Former ground pounder request air wing advice

[spartan1371]

Fellow Marines,

I served from May 2003 to May 2007 as a combat engineer in the corps.I have done my time in combat on the ground pulling up mines and dealing with I.E.D.'s. I then got off active duty and have since took a 2 year break, im now D.O.D. police and work on Eglin AFB. I made the decision to go back in the corps as a reservist because i realisticly miss serving my country overseas. I have chosen the mos 6174 "Crew Chief" UH-1 door gunner. It seems very interesting and possibly rewarding, i understand theres a thousand post on this forum about crew chief MOS's. However the simple question which i cant get an answer to is if passing all the required test, How long generally is MOS school from start to finish, ill be on active duty orders till its completed. Also any tips someone is willing to give me on preperation for this tough job would be helpful. Im not out of shape the corps has taught me better than that, however im only used to running two miles every other day so i will be Drastically Amping up my work out regiment over the next three months to prepare my body for the school, i refuse to be a Seargent in a MOS school and unprepared physically. I've been to New Orleans and have been physically examined it all checks out, so your words of advice wont be wasted due to me dropping.

As Always

Semper Fidelis

"Any advice from current crew chiefs or personnel related would be highly respected, My Butt was saved by a Huey and Cobra in Fallujah, so if any door gunners or crew chiefs are reading this...THANK YOU!!! Us ground pounders respect you guys completely"---oorah!!

[quest23]

Swim...and a whole lot of running...oh yeh...more swimming. School is about 6months in all...good luck with all your schools. Crew chiefs got the good job....

[Supersquishy]

That will be sweet, I'm not too sure where the Huey MOS school is, but Pensacola had a lot of Flight Mechs and Crew Chiefs doing dunk tank training there. I was supposed to go Aircrew but got scewed out of it because the school was so backed up..lol You most likely will need to go to SERE School as well. All the Crew Chiefs I talked to LOVED what they did. Plus if your sh1t hot you can use your training jacket to fill in the experience needed to aquire an A&P license (Civilian licence to work on aircraft) it will save you 20,000 grand. Good luck!

EDIT: Be prepared for LONG working hours, once the Helo stops turing is when you jump out and start required inspections and maintanence.

[spartan1371]

thanks for the assistance and info, my plan is July 10th go to New orleans and meet the command there along with my Reserve Recruiter, then push the school back to 4 months from now so i can get the rust off and be prepared for the PT. Im native born Floridian and swim like a shark so im not worried about the mile long swims, but ill prepare for them aswell. Thanks guys !

Semper Fidelis

[Zapablast05]

Kinda late, but here's my input. There are quite of few NCO students in the Air Crew school. I don't know any personally (except for the Sergeant in my GSE class) but there are several. My buddies in the Air Crew training command say it's a lot of swimming and Cross Fit. They say that they don't run too much, but it doesn't hurt to keep up the running endurance. Good luck with Air Crew school, Sgt.

[PEDROSWIMMER]

You Will Really Enjoy Aircrew,i Went Thru Aircrew Canidate School In 83 And Then Rescue Swimmer School(very ,very Physical)but Enjoyed The Hell Out Of It.i Ended Up Flying As Swimmer And Crew Chief On Pedro For 3 Great Years,you Wont Regret It,semper Fi

[spartan1371]

thanks again guys, truly helpful, and in light of the recent HOLIDAY! God Bless America!

[cclark2008]

I'm currently in the aircrew school house and it is a lot of swimming and PT. The school is "short" at 19 training days, but I've been here since december and have been classed up for only a couple days. The flight surgeons like to put you on "med hold" for stupid little things. Then theres being stuck on backlog waiting to class up. Fleet returnees like you never have to worry about backlog but can get stuck on med hold. The PT is kinda tough but not that bad. The swim quals can be tough because you're wearing flight gear. I'd say I hope to see you here in Pensacola but I hope I'm not still here in 3-4 months. Semper Fi

[Sergeant M]

You Will Really Enjoy Aircrew,i Went Thru Aircrew Canidate School In 83 And Then Rescue Swimmer School(very ,very Physical)but Enjoyed The Hell Out Of It.i Ended Up Flying As Swimmer And Crew Chief On Pedro For 3 Great Years,you Wont Regret It,semper Fi

Why would a Marine go through rescue swimmer school? When I was in pensacola (I'm aircrew as well), all the rescue swimmer guys were Navy and they all wore those funny beige catch-me-****-me shorts.

[Sergeant M]

cclark2008, You need to update your profile. If you're at NATC then you're not a poolee.

[PEDROSWIMMER]

Why would a Marine go through rescue swimmer school? When I was in pensacola (I'm aircrew as well), all the rescue swimmer guys were Navy and they all wore those funny beige catch-me-****-me shorts.

YOU NEED TO DO YOUR HOMEWORK CPL.,THE MARINE CORPS HAS BEEN FLYING SEARCH AND RESCUE AT ALL OF ITS AIRWING BASES FOR 30 YEARS ,FROM CHERRY PT. TO HAWAII,MCAS BEAUFORT AND EL TORO WE HAVE ALWAYS FLOWN OUR OWN RESCUE MISSIONS AND ALSO GONE THRU SERE SCHOOL,RECON -RAPPEL & SPIE RIG SCHOOL AND COMBAT SAR TRAINING FOR OUR OWN PILOTS AND AIRCREW. GO ON LINE AND TYPE IN "PEDRO-SEARH AND RESCUE USMC AND YOUL GET PLENTY OF ANSWERS,WE ARE PART OF A VERY SMALL GROUP THAT MANY PEOPLE DONT HEAR ABOUT ,SEMPER FI

[fr1sbee]

I did some time as a crew chief on a CH-46 in 75 you basically do a preflight on the aaircraft before the pilot before any flight, fuel samples etc. Check on work other depts do on the aircraft, engine shop, hydraulics, sheet metal, etc.. you have to know the aircraft inside and out. Its an awesome job... Our door gunners werent crew chiefs though... Door gunners didnt last long in Vietnam..

[Sergeant M]

YOU NEED TO DO YOUR HOMEWORK CPL.,THE MARINE CORPS HAS BEEN FLYING SEARCH AND RESCUE AT ALL OF ITS AIRWING BASES FOR 30 YEARS ,FROM CHERRY PT. TO HAWAII,MCAS BEAUFORT AND EL TORO WE HAVE ALWAYS FLOWN OUR OWN RESCUE MISSIONS AND ALSO GONE THRU SERE SCHOOL,RECON -RAPPEL & SPIE RIG SCHOOL AND COMBAT SAR TRAINING FOR OUR OWN PILOTS AND AIRCREW. GO ON LINE AND TYPE IN "PEDRO-SEARH AND RESCUE USMC AND YOUL GET PLENTY OF ANSWERS,WE ARE PART OF A VERY SMALL GROUP THAT MANY PEOPLE DONT HEAR ABOUT ,SEMPER FI

I AM Aircrew, you need to do your homework. 7382 is a C-130 Loadmaster. I have also never don't Recon - Rappel & Spie Rig School either. Yes.. we do SAR missions, and what do we do when we find them? We chuch liferafts at em. SERE school was fun though.

[Petz]

um, guys... ah.. doesn't he need to be a mech to be a crew chief?

[Sergeant M]

Crew Chief is it's own MOS, but you have Mech responsiblities as a crewchief.