I am looking to become an Army Aviation Officer, not Warrant. What can you tell me about it?

Private RallyPoint Member — Sat, 02 Dec 2017 20:08:00 -0500

I know that the position will not involve flying nearly as much as warrants, but that I will be managing soldiers. I'd like to know more about the position and its PROS/CONS. I'm not closed minded though, I would love to hear other officer positions that you think are great and why you think they are. I'm starting off in MOS 15U (aviation).

Response by SGT Private RallyPoint Member made Dec 2 at 2017 8:27 PM

SGT Private RallyPoint Member — Sat, 02 Dec 2017 20:27:46 -0500

DO IT!!!

Response by Capt Daniel Goodman made Dec 2 at 2017 8:28 PM

Capt Daniel Goodman — Sat, 02 Dec 2017 20:28:14 -0500

I follow; are you undergrad, ROTC, trying for OCS, and must it be Army? Have you done Amy grad school or want to? What major S are you doing ormhabe you dome? What GPAs have you had? How much hard science coursework have you dome, and/or prior aviation exposure, and, for the coursework, explicitly what subjects and their levels? There are a few things you should appreciate. First, Toulon positively MBE I!!ed reqd to get,!minimum, a !asters, even part time. Second, you'll be immed reqd to do PME, so, if your age is such that you could wait for minimum a masters to be done beforehand. I would, most definitely. Next, I think youre unduly limiting yourself focusing solely on Armu, you've left out USM, USMC, USCG, and the NOAA Commissioned Corps, which does require a !asters, but does solely science, for the most part, yet has it's own air fleet, though their nu!bets are quite small, in total, for that whole service. You'd also need to train with the other svcs, both for assignmemts, as well as for PME. If possible, elaborate thoroughly. In copious detail, the more you can relate, the more I might be able to suggest. I wasn't flight, however, I did do the !ad exam for NFO for Navy, I'd wanted USAF nav, however, they had a 20/100 vision limit, whereas NFO was 20/200.uncorrected minimum, however illogical!thatmseemd. Idmbe most eager to hear more, hope was of use and/or interest, many thanks.

Response by CPT Nicholas D. made Dec 2 at 2017 10:13 PM

CPT Nicholas D. — Sat, 02 Dec 2017 22:13:40 -0500

A big factor is whether or not your are doing Regular Army or the Guard/Reserve. There will be ‘more to consider’ depending on the route you are taking. But I am happy to share my perspective.

If you love flying, you will wish you have pursued the Warrant Officer route. If flying isn’t that important to you, I politely recommend another branch. Although I wish we’d make every Army Aviator a Warrant first (then select the creme de la creme for leadership positions) we still need great O-grade Officers, and until I am King for a Day, the source will be mostly fresh faces. That means that even as an unsatiated O, you should still be passionate about Aviation. Flight School, annual requirements, academic retention, goggle/IFR/Night mins, AR 40-8... it’s a lot of work to maintain if it’s not something you love.

Most O grade Officers are Staff Officers. They are part of the management team, but that is a wide range of assignments and doesn’t necessarily mean you are commanding a formation of troops. In a 20 year career, if you do 2 years as a Platoon Leader, 2 years as a company commander, and top off a great run with 2 years as a Battalion Commander, you will have had 6 years of “managing troops” and the rest of the 14 years were contributing to an administrative, operations, logistics, communications, or intelligence staff function (or you went to do something outside of Aviation such as a General’s aide, School house gig, broadening assignment, etc)

Bottom line, unless your heart races everytime you hear rotor blades beating the air into submission, Army Aviation might not be what you are looking for. It is an amazing branch, and we need great people. But if it’s not a passion, if is tough to flourish.

Response by 1LT Stacy Cochran made Jan 14 at 2018 4:54 PM

1LT Stacy Cochran — Sun, 14 Jan 2018 16:54:10 -0500

I was in the Army National Guard, went to state OCS. My state didn’t allow to straight branch Aviation in case you washed out of flight school. You basically had to branch something else, go to the OBC for that branch and after you were branch qualified, get in the queue for flight school. I branched Engineer, but before OCS, I was in an aviation unit as an elisted guy. Basically, I had all of my stuff approved for flight school before graduating OBC and once I graduated OBC I was just waiting on a slot for flight school. I was getting close to the max age for flight school back then. After flight school, I flew quite a bit, but you have to remember that it was the National Guard. I only have two regrets: 1) Getting out 2) Not tracking OH-58s in flight school. My flight time is all Huey.

Response by PO2 Private RallyPoint Member made Apr 5 at 2019 12:36 AM

PO2 Private RallyPoint Member — Fri, 05 Apr 2019 00:36:38 -0400

I too am in a similar situation. I’m Navy Diver second class Paul Swopes, and I’m 26 with two years left of my six year spec ops contract with the Navy. I currently have half my B.S. in Aeronautics completed, and will complete the rest within a year and a half. I’m looking towards the Amy Aviation Officer route over Warrant based on the combined leadership role that includes a focus on aviation. Please let me know your thoughts on the matter. Any input is appreciated.