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AWE1-E3

Naval Aircrewman

E-1 to E-3 (Junior Enlisted) · Navy

E1–E3E-4E-5E-6E-7E8–E9
HEADS UP

AW 'A' School at NAS Pensacola runs roughly 15-17 weeks and is one of the physically and academically demanding enlisted pipelines in naval aviation. You will not touch operational equipment until you earn the designation — every qual, every PQS line, every NATOPS open-book test is a gate, and there are no shortcuts through the pipeline. The subcommunity assignment (AWF, AWO, AWR, AWV) shapes your career from day one: learn what each NEC does before orders drop, because the crewman who arrives at the fleet asking 'what is an AWR?' is the crewman the chief remembers for the wrong reason.

The Honest MOS Read
You enlisted Naval Aircrewman — one of the smallest, most operationally active enlisted ratings in naval aviation, and the only non-rated enlisted community that flies as primary mission crew on Navy helicopters and maritime patrol aircraft. The Naval Aircrewman rating was consolidated from three predecessor ratings (AW, AWF, AWO, AWR, AWV are NEC subcommunities within the AW rate) in 1998 — the result is that every AW begins from the same baseline school and then branches into subcommunity-specific advanced training that defines the career trajectory. After Recruit Training Command (RTC) Great Lakes, you report to NAS Pensacola, FL for AW 'A' School at the Center for Naval Aviation Technical Training (CNATT). The syllabus is built around the CNATRA training curriculum for aircrewman candidates and covers aviation physiology, emergency egress procedures, water survival and sea survival, basic aircrewman duties, communication procedures (NATOPS communications), and the platform-agnostic emergency procedures that every Navy crewman regardless of aircraft type must know cold. The water survival component — including open-water treading in full flight gear and dunker training in the Shallow Water Egress Trainer (SWET) — is the physical filter that pulls a small percentage of candidates before they ever reach the fleet. There is no substitute: if you are not a confident swimmer going in, fix it before you show up. The subcommunity NEC assignment determines everything after 'A' School: AWF (Helicopter Anti-Submarine Warfare Operator) flies on MH-60R Seahawks with HSM (Helicopter Maritime Strike) squadrons and operates the acoustic, MAD, and dipping-sonar ASW sensor suite; AWO (Helicopter Tactical Operator) flies on MH-60S Seahawks with HSC (Helicopter Sea Combat) squadrons in logistics, VIP transport, and SAR roles; AWR (Helicopter Sensor Operator) flies primarily on MH-60R and is the platform variant focused on radar and surface search; AWV (Multi-Engine Aircraft Crewman) flies on P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft with VP squadrons or on E-6B Mercury with VQ strategic communications. Not every NEC is available at every cycle — the current NEC source-rating NAVADMIN from MyNavy HR is the authoritative document for quota availability, not what your recruiter told you. At the junior enlisted level — AA, AWA, then AW3 — you are in the qual pipeline. The AW rating does not give you a signed NATOPS qualification and call it a day; it requires a formal qualification program under OPNAVINST 3710.7 (NATOPS General Flight and Operating Instructions), the platform-specific NATOPS manuals, and command-administered boards for each qualification level. You are learning the aircraft systems, the emergency procedures, the SAR procedures from NWP 3-50.1 (Naval Search and Rescue Manual), the communications protocols, the safety observer duties, and the hoist/rescue swimmer coordination procedures that define the job. The NEC catalog entry for your subcommunity (NAVPERS 18068) is the standards document the LPO quotes from — not your guess about what the job requires. Garrison reality at the junior AW level: most of your week is not flying. It is studying for the next NATOPS open-book evaluation, working PQS line items toward the next qualification tier, standing maintenance watch on the aircraft under the supervision of the AME/AD/AT maintainers, helping rig the rescue hoist under qualified supervision, and performing the pre-flight and post-flight safety observer duties the NATOPS specifies. The flight deck and the aviation community generally run on a culture of precise, documented, procedurally-exact behavior — the maintenance and crewman side is no exception. The AW who develops the habit of reading the correct procedure rather than doing what seemed right last time is the AW who survives the qual board.
Career Arc
  • 01Recruit Training Command (RTC) Great Lakes — Navy boot camp, ~8-10 weeks.
  • 02AW 'A' School at NAS Pensacola (CNATT) — roughly 15-17 weeks; water survival, SWET dunker, NATOPS basics, platform-agnostic emergency procedures.
  • 03Subcommunity NEC designation (AWF, AWO, AWR, AWV) — driven by quota availability and school performance; verify current cycle in MyNavy HR NEC source-rating NAVADMIN.
  • 04Advanced 'C' School (platform-specific) — MH-60R acoustic/sensor school for AWF/AWR, MH-60S crewman school for AWO, P-8A crew training for AWV; pipeline length varies by NEC.
  • 05First fleet squadron assignment — HSM (MH-60R), HSC (MH-60S), VP (P-8A), or VQ (E-6B); begin command NATOPS qualification program under the LPO's timeline.
  • 06Platform NATOPS qualification board — the gate to crew status; unqualified AWs do not fly operational sorties.
  • 07Initial SAR crewman/hoist operator qualification (HSC/HSM relevant) — NATOPS-governed, command-administered, chain-signed.
Common Screwups
  • ×NATOPS open-book evaluation fraud — having the book open and still failing to cite the actual procedure correctly, or citing a procedure from memory instead of the NATOPS page the evaluator asked for. One failed NATOPS evaluation is a data point; two in the same cycle is a disqualification conversation.
  • ×Unauthorized operation of any piece of aircraft equipment — hoisting, sensor operation, emergency system actuation — without the signed NATOPS qual for that system. The NATOPS program exists because unsanctioned crew actions have killed people; the command will relieve you from crew duties pending investigation.
  • ×PRT / BCA failure. The AW rating is a sea-duty, flight-duty pipeline; physical readiness failures under OPNAVINST 6110.1 create administrative separation tracks under MILPERSMAN that can pull you from the aviation pipeline entirely.
  • ×Drug positive / NJP / DUI. Aviation community. Security clearance at minimum, flight-status eligibility potentially, and the AW rating's small cohort makes the read propagate to every detailer conversation for the next three years.
  • ×Letting water-survival currency lapse. The NATOPS flight-status and swimming/water-survival requirements are not optional between deployments — a lapsed swim qual grounds you from flight status until recertified, and the LPO and CO both see the grounding on the same day.

A Day in the Life

  • 0500-0600Wake, PT prep. Junior AWANs maintain a personal PT plan that supports PRT pass and water survival currency — run days, swim days, bodyweight circuits. Aviation squadrons often have informal flight-line PT culture separate from the formal PRT cycle.
  • 0600-0700Muster and morning quarters. Flight schedule review — who is on the flight schedule today, what sorties, what maintenance status. For the AWAN not yet flight-qualified, this is your daily visibility into when you might observe or fly on a supervised evolution.
  • 0700-0800Pre-flight preparation if scheduled. For supervised pre-flight observations, report to the LPO for gear issue, NATOPS knee-board preparation, and mission brief attendance (observer role). If not on a flight today, station yourself in the maintenance area for watch assignment.
  • 0800-1000PQS work. Schedule PQS line-item sign-offs with the AW2s and AW1s who are available. Walk the aircraft with a qualified crewman and observe the systems described in your next open PQS section. Ask every question you have now, not during the actual qualification board.
  • 1000-1130NATOPS study block. Open-book evaluation prep, emergency procedure memorization, crew communication call-out practice. If there is an available simulator slot, the LPO may schedule junior AWs for procedural trainer use — take every simulator minute offered.
  • 1130-1300Lunch and admin. Update your PQS binder — document which line items were completed this morning, note which ones need a specific system access or a specific senior AW's signature. Check the BIB study log progress.
  • 1300-1500Maintenance watch or support duties. Junior AWANs often support the maintenance crew by standing the maintenance watch on aircraft out of commission, helping with rescue equipment rigging under qualified supervision, or running equipment to/from the supply cage. This is where the relationship with the maintainers gets built — treat every interaction with the AD, AE, AM, and AT shops as time learning the aircraft.
  • 1500-1600If a flight returned today, post-flight safety observer duties under supervision — equipment accountability, hoist cable inspection, aircraft wash-down support, maintenance write-up documentation support.
  • 1600-1700Liberty prep or continued PQS if behind schedule. The AWAN who is behind on PQS does not leave at 1600 — the LPO sees who stays and who does not when the timeline is at risk.
  • 1900-2100BIB study block — 30 minutes minimum, four days a week. Chapter-by-chapter through the current cycle's bibliography with written notes. On swim-qual maintenance weeks: the base pool schedule applies; swim laps count.
  • Field/underway noteDeployed aboard ship (detachment): the schedule compresses around flight operations. Briefings happen in the ship's ready room; pre-flights happen on the flight deck in whatever conditions the ship is making; post-flights happen at night. The AWAN observing or as part of a supervised crew on deployment is flying in operational conditions, not schoolhouse conditions — this is where the NATOPS learning gets real.

Weekly Cadence

Monday through Friday in garrison at the home squadron, the junior AWAN's week is shaped by two parallel tracks: the flight schedule (who is on it, in what capacity, observed or supervised) and the qualification program (what PQS is due, what evaluation is coming, what the LCPO said in Monday morning quarters). The heaviest PQS days tend to be the days when senior AWs are available in the work center and not on the flight schedule — typically mid-week when the flight schedule clears around maintenance periods. Tuesday and Wednesday are the days to camp near the LPO's desk, because that is when the best sign-off opportunities and simulator slots emerge. When the squadron is in a deployment workup cycle, the weight of the week shifts. Flight operations expand, the maintenance pace accelerates, and the junior AWAN's supervised observation hours start accumulating toward the flight-hour requirements in the qualification program. The pre-flight and post-flight duties happen in actual operational conditions — 0400 pre-flight on the flight deck in January, post-flight after a night SAR training evolution, aircraft wash-down in the rain. This is the good part of the job. This is what the 'A' School prepared you for. Pay attention. Weekends on duty (SDO, duty section watch) are the administrative catch-up time that the work week does not provide. Use duty-day evenings for NATOPS study, PQS review, and BIB work — not for television. The AWAN who uses duty days well advances a cycle ahead of the AWAN who waits for the work week to study.

Key Skills — How to Drill Each

  1. 01
    Execute water survival in full flight gear — treading water, survival swimming, SWET egress, life raft boarding — to NATOPS standard.
    The dunker — the Shallow Water Egress Trainer at NAS Pensacola — tests whether you can exit an inverted, submerged aircraft mockup in four different door configurations. The test is pass/fail, the failure rate is real, and the way to pass it is to practice the emergency egress sequence by walking it slowly on land until your hands find the seatbelt buckle and the door handle without thinking about either one. Cold-water survival adds the hypothermia factor: you will be slower in the cold than in a warm pool. Know your survival suit and life preserver donning procedures the same way — by muscle memory, in the dark, with gloved hands.
  2. 02
    Perform a pre-flight safety observer check on your platform's aircraft systems per the applicable NATOPS checklist.
    The pre-flight is not an inspection you do in your head — it is a published NATOPS checklist you run item by item with eyes on every listed component. The hoist cable, the rescue equipment rigging, the emergency egress handles, the ICS connections, the door safety pins — each item has a condition standard in the NATOPS that tells you pass or fail. The LPO who watches your first unaccompanied pre-flight is watching whether you actually read the checklist item by item or whether you glanced at the aircraft and called it good. Read every item. Check every item. Sign the logbook for what you actually checked.
  3. 03
    Operate ICS (Intercommunication System) and communicate on NATOPS-standard crew coordination procedures — call-outs, crew resource management (CRM) phraseology, emergency declarations.
    Aviation crew communications run on standardized phraseology because ambiguous language kills. 'Looks okay' is not a crew call; 'Clear left, no obstacles' is. The NATOPS general flight and operating instructions (OPNAVINST 3710.7 series) and the platform-specific NATOPS cover the required communication standards. Practice with the crew in the aircraft and in the simulator: make the call, hear the acknowledgment, make it again when conditions change. The pilot needs to hear from the crewman in the format that does not require interpretation at 50 feet above the water in brownout conditions.
  4. 04
    Complete the command NATOPS qualification program PQS at the rate the LPO sets — no unexcused open line items.
    The AW PQS is not a generic watchstander qual book — it is a platform-specific, system-specific, procedure-specific qualification package that leads to a formal board in front of the chief and the NATOPS evaluating officer. Walk the PQS with the senior AW2 every two weeks: which line items are signed, which are next, which require scheduled access to aircraft or equipment. The AWAN who finishes PQS on the LPO's timeline earns priority scheduling on the next qualification board; the AWAN who lets PQS drift becomes the visible problem at the next readiness review.
  5. 05
    Execute basic hoist operations as safety observer — cable tension, hook management, load control, emergency cut procedures — per NATOPS and NWP 3-50.1.
    Hoist operations are the primary SAR tool in HSC/HSM squadrons and the task where most crewman errors cause mishaps. As a junior AW you are not operating the hoist independently — you are watching, learning, and signing PQS line items under a qualified hoist operator. That supervision period is the time to ask why the cable tension matters, why the approach angle affects load swing, and what the emergency cut procedure is and when the crewman calls for it versus the pilot. NWP 3-50.1 is the SAR manual; read the hoist section before you ask to observe the first real hoist evolution.
  6. 06
    Build and maintain your NATOPS study log, BIB study plan, and NEC pathway map on the LPO's timeline.
    The Naval Aircrewman rating's advancement system (NWAE for AW3) operates on a published Bibliography for Advancement (BIB) available from MyNavyHR / NETC. Pull the current cycle's BIB on day one of checking aboard the fleet squadron — not the one your buddy saved from his last command — and build a 30-minute-per-day study plan against it. The AWAN who shows the LPO a documented study log earns the study time on the watch bill; the AWAN who asks for help the week before the NWAE window is the AWAN the LPO cannot defend at the next ranking board.

Manuals & References — What Chapters Matter

  • OPNAVINST 3710.7 — NATOPS General Flight and Operating Instructions
    The NATOPS program is the operational authority for every crewman action on every Navy aircraft. OPNAVINST 3710.7 is the umbrella document that defines NATOPS program management, crew qualification requirements, and the authority structure under which every platform-specific NATOPS manual operates. Know the general instruction well enough to cite which section governs crew qualifications versus emergency procedures versus currency requirements — your NATOPS evaluating officer will ask.
  • Platform-specific NATOPS Crew Manuals (MH-60R, MH-60S, P-8A, E-6B as applicable)
    The platform NATOPS is the crewman's operational bible — emergency procedures, normal procedures, systems descriptions, crewman duties, communication call-outs, weight and balance, emergency egress. You will be tested on it in open-book evaluations before you are tested on it in the air. Know your aircraft's NATOPS better than you know anything else in the rating — including the BIB.
  • NWP 3-50.1 — Naval Search and Rescue Manual
    The SAR manual governs every search and rescue operation Navy helicopters conduct — search patterns, rescue swimmer deployment, hoist procedures, survivor triage, multi-aircraft coordination, night and degraded-visibility SAR. The sections on hoist operations and the rescue swimmer coordination procedures are mandatory reading before you observe your first operational SAR evolution. The chief will quote NWP 3-50.1 on any SAR-related NATOPS evaluation question.
  • NAVPERS 18068F — Manual of Navy Enlisted Manpower and Personnel Classifications (NEC Catalog)
    The authoritative NEC catalog for the AW rating subcommunities — AWF (helicopter ASW operator), AWO (helicopter tactical operator), AWR (helicopter sensor operator), AWV (multi-engine/fixed-wing crewman). Read the source-rating and prerequisite fields for each NEC before the career counselor conversation. The current MyNavy HR NEC source-rating NAVADMIN supersedes any older version.
  • OPNAVINST 6110.1 — Navy Physical Readiness Program
    Your PRT / BCA standard from day one in the fleet. The aviation community runs its own flight-duty physical standards on top of the standard PRT — water survival currency is the most visible AW-specific element, but PRT Good Low is the absolute floor for advancement eligibility and BCA failure creates the administrative separation track under MILPERSMAN. Know the current cycle schedule and train to it.
  • CNATRA Training Syllabus for Naval Aircrewman (applicable platform sub-curriculum)
    The CNATRA-published training syllabus is the structured progression document your 'A' School and 'C' School instructors teach from. In the fleet, the command's NATOPS-derived qualification program parallels this curriculum. Understanding the syllabus structure helps you map your PQS progress against the intended qualification sequence — which line items gate the next qualification board and which ones can be completed in any order.

Standards — How to Hit Each

  • Water survival and swim qualification current — NATOPS flight-status requirement, not optional between assignments.
    The water survival qualification has a currency requirement driven by your command's NATOPS instruction and OPNAVINST 3710.7. Put the expiration date in your phone at signing and schedule the recertification 60 days out — not the week the NATOPS evaluating officer asks to see your currency card. The swim qual card is the kind of administrative detail that grounds flight-status if it lapses, and the chief finds out before you do.
  • NATOPS open-book evaluation passed on the LPO's timeline with no failed retakes in the same qualification block.
    Open-book does not mean easy — it means the evaluator expects you to find the answer in the NATOPS within a reasonable time. Practice page navigation by making your own index of emergency procedures, normal procedures, and crew duties sections before the evaluation date. A failed NATOPS evaluation is a counseling entry; a second failure in the same qualification block is a disqualification conversation with the NATOPS evaluating officer and the CO.
  • PQS complete on the LPO's timeline — all line items signed by qualified personnel, no self-signed or blank lines.
    Walk the PQS binder with the senior AW2 every two weeks and identify the upcoming line items that require scheduled access to aircraft or equipment. Request the access through the LPO, not around the LPO. The AWAN who finishes PQS clean and on time advances to the qualification board; the AWAN who has unsigned PQS lines at the board review is turned away from the board, and that gap becomes visible in the next eEVAL ranking.
  • NWAE study habit established by the end of the first 90 days in the fleet — BIB in hand, study log running.
    The AW3 NWAE cycle opens before most junior AWANs expect it. Pull the current Bibliography for Advancement (BIB) from MyNavyHR / NETC on the day you check aboard — before the first duty night, before the first pre-flight, before anything else. Thirty minutes a day, four days a week, chapter-by-chapter through the BIB with notes you can review the week before the exam. Show the LPO the study log. The AWAN who shows a documented study log earns study time on the watch bill.
  • PRT Good Low or higher; BCA in standard; NATOPS water survival currency maintained.
    Train the run, the curl-ups / forearm plank, and the push-ups on the same schedule you train for your NATOPS qualifications — not as a separate event, as the baseline. Aviation squadron PRT is the same cycle as the rest of the command but the flight-duty physical standards layer on top. Talk to the LPO about the command's training schedule and when the PRT cycle lands relative to deployment workup — pre-deployment cycles have hard cutoff dates.

Technical Mistakes — Concrete Consequences

  • Performing any crewman action — hoist operation, sensor activation, emergency system actuation — without the signed NATOPS qualification for that specific system.
    The NATOPS qualification program under OPNAVINST 3710.7 exists because unqualified crew operating aircraft systems have contributed to Class A aviation mishaps. Unauthorized operation of any aircraft system is an immediate safety-of-flight issue; the commanding officer is required by NATOPS to investigate and the grounding from crew duties while the investigation runs ends your flight-hour accumulation for the qualification period. The AWAN who touches the hoist before the hoist qual is signed will not fly again that deployment.
  • Checking the aircraft on a pre-flight by memory or by sight instead of by reading the NATOPS checklist item by item.
    The pre-flight checklist is not a cognitive exercise — it is a procedural document designed to catch the item you would miss on a visual scan. An improperly rigged rescue equipment item, an unsafetied door, or a missed ICS check is the kind of discrepancy that appears in aviation mishap investigations. The safety observer who signs the pre-flight and did not run it checklist-by-checklist owns that signature in the mishap report.
  • Letting NATOPS currency lapse between assignments or between deployment cycles — swim qual, open-book eval, emergency egress currency.
    A lapsed currency item is a hard administrative grounding from flight status under the NATOPS program. The CO and the LPO both see it on the same day the currency expires. The grounding is not punitive — it is procedural — but the crewman who lets currency lapse demonstrates to the command that he does not track his own readiness requirements, which is exactly the opposite of the cultural standard the AW community holds.
  • Paraphrasing an emergency procedure from memory during an ICS crew call instead of reading it from the NATOPS checklist.
    Emergency procedures are written and memorized for a reason: under stress, the human brain edits. A paraphrased emergency procedure that omits a step — especially in an egress or ditching scenario — is how crewmen have died. The NATOPS program requires emergency procedures to be executed exactly as written. If you do not have the checklist on your knee-board for airborne use, that is the first problem; if you have it and did not read it, that is the second and more serious one.
  • Signing off a PQS line item for another AWAN without actually observing or administering the qualification event.
    Fraudulent PQS entries are a UCMJ Article 107 false-official-statement issue in the military aviation context and a direct undermining of the NATOPS qualification program that exists to prevent aircraft mishaps. The chief who finds a blank or improperly signed PQS line at the qualification board review does not just turn the candidate away — he opens the discrepancy and traces every other line item on the same page. The AWAN who signed fraudulently, not just the AWAN who submitted it, faces the follow-on administrative action.

Career Decisions at This Rank

  • Which subcommunity NEC to pursue — AWF (ASW helicopter), AWO (SAR/logistics helicopter), AWR (sensor helicopter), AWV (fixed-wing maritime patrol).
    This decision shapes everything: the platform you fly, the operational tempo, the bases you live at, the operational mission focus of the next 10 years. AWF in HSM is the highest-intensity ASW mission profile — dipping sonar, sonobouys, torpedo drops in training, tactical coordination with submarines and surface ships. AWO in HSC is the broadest mission portfolio — SAR, logistics, vertical replenishment, special operations support, disaster relief. AWR is the surveillance and reconnaissance mission — long-duration surface search, ISR coordination, precision targeting support. AWV in VP is the longest-duration mission profile — P-8A flights routinely run 10-14 hours, the basing tends toward shore-based NAS rather than ship detachments, and the ASW/ISR/strike-coordination mission is global. Verify current NEC quota availability in the MyNavy HR NEC source-rating NAVADMIN before falling in love with a path the detailer does not have quota for.
  • Reenlist at EAS or separate.
    Most AWANs and AW3s hit the first reenlistment decision point before they have enough flight hours and operational experience to evaluate the rate honestly. The AW rating's civilian-portable credential stack is genuinely strong — FAA commercial pilot hours (if accumulated via the flight-hour pathway), civilian SAR crewman roles with Coast Guard Auxiliary or civilian SAR contractors, government aviation roles. But the conversion from military aviation crewman experience to civilian commercial aviation employment requires careful credential tracking — flight hours need to be logged correctly from the first sortie, FAA medical certificates need to be maintained, and the right mentor is an AW1 or AWC who has done the research, not a buddy who 'heard' about the Coast Guard. Talk to the career counselor AND the chief before the EAS window opens.
  • Whether to pursue the Naval Aircrew Candidate School (NACS) / NAVCAD aviation officer pipeline or stay enlisted.
    For the AWAN or AW3 who has demonstrated strong academic performance, flight aptitude, and officer-grade leadership potential, the NAVCAD / STA-21 / LDO / CWO pipeline is a real option worth researching before the window closes. The AW enlisted-to-officer pathway via STA-21 produces Naval Flight Officers (1320 designator) or Limited Duty Officers (LDO — aviation maintenance / operations side). The CWO (Chief Warrant Officer) pathway in the aviation community is an option for selected E-6 and above, not for the junior AW — but knowing the pathway exists matters for the career plan you build at E-3. If commissioning interests you, tell the LPO and the chief at E-3, not at E-5 after the window narrows.

How the Seat Varies by Unit Type

  • HSM Squadron (MH-60R Seahawk — ASW/ASUW, typically deploying with a CSG or ESG surface ship detachment)
    The HSM AWAN lives a detachment-heavy life. Most HSM squadrons deploy as detachments of two or three aircraft aboard surface combatants (destroyers, cruisers, LCS) rather than as full squadrons on carriers. The AWAN on a destroyer detachment operates in a small team — typically the detachment OIC, a few pilots, and a handful of crewmen and maintainers — in close quarters with the ship's crew. The ASW mission means acoustic sensor operation, sonobouoy deployment, MAD gear, and coordination with the ship's ASW combat system. The detachment tempo is high; the team is small; there is nowhere to hide. Know the mission and know your people before you deploy.
  • HSC Squadron (MH-60S Seahawk — SAR, logistics, VIP transport, special operations support, typically deploying aboard a carrier or amphibious ship)
    The HSC AWAN has the broadest mission portfolio and the most SAR exposure of any AW subcommunity. HSC squadrons deploy with carrier strike groups and amphibious ready groups, operating from the carrier or amphibious ship's flight deck. The SAR mission means real-world rescues — sailors overboard, aircraft mishaps, humanitarian assistance. NWP 3-50.1 is not an academic document for the HSC AW; it is the operational playbook for sorties that end with a person in the hoist. The logistics mission adds vertical replenishment (VERTREP) operations and the coordination complexity that comes with operating around other ships in a strike group.
  • VP Squadron (P-8A Poseidon — maritime patrol, ASW, ISR, anti-ship, deployed shore-based)
    VP AWs (AWV NEC) live a fundamentally different operational pattern than helicopter AW subcommunities. P-8A deployments are shore-based — NAS Sigonella in Sicily, NAS Kadena in Okinawa, NAS Bahrain, Diego Garcia — not ship-deployed. The flights are long (10-14 hours routinely), the crew is larger (a full mission crew including pilots, NFOs, and enlisted operators), and the ASW/ISR coordination mission is global in scope. The AWAN in a VP squadron is an operator in a crew resource management environment that more closely resembles commercial aviation than the two-to-four person crew of a helicopter detachment. The physical and procedural demands are different; the career trajectory and basing patterns are different. If you want to live ashore rather than aboard ship, VP is worth understanding.
  • VQ Squadron (E-6B Mercury — strategic communications, airborne command and control, TACAMO mission)
    VQ AWs serve in one of the most unique missions in naval aviation — the Take Charge and Move Out (TACAMO) mission, providing survivable communications links between national command authority and submarine-launched ballistic missile forces. The E-6B flies long-duration missions in a classified operational context. The AWAN in a VQ squadron holds a security clearance, operates in a classified mission environment, and lives in a small, close-knit community (two VQ squadrons: VQ-3 at Tinker AFB OK and VQ-4 at Patuxent River MD). The operational tempo is steady and the mission is unlike anything else in the AW portfolio. It is not glamorous in the SAR sense — it is strategic, deliberate, and requires people who are comfortable with monotony broken by exactly zero tolerance for error.

What Good Looks Like at This Rank

The good AWAN is not the crewman who knows the most about the aircraft on day one — it is the crewman whose PQS progresses on the LPO's timeline without prompting, whose NATOPS open-book evaluations come back passing without retakes, and whose pre-flight checklists are clean enough that the senior AW2 checking behind him finds nothing. The LPO does not have to chase him down for swim qual recertification or remind him about the NWAE study window. He already has the card renewed, the BIB pulled, and the study log started. At nine months in the fleet, the good AWAN is recognizable by a specific quality: precision without rigidity. He reads the procedure because he knows why the procedure exists — not because he is afraid of getting caught skipping a step. When the aircraft commander calls an emergency procedure, the good AWAN already has the checklist on his knee-board and is reading aloud at the call-out. When the hoist operator asks for a cable tension check, the good AWAN gives the correct number from the gauge, not the number he thinks sounds right. The LPO makes the case for the good AWAN at the next ranking board without being asked. The qualification board date is set, the chief has already talked to the evaluating officer, and the NWAE study plan is documented well enough that the LCPO can point to it during the advancement worksheet review. That is what the good AWAN looks like at month twelve — positioned, not scrambling.

Preview — The Next Rank

AW3 — the first petty officer tier — changes the job description in two specific ways the AWAN needs to understand before the promotion board. First, you own a section of the qualification program now: there will be AWANs looking at how you carry yourself, and the LPO is watching whether you mentor them or ignore them. Second, your eEVAL matters in a way it did not as an AWAN — your trait average and your ranking against peer AW3s is the first real competitive element in the career, and the crewman who advances early is the crewman who built the study habit, completed the PQS on time, and had the eEVAL bullets that described concrete accomplishments rather than generic duties. The AW3 also faces the first real NEC-competency test: are you performing the sensor operations, hoist operations, or tactical coordination duties that your subcommunity NEC specifies at the standard the senior AW2 expects? The qualification board signed your NATOPS qual, but the daily operational reality of flying the mission as a designated crewman is a different kind of test. The AW3 who performs consistently on operational sorties builds the flight-hour and mission-type log that the AW2 board, and eventually the AW1 and AWC boards, will read. Start logging correctly now — the details of each mission type matter for the career conversation years from now. Prepare for the AW3 slate by building the advancement worksheet documentation the LPO needs to defend you at the board: BIB study log current, PQS complete, water survival currency current, warfare device qualification in motion. The AW3 who walks into the advancement period with a clean administrative record and a documented preparation history is the crewman the chief defends when the board reads the room.
FAQ

AW E1-E3 — Frequently Asked Questions

Q01What does a E1-E3 AW (Naval Aircrewman) actually do?
Fresh out of Naval Aviation Schools Command at NAS Pensacola and your community pipeline — whether that is AWF (helicopter anti-submarine), AWO (airborne mine countermeasures), AWR (BAMS/patrol reconnaissance), or AWV (avionics/weapons integration) — you report to a fleet squadron and immediately fall in on the maintenance cycle, the flight schedule, and the PQS book the LPO handed you before you found your rack.
Q02What's the most important thing to know as a E1-E3 AW?
AW 'A' School at NAS Pensacola runs roughly 15-17 weeks and is one of the physically and academically demanding enlisted pipelines in naval aviation.
Q03What does a typical day look like for a E1-E3 AW?
Time-blocked day at the E1-E3 AW rank tier: 0500-0600 Wake, PT prep. Junior AWANs maintain a personal PT plan that supports PRT pass and water survival currency — run days, swim days, bodyweight circuits. Aviation squadrons often have informal flight-line PT culture separate from the formal PRT cycle, 0600-0700 Muster and morning quarters. Flight schedule review — who is on the flight schedule today, what sorties, what maintenance status. For the AWAN not yet flight-qualified, this is your daily visibility into when you might observe or fly on a supervised evolution,…
Q04What mistakes get E1-E3 AW soldiers fired or relieved?
NATOPS open-book evaluation fraud — having the book open and still failing to cite the actual procedure correctly, or citing a procedure from memory instead of the NATOPS page the evaluator asked for. One failed NATOPS evaluation is a data point; two in the same cycle is a disqualification conversation; Unauthorized operation of any piece of aircraft equipment — hoisting, sensor operation, emergency system actuation — without the signed NATOPS qual for that system.…
Q05What career decisions matter most at the E1-E3 AW rank tier?
Which subcommunity NEC to pursue — AWF (ASW helicopter), AWO (SAR/logistics helicopter), AWR (sensor helicopter), AWV (fixed-wing maritime patrol) — This decision shapes everything: the platform you fly, the operational tempo, the bases you live at, the operational mission focus of the next 10 years. AWF in HSM is the highest-intensity ASW mission profile — dipping sonar, sonobouys, torpedo drops in training, tactical coordination with submarines and surface ships. AWO in HSC is the broadest mission portfolio — SAR, logistics, vertical replenishment, special operations support,…
Q06What's next after E1-E3 for a AW (Naval Aircrewman) in the Navy?
AW3 — the first petty officer tier — changes the job description in two specific ways the AWAN needs to understand before the promotion board.
Q07What manuals and regulations does a E1-E3 AW need to know cold?
OPNAVINST 3710.7 (current series) — NATOPS General Flight and Operating Instructions. The umbrella authority every crewman operates under; your aircraft-specific NATOPS supplements this.; NWP 3-50.1 — Naval Search and Rescue (SAR) Manual. The doctrinal authority for SAR patterns, search planning, and rescue execution — live in Part II before your first SAR alert.;…

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Published by the Honest MOS Editorial DeskVerified against DoD/.gov sourcesUpdated May 2026Editorial standards