I'll be 17 in a few months so my time for decisions is drawing closer and closer to an end. I've managed to keep my GPA bouncing between 4.0 and 4.4 the last 2 years and I'm active in 2 sports. So I know both of those aspects will help me get to where I want to go. I have 2 uncles and a cousin who served/serving in the Marine Corps to you can imagine the flak I get about joining. BUT just like every other adrenaline craving kid there's ever been I'd like to fly....fly fast if possible
but I wouldn't forget the idea of flying a chopper. Also I'd like to shoot stuff, blow thing up, etc. And after that's over it'd be cool to be an astronaut too but how?
   Umm, I'd prefer to go to a military academy like Annapolis or AFA or Westpoint
but I'm not sure how....well I'm just not sure.
   I'd figure that I'd have more chances to become a pilot in the Navy or USAF than in the Marines but that's just me. Am I totally wrong about that?
 Also If theres any info about military life, flying etc. It would be geatly appreciated and thanks in advance. Thanks also for spending the time to read this.

Josh L.
Sand Springs, OK

well josh, you never said what you would like to fly.  I know a lot of stuff about the military, because my dad flies for the army, and just got home from iraq a couple weeks ago.  Also, become a navy or marine pilot is much more harder than becoming an air force pilot.  This is because not only do you have to learn the flying techniques, but also how to learn how to work on a ship (navy, marines) and there is much more physical training (marines, army).  Every marine pilot must have the same training as every marine soldier. If you want to read about the army and their pilots, look at the forum i wrote on "have i sabotaged myself?" in avitop.com forums.  Also read the forum about the guy who started "have i sabotaged myself?" at the top of the page of where mine is. (he is such a sissy!)  Here are the aircraft i would recommend you try flying if you go into the military... marines- F/A-18; Airforce- f-16 or f-15; army AH-64d Apache  (right on, that's what my dad flies!); COAST GUARD   c-130; and navy...F/A-18 SUPER hornet.  If you want my dad to email you and tell you a lto about flying, just write back and you'll fly some of the best aircraft in the world.  http://www.globalresearch.ca/articles/APA401A.html go to this website to see the kind of stuff dad does
    hope this helps... mike

Thanks for the reply Spectreboy, I forgot to tell you what aircraft I'd like to fly.....yeah the Apache looks like it'd be fun as hell to fly, but if I had a choice I'd fly the FA/18....my emails a little messed up & I'd like some more info if you don't mind, so if you could could you just reply to this post?...Thx

"yea that guy is a sissy lol"

Josh,

If you'd like to fly an F-18 variant then your choice is between the Navy and the Marines.  To become a pilot in either of these branches you need to be an officer, so you have a few options there..
- Become an enlisted man, work hard, and hope you get comissioned as an officer.
- Attend the Naval Academy, and upon graduating you will become an officer.
- Join the Navy's ROTC program at many universities throughout the country, and be comissioned as an officer upon graduating.

Based on what you've said about your grades and involvement in sports, it seems like you could be a good fit for the Naval Academy (more information can be found here: http://www.usna.edu/).  However, it would be best to investigate all possibilities to find which one fits you the best.

Also, as far as aircraft go, you must keep in mind that it would be 6 or 7 years before you got into your aircraft, and in that time things change.  You may change your mind on what you'd like to fly, so consider that carefully first.  But also aircraft change; if you were to join the Air Force hoping to fly the F-15, you'd be out of luck, because the F/A-22 will have replaced it by then.  Likewise, it's hard to say now, but the F-35 JSF could replace various other aircraft (F-16 and F/A-18) in various branches in 6 or 7 years.

spectreboy1221, please don't mock people based on what they want to fly (cite: he is such a sissy!).  I  know that your father flies the Apache, but that doesn't make it the greatest aircraft of all time.  Some people might want to fly much faster, maybe someone wants to fly big ass aircraft, or maybe someone wants to remotely pilot UAV's or UCAV's, but that doesn't mean they're wrong for wanting to do it.  Per your post in the "Have I sabotaged myself?" thread, the following is a quality you want in no pilots: "you must be blood thirsty wanting revenge on those damn Iraqi soldiers slaughtering our troops right now".  Pilots aren't like the people in TopGun, you have to have a cool mind and rely on your training rather than your emotions (because while it could be vengence, it could also be fear, and that just won't do).  Also, there is no advantage to flying a fighter or a helicopter or a cargo aircraft, they're just different.  In fighters, as opposed to helicopters, you do fly much faster, but you also do air-to-air combat, which is the huge draw for most everyone that wants to fly a fighter..  In a helicopter you're down low, and doing air-to-mud combat, which is a  draw to people who want to do that..

thnx patrick that website was very helpfull and is now on my to-do list lol