Ask a Naval Aircrewman

[Haasino]

Originally Posted by RANDMARIE

Ok so I'm kind of freaking out, I ship to basic next Tuesday as AIRC which I'm pretty excited about but I have a few concerns. My husband is currently at selection for the Green Berets, I haven't had contact with him, and he gets home friday after I leave so it's been a while since I've seen him and obviously going to be a little while longer til I do. My question is about taking leave while going through the pipeline. I graduate basic the week before thanksgiving, so I'm not sure if I could take leave for that. Also how often can I take leave, if I have it, throughout school. Are they pretty cool about letting you leave on weekends, holidays, etc. or am I basically stuck there my whole pipeline?

Probably not for Thanksgiving... but you will be able to take about 16-18 days of leave over Christmas/New Years which'll happen while you're at NACCS. This is known as Holiday Stand-down and happens at most training commands... so if you're in training long enough you might get to take it twice like I did. Other than that, you're generally not going to be allowed to take leave once you're actually in class... some commands may let you take leave if you're on hold waiting to class-up, however. As far as weekends go, you're going to have to be Phase III in Pensacola in order to stay out overnight... and you'll need to sign out with a liberty buddy. You'll also be limited to how far from base you can travel... I think it was 75-100miles or thereabouts.

Originally Posted by squid.life

Any info on what to expect for this? I'll be reporting to Whidbey island after training since I live in the Seattle area. I'm guessing a year from home for boot camp and training time. That sound right? And do we do SERE school?

Yeah, you'll be going to VR-61 as an AWF on the C-40 Clipper... unless the moons align and you get one of the ultra-rare reserve AWO billets and go to VP-69. You won't be going to SERE as an AWF... you will if you get AWO. And, yes... I'd say about a year is a fair assumption... maybe 1.5 if you end up waiting for a while to class-up at NACCS or A School.