sharks2812
New Member
- Joined
- Jun 19, 2021
- Messages
- 3
I am a rising senior studying Aerospace Engineering (grad May 2022), and in a 5 year program where I will graduate with a master's in Aerospace Engineering in May 2023. I am not in ROTC so I will have to either do OTS or OCS. I also have a private pilot's license and around 200 hours. I have had the thought of being a pilot in the military in the back of my mind for awhile and as of recent it has become a much stronger consideration. My biggest confusion in this whole process is what life will look like after the military, as I am not interested in the airlines and that is a majority of the information out on the internet. I love engineering and would like to work in the space industry at NASA or SpaceX after the military, but I want to fly and serve while I'm young and I feel like if I don't its something I'm going to regret.
Ideally I would like to fly fighters, become a test pilot, and then an astronaut but I realize these goals are far, far down the line and are besides the point right now. At the very least I would like to put myself in a position to go back into engineering later in life. This brings up the question of which branch provides the most options career wise and would best allow me to go down this career path. Some of the reasons I'm currently considering each branch are:
Navy:
Ideally I would like to fly fighters, become a test pilot, and then an astronaut but I realize these goals are far, far down the line and are besides the point right now. At the very least I would like to put myself in a position to go back into engineering later in life. This brings up the question of which branch provides the most options career wise and would best allow me to go down this career path. Some of the reasons I'm currently considering each branch are:
Navy:
- The Aerospace Engineering Duty Officer (AEDO) role allows a lateral transition into an engineering role for naval aviators
- The prospect of serving on a carrier sounds exciting
- Would prefer to avoid tanker/cargo aircraft
- A more stable family life (have a long term girlfriend and will not be single going into training)
- Serving as a 62EXB in case the pilot thing doesn't work out (but failure is not an option and I intend to put everything I have into training)