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How to be a Marine Pilot has been asked for almost as long as there have been airplanes in the sky.  If you want to become a Marine Aviator there is one thing that you are required to do first, and that is that you need to become a Marine.  The reason you need to become a Marine first is because that “bond” of being a Marine is what holds the whole ball of wax together.  The air-ground team that  makes up the Marine Corps not only sets The Corps apart from the other branches of service, it is what makes The Marine Corps the finest fighting force there is in existence today.

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The bond that makes The Marine Corps is unique because ALLMarine Pilots start their career as a pilot with infantry training.  The Corps does not care if you attended the United States Naval Academy and graduated number one in your class, you will be required to complete six months of basic infantry training at a place in Quantico, Virginia called The Basic School.  That is where many infantry related things are taught and more importantly….experienced.  In order to become a pilot in The Marine Corps, a person needs to be a commissioned officer with a college degree.  Whether you went to the USNA, or Podunk University, it really does not matter.  The bond of understanding the Marine infantry life is mandatory.  Here’s why…

When involved in combat the corps has at it’s disposal what amounts to it’s own personal air force.  The Marine Corps takes it air force with them and in those planes are Marines.  When combat is taking place on the ground and a platoon of Marines are taking fire and are calling for help, they call the air wing.  When the airplane/helicopter shows up on the scene they actually talk to the Marine that is hunkered down calling for help.  There is a good chance that the pilot will even know the Marine on the ground because they may have trained together.  When the Marine foot soldier needs help, the pilot has that bond that he needs to help not some voice on the radio, but another brother Marine.  A Marine will never let down another Marine, and that is the bond that is born in training.  Unless you are a graduate of The United States Naval Academy, you will be required to attend what amounts to Marine Corps Boot Camp.

If you desire to be a pilot in The Marine Corps you need to be a college graduate.  Unless you went to the Naval Academy, you will be involved in some sort of boot camp.  It will not be Parris Island or San Diego but it will be boot camp nonetheless.  That boot camp will be more severe than the enlisted training because the graduates will be leading the enlisted Marines.  In essence, the Marine Corps Officer Corps is expected to perform better that the enlisted Marines because so much more is expected from the Officers.  We will not get into a deep discussion of the physical requirements, but here is an overview.

• Pass MEPS and the Class 1 Flight Physical for pilots.
• Vision better than 20/40 and correctable to 20/20 using soft contact lenses. (PRK eye surgery requires waiver)
• 2.0 college GPA
• 1000 or higher on SAT and/or 22 on ACT
• Pass a background check with the FBI. (not a felon or wanted criminal)
• 225 PFT (Really need a 240 to have OSO forward your packet to USMCHQ)

Now that we have listed the basic requirements we want you to know that an enlisted person can become a pilot only if they are an officer.  The only way to become an officer is to graduate from a 4 year college and then complete basic training. (USNA does not complete basic training) Once basic training is completed you attend The Basic School, which is about six months long.  Once The Basic School is completed The newly minted Marine Officer heads off to ground school for aviation.  After ground school is completed, the flight student then gets chosen for either fixed wing or helicopters.  Whether you get chosen for jets or anything else is based first and foremost on what is available.  Everyone wants jets and the slots that are open only go to the best in the class at the time of selection.

If there are no slots for jet training open when it is your time to choose, you do not fly jets…case closed.  The needs of The Corps come first.  If you are qualified to fly jets and there is a slot you will complete with all others that are in your class and you get what you earn.  If your father flew jets and was shot down, or some other such drama in your closet, you will have an unofficial leg up on the competition.  That is reality, but not written anywhere.  It is just the way it is and how it happens.  Other than that what you fly is what is available and then within what is available is sorted out by how well you rank against your class mates.

The success of a Marine aviator is the fact that your brother Marine is calling for help and needs it and needs it now.  When that Marine pilot comes screaming in from above and drops their ordinance so fast the enemy does not know it is even dead, it is because their fellow Marine has requested it to be done.  More often than not, the Marine making the call is a pilot them self assigned to the infantry.  Yes, Marine pilots DO get pulled out of the cockpit to work on the ground with the infantry.

The flip side of  the coin is that the Marine aviator knows that if their aircraft is shot down, the Marines on the ground will die trying to bring them home.  The bond of being a Marine is what sends that pilot into danger and it is reinforced by the knowledge that the ground forces will be there if and when the need comes.  The Marine air-ground team is first and foremost a team of brother Marines and that bond is something civilians do not comprehend because they….well, simply are not Marines.  That bond is born in Marine Corps Boot Camp and until you complete Boot Camp or Officer Candidate School (OCS/USNA) That bond does not exist.

If you want to become a Marine and do not come from The Naval Academy there really is only one person that stands in the way of your dream.  It is the one in front of you, screaming.  It is the one with the smokey bear cover.  It is your what you would associate as a drill instructor.

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