Hey I was wondering if there are any military pilots that could help me with some info about the Navy and Coast Guard. I am 22 years old and a senior at a college in San Diego California and currently have a fixed wing commercial rating. I’ve been around the Marine Corps my whole life and love the Marines and living in San Diego with NAS North Island and MCAS Miramar, there is plenty of military aviation here, but I have been looking into trying to fly for the Coast Guard or Navy for a while but do not know too much about the Coast Guard. Does anyone know if the U.S. Coast Guard gives flight contracts and how long the commitment is? Also if any military pilots can give me any tips on how to talk to an officer recruiter I would appreciate it. Thanks everyone!

 

snorthcutt -

You certainly are in one of the hotbeds of naval aviation.
You can also peruse a forum called airwarriors.com,
BUT, don't ask an open-ended question until you have done a bit (a lot really) of reading on the forum first. Both at that forum, and this one, your questions have been asked and answered many times over.

USMCFLYR

 

Yes the Coast Guard does allot flight spots much the same as the Navy. Everyone goes through primary flight training alongside their USN/USMC/USCG peers, and from there branch out to platform specific training and on to the fleet and your respective community. If you're looking at helos any is a good pick, fixed wing either CG or USN, if you want quality of life I'd go USCG, USN, USMC in that order. Find your local officer recruiter and they'll get you started.

 

According to a family member who worked officer accessions for them, the USCG does not allocate guaranteed flight slots like the other services.

Unless something has changed, you have to join the CG, complete OCS, and then hope you get awarded a flight slot. While it's a great flying gig, it's a real risk in that you might get stuck not flying for 4-5 years through no fault of your own. If I was set on flying I would probably not go that route.

What you can do is fly for another service and then do an inter-service transfer (losing one paygrade in the process). You may have to be qualified on an aircraft type which the CG flies (H-60, C-130, etc), but not sure about that.

 

The loss of paygrade does not always happen.

 

+1 to USMCFLYR's post...
Grumble is spot on IMHO...
I know of two particular instances that followed what rickair had to say...

All in all I would recommend that you contact an officer recruiter and tell them that you want to fly. PM sent...

 

I second checking out airwarriors.com. It has a Coast Guard section within it's forums that has a good deal of information on it.

Feel free to PM me as well. I'm in the middle of a PCS move so it might take a week or so to get back to ya!

 

Ya I have been looking at this site and airwarriors. There is a lot of info and thanks for the help everyone.

 

[/QUOTE]"Unless something has changed, you have to join the CG, complete OCS, and then hope you get awarded a flight slot. While it's a great flying gig, it's a real risk in that you might get stuck not flying for 4-5 years through no fault of your own. If I was set on flying I would probably not go that route.

What you can do is fly for another service and then do an inter-service transfer (losing one paygrade in the process). You may have to be qualified on an aircraft type which the CG flies (H-60, C-130, etc), but not sure about that."[/QUOTE]

Blue 21 was an aviation contract program. It is being replaced by:

"Wilks Flight Initiative
You'll get the opportunity to become a Coast Guard aviator through this program. PLEASE NOTE: The Wilks Flight Initiative has replaced BLUE 21. Pertinent information will be forthcoming."

 

This program is targeted at minorities. Legally they can't just only offer flight slots to minorities so they offer flight slots to graduates of certain schools with high minority populations (you don't have to be an ethnic minority, just graduate from certain schools). I'm not sure what the new program will look like but it might be worth checking it out when the details are released.