Hey Corky, I did the 4 year enlisted route. I got my private pilots and time building at the Navy flying clubs usually on many Naval bases, and attended one of the satellite Embry-Riddle schools on base at night (this is the best kept secret out there for Riddle, its much cheaper and my grade point average was the highest until I went to Riddle full time in Daytona Beach) for about 40 hour of credit for the BS degree. I was shore based in a squadron that had a 72 hour contingency to go anywhere. I really had a great experience but it was very difficult to always get permission to take the night courses. (they don't want you to start a semester if they feel you will not be able to finish it, for a deployment or something). If you are going to be ships company, I don't know how they do things there, but you should enjoy the travels and explore new destinations and meet some great caricature in the Navy. There is a war on now and I wish you all the luck and hope you are able to continue positively towards your goals.... It can be done, just don't sacrifice to much for your destination and miss the journey.

 

a quick note on the skymates thing...it looks really good for them to say they are in the works of becoming VA approved, however they have been saying that for almost a year now and i am not sure on their progress. I was told they were working on it and almost 12 months ago and they are still saying the same thing. Who knows...hopefully they will get it done soon because it would be nice to have more choices.

 

I guess they changed it. A number of years ago you did the pipeline and JO tour first, then went to college. That way the college part fit into your normal sea-shore rotation as opposed to being an "extra" shore assignment.

 

I didn't know that Skymates was so well known. I got my PPL from Katie Hawk Aviation over in the main terminal at GKY. Now I'm a student at UND working on my CFI. I don't really know much about Skymates though.