$125K Navy Pilot Bonus

[TankerDriver]

I wouldn't take it. Money isn't everything.

 

[VaB]

The bonus is directed a communities with shortages, I don't think you will find any P-3 or E-6 pilots getting bonuses. "and a strong economy luring soldiers and sailors back to civilian jobs", Wow I bet a lot of you did not know that

Wrong again, YIP. I don't know about E6's, but P-3 guys are getting bonuses. Well they were a year or so ago, not sure about today.


Mudkow,

I thought that guys that took the bonus were being allowed to stay in regardless of making O4 or not. Plenty of base gyms that need running and such.

 

[pilotyip]

VaB that comes as a surprise, we have a P-3 reservist at our compnay who says the P-3 guys are overstaffed, no one gets to fly, they are getting augment orders to non-flying billets. I was just making an assumption based upon that and my expereince back in my bonus days, when P-3 guys were not on the list.

 

[mudkow60]

Nope-

I know to really good guys (based on my flying experience) that have been shown the door....and they have families to take care of.

It is not a sure thing any more.

 

[Kuma]

pilotyip-

Remember that the bean counters are looking at "end strength" numbers. The squadrons may be overmanned with everyone fighting to get flight time, but staff jobs and boat assignments for P-3 guys may be under the mark.

The navy as a whole may have an underage of P-3 drivers even though certain aspects of the community seem full.

I don't know anything about Navy numbers, but I do know that bonuses are based on end strength of targeted year groups.

In my USMC days, if you got passed over twice you were GONE. When I entered the AF, I was amazed that there were Captains with 10 pass overs who "continued" until retirement. That trend is reversing now that AF end strength numbers are lower and the manning documents are shrinking the overall footprint of the AF. Now, in the AF it is "if you get passed over twice as a captain (to major) you will only be retained if you are in certain AFSCs". Next year may be even more bleak.

Kuma

 

[Scratcher]

I agree with Tanker. I passed on the 25 for 5 and jumped ship. It's been two years since I left and I've never had as much time at home since joining the Nav 13 years ago.

There a very few that were getting passed over in the Navy before I left. Most were because of alcohol related incidents in their record. It didn't have to be a major incident like a DUI or anything, just had some kind of Page 13 with the word alcohol on it.

 

[NavinRJohnson]

P3 guys get a bonus... Maybe.

This info is as of fall '05, but those P-3 aviators that stayed in the Navy could elect to get a bonus (I don't think it was the full 25k, something a bit less). The catch was, you had to screen for Department head by the end of your disassociated sea tour. If you didn't screen, you had to give the money back.

Making 04 was no big deal, but from what I understood, you pretty much had to have a stellar record (ie Early Promote, Instructor Pilot during first tour) in addition to getting orders to VP-30 (the RAG, for those not in the VP community) to screen. Very slim odds for any that went to the VT squadrons for their shore tour.

If you don't screen, you won't ever make command, topping out probably at the O5 level in wing staff as a twilight tour. Not that there will be much to command until the 737's come online, sometime in the next millenia.

While I enjoyed hanging out with my fellow JO's, my sea tour was not enjoyable, in large part to the O4's and the front office. No monetary amount could buy me back into that community. It used to not be that way (late 80's, early 90's) but things changed.

Glad to be on the civilian side...

Navin

 

[pilotyip]

Scratcher, in the old days you could not get promoted unless you went to the squadron happy hour with Skipper every Friday and rolled the dice until you fell over. My how things change

 

[Scratcher]

Amen!

 

[Spyguy]

I have not read this year's flavor of bonuses, but there were three you could choose from. 1 - 5/25 aviation (all pilots/NFO's) and you pay it back if you don't screen for DH. 2- Department head bonus (not sure on amount but owe less years (2 I think or it may be the sea service one, but one of them is only two). 3- Sea Duty one. Again don't know the amount.
You can choose only one of these. Yes, P-3's are fat on pilots now, but that is because they shrank the number of pilots in each squdron from 36 down to 30 right when they had a flux from Sept 11. The bean counters already adjusted the inflow of new P-3 pilots coming in as of 2 years ago. So, the abundance of mid-level pilots is only temporary.
I will go back to my original arguement about people getting in or getting out. The CNO has agreed to take up some of the slack for the army and the A/F in Iraq and Afg. Last year the navy had around 3,000 Individual Augmentations (IA's). This year that number is going to jump to 13,000, oh and they are now 1 year long.
Trust me when I say people are going to be bailing ship like rats trying to escape a fire. The bonus is like trying to douse a four alarm fire with a mop bucket. People are not going to stand for three/four CONSECUTIVE sea duties. That amounts to roughly 7/9 years and at the current rate of deployment you will be gone roughly 5/7 years. NO amount of money is worth that. You'll get some single guys to bite, but even my single friends are wanting out. In fact, some of them are yelling the loudest. They don't have time to try and even have a chance for a family.
NavinRJjohson is very correct about the P-3 community. Ep-3 is slightly different. Our numbers are small still so making O-4 is easier, but no one really wants to stay that long.