Yes, I do.

The thing about E-6s is that the highs aren’t as high but the lows aren’t as low either. You don’t get to do a lot of the so called cool things but you also don’t HAVE to do a lot of the crappy things, too. The perceived problem with the community is there is no real mission accomplishment. If you ever actually do the primary mission, the world as we know it will change forever. So, because you never get to actually do it, they focus on other things to measure/feel a sense of accomplishment. Basically, the NFOs took a really good gentlemen’s flying club and f-ed it away with metrics and face-time shenanigans....but you will find this at some level in every community. That being said, I had a good time. It is what you make it. For the better part of three and a half years I was gone three weeks and home three weeks. OKC gets a bad rap. It’s not a boat and it isn’t sandy. I was half a day’s drive from home, deploying (really more like a det) to a comfortable alert facility on an Air Force base with Air Force support structure.

If you want to fly in the airlines post-Navy, having E-6 time will certainly help. There are a fair amount of us that did their initial commitment, joined the reserves, and got on with a major. There are also others, like me, that left the community and flew elsewhere until retirement before getting hired.

You are too far out to try to guess. IMO, the only thing you can do is go fixed wing, enjoy the ride, and see what the future brings. Oh, and take the CNATRA info about Ospreys and throw it in the nearest trash can. He just told you what he knows as of today. It’ll change a hundred times.