I'm thinking of joining the Military when i get older, but i absolutely have to be a fighter pilot
but i don't know exactly what i could be, there's the Navy, Airforce, Army, (you get the idea) but i don't know which is the best for pilots
a lot of you would be like "Well Airforce, of coarse" but i heard the Navy has better flight
I'm confused
can somebody help

go with the navy,they have aircraft carriers very cool.

Navy is definitely better...

Navy for warfare
Airforce for Homeland
Army for troop transport

I think airborne, marines or special troops would be the best but navy and airforces is pretty cool but airborne has airplane and apaches and marines are all around.

Make sure you have perfect eye sight and have normal color vision. Becoming a pilot for the military is extremely difficult. You need the smarts and normal physical conditons to even qualify. Best of luck to you.

You've seen Top Gun, right? So you know it ain't easy.

The navy and air force, I'm pretty sure, get thousands of applications, but only a very very small number of the very best get to be a fighter pilot.

best of luck, but i wouldn't want to build your hopes up just yet ... have you been taking flying lessons yet? Probably be best not to run before you walk, or whatever the saying is.

Personally I think i'd choose the air force; you might get to fly an F-15, but since the navy got rid of the Tomcats you'd have to make do with a Hornet.

its lastly your choice...here is a website for you to check marine

Had to add a penny's worth.
Spent many hours in the air (Combat helicopter crew/ combat search and rescue). I'm convinced very good pilots are in all air services. Worst part is carrier landing (in my job, had to have at least 50 hours stick time and at least one carrier landing in rough seas; Vietnam, and maybe crew had to fly and land the thing, H3, slightly smaller than a Jolly Green). Even in choppers, the deck is not too big, and when you approach at 170 knots, it's even smaller. Oceans are unforgiving, they don't care how big your ship is, and there aren't many second chances, but that's not why you are going in, is it?
USMC will likely be doing some tailhooking too, but they tend more towards slower, more manueverable attack/ground support than either Navy or Air Force, so if speed is what you want, those are what you should go for. As for F18, no one can sell it short: it can kill as well as any other bird (except perhaps the Tomcat), but soon enough, it also will be replaced, it seems, with something more capable.
Army et al will sometime soon have an unbelievable attack helo, far more than the Apache, so if chopper combat is your game, go there. Likely that USMC will also use it at some time.
All have good training, that is obvious.
Best of luck. Remember that your primary purpose is going to get you shot at, whatever you choose.

i thank all of you
it's good to have many points of view
i went to the "go army.com" thing
and i found one area i really really really really really liked
i thought "wow, this is what i want to do for the rest of my life"
i'm sorry to say it's not a pilot
it's actually "special forces"
god, i was so happy (emphasize on the "WAS")
i scrolled down the page to the special requirements
guess what
THEY DON'T LET IN WOMEN
MOST OF THE OTHER AREAS I LOOKED AT DON'T ACCEPT WOMEN EITHER!
I AM INFURIATED

There are reasons why you can't be Special Ops if you are a woman. It is nothing prejudicial about women so please don't be infuriated or take offense. Physical strength is the most prominent reason....men don't bleed is another. You have to understand what it takes to be a Special Ops member. You have no idea. I would wager you have NO idea what is involved.
These guys are trained to walk into the middle of hell, kill Satan, and walk back out. The endurance training that is necessary for these guys sets them apart from everyone else.
These guys are not 'a mans man'. These guys are gods. The most that the most physical man can possibly take is what is required and it far surpasses the most that the most physical woman could possibly take.

However...there are female pilots. It doesn't matter which branch you go in...if you aim to be a pilot the requirements are pretty much the same. It is tough! Extremely tough!

But I salute your interest in the military.

Go with the USMC, the have Harriers! (vertical takeoff jets)

and they ride around with the Navy so its best of both worlds

EDIT:funny that you mentioned them as gods cause Navy Seals nickname their snipers god.

Actually the Navy rides around with the Marines.

lol, The Navy supplies the carriers,supercarriers,and everything else the Marines ride on. the only thing the Navy doesnt supply is the Amtracks! UH RAH!

...all of a sudden The Village People's "In The Navy" is playing in my head

Having had experience with this, let me add a few tidbits. Should state that my group was SOG, doing insertions/extractions and other classified ops during Nam.
The SEALs are one of the SOGs. During Nam, they sent teams up the sewer systems to Hanoi for various types of ops. In their off days, many went hunting VC in the Mekong; sometimes they used archery equipment. I've seen long ear necklaces on these guys, but the puzzling thing was that they considered my team crazy!
Special Forces (including the internal groups) were recorded in such things as this: a dozen were on a mission in Laos (yeah, I know we weren't there: BULL, we were) and had bivouaced in the jungle on a secondary trail (SF does NOT bivouac in the normal manner), and as the story goes, they woke when a regiment of NVA set up camp in the same place. The SF left in the night with 2/3 of the NVA as corpses, the rest not knowing until the next day.
LRRP and others of the type are accredited with more fantastic tales during Nam.
Snipers are also pretty incredible people.
But in support of the quote above: the attrition rate of my group was quite high in all our training. New recruits would come and go like the wind, some by injury, some by nature, but most simply because they just couldn't cut it: it was hard training, vicious training, exhausting training, and I've met few men who handled it, let alone women. There is no sexism involved here: the simple fact is that the people I fought with, the ones I knew from other groups, were tough, strong, highly conditioned, and no matter how many movies Hollywood produces, I've never met (nor have any of my colleages ever mentioned it) a woman who would be able to make it through.

Were you a SEAL RabidCat?

I was in the Hospital Corp in the late seventies. I have the utmost respect for anyone in the SO. I gave it a shot in boot camp.....lol. Long after I had given up doing pushups there were only a couple of guys still doing them. Incidently, my Company Commander in Basic Training was a Navy Seal. What a cocky, son of a ____ that guy was. As a matter of fact...every SEAL I have ever encountered was a cocky, son of a ____! I guess it just goes with the territory. Like Walter Brennan in the old western TV show, The Guns of Will Sonnett use to say, "No brag, just fact!"

to you sir! Thank you for your service!

Sir. I was not a SEAL, nor Special Forces, nor anything like that. I was an original member of a thing called Paramedic Rescue Team #1, which died as we original members left, and was not continued. We were the original HC-7 Det 111/110 and were highly trained ex-HS crewmembers having served at least one tour in Nam to train the Sea Devils; my group trained with Special Forces, Marine, Air Force, and USN and SEALs to form a small group of instructors. We were to be stationed in Atsugi, Japan for this instructorship. Unfortunately, the USS Pueblo was stolen by the North Koreans (legally or illegally), and through circumstance, we were the only trained crewmen in the area qualified to do the job so we transferred to a new detachment, Det 111. Det 110 was forming in the Tonkin Gulf, but had no aircrew other than those qualified in the H-2 Kamen and the H-46 Boeing, while the mainstay of the group was to be the H-3 Sikorsky, modified into battle format (engine and transmission armor, broom closet armor, radio/nav compartment armor, seat armor, M60 mounts, bladder and foam filled fuel tanks, etc. With the Navy still intent on having us train others, we were sent through various schools on our R&R in Subic Bay, and as 1968 went on, we became the crews of 110. Those few of us were more or less unrecorded, the only information available on Det 110 is from those who occupied it; many of those have little record information on file, simply because we did things we weren't supposed to do, as did the rest of the SOGs in Nam. Later on, after the originals left, the deal changed and there weren't the same type mission, simply combat SAR. Records can be found of those who came later. Incidentally, I don't know any Nam vets that are not bitter about that damned war. It was not fun, and changed us, almost to a man, I think, into things we were not. All wars will do that to some degree, but Nam was unique: we were told we lost, but we didn't, those a**holes in Washington did; the public blamed us (the servicemen) for the war and its atrocities, but no one seems to remember that we were drafted then, not volunteers: we had no choice, but Lyndon Johnson and his crew managed to cause us to be the bad guys. I was spat upon and called "baby killer" by an individual in San Francisco on my return in '68. He's lucky to be living. As LBJ put it "No one over there can take a p*** without my permission." And that's the way it was.
Guess I'm not very proud of Vietnam, but I get quite defensive (not referring to you, sir joc) of servicemen, whatever game they choose. And thanks for the sentiment. We got as many wounded to yours as we could, patched as well as we could, under the circumstances. And I've got the utmost respect for Corpsmen.
Interesting, though, about the cocky thing. The ones I knew weren't, may just have been the time. One friend that left SEALs in the late '70s was cocky, for a while (he met up with a bunch of Nam vets I ran with and that cured his cockiness).
Anyway, thanks.

In a way, I envy your options. You're lucky, in that respect, for living in the US. Up here in Canada, if you want to become a fighter pilot, the only place is in the airforce. The only base with a fighter wing is Cold Lake and Bagotville, both of which are backwater places up north which arent too appealing. You, on the other hand, have the option of being a Navy pilot (Wish I had that option), an army pilot or an airforce pilot. In either case, you have a much better chance of ending up in a good, interesting base.

so long as you have 20/20 vision. become an officer. and have normal color vision. you can be a pilot.

AND....as long as you are extremely physically fit, and are very coordinated, and as long as you exhibit an extremely positive thought process.

Let me warn you though... Becoming a fighter pilot is extremely hard. You better be prepared to accept the possibility that you'd be stuck with another job for your career. I was talking with someone who witnessed a course up her in Canada... out of all the applicants, 16 got accepted and started flight school. Out of the 16, 2 made it to fighter pilot school (dont remember the exact name of it). Out of the 2, 1 passed.

Personally, I figure that after you pass flight school, you cant just quit. They've already put money into you and your bound to the contract. They'd probably make you a cargo pilot or maybe a helo pilot before aircraft specific training. I cant imagine spending a decent portion of my life as a helo pilot (since Canada doesnt have attack helicopters, we have utility helicopters) or even a cargo plane. Not enough excitement for me.

This is quite a delemma for me actually. I want to become a fighter pilot... I have great vision, I'm sure I could pass the physical, I know I'd work hard at becoming one... problem is, even if I do get to become one, the two bases are in the middle of nowhere and I dont know if, because I'd be stationed there, I'd regret joining the airforce or whether I'd be happy.

But keep in mind also Stellar that your stent in the military is quite limited, unless you really like the military and want to make that a career. Whether you make it as a fighter pilot or not isn't the real end all of end alls. After your military career the field is wide open as to job possibilities. Airline pilot. Private jet pilot. "Hello, James? Please inform Captain Stellar that I will be needing the Lear Jet Friday morning at 7:00am sharp."

4 years to do the training (either in Moose Jaw, or even possibly in Cold Lake too) and then 7 years after that is limited, according to you? Thats 11 years, man.



If I decide to quit the airforce after 11 years, I wont be looking to become any of those.

Yeah, after that long you might just want to stay...but then again......

If it would be less time there, or if it was closer to a main city, then it wouldnt be all that bad... but getting out of it at either 29 or 33 (depending on how the training is done) in order to live some place social seems too late for me.

that too, it bites not having perfect 20/20 and color vision. it limits a bit of your MOS possibilities. ANGLICO's out the window

Lol, if I wanna become a pilot, I better apply quick, before the infantry ruins my eyes.

I have a horrible track record with night time patrols and basically anything that involves me moving in the night time. I always get hit in the eye by a branch or something like that.

ouch! my only fear of joining the Infantry would be tinitus (ear's getting f*d' up from gunfire)

I heard somewhere about the U.S. Mil. having combat earplugs but i dunno.

Im not sure about combat earplugs, but I know that on the range, they make us wear earplugs. I found it a stupid idea, because its harder to hear what the officer is telling us to do... then during a run down at the range, my ear plug fell out. I didnt notice until I shot my rifle and I heard an interesting ringing noise...

actually i went to the recruiter and they said the only reason woman can't join is because "infection" may occur during........uhem...........menstration,
missions usually last long periods of time with out bathing, and if a woman were to have their cycle then, it could cause infection
i talked to many people about it at the recruting area, a couple of them said they had met woman that would do a better job at infiltration than many of the men, so DON'T say it's becuase of physical strength, though we may have less, that doesn't mean we arn't able to obtain it
there is actually a job called Special Forces Officers where you actually TRAIN special forces, and woman can join that, you do much of what the special forces due, but it's:
Train personnel in parachute, scuba diving, and special combat techniques
Plan missions and coordinate plans with other forces as needed
Train personnel for special missions using simulated mission conditions
Lead special forces teams in accomplishing mission objectives
Direct and supervise administrative activities of special forces units

Umm, that sounds pretty much like what any officer does, the only difference being that in this case, its in the SF...

i know, i'm just trying to prove it's not because of physical strength

there are many reasons women dont have many combat arms jobs.

-men naturally have more strength capability

-men have testosterone which helps in combat

-men think tactically. on a more brutal scale than women.

NOTE: i'm not discriminating. just showing why little combat arms jobs are available to women.

Up here, all combat arms jobs are open to women. Down in the US though, I thought all combat arms prohibited women?

Personally, I dont care. If a woman can cut it, let her in. What I dont agree with is lowering the standards for women. That, IMO, is BS. You can only move as fast as the slowest person, for example. There should be a unified set of standards.

I say little combat arms because women can be fighter pilots and I think guards

I didnt think those are considered combat arms.

The definition of Combat Arms is all f***ed up though. Artillery is considered combat arms ffs.

while they are second line troops (troops who's job is not to shoot for a living), they still support with heavy gunfire.

I wouldnt classify them as combat arms though. They really dont see any more combat than someone in service battalion would, I figure.

i also think lowering standards for women is wrong, as you said, "if a woman can cut it, let her in." but they don't even give the chance for a capable person to be let in.

just because men may be more capable to do something, that doesn't mean women can't do it at all, if a woman trains she could be just as capable as any other

I think you should join the Navy, my uncle did and loved it, he remained there for over 30 years and if he was still alive he would probably still be there ( his death was nothing to do with his career

Its too bad Canada doesnt have any carriers. THat'd be cool.

No Canadian carriers? Don't know if it's still true, but when I was in, and quite a while thereafter, certain non-Americans were accepted for duty in the Navy: I knew many Filipinos, Canadians, British (why, I don't know) and Australians (again, why I don't know) who were regular Navy.
Re women in the services: my opinion flies with many expressed here; that is, if a woman can cut the mustard, why not? Personal experience is that women can be excellent marksmen (had to do that, lol), and very good at sneaking around the outdoors, if so inclined. Also known some excellent mechanics, pilots, and so on. Strength, stamina, and overall viciousness may be a different story though.

yeah, since women dont have the strength, stamina, and viciousness of men. what about the DOD considering opening up a Sniper/Scout MOS for women?

I'm not sure what you're saying...are you talking about non-americans being accepted for duty in the US navy?

I simply said that Canada doesnt have any more carriers.



Why not just accept them into the same MOS with men?

I was saying that there were people then who were accepted for duty in the USN. It was quite common to have those aboard carriers. If you really wanted to (personally, I'd stay where you are).
MOS. Agreed. Why not? If a woman can deal with it, fine.
Long time ago, I was the manager of a custom systems division in industrial control systems; hired their first female technician (well, she had better qualifications than any of the men, dammit!). Took a lot of crap for that, but she was a damned good tech, as good as any of the others. If I remember correctly, the general consensus at the time was that "women don't have either the scientific mind or the mathematical capacity" to do that work. Nonsense!
Feel the same way about most of those areas. And I'd bet big money on the adequacy of female sniper teams.
Seems most of those old invalid claims have gone down the tubes, where they belong.
I used to lift (weightlifting) with some women when I lived in SoCal. Most of those gals were tough; while they couldn't do huge weights, they certainly put a lot of men to shame. And I'd rather have them on my side than many of the men I know and have known.

If the Army guys drop out of humps easilly. it would be worse for women. Scouts/Snipers dont have too run around much, pretty much just crawling,keeping hidden,bieng accurate. and with todays technology a sniper can pick off enemies from over a mile away. this way a female can be in the action but still be at a safer distance.

Ahh, yep. I know the US wouldnt turn down some people just because they're not native to the US.



It could be worse for a woman, or it could be better, depending on how fit she is. So whats your point?



Yes, but sometimes you do have to run. It might not be during a fighting patrol or anything offensive neither.

lol....keep this in mind...the Recruiter's job is to get you to join. Recruiters will tell you anything. They are like used car salesmen. 'Oh, it was only driven by a little old lady and she only drove it on Sundays to church a block away'. Infection my Aunt Frances! You simply couldn't cut it sweety. You just couldn't. No woman could. Barely only a handful of men can cut it. I certaintly couldn't have. And I wanted to. The Recruiters are trying to get you to join, I am not. I am just telling you the truth about the Special Ops. They arent' men...they are gods! And women just unfortunately do not have the 'god quality'. Nothing against your gender hun. Just the facts Mam.

Stellar,
I had forgotten that you joined the infantry. Is there any chance you will go to Iraq?

Thats quite a general statement. Even though barely any men can cut it, that doesnt mean that no women at all could.



Well, if the conservatives win up here, who knows?

Chances are no... they'd need to reenact the war measures act or emergency act or whatever they call it now to send me anywhere overseas against my will IIRC.

There are approx. 3.5 billion women on the planet. The odds are great that at least a few of them could cut it. There are approx. 165 million women in America. The odds are great that at least a few of them could cut it. So...there you go...the odds are that somewhere, some women could cut it.

In reality though.....it just isn't going to happen. The strongest woman doesn't even come close to having the strength of the strongest man. And that 'menstrual' thing is an important factor...infections notwithstanding...only in the movies do women excel in such things.
We are not talking about Combat....we are talking about the Special Forces...The Seals, The Rangers, etc.