Quote:
Originally Posted by mcartier713
anyone a Marine pilot? or know anything about flying for the Marines?
Whaddaya want to know? C-17 nailed it so far. Split is about 70-30 RW to FW in the Marines. Of the 30% FW, roughly 60% fly Hornets, 35% Harriers, and 5% Prowlers. JSF (F-35) is scheduled for IOC in 2013.
Right now regardless of aircraft, you can expect to be on a 6-18 month cycle, ie, 6 months overseas 6 months home (worst case for East coast Cobra's right now) to 6 months overseas then 18 months home (doesn't happen often right now). Most squadrons are closer to 6 over 12 back.
Following is Hornet perspective.
While you are home you will work about 12-14 hours a day, you will be expected to fly a cross country once a month. If you don't fly a cross country once a month you might get 8-10 hours a month, if you fly a cross country you can get 18-20 on average (10 hours over a weekend). While you are "home" you will not really be home, there will be 4-8 week dets to 29 Palms for CAX or Mojave Viper as they change the name of the excercise, various dets to Yuma, El Centro, Key West, etc (Obviously some can be fun others just work), and when you are not flying the 8-10 hours a month that you might get, you are studying, doing a ground job, studying, preparing for flight, and oh yeah, studying.
You will get the crap kicked out of you in the ready room if you don't know your stuff, you will get the crap kicked out of you in the brief getting ready to fly if you don't know your stuff, you will get the crap kicked out of you during the flight if you don't know your stuff, and in the post flight debrief, yes, you will get the crap kicked out of you if don't know your stuff.
That being said, from the 35 minute flight doing BFM (dogfighting) where you are spending your time between idle and afterburner, negative to 7.5 g's, to the 2 hour self escort strike where you pre-mission tank, then fight your way through the bad guys who outnumber you, destroy a target, and then fight your way home (once again outnumbered), to providing close air support for the grunts, it is the most exhilarating job known to man. Perhaps second to the job Ron Jeremy has, but besides that, pretty damn fun.
You can climb out the jet and whether you were king kong or if you sucked on that flight you still learn something new every day, still feel a great sense of accomplishment, and look forward with longing to the next chance you get to rage around by yourself in a 35 million dollar jet.