Marine Corps Aviation

A

armystrong2015

5-Year Member
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Mar 6, 2010
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Hello all. I looked back for a thread on Marine Corps Aviation after the Academy, but I couldn't find one (maybe I skipped over it haha). What I want to know is, how competitive is it to score a USMC rotary wing slot if I graduate from the Naval Academy? Overall, what are the Marine Corps' Aviation options as opposed to the Army's Aviation options? At this point in time, that's how I'm weighing my decision. Any insight would be greatly appreciated
 
I'm pretty sure that as of next year a Midshipman will no longer be able to service select Marine Aviation. So you will first have to compete at the Academy to be a Marine and then you will have to compete with other Marines at the basic school for an aviation slot. I know this doesn't really answer your question fully, but I hope it helps.
 
LiveGold15, your advice is actually completely wrong. There are a significant number of Marine aviation slots set aside for USNA (roughly a quarter to a third of the Marine slots). This isn't a rumor, this is direct from my company's Marine mentor. So...yeah.

The Marine Corps offers three different kinds of contracts for officers: air, ground, and law. OCS can compete for all three, USNA and NROTC compete for air and ground. What that means is that when you commission you attend TBS knowing very generally what you're going to be doing. Ground Marines are assigned an MOS at TBS (i.e. infantry, artillery, logistics, etc.), and air contract complete TBS but already know they're going to flight school. They aren't assigned a community until flight school.

As for getting rotary wing, it's a safe bet that in the Marines you stand a good chance of getting helos. Traditionally, the Marine aviation communities have been helos, props (C-130s, and it's a small community) and jets with helos being the largest. This is changing with the introduction of the Osprey replacing the CH-46 medium lift helicopter.

Helo communities within the Marine Corps have a broad range of missions that are all awesome (which is partially why I want to fly helos in the Marine Corps). Basically, there's:
HMLA (Hueys and Cobras): Provide close air support, CASEVAC, inserting/extracting Marines, and carrying small piles of stuff around.
HMH (CH-53s): Heavy lift support, from inserting/extracting Marines to carrying huge piles of stuff around.
HMM (CH-46): Medium lift, such as CASEVAC, inserting/extracting Marines, and carrying medium piles of stuff around.

One thing to consider is that all pilots in the Marine Corps are commissioned officers. In the Army, a certain number of their pilots are warrant officers. In Army units (one of the Army guys correct me if I'm wrong, but this is what I've heard from Army pilots), the warrant officers kind of get all the fun because the commissioned officers have to spend a lot of time working on their "ground jobs," a secondary position they do when not flying. In the Marines, everyone's kind of in the same boat as far as ground jobs.
 
Hurricane12 said:
LiveGold15, your advice is actually completely wrong. There are a significant number of Marine aviation slots set aside for USNA (roughly a quarter to a third of the Marine slots). This isn't a rumor, this is direct from my company's Marine mentor. So...yeah.

The Marine Corps offers three different kinds of contracts for officers: air, ground, and law. OCS can compete for all three, USNA and NROTC compete for air and ground. What that means is that when you commission you attend TBS knowing very generally what you're going to be doing. Ground Marines are assigned an MOS at TBS (i.e. infantry, artillery, logistics, etc.), and air contract complete TBS but already know they're going to flight school. They aren't assigned a community until flight school.

As for getting rotary wing, it's a safe bet that in the Marines you stand a good chance of getting helos. Traditionally, the Marine aviation communities have been helos, props (C-130s, and it's a small community) and jets with helos being the largest. This is changing with the introduction of the Osprey replacing the CH-46 medium lift helicopter.

Helo communities within the Marine Corps have a broad range of missions that are all awesome (which is partially why I want to fly helos in the Marine Corps). Basically, there's:
HMLA (Hueys and Cobras): Provide close air support, CASEVAC, inserting/extracting Marines, and carrying small piles of stuff around.
HMH (CH-53s): Heavy lift support, from inserting/extracting Marines to carrying huge piles of stuff around.
HMM (CH-46): Medium lift, such as CASEVAC, inserting/extracting Marines, and carrying medium piles of stuff around.

One thing to consider is that all pilots in the Marine Corps are commissioned officers. In the Army, a certain number of their pilots are warrant officers. In Army units (one of the Army guys correct me if I'm wrong, but this is what I've heard from Army pilots), the warrant officers kind of get all the fun because the commissioned officers have to spend a lot of time working on their "ground jobs," a secondary position they do when not flying. In the Marines, everyone's kind of in the same boat as far as ground jobs.
Click to expand...

Thanks for clearing that up Hurricane12. Great (REALLY great) to know that's still an option...
 
I get so tired of clearing up myths about Army aviation and the warrant/commissioned dynamic that I'm about to request a sticky thread.

I'd better not let those pesky warrant officers know about all the fun I've had.

The differences in Army and Marine aviation are legion. As are the similarities. The biggest difference is the depth and breadth of missions and the airframes available.
 
Hurricane12 said:
LiveGold15, your advice is actually completely wrong. There are a significant number of Marine aviation slots set aside for USNA (roughly a quarter to a third of the Marine slots). This isn't a rumor, this is direct from my company's Marine mentor. So...yeah.

The Marine Corps offers three different kinds of contracts for officers: air, ground, and law. OCS can compete for all three, USNA and NROTC compete for air and ground. What that means is that when you commission you attend TBS knowing very generally what you're going to be doing. Ground Marines are assigned an MOS at TBS (i.e. infantry, artillery, logistics, etc.), and air contract complete TBS but already know they're going to flight school. They aren't assigned a community until flight school.

As for getting rotary wing, it's a safe bet that in the Marines you stand a good chance of getting helos. Traditionally, the Marine aviation communities have been helos, props (C-130s, and it's a small community) and jets with helos being the largest. This is changing with the introduction of the Osprey replacing the CH-46 medium lift helicopter.

Helo communities within the Marine Corps have a broad range of missions that are all awesome (which is partially why I want to fly helos in the Marine Corps). Basically, there's:
HMLA (Hueys and Cobras): Provide close air support, CASEVAC, inserting/extracting Marines, and carrying small piles of stuff around.
HMH (CH-53s): Heavy lift support, from inserting/extracting Marines to carrying huge piles of stuff around.
HMM (CH-46): Medium lift, such as CASEVAC, inserting/extracting Marines, and carrying medium piles of stuff around.

One thing to consider is that all pilots in the Marine Corps are commissioned officers. In the Army, a certain number of their pilots are warrant officers. In Army units (one of the Army guys correct me if I'm wrong, but this is what I've heard from Army pilots), the warrant officers kind of get all the fun because the commissioned officers have to spend a lot of time working on their "ground jobs," a secondary position they do when not flying. In the Marines, everyone's kind of in the same boat as far as ground jobs.
Click to expand...

Good to know. Thanks Hurricane 12.
 
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