Air traffic control

[Hoovs97]

Hello everyone,
I recently enlisted and I am currently in the DEP program. The other day I chose my mos, being air traffic control. I have some idea as to what it consists of but I was wondering if there was any Marine out there who was or currently is in the air traffic control field. Some things I was wondering is how well does air traffic control transfer over to the civilian sector, what is the schooling like, what is the day to day life of an air traffic controller, and any other pieces of advice or any information whatsoever.

Thank you

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[Omegaham]

Hello everyone,
I recently enlisted and I am currently in the DEP program. The other day I chose my mos, being air traffic control. I have some idea as to what it consists of but I was wondering if there was any Marine out there who was or currently is in the air traffic control field. Some things I was wondering is how well does air traffic control transfer over to the civilian sector, what is the schooling like, what is the day to day life of an air traffic controller, and any other pieces of advice or any information whatsoever.

Thank you

I wasn't a controller, but I maintained their radios and got to hang out with them on a daily basis. I'll take your questions one at a time.

1. ATC is one of the jobs that applies almost directly to the civilian sector. The Marines train their guys according to the FAA's standards, and you'll be getting FAA certifications as you train on the different positions. This is a good thing, as it opens you up to a large number of civilian jobs, either working for the FAA or working for a private ATC company.

2. Schooling is rough. It has a pretty high wash-out rate, and the fact that the Marines are cutting back means that it's only going to get more selective. It's a lot of memorization - everything from weather patterns to the differences between airliner flight, general aviation flight, and military flight patterns. Not only that, once you get out to your duty station, your training begins again on the specific airport that you're working out of. They'll be testing you for two years after you get out to the Fleet, during which time they have a metric of how far a reasonable trainee will have progressed. If you fail, you get reclassified to another MOS.

3. Day-to-day life is actually very close to civilian life. Shifts are a little bit more haphazard - many air stations are open on weekends, which means that so are you. Same thing for nights, although most air stations close for the night, so most of the time you'll only have one person pulling the graveyard shift.

Due to the fragmented nature of shifts and the demanding work schedule, (There's a lot of training to stay current and refresh procedural knowledge) there isn't very much unit PT. You're still held to the standard - PT on your own, or you're going to pay. There are some commands that take the PT seriously, but there are plenty that will give you all the rope you want and then hang you if you're out of standards.

4. ATC has much, much higher standards of behavior than the rest of the Marine Corps. Your qualifications are precious, and they can be taken away at any sign of idiocy. This, again, means that you get reclassed to another MOS - after all, if you have no qualifications, then you can't do your job. This goes for any MOS, but stuff like underage drinking, DUI, and other nonsense is punished particularly heavily in ATC.

I have nothing but good things to say about most of the controllers I worked with, and as long as you're willing to put in the work, it's a very good MOS. You're lucky that you have the spot.