Quote:
Originally Posted by Tcoat
It is not a "requirement" here and any degree will help but for decades now, to get any position in the Canadian Forces, you stand a better chance with a degree. When I say any position I truly mean any! Right down to your basic infantry grunt a minimum of some community college will help bump you up the list (not necessarily get you in right away but just move you up the waiting list). The higher the position the more applicable the degree should be. I doubt that a Political Science degree would help much here if trying for any form of "technical" trade up too and including pilots and aircrew. It is important to keep in mind that you could have more pilots, aircrew and techs in one carrier task force then we have in our entire military. I can not stress enough how radically different our two countries are in their approach to military staffing.
Now, I could be way off base as I haven't sat in the Recruiting Officer position for about 15 years but it has been that way since the early 80s and I doubt it has changed much.
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I think you missed the point I was making. It wasn't the degree, it was the degree
type I was referencing. In other words, this silly idea that in order to be a pilot you need to have an
engineering degree. That's pure BS and is intellectual laziness on the part of any organization that uses such nonsense to fill its pilot ranks. It also breeds "elitism" within the field. As I mentioned, the only time it makes sense for a pilot to
need an
engineering degree is when one becomes a test pilot. The reason for that is not that you are any smarter or more qualified but because test pilots deal with engineers on a daily basis as part of their job and need to be able to "talk the talk". In layman's terms, they need to be able to socially interact with the engineers while having a complete understanding of the subjects they are dealing with. It also helps the pilot understand the purpose of the various tests that he/she will be putting the aircraft through.
To be a great line pilot though, you don't
need an engineering degree. Many of the "best" fighter pilots the world has ever seen were not engineers ala Chuck Yeager. Read his autobiography, he talks about this in some detail.
I had a Marine Officer Selection Officer (OSO) try to pull this crap with me. Fortunately, I was knowledgeable on the Marines policy in regards to flight applicants. There was no requirement for pilot applicants to possess any type of engineering degree. The requirements were 1) have a bachelor's degree from an accredited college/university, 2) pass the flight physical, 3) pass the aviation test, 4) pass the psych test (part of the aviation test) and 5) have a clean background check. As you can guess, I found a different OSO in a different district.
Sadly, other branches in the U.S. Armed Forces (I'm looking at you Air Force) feel that this is a necessity for all pilots. It's also why one of my best friends graduated from the U.S. Air Force Academy and did an inter-service transfer to the Marines (because they wouldn't give him a pilot slot since he wasn't an engineer).