 12 hour days are pretty much the standard. You do goto pt, that is on the 3-4 days a month im not working a full 12 day. Extensions are needed often. Operational readiness rates here are critical and everything must be operational all the time. Over the last year ive probably spent a couple hundred hours of my life on an apu correcting commo issues and doing bft checks on worn out aircraft. I wish I was exagerating. S1 S6 is the worst youll ever see. This place is where everyone new goes not just pilots. Extended AIT is how i refer to it. Your crew chiefs will always be brand new, some great people in that arena but they are not experienced until right before they leave and you start all over. 2 of our crewchiefs in the company currently flew before coming here the rest we will habe to train. Recently I and other RL1 PIs are slotted as a crew chief atleast once a week due to simply not having RL1 crewchiefs tp put 2 in an aircraft. Add in in dumb sh*t like "lets setup our tents that we just put away last month to make sure they are good for the field next month" starts to weigh on you after a while. The fact that the turnover rate is so high youll never have enough crews to support all the dv moves ect. Being unable to put up training flights means your just kicking the can down the road. we have guys not getting RL1 til 5-6 months in. Ive seen guys get orders before they get a first flight. I was lucky in that respect and have averaged about 115 hrs a year which isnt a ton. The turnover puts a strain on everyone else because youve always got half a company that is not flyable. That doesnt mean more flight hours, it means being on the schedule all the time as a backup or holding down the mtf line. Ive had two pure training flights that werent coupled to an AMR or mission in 2 years. Ive seen 2 guys straight out of school get pc in the two years here, both ran themselves into the ground to do it and will be getting out of the army as soon as possible. I love the country and dont regret my time here at all but its fast paced and if your one of the unlucky ones you may get 50 hours here in a year and then your out. If your on the lucky side youll atleast get a taste of almost every mission set available to a 60.

[Spiffy_cup_of_coffee]

Straight overworked. 12 hour days are pretty much the standard. You do goto pt, that is on the 3-4 days a month im not working a full 12 day. Extensions are needed often. Operational readiness rates here are critical and everything must be operational all the time. Over the last year ive probably spent a couple hundred hours of my life on an apu correcting commo issues and doing bft checks on worn out aircraft. I wish I was exagerating. S1 S6 is the worst youll ever see. This place is where everyone new goes not just pilots. Extended AIT is how i refer to it. Your crew chiefs will always be brand new, some great people in that arena but they are not experienced until right before they leave and you start all over. 2 of our crewchiefs in the company currently flew before coming here the rest we will habe to train. Recently I and other RL1 PIs are slotted as a crew chief atleast once a week due to simply not having RL1 crewchiefs tp put 2 in an aircraft. Add in in dumb sh*t like "lets setup our tents that we just put away last month to make sure they are good for the field next month" starts to weigh on you after a while. The fact that the turnover rate is so high youll never have enough crews to support all the dv moves ect. Being unable to put up training flights means your just kicking the can down the road. we have guys not getting RL1 til 5-6 months in. Ive seen guys get orders before they get a first flight. I was lucky in that respect and have averaged about 115 hrs a year which isnt a ton. The turnover puts a strain on everyone else because youve always got half a company that is not flyable. That doesnt mean more flight hours, it means being on the schedule all the time as a backup or holding down the mtf line. Ive had two pure training flights that werent coupled to an AMR or mission in 2 years. Ive seen 2 guys straight out of school get pc in the two years here, both ran themselves into the ground to do it and will be getting out of the army as soon as possible. I love the country and dont regret my time here at all but its fast paced and if your one of the unlucky ones you may get 50 hours here in a year and then your out. If your on the lucky side youll atleast get a taste of almost every mission set available to a 60.

I appreciate the write up. Sounds like my current unit. And Im the platoon sergeant as well with 53 millennials to babysit. So Ive been looking forward to the aviation transition.

 

What would you say the best post to go to is then?

[Mitch4600]

Three of us are going to Germany, one to Japan, the rest staying stateside.

 

I requested Lewis, Carson, then Germany

 

Is the one going to Japan a 60? I would love to get stationed in Japan again.

[Thedude]

Is the one going to Japan a 60? I would love to get stationed in Japan again.

Went and came back a long time ago. The post you quoted is from a guy who hasn’t been back on the site in five years.

[Tanner37]

Does anybody know how Campbell is? I should be getting my verbal orders this week for 60's hoping to get at least one of my top three (Carson, Lewis, Campbell).

[toucan]

Does anybody know how Campbell is? I should be getting my verbal orders this week for 60's hoping to get at least one of my top three (Carson, Lewis, Campbell).

U gon fly.

 

Also at least Nashville is fun.

[Slorunr]

Straight overworked. 12 hour days are pretty much the standard. You do goto pt, that is on the 3-4 days a month im not working a full 12 day. Extensions are needed often. Operational readiness rates here are critical and everything must be operational all the time. Over the last year ive probably spent a couple hundred hours of my life on an apu correcting commo issues and doing bft checks on worn out aircraft. I wish I was exagerating. S1 S6 is the worst youll ever see. This place is where everyone new goes not just pilots. Extended AIT is how i refer to it. Your crew chiefs will always be brand new, some great people in that arena but they are not experienced until right before they leave and you start all over. 2 of our crewchiefs in the company currently flew before coming here the rest we will habe to train. Recently I and other RL1 PIs are slotted as a crew chief atleast once a week due to simply not having RL1 crewchiefs tp put 2 in an aircraft. Add in in dumb sh*t like "lets setup our tents that we just put away last month to make sure they are good for the field next month" starts to weigh on you after a while. The fact that the turnover rate is so high youll never have enough crews to support all the dv moves ect. Being unable to put up training flights means your just kicking the can down the road. we have guys not getting RL1 til 5-6 months in. Ive seen guys get orders before they get a first flight. I was lucky in that respect and have averaged about 115 hrs a year which isnt a ton. The turnover puts a strain on everyone else because youve always got half a company that is not flyable. That doesnt mean more flight hours, it means being on the schedule all the time as a backup or holding down the mtf line. Ive had two pure training flights that werent coupled to an AMR or mission in 2 years. Ive seen 2 guys straight out of school get pc in the two years here, both ran themselves into the ground to do it and will be getting out of the army as soon as possible. I love the country and dont regret my time here at all but its fast paced and if your one of the unlucky ones you may get 50 hours here in a year and then your out. If your on the lucky side youll atleast get a taste of almost every mission set available to a 60.

 

Can you stay in housing off base? Also, how has the pollution been there? I keep reading article and article of "fine dust" pollution which has some quite worried... Definitely not an experience I had while previously visiting S. Korea.

 

Thanks for the great info!

[SBuzzkill]

The pollution is terrible. In the winter there are lots of days flying with 2 mile visibility or less due to smog. The yellow dust is another game altogether. Think dust storm with heavy metals in it. No bueno.

[StockTrader]

The pollution is terrible. In the winter there are lots of days flying with 2 mile visibility or less due to smog. The yellow dust is another game altogether. Think dust storm with heavy metals in it. No bueno.

But its reported as 5sm with haze...

[SBuzzkill]

“I can see 1 mile to my left and 1 mile to my right. 2 miles visibility.”

[Slorunr]

How about housing options? Is it required that you stay in the on base housing options?

[Thedude]

How about housing options? Is it required that you stay in the on base housing options?

Depends on availability.

[Slorunr]

Got it. Thanks all!

[BM1]

As others have said the pollution is bad and getting worse. My first year there we flew all the time in 3SM, and I've noticed quite a drop this year, regularly under 2SM. Very frustrating to see the new guys not progressing due to the weather. I just left there and its the first time ive seen clouds in forever. I'll post some pictures so you can see what I'm talking about.

[Slorunr]

Looking forward to it the pics.

 

Did you go straight from flight school? Where'd they send you to now?

 

Fly safe,