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I've never met a C-130 Loadmaster who didn't adore the job--and I've been doing a survey of just that question for the last twenty years. A C-130 crew gets to more different places than just about anyone else in the Air Force--and if it's a lousy place, at least they don't stay long. Of course, if its Special Forces support...they can't talk about it.
The Loadmaster doesn't do any of the cargo loading, the Loadmaster designs the load and directs others in loading the plane properly. These days, I understand the Loadmaster is also the Flight Engineer.
If you can...go flight crew. Loadmaster, boom operator, sensor operator, flight engineer.
Outside of that if you want a direct mechanical field then check out crew chiefs or engine mechanics or avionics.
Any base/duty station is What you make of it. You might love a random place that you never would have given a second thought and end up not liking what you thought you would want.
To a lesser extent your enjoyment at a specific base can be influenced by your friends you make while there. If you meet awesome people it won't matter where you are you will find a way to have fun and enjoy it.
I've never met a C-130 Loadmaster who didn't adore the job--and I've been doing a survey of just that question for the last twenty years. A C-130 crew gets to more different places than just about anyone else in the Air Force--and if it's a lousy place, at least they don't stay long. Of course, if its Special Forces support...they can't talk about it.
The Loadmaster doesn't do any of the cargo loading, the Loadmaster designs the load and directs others in loading the plane properly. These days, I understand the Loadmaster is also the Flight Engineer.
I was a C-130H loadmaster and it was an awesome career field. Best job I ever had. And I've done plenty of loading myself. You might have Aerial Port support on an Air Force base, but we landed at other locations all the time, and that's when we earned our pay. And I got to travel to about 45 different countries. It's a little different now, with the J models. Two pilots and one or two loadmasters. On the H model we also had a flight engineer and a navigator. Definitely the best enlisted job in the Air Force or Air National Guard.
If you can...go flight crew. Loadmaster, boom operator, sensor operator, flight engineer.
The technical term is aircrew. Out of the ones you listed, only the flight engineer is actually considered to be flight crew, and that's a dying field.
Thanks for all the input! Loadmaster has definitely been at the top of my list. My recruiter said that’s the most requested career and the thus the hardest to get. I also have become more and more interested in crew chief. I’m looking to work directly with the planes and travel the most. Any knowledge is avionics travels a lot?
Thanks for all the input! Loadmaster has definitely been at the top of my list. My recruiter said that’s the most requested career and the thus the hardest to get. I also have become more and more interested in crew chief. I’m looking to work directly with the planes and travel the most. Any knowledge is avionics travels a lot?
Avionics specialists at the Wing level tend to be more inside, and I never knew them to travel much unless a squadron or part of a squadron deployed somewhere, stateside or overseas. Sometimes an avionics tech would be called to "redball" an aircraft, maybe right after start the pilot gets an avionics fault and has to shut down while the tech drives out in a line vehicle and troubleshoots the aircraft, maybe changing out a "black box" or line replaceable unit. There needs to be a sense of urgency there, the clock is running so the aircraft can start and taxi on-time or nearly so, or a decision is made so the pilot can go to the spare aircraft, if one is available.
As for crew chiefs, they were my buddies. They and the end-of-runway ("Last Chance") crew ensured the safety of the aircraft. I flew over 3000 sorties in 22 years of flying fighters and my tally of landings equaled my takeoffs. Crew chief is, as I once heard one explain, the hardest job you'll ever love.
You have to get assigned to a heavy to be a flying crew chief.
So crew chiefs on heavies tend to fly/travel more than crew chiefs on fighters? Also, open question to all, what bases are cre chiefs limited to?
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