Careers: Military--Army, Navy, Airforce, Marines, Coast Guard/Navigation

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Expert: - 10/21/2008


Question
Dear James~

I'm entering OTS in a couple of weeks as a Navigator, I'm very excited about my career although I know very little about it.  I'm trying to find more information about it, and more specifically about how to choose what air craft to "hope" for when going into navigation.  I know you said your expertise is enlisted, but I hoped if you didn't know the answers to my questions you could point me in the right direction.  My question: how do I find info on how often I'll be away from my family (whether deployed or domestic missions) in respect to each aircraft?  This would be a great help.

Thanks,
Michael

Answer
Michael -

You are correct, officer questions are outside my area of expertise, but I can give you a little of my personal perspective.  My father was commissioned in the USAF in 1956 and went to Bombardier/Navigator school at Mather AFB, California.  He crewed on B-47 and B-58 bombers for SAC between 1958 and 1964.

My experience with navigators came when I joined the Air Force in 1980 and served as a loadmaster on C-5's.  I flew on them until 1987, but they phased out the nav's on most planes in 1983.  To my knowledge - and I'm sure it's out of date - the only planes that have nav's on them are the B-52, AWACS, KC-135, B-1, and C-130.

Knowing that, you can look up the deployment rates of each of these aircraft.  I can only say that I know KC-135's and C-130's have a pretty high deployment rate, as do the AWACS.  Other than that, since I have no practical experience with those planes, I can't give you any further information.

I hope I was of some help.

Sincerely,
James Bell

Careers: Military--Army, Navy, Airforce, Marines, Coast Guard

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James Bell

Expertise

I am a retired MSgt (2004) with 24 years experience in the aircrew career field, both as a loadmaster (AFSC 1A2x1) and flight engineer (AFSC 1A1x1). I have been to every continent at one time or another, and regularly flew 300 to 500 hours a year. I have been involved in the operations in Grenada, Panama, Kosovo, Afghanistan and Iraq. I can answer most questions you may have about enlisted Air Force life in general, assignments, benefits, and enlisted aircrew operations. NOTE: If you have specific recruiting and/or medical questions about how to get into this career field as a civilian, they have changed since my time, so that is best answered by a recruiter or MEPS. I can answer questions about military personnel wanting to RETRAIN. If you are asking about being an Air Force pilot, please be advised my area of expertise is ENLISTED aircrew operations, NOT OFFICERS.

Experience

Loadmaster (AFSC 1A2x1): 7 years - 2,000 hours - C-5A Galaxy cargo plane. Flight Engineer (AFSC 1A1x1C): 7 years - 2,500 hours - C-141B Starlifter cargo plane, 10 years - 3,800 hours - KC-10A Extender aerial tanker. Served as aircrew Flight Instructor, Flight Evaluator and Training Manager

Education/Credentials
Aircraft Loadmaster Initial Qualification - 1980. Mission Qualification (C-5A) - 1981. Fixed Wing Aircraft Performance Course - 1987. Initial Flight Engineer Qualification (C-141B) - 1987. Mission Qualification (KC-10A) - 1988. KC-10 Initial Qualification Course - 1994. Mission Qualification (KC-10A) - 1995. Instructor Qualficiation (KC-10A) - 1997. Evaluator Qualification (KC-10A) - 2000.

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