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AWE4

Naval Aircrewman

E-4 (Specialist/Corporal) · Navy

E1–E3E-4E-5E-6E-7E8–E9
HEADS UP

AW3 is the first petty officer tier in the AW rating and the rank where operational flying moves from supervised observation to designated crew status. Your NATOPS qualification is signed; you now fly sorties as a qualified crewman on the appropriate missions for your NEC subcommunity. The career decision that matters most at AW3 is whether your NEC performance, your flight-hour accumulation, and your eEVAL bullets are building a record the AW2 advancement slate will read — or whether you are coasting on the qualification alone. Check current MyNavyHR advancement messages for the current NWAE cycle rates; the AW rating is small and slate windows are narrow.

The Honest MOS Read
You are an AW3 — a designated petty officer and a qualified crewman. The qualification board is behind you; the real operational learning starts now. In the HSM or HSC community your seat is on the flight schedule with your subcommunity mission set: for AWF, that is ASW sorties with the dipping sonar, the acoustic processor, and the tactical coordination with the ship's combat system; for AWO, that is SAR missions, VERTREP, logistics, and the full HSC mission portfolio; for AWR, that is surface search, reconnaissance, and sensor-operator duties. In VP, the AW3 is an operator on a fully-crewed maritime patrol aircraft running missions that last the better part of a day. The daily work at AW3 is flying the mission and learning the mission faster than the AW2 next to you. Not because the AW2 is your competitor — you will need him to sign your PQS and write your eEVAL bullets — but because the AW rating's operational depth compounds with experience, and the crewman who understands the acoustic environment at 18 months is genuinely better at the job than the crewman who learned to pass the NATOPS open-book evaluation and stopped there. Read the doctrine. Read NWP 3-50.1 beyond the hoist section. Read the platform's mission-system NATOPS. The AW2 who asks you an acoustic-propagation question during the preflight debrief is not trying to embarrass you — he is telling you where the next learning edge is. The garrison work at AW3 includes standing the watch bill (flight-schedule supervisor, maintenance observer, SDO section support), building the next NWAE study cycle for AW2, managing a small slice of the equipment accountability for your section, and beginning the actual crewman mentoring responsibilities toward the AWANs in your shop. The AW rating's small size means every AW3 is visible — there is no large enlisted pool to hide in. The LPO knows your flight-hour count, your NWAE progression, your PRT posture, and your next qualification milestone. He also knows which AWANs come to you with questions versus which ones avoid you. The NEC performance reality: your subcommunity NEC defines what 'qualified' means beyond the baseline NATOPS designation. The AWF's acoustic sensor proficiency, the AWO's hoist and SAR crewman competency, the AWR's surface-search operator skills, and the AWV's mission-system operator performance are all tracked at the flight-hour and mission-type level by the LPO and the department head. The AW3 who accumulates flight hours without accumulating proficiency is recognizable within two deployment cycles — and the AW2 advancement worksheet will reflect it. The Making Chief framing starts now — not in terms of the chief board, which is four ranks away, but in terms of the habit of learning that distinguishes the sailor who makes chief from the sailor who doesn't. The chief who made chief in the AW rating built the study habit at AW3, not AW2. He was the crewman who stayed after the debrief to ask the instructor pilot what went wrong on the second hoist approach — not the crewman who signed the logbook and headed to the barracks.
Career Arc
  • 01First operational sorties as a designated AW3 — build flight hours in subcommunity mission types (ASW, SAR, logistics, ISR as NEC applies).
  • 02NATOPS currency maintained — open-book evaluations, water survival, emergency egress currency — on command-published schedule.
  • 03Begin NWAE BIB for AW2 — the advancement window arrives faster than AW3s expect; start the study habit early.
  • 04Subcommunity NEC proficiency development — acoustic sensor, hoist operator, surface search, mission system operator as NEC applies.
  • 05Begin AW warfare device qualification packet — Aviation Warfare Specialist (AW warfare device per OPNAVINST 1412.x series) or applicable warfare device for platform (SW for surface-ship detachment, AW for aviation).
  • 06eEVAL trait average building toward EP/MP recommendation — first documented accomplishment bullets in operational sorties, NATOPS evaluations, and junior AWAN mentoring.
  • 07Career decision window: subcommunity NEC refinement, warrant officer / LDO research, reenlistment bonus (SRB) verification via current MyNavy HR advancement message.
Common Screwups
  • ×Flying sorties as a 'warm body in the seat' after qualification instead of building genuine mission proficiency. The AW rating's small size means the LPO and the department head can see the difference between an AW3 who accumulates hours and an AW3 who accumulates capability — and the eEVAL ranking reflects the distinction.
  • ×Letting NATOPS currency items lapse between deployment cycles or during PCS moves. A lapsed water survival qualification, an expired open-book evaluation currency, or a missed emergency egress recertification grounds you from flight status on the day it lapses. The CO and the NATOPS evaluating officer see it the same morning. Administrative grounding is not discipline — but it is the worst possible signal about how you manage your own readiness.
  • ×Ignoring the AW2 NWAE BIB until the examination window opens. The AW rating has narrow advancement quotas; walking into the NWAE cold in a small rating with competitive advancement margins is the kind of miss that costs two years. Start the BIB study the day you pin AW3.
  • ×PRT failure or BCA violation at sea-duty / aviation-duty status. Under MILPERSMAN and OPNAVINST 6110.1, the enlisted advancement system and flight-status eligibility are both affected. The AW community is small enough that a PRT failure at AW3 is discussed at the chief board level long before the sailor thinks anyone noticed.
  • ×DUI / NJP / misconduct. The AW rating is an aviation community with security clearance implications. A DUI at AW3 does not end the career automatically, but it creates a record that the AW2 board reads, the AW1 board reads, the AWC board reads, and the clearance adjudicator reads. The chiefs know about it before the paperwork is signed.

A Day in the Life

  • 0530-0630PT. AW community PRT standard plus personal swim maintenance for water-survival currency. Run/swim alternation, 4-5 days a week. Squadron flight-line informal PT culture varies by command.
  • 0630-0700Muster and morning quarters. Flight schedule review — which sorties are on today, who is scheduled, which mission types. The AW3 on the flight schedule for today checks flight schedule board and confirms brief time with the aircraft commander.
  • 0700-0800Pre-flight if on the flight schedule. Gear issue, NATOPS knee-board prep, brief with the crew — aircraft commander reviews mission profile, crew duties, emergency procedures, communication plan. AW3 presents pre-flight safety observer checklist completion at the brief.
  • 0800-1100Sortie execution. Depending on mission type: ASW dipping sonar evolution (AWF), SAR training mission with rescue swimmer deployment (AWO), surface radar track exercise (AWR), or long-duration maritime patrol (AWV). Post-flight happens when the aircraft lands; debrief follows.
  • 1100-1200Post-flight debrief. Aircraft commander leads; crewman contributes — sensor performance, procedure execution, any discrepancies, crew coordination assessment. This is the learning event of the sortie. Write the NATOPS discrepancy entry if required before leaving the debrief.
  • 1200-1300Lunch. Flight-schedule AW3s are typically released from post-flight duties at this point unless there is a maintenance write-up to support or a follow-on brief.
  • 1300-1500NWAE study block or PQS work if not on a second flight. Pull the BIB section scheduled for today's study window. Schedule AW2 or AW1 sign-offs for PQS line items requiring senior-crewman observation.
  • 1500-1630AWAN mentoring, watch bill, or equipment accountability duties. Walk the PQS binder with the AWAN assigned to your section. Check rescue equipment accountability if it is your rotation week.
  • 1630-1700End-of-day debrief with section LPO or senior AW2 — any open items from today's sorties, watch bill changes, NATOPS currency items approaching expiration.
  • 1900-2100BIB study continuation. 30 minutes minimum on days not in the study block above. Evening NATOPS review — the crewman who studies the night before the sortie knows the procedures better than the crewman who reviews the morning of.
  • Deployment/detachment noteOn a destroyer detachment (HSM), the schedule expands around ship operations. Flight operations can begin at 0400 and run through sunset. The debrief happens in the ship's hangar bay or briefing space. The AW3 on a ship detachment is one of four or five crewmen; there is no hiding and no wasted time. Bring the NWAE BIB on deployment.

Weekly Cadence

The AW3's week in a fleet squadron is built around the flight schedule on one axis and the qualification/advancement program on the other. Monday mornings set the week: who is on the flight schedule through Wednesday, when the maintenance period lands, what the NATOPS evaluating officer has scheduled for open-book evaluations. The crewman who checks the flight schedule Monday morning and builds the week's study and PQS plan around the open days is the crewman who advances on time. When the squadron is in the deployment work-up cycle, the flight schedule density increases and the non-flying days become rarer. This is the critical window for flight-hour accumulation across mission types — the AW3 who is scheduled on the high-value work-up sorties (RIMPAC ASW block, real-world SAR coverage posture, SOCEX with special operations forces) is the AW3 the LPO is investing in. That scheduling decision is not random; it is a product of the performance consistency the crewman has demonstrated on the simpler missions. At homeport during the inter-deployment period, the week is more predictable and the study time is more available. This is the time to close out BIB sections, schedule PQS line items with the senior AWs, and complete any NATOPS currency renewals that expired or are approaching expiration. The inter-deployment period is also the career counseling window — reenlistment decisions, SRB eligibility, NEC upgrade conversations, and commissioning program research all happen here when the operational tempo permits honest thinking.

Key Skills — How to Drill Each

  1. 01
    Operate your subcommunity mission system at the proficiency standard the LPO and the instructor pilot/NFO expect on operational sorties — not the NATOPS minimum, the operational standard.
    The NATOPS qualification proves you know the procedures; operational proficiency proves you can execute them under actual mission conditions. For AWF: acoustic processor display interpretation, contact classification, coordination calls with the ship's TAO. For AWO: hoist timing in varying conditions, SAR search pattern execution, communication with survivors. For AWR: surface radar picture management, contact track reporting, sensor mode selection. For AWV: mission system operator duties per the P-8A NATOPS crew manual and NWP publications. The AW2 next to you on the sortie will brief the delta between your current performance and the standard he expects — listen to that debrief with the same attention you gave the qualification board.
  2. 02
    Execute the full pre-flight and post-flight crewman safety observer checklist as the primary qualified crewman — no assistance, no prompting.
    You are the qualified crewman now. The pre-flight is your checklist to run, your signature to provide, your accountability for anything left unchecked. Run it item by item, every time, with the same procedural discipline you used during the qualification board — not the abbreviated version you think is adequate on a quiet morning. The NATOPS evaluating officer who walks past the aircraft during a pre-flight is not testing you; he is watching whether you still read the checklist or whether you have already started doing it from memory. He is evaluating whether the qualification held.
  3. 03
    Execute NWP 3-50.1 SAR coordination procedures — search pattern selection, hoist operation coordination with the rescue swimmer, survivor management — in training and in real-world evolution.
    NWP 3-50.1 is the SAR manual; the AW3 in an HSC or HSM squadron with SAR responsibilities should know its search pattern section and rescue procedures section at the level of citing page and paragraph, not just 'yes I read it.' Schedule a study session with the AW2 who runs the SAR training program in your squadron and go through the manual's key sections together. Real-world SAR sorties happen on the unexpected day — the crewman who reviewed NWP 3-50.1 the week before is the crewman who performs correctly when the rescue swimmer is in the water and the pilot is asking for the approach call.
  4. 04
    Write an accurate, timely NATOPS flight discrepancy write-up — systems anomaly, procedure deviation, emergency condition — in the format the NATOPS evaluating officer and the maintenance department accept.
    Flight discrepancy documentation under the NATOPS program is the crewman's contribution to the aircraft's maintenance and safety record. A vague write-up ('sensor seemed wrong') contributes nothing; a precise write-up ('AN/AQS-22 ALFS display lost contact track at 1247Z, system reset required per EP-6, contact reacquired at 1252Z') gives the AT shop what it needs to fault-isolate. Your LPO or the senior AW1 who reviews your write-ups will tell you if the documentation is at standard — ask for feedback on the first three before assuming you have the format right.
  5. 05
    Mentor the AWANs in your section on the qualification program — PQS sign-offs, study habits, NATOPS review — without the LPO directing every mentoring interaction.
    The AW3 who builds the habit of mentoring junior AWANs without being told to is the AW3 the LPO features prominently in the eEVAL bullets. You do not have to carry the AWAN's PQS binder for him — but when you see an AWAN struggling with a specific procedure or a PQS line item that requires aircraft access, offer the time to walk it with him. The mentor relationship at this rank is informal; the value it produces for the section is not.
  6. 06
    Build and maintain the NWAE study log for AW2 — BIB citations, study hours, chapter completion — visible and documentable to the LPO.
    The AW2 NWAE is a multi-month preparation effort in a small rating with competitive advancement quotas. Build the study log as a physical document or a maintained spreadsheet: date, time block, BIB section studied, notes taken. Show it to the LPO monthly. The purpose is not to perform diligence — it is to create an accountability structure that keeps you studying when the operational tempo makes study feel optional. The crewman who shows the LCPO a six-month study log two weeks before the exam window gets the benefit of the doubt; the crewman who shows up cold loses two years.

Manuals & References — What Chapters Matter

  • OPNAVINST 3710.7 — NATOPS General Flight and Operating Instructions
    The NATOPS program authority document. At AW3, you are working under a signed NATOPS qualification — which means you are accountable for maintaining the qualification standards the instruction defines, including currency requirements, open-book evaluation schedule, and the chain of authority for modifying procedures. Know the currency requirements section well enough to cite it when the NATOPS evaluating officer asks why your water survival card shows a specific date.
  • Platform-specific NATOPS Crew Manual (MH-60R, MH-60S, P-8A, E-6B as applicable)
    At AW3 you are no longer studying the NATOPS for the qualification board — you are flying with it. The emergency procedures section is the section you know by heart; the normal procedures section is the section you run from the knee-board on every sortie. The crewman who can cite the applicable NATOPS chapter for any in-flight condition the aircraft commander names is the crewman who becomes an AW2 early.
  • NWP 3-50.1 — Naval Search and Rescue Manual
    At the AW3 level in HSC and HSM, you are potentially executing real SAR operations as a crew member. The SAR Manual's chapters on search pattern selection, rescue swimmer employment, hoist procedures, and multi-aircraft SAR coordination are operational references, not academic documents. The sections on single-aircraft and multi-aircraft rescue operations are the ones the aircraft commander is working from during the actual evolution — and the crewman calling positions and cable tensions needs to be working from the same framework.
  • NAVPERS 18068F — NEC Catalog (current edition, MyNavy HR)
    At AW3, the NEC catalog is the document you are building toward at the subcommunity level — AWF, AWO, AWR, AWV NEC requirements, prerequisites, and advancement links. Verify the current NEC source-rating NAVADMIN before any career counseling conversation; the codes and quotas are updated annually and the version your recruiter described may not reflect current availability.
  • NWAE Bibliography for Advancement (BIB) — AW2 cycle, current edition from MyNavyHR / NETC
    Pull the BIB the day you pin AW3. The AW rating NWAE advancement quotas are small; competitive study over a full 18-month window beats a six-week pre-exam sprint every time. The BIB references the specific publications the examination draws from — own those publications at the chapter level, not just the title level.
  • Subcommunity NEC technical manual / operator curriculum (AWF acoustic processor NATOPS, AWO SAR crewman curriculum, AWR sensor operator guide, AWV mission system curriculum as applicable)
    Beyond the baseline NATOPS qualification, the subcommunity NEC performance standard is what separates the operational AW3 from the qualified-but-marginal AW3. The acoustic processor for the AWF, the hoist and rescue-swimmer coordination curriculum for the AWO, and the mission system operator curriculum for the AWV all have published training syllabi or references that the LPO expects you to work through on your own time. Ask the senior AW2 in your subcommunity for the reading list.

Standards — How to Hit Each

  • NATOPS currency maintained — water survival, open-book evaluations, emergency egress — with no lapse between assignments or deployment cycles.
    Build a personal NATOPS currency tracking document: each currency item, the expiration date, and a 60-day renewal window reminder. When you receive PCS orders, the first administrative action is to verify NATOPS currency status at the gaining command and schedule any renewal events before the report date. A lapsed currency on check-in day is the worst possible first impression at a new squadron and the kind of administrative issue that follows the crewman's file for years.
  • Subcommunity NEC mission proficiency assessed as 'ready' or 'qualified' on the LPO's quarterly review — not just flight hours, but mission-type competency.
    Flight hours are the quantity; mission-type competency is the quality. The LPO's quarterly review of crewman proficiency looks at both. Track your own mission-type log: how many ASW sorties, how many SAR sorties, how many ISR missions, how many VERTREP evolutions — and what your performance rating was on each type by the instructor pilot or senior crewman who flew with you. If you are accumulating hours in one mission type and not others, tell the LPO before the quarterly review, not at it.
  • NWAE BIB study documented and progressing — verifiable to the LPO before the examination window opens.
    Show the LPO the study log every 30 days. A physical notebook or a maintained spreadsheet with date, section, and hours is sufficient. The purpose is twofold: accountability to yourself, and evidence to the LPO that you are a serious advancement candidate who deserves the study time on the watch bill. The LPO who has seen your study log for eight months defends you at the advancement worksheet review; the LPO who has never seen evidence of study fills the ranking slot with the crewman who showed him something.
  • PRT Good Medium or better; BCA in standard; Aviation Warfare Specialist (AW warfare device) qualification in progress.
    The warfare device in the aviation community is the AW Warfare Specialist device (OPNAVINST 1412.x series) or the equivalent surface warfare pin if the detachment is ship-based. Start the qualification packet the day you are directed to by the LPO — and if the LPO has not said anything, ask. The warfare device matters on the eEVAL and on the advancement worksheet. It is not decorative.
  • eEVAL trait average and ranking supporting an EP/MP recommendation — with documented operational accomplishments, not generic duty descriptions.
    The eEVAL bullet is an action-result-impact sentence. 'Performed crewman duties on 47 sorties' is a duty description. 'Operated AN/AQS-22 ALFS dipping sonar on 31 ASW sorties, contributing to 4 simulated submarine prosecutions during RIMPAC work-up' is an accomplishment. Write your accomplishment list every quarter, before the eEVAL season, and give it to the LPO. The LPO who has your accomplishment list writes better eEVALs; the LPO who writes your eEVAL from memory writes generic ones.

Technical Mistakes — Concrete Consequences

  • Performing a mission system operation — acoustic processor command, hoist initiation, rescue swimmer deployment, sensor mode change — outside the defined scope of your current NATOPS qualification.
    Operating outside your qualified scope in an aviation context is a safety-of-flight issue. The NATOPS program's authority chain exists because system actions outside the qualified scope have contributed to aviation mishaps. The AW3 who activates a system function not in his current qual level will be grounded pending a NATOPS evaluating officer review. If the unauthorized operation contributed to a mishap or a close call, the JAGMAN investigation names the crewman and the chain of authority above him.
  • Calling 'clear' or 'ready' on a crew coordination call before actually verifying the condition — obstacle clearance, hoist load stability, cable tension — because the pilot seemed to be waiting.
    Crew coordination calls are not courtesy — they are part of the safety-of-flight protocol under the NATOPS program. A 'clear left' call with an obstacle the crewman did not actually check, or a 'load stable' call with a swinging hoist load, is the mechanism by which aviation accidents happen. The aircraft commander trusted the call; the call was wrong; and now the mishap investigation reads the ICS transcript. Make the call when the condition is true. Tell the pilot 'stand by' when you need another second. That is what the protocol is for.
  • Falsifying or inflating flight-hour log entries or mission-type designations to appear more experienced than the actual flight record supports.
    Flight log accuracy is an official military record. Falsified flight logs are a UCMJ Article 107 false-official-statement issue. In the aviation context, falsified flight records also affect safety — a crewman who claims proficiency in a mission type without the actual hours is a hazard to the crew on the sortie where that proficiency is actually needed. The chief who audits the flight log against the squadron's NATOPS records will find the discrepancy.
  • Waiting until the last duty day of a deployment to discover a lapsed NATOPS currency item that should have been renewed six weeks prior.
    A lapsed currency discovered at homeport check-in means you are grounded from flight status for the renewal period — which starts on the day the lapse was discovered, not the day the currency expired. The administrative grounding hits the squadron flight schedule and the LPO's next readiness brief. The crewman who lets currency lapse is the crewman who gets the extra duty-section rotation during the stand-down period and whose eEVAL notes 'required additional administrative tracking by LCPO.'
  • Debriefing a sortie without identifying or reporting a discrepancy because 'it seemed fine and I didn't want to create paperwork.'
    The debrief is the safety mechanism between the flight and the next crew that flies the same aircraft in the same configuration. A sensor anomaly, a procedure deviation, or a system response outside the NATOPS normal range that is not reported creates a hazard for the next crew. The crewman who fails to report a discrepancy to avoid the write-up, and the discrepancy surfaces on a subsequent flight as a mishap factor, faces the JAGMAN investigation on the worst possible terms.

Career Decisions at This Rank

  • Build toward AW2 with focused NWAE preparation or use the AW3 window to complete commissioning program research.
    The AW3 window is where the commissioning versus career-enlisted fork becomes real. The Seaman to Admiral (STA-21) program and the LDO/CWO pathways in the aviation community have eligibility windows that close at specific time-in-service points. If commissioning is a goal, the AW3 window is the time to research — not to apply, necessarily, but to understand whether the GPA, the physical standards, the time-in-service windows, and the service-obligation commitment align with what you actually want from the Navy. Talk to the chief and the commissioning officer coordinator at the base, not just to your buddy who 'heard' about STA-21. The career-enlisted path to AWC and Senior Chief is also well-defined and deeply valued — do not let anyone tell you that making Chief is a lesser outcome than commissioning.
  • Reenlistment and SRB eligibility at the AW3 / early AW2 window.
    The AW rating is an aviation community rating with sea-duty obligations and intermittent SRB (Selective Reenlistment Bonus) eligibility based on community needs. Verify the current SRB eligibility zone and multiplier via the current MyNavy HR advancement message — this number changes annually and the SRB message from two years ago is not the current one. The career counselor has the current message; the chief has the context for what the Navy's retention signal means for your specific NEC and year-group. Reenlistment at the right window with the right bonus can fund the financial stability that supports the long-term career commitment. Signing a reenlistment for the wrong period or without the SRB can cost the bonus entirely. Read the current message, talk to the chief, then decide.
  • NEC upgrade or lateral NEC — staying in current subcommunity or pursuing additional NEC qualification.
    The AW rating subcommunity NEC structure means that an AWF can pursue additional qualifications that broaden the operational portfolio — some crewmen build qualification packages across more than one subcommunity NEC, increasing billet flexibility and eEVAL value. The availability of NEC upgrades depends on community quota and the gaining command's billet structure. Talk to the LPO and the detailer before assuming the NEC upgrade is automatic. The crewman who builds a dual-NEC qualification package and documents it correctly on the NATOPS qualification record is the crewman the detailer calls when the billet opens in the preferred duty station.
  • Warrant Officer (CWO) research at the AW3 level — is the warrant officer aviation community open to enlisted AWs?
    The Naval Aviation Warrant Officer pipeline (Naval Aviator designation via the CWO path) is available to selected enlisted personnel who meet the NAVCAD / NAVAR prerequisites including age, physical standards, ASTB scores, and demonstrated aviation aptitude. AW-rated crewmen with strong flight performance records and the required academic credentials have used this pathway. The CWO pathway is NOT the same as the LDO pathway and is NOT guaranteed — it is a selection board with highly competitive criteria. Verify the current eligibility requirements via the latest NPC guidance before making career decisions based on warrant officer eligibility, because the details change. Start the research early enough to meet the prerequisites, not after the window has closed.

How the Seat Varies by Unit Type

  • HSM Squadron (MH-60R) — ASW/ASUW, destroyer/cruiser/LCS detachment deployment
    The AW3 in an HSM squadron is flying the ASW mission in an operationally intense detachment environment. MH-60R detachments deploy aboard surface combatants as two or three aircraft with a team of roughly 15-20 sailors. The AW3 on a destroyer detachment is one of two or three qualified crewmen — there is no depth in the bench when you are sick, injured, or behind on currency. Every qualified crewman counts. The ASW mission with the AN/AQS-22 ALFS dipping sonar system is the core AWF technical task; the tactical coordination with the ship's combat system is the operational skill that differentiates the productive AW3 from the adequate one.
  • HSC Squadron (MH-60S) — SAR, VERTREP, logistics, deployed aboard carrier or amphibious ship
    The AW3 in an HSC squadron flies the broadest mission set in the AW portfolio. Carrier deployment means living aboard a 5,000-person ship — the social complexity is completely different from a destroyer detachment. The SAR mission means real-world search and rescue coverage of the strike group 24 hours a day; the duty SAR crew is on 15-minute strip alert for the duration. VERTREP — vertical replenishment, transferring cargo between ships via helicopter sling loads — is the high-repetition operational task that builds hoist proficiency quickly. Night VERTREP is where the experienced AW3 earns the trust of the aircraft commander and the squadron department head.
  • VP Squadron (P-8A Poseidon) — maritime patrol, ASW, ISR, shore-based deployment
    The AWV AW3 in a VP squadron lives a fundamentally different operational pattern. P-8A flights routinely run 10-14 hours; the crew is larger; the mission is global. Shore-based deployments to NAS Sigonella, NAS Kadena, NAS Bahrain, or Diego Garcia mean living in transient quarters at a foreign installation rather than aboard a ship. The operational pace is mission-cycle-driven — fly the mission, land, debrief, rest, fly the next mission — rather than the continuous-operations tempo of a ship deployment. The AWV mission-system operator role requires comfort with long-duration sustained attention and comfort with classified mission coordination that the helicopter crewman community does not work with at the same level.
  • VQ Squadron (E-6B Mercury) — strategic communications, TACAMO, NAS Tinker or NAS Patuxent River
    The AW3 in a VQ squadron is in one of the smallest, most specialized communities in naval aviation. The TACAMO mission is strategic and classified; the operational environment is deliberate and procedurally exacting; the community is small enough that every individual crewman is known by name to the department head within the first deployment cycle. The VQ AW3 does not fly SAR missions or ASW tracking evolutions — the mission is survivable communications link maintenance for the nation's nuclear command authority. The crewman who fits this environment is someone who is comfortable with long flights, classified mission parameters, and a slower-paced but unforgiving procedural standard.

What Good Looks Like at This Rank

The good AW3 is identifiable on the flight schedule: the LPO schedules him on the sorties where the mission matters, not just the currency flights, because his performance on the last ten sorties was consistent and his debrief participation was substantive. The aircraft commander knows which AW3 will give accurate sensor calls and which one will hesitate at the critical moment — the good AW3 is the one who gets called for the RIMPAC work-up ASW block, the real SAR evolution, the SOCEX at night. His flight hours are not just accumulating; they are diversifying across mission types. On the ground, the good AW3 is the petty officer the AWANs come to with their PQS questions — not because he was assigned to mentor them, but because his answers are correct and patient. He does not tell them what to memorize; he tells them why the procedure exists. The LPO notices this. The LCPO notices this. The eEVAL bullets for the good AW3 do not say 'maintained NATOPS currency' — they say 'certified two AWANs through platform pre-flight qualification program, directly enabling squadron flight schedule compliance during deployment work-up.' The NWAE study log is the visible proof of the good AW3's advancement trajectory, and the good AW3 does not wait to be asked for it. He brings it to the quarterly review, the LPO does not have to ask about it at the LCPO's monthly sync, and the advancement worksheet goes in with documentation the chief does not have to fabricate. When the AW2 slate publishes, the good AW3 is already six months into the next BIB cycle.

Preview — The Next Rank

AW2 — the transition you are working toward — is where the AW3's flight proficiency and NWAE preparation pay off. The AW2 is no longer building toward crew status; the AW2 is the operator the aircraft commander expects to execute the mission system independently and mentor the AW3s behind him. The eEVAL ranking at AW2 is genuinely competitive in the small AW community — the number of AW2s advancing to AW1 in a given cycle is determined by community needs and the advancing candidate's eEVAL profile relative to the AW2 peer group at the same command and across the community. The workload at AW2 expands in two directions simultaneously: more operational responsibility (more complex missions, more independent system operation, more formal crew leadership on training sorties) and more administrative responsibility (mentoring AW3s through the qual program, writing sections of the department training plan, managing sub-accounts). The crewman who assumed only one of those would increase is typically unprepared for the other. The AW2 who performs both well is the one the LPO names at the eEVAL ranking meeting. The Making Chief framing becomes more concrete at AW2. The AWC (Chief Petty Officer) in the AW rating is a small community; every AWC is known at the wing level and often at the type commander level. The AW3 who starts building the study habit and the mentoring track record at AW3 — not AW2, not AW1, but AW3 — is building the foundational record that will read cleanly at the AWC selection board. That board is years away. The habits that feed it are built now.
FAQ

AW E4 — Frequently Asked Questions

Q01What does a E4 AW (Naval Aircrewman) actually do?
You hold a first-class aircrewman designation and you are flying in the back of the aircraft with your name on the flight schedule as a designated crewman rather than a syllabus student.
Q02What's the most important thing to know as a E4 AW?
AW3 is the first petty officer tier in the AW rating and the rank where operational flying moves from supervised observation to designated crew status.
Q03What does a typical day look like for a E4 AW?
Time-blocked day at the E4 AW rank tier: 0530-0630 PT. AW community PRT standard plus personal swim maintenance for water-survival currency. Run/swim alternation, 4-5 days a week. Squadron flight-line informal PT culture varies by command, 0630-0700 Muster and morning quarters. Flight schedule review — which sorties are on today, who is scheduled, which mission types. The AW3 on the flight schedule for today checks flight schedule board and confirms brief time with the aircraft commander, 0700-0800 Pre-flight if on the flight schedule. Gear issue, NATOPS knee-board prep,…
Q04What mistakes get E4 AW soldiers fired or relieved?
Flying sorties as a 'warm body in the seat' after qualification instead of building genuine mission proficiency. The AW rating's small size means the LPO and the department head can see the difference between an AW3 who accumulates hours and an AW3 who accumulates capability — and the eEVAL ranking reflects the distinction; Letting NATOPS currency items lapse between deployment cycles or during PCS moves. A lapsed water survival qualification, an expired open-book evaluation currency,…
Q05What career decisions matter most at the E4 AW rank tier?
Build toward AW2 with focused NWAE preparation or use the AW3 window to complete commissioning program research — The AW3 window is where the commissioning versus career-enlisted fork becomes real. The Seaman to Admiral (STA-21) program and the LDO/CWO pathways in the aviation community have eligibility windows that close at specific time-in-service points. If commissioning is a goal, the AW3 window is the time to research — not to apply, necessarily, but to understand whether the GPA, the physical standards, the time-in-service windows,…
Q06What's next after E4 for a AW (Naval Aircrewman) in the Navy?
AW2 — the transition you are working toward — is where the AW3's flight proficiency and NWAE preparation pay off.
Q07What manuals and regulations does a E4 AW need to know cold?
OPNAVINST 3710.7 (current series) — NATOPS General Flight Instructions. Your airframe-specific NATOPS supplements this; carry the quick-reference card on every flight.; NWP 3-50.1 — Naval SAR Manual. You execute off Part III (rescue procedures) more than any other section; know the SARP (SAR Point) datum calculation and the rescue swimmer pickup signals.; Community TACMAN for your airframe / mission system — the tactical authority your TACCO and aircraft commander operate under;…

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