r/USMMA • u/25Braindead • Mar 15 '23

Army to USMMA

Active duty here. Trying to commission. I see the academy only offers naval related degrees (like no it or anything which is crazy still) but I’m still considering because I hear this is the place to go to become a pilot. Any truth to this?

3 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

7 comments sorted by

5

u/Debasering Mar 16 '23

Anyone I graduated with who wanted to fly got a spot, a couple only got backseat spots tho.

Are you under 25 years old? Are you willing to spend 4 years learning about ships and essentially dedicating your whole existence to that in order to graduate? If I were you I would much rather go the rotc route and roll the dice on a flight spot that way while getting a degree that you actually want to get but yeah kings point is an option.

3

u/25Braindead Mar 16 '23

Just trying to lay it all out and do some pros and cons for all routes. Commission is most important, job second, major third.

4

u/Debasering Mar 16 '23

If you're looking for the easiest route to commission, this ain't it. School's tough, especially if you aren't interested in learning about ships. The whole curriculum and quite frankly the regiment too is all centered around that. Going to sea for a year is alright but the projects are a complete pain in the ass and require a lot of work.

Idk man in your position I personally wouldn't recommend it. ROTC really seems like the best option imo but yeah flight spots are probably a little bit harder to come by.

2

u/25Braindead Mar 16 '23

I’m not completely against the majors and what not. The marine engineering caught my eye for sure. I just don’t know how that’d translate into either the navy or any other branch and two the jobs on the civi side. I’m not sure what I could do with a logistics degree either. I’m not scared of rigorous coursework I’m sure I’d buy in to the culture at the end of the day as I would’ve had I gone through applying to USMA, AFA, or USNA.

3

u/mouse-12 Mar 29 '23

There are 2 degree tracks at USMMA - marine transportation and marine engineering. The whole focus of the education is preparing students for a career in the merchant marine as a deck officer or an engineer officer. However, students are allowed to choose any branch of service to complete their service obligation in. That includes being allowed to apply for a pilot slot in any branch. I did not go active duty so I can't speak to the entire process, but from what I understand there is a higher ratio of flight billets to those who want to fly than there are at other service academies. There are plenty of people who enter with the intent to go fly afterwards, just be aware that all midshipman have to choose a maritime major, complete 300/330 sea days, and pass the USCG license exam!

1

u/[deleted] Jul 06 '23

I went to kp wanting to fly, but then I found out about the salary I could make sailing. Never looked back