Originally Posted by
MikeF16
AD or guard/reserve?
Pretty sure Navy charges 8 years of your life for wings, it is 10 in the USAF. So go in with eyes wide open, it's not just "some time". The majors like the military because we are a known quantity. They know the training we get, the discipline that is instilled, and they know the military weeds out a lot of the people who might have a hard time completing their training.
Navy as of a few months ago was 8 years post wings..
So really look at 10+ years between OCS/API/Flight School.
When you get your wings at the end of flight school, the counter starts.
I winged on January 31st, 2003, and February 1st 2010 was the earliest I could get out.
Yes, the math doesn't jive, but at the time, it was 7 years for Helos/Land Turboprops/Land Jets, and 8 for Carrier based Jets/Turboprops, which had a longer training track to boot.
It's 8 for all as it stands now, mostly to ensure people have to do a second tour past their initial "Shore Tour".. It used to be common to go Training -> FRS/RAG (Fleet Aircraft specific training, 6-15 months depending on airframe) -> Fleet Tour (3 years) -> Shore tour (2.5 years), and being able to bail at the end of your shore tour.
I was one of those guys, I went through flight school really fast, winged as an Ensign, and got to the fleet still an Ensign since I was accelerated for holding a Comm-Helo ticket and got lucky with no big delays. I got "Extended" on my sea tour, once the 7 year clock was running, to catch up to my peers in seniority and get a LT FITREP before I left, so my PRD from the HTs (Helo Training Squadron) was up I could have bounced.
That being said, the current crop of Navy guys coming out are going to have a lot more trouble being current on the Gov't dime than it used to be.