It really depends on assignments and the track you decide to take. I’m at year 7 and haven’t been in a non operational or non flying role minus mandatory schooling since I graduated flight school. I am also on a path where I could continue flying for another decade without reverting. Some of my peers are hitting company commands and will find themselves in jobs based on choice and luck/timing that they may end up flying less in the following year or two.
What is true though that makes many people say what you’re asking about is that our WOs are the technical/tactical experts so their primary job is to fly. Our RLOs are expected to be good pilots but they lead and manage organizations are different echelons as their primary function. It’s how we differ in our structure from the Air Force or Navy whose pilots are all commissioned and can serve in roles where their primary job is just to fly.
Most people’s LT years look similar but there are many different decisions you can make how to manage your career as a CPT and beyond that it is hard to say with broad strokes what your experience will be. It will depend on your performance, choices, and honestly some luck of what opportunities are open at the time. If you want to fly helicopters, there is not a better branch of service to do it.
Regular line officer or real life officer depending who you talk to. It’s slang for O grade type officers. We will sometimes also say commissioned versus warrant officers, but it’s misleading. At CW2 and on, our WOs are commissioned officers, not warrants anymore. They can also hold commands in certain units at CW4/CW5. It just isn’t usually typical.
