Doctors attend medical school. Attorneys go to law school. …Plumbers acquire the skills of their craft at a plumbing trade school.

So where do fighter pilots get their start? Duh. At flight school, of course.

The US Air Force and Navy maintain discrete flight schools. While they share some aircraft (i.e. the Beechcraft / Raytheon T-6 Texan II) and occasionally exchange students and instructors, the two flight schools otherwise differ in their focus and execution.

We will talk about the Air Force’s school on a future episode but, for this week, join Major Mike “BS” Walsh—the podcast’s first US Marine Corps guest—as we delve into the US Navy flight school from beginning (immediately following commissioning) to end (FRSFleet Replacement Squadron. aka RAG. A US Navy training squadron that prepares pilots for operational service in fleet-specific aircraft. completion). We discuss the syllabus, aircraft flown, training locations, what it takes to succeed, and what preparation (if any, arguably) students should undertake before attending.

Like med-, law-, and plumbing school, US Navy flight school is lengthy and arduous, but the rewards that follow are well worth the effort.

Due to the lengthy interview, this episode does not feature a listener question segment. New bumper music by Jaime Lopez. Episode artwork by Janek Krause.