So I have a 17 year old son who looking at going into the military. I think that he has narrowed it down to the Army, and being a black hawk mechanic. We went yesterday and talked to the recruiter and got his sales pitch.

I'm just looking for some real world feed back on the Army, and more specifically the 15Tango MOS. What's the good, the bad, and the ugly on this MOS?

Thanks

I wasn’t in that MOS but just wanted to point out that it’s one of those great choices IMO that has a direct application in the civilian world or as a civilian military contractor.

I served with a guy on the church security team at my old church who was an Army helicopter MOS veteran and he got out and got a job with Sikorsky and loved it.

My neighbor's son makes good money traveling from Puerto Rico to all points in the continental US. He said it was all computer chips these days. Mainly he works on flat tops.

Former First Sergeant of an Air Cavalry Troop. We had 27 helicopters which included the Blackhawks.. The maintenance guys were highly trained and performed well. Many of them did continuing education and had/were working on their A&P licenses. When we were on field exercises the support staff were always rear echelon, unless a helicopter needed maintenance somewhere in the woods and they were usually transported by another helicopter.

If that is his choice, then he has picked well. As far as advancement, unlimited, with the possibility of becoming a Warrant Officer Maintenance Technician after gaining rank and experience.

That's one of the MOSs that will really carry on with you after your service and make you some $$, so not a bad choice, plus he gets to be a crew chief and sit on a minigun, right?

That’s exponentially better than being a wheeled vehicle mechanic who couldn’t fix a sandwich.

Definitely a skill that translates into the civilian world.

Whatever he does, don’t let people sell him on the glory of combat arms. Cool while you are in combat but has just about zero use in the real world.

While he is in, make sure he gets every certification and as much training on the Army’s dime as he can. Army won’t care about him. He’s just a number to the Army. Get as many honest benefits as he can, get out and start making real money.

A good field that will yield skills marketable outside of the military. Times may have changed with reduced deployments to the sandbox, but it takes substantially more hours of checks, repairs, and maintenance for every hour of flight.

Instead of getting the recruiter to lie about getting him into Ranger School, Airborne School, Air Assault School, or tactical underwater shoe tying, negotiate hard to be stationed with a solid unit he really wants to be part of or at a location he really wants to live in. Exotic locations…Japan, South Korea, Hawaii, Germany, Egypt…Kansas!

Congrats on your son is willing to step up and serve..... Be very careful with any promises that the recruiter promises ......... If a Security clearance is needed but for WHATEVER reason cannot be granted the your son will be subject to Uncle Sams wishes and could be sent for training wherever he sees fit no matter what your son was promised....... Have personal knowledge of these contracts/promises being cancelled / not honored while serving as a Army Field Artillery Drill Sgt.(Pershing Missle)in the early 1970"s at FT> Sill,Okla and due to lack of security clearances these personel were sent to some unwanted job skill (mos)and or unwanted duty station. ........... Once had a trainee who graduated the school but could not leave for duty station due to security clearance. Could have been assigned to a Pershing Missle unit just across FT. Sill, Oka. Instead he was held over and for 3 months was a instructor for incoming students till his re-assignment came thru to be a supply clerk in a WAC (womens army corps) unit at FT. Rucker, Alabama. ............................... drill sgt.

drill sgt,

When was the last time you been at Sill? Been 10 years for me since I left Sill/Lawton. I'm sure it's still a dump.

Two things to always keep in mind:

1. He must perform to standards in every way, including completion of the training program by meeting every standard. Those who do not measure up may be reassigned to other positions.

2. Every enlistment contract, no matter what is "promised", contains a clause advising that everything is subject to change based upon the needs of the Army.

That said, the military offers a lot of excellent opportunities for those willing to make the commitment and follow through.

Two of my former cadets now work at Space Ex both were helo mechanics, 1 Apaches Army and 1 Marine not sure which air frame.


https://www.nwitimes.com/news/...fb-cdb386752468.html

quote:

Originally posted by Edmond:
drill sgt,

When was the last time you been at Sill? Been 10 years for me since I left Sill/Lawton. I'm sure it's still a dump.

^^^^ Was there from early 1970 thru winter 1973... Lawton was not the best back then........... drill sgt.

They will either do a lot of work in a short amount of time or sit idle for long periods of time.

Expect to rotate though Europe and the various Training Centers IRWIN, POLK, Hoenfels.

I've been told that the AIT is hard, but I haven't met anyone who failed out. If you do fail, that's when you would become needs of the Army.

It looks like the Blackhawk's replacement has been identified, but I don't know the transition or fielding plan. I'm not sure if tilt rotor skills will translate into the civilian sector or how the Army will transition the mechanics.

Also plan on irregular hours due to flight schedule, our guys seem to fly all the time.

My 2 cents. Look at everyone. The Navy and Air Force have more schools. Look for something that will transition to civilian life.I worked on ejection seats and heating,cooling,and cabin pressurization. Nobody wanted me because “jetliners don’t have ejection seats”.

quote:

Originally posted by Imabmwnut:
Nobody wanted me because “jetliners don’t have ejection seats”.

See, that's where you screwed up:
"That 747 is gonna have an ejection seat when I'm done with it!"


Any of my friends kids that are going in, I kinda give them the same speech-
Whatever you do in the Military, make sure it can transfer over to the Civilian world.
Chopper mechanics seem to make a good dollar in the private sector.

quote:

Originally posted by Imabmwnut:
My 2 cents. Look at everyone. The Navy and Air Force have more schools. Look for something that will transition to civilian life.I worked on ejection seats and heating,cooling,and cabin pressurization. Nobody wanted me because “jetliners don’t have ejection seats”.

I find that hard to believe with the Army being the largest service of those three. Helicopters don’t transition to civilian life?

quote:

Originally posted by PASig:
Helicopters don’t transition to civilian life?

Some MOS' do, some don't.
Only one or two jobs for "Cannon Cockers" (Artillery) in the Civilian World: Launching 105's into snow to start an avalanche.

Anti-Tank Missilemen jobs in the Civilian World are probably even fewer than that.

Electrician? Engineer? EOD? Communications? Logistics? (and many more) Yes, there's opportunities out there that translate from the .mil side to "real world" jobs.

I was in the Air Force in security police as an officer and have made a career of it. My wife is an rn and just retired at 25 years as a o6. So our son decided he wanted to join and went with the air guard, didn’t want to do active. He went into a red horse sq. And loves it. He was in in the sand box for 6 months. Red horse is the af version of combat eng. he is a tech Sgt and loves it. The tech school is 6 months long and gave him a real education in the trades. He works for our county in the maintenance department and likes that. Between his af retirement in another 10 years and the county retirement he will be well set up later. Many of the careers in the military directly relate to civilian jobs. Recruiters will push people into the field they need to fill.
So be careful with them. They are really salesmen that have goals to meet.
You’ve done a great job raising a child that wants to serve.

quote:

Originally posted by PJS:
I was in the Air Force in security police as an officer and have made a career of it. My wife is an rn and just retired at 25 years as a o6. So our son decided he wanted to join and went with the air guard, didn’t want to do active. He went into a red horse sq. And loves it. He was in in the sand box for 6 months. Red horse is the af version of combat eng.

RED HORSE squadrons are also very similar to Seabees

quote:

Originally posted by PJS:

Many of the careers in the military directly relate to civilian jobs.

I left active duty in 1960. Looked hard, read all the "help wanted" ads, but I could not find a job maintaining Regulus missile systems.