Anyone ever been stationed at HSC-84?

[Roadburner440]

Well finally order selections came out today. I was trying to escape working on H-60's and go do something else.. Put in for VP-5, VP-16, VRC-40, and HSC-84 (as a last option).. Looks like I will be adding another 3 years and a new type model to my belt. I cannot find much information on this place though, and can't find anyone that has ever been stationed there. I guess they used to be all reserve, but are now transitioning to an active duty outfit. Regardless they fall under SPECWAR and not NAVAIR. So I will be camping in tents in the desert with helo's it seems. Look forward to the challenge though. Just disappointed yet again I will not get to work on fixed wing, or see what life is like on the carrier. Guess can always try next tour.

[Jagdflieger]

My last joint assigment had a former Red Wolf as one of the air planners. Neat patch, but that's all I know about 'em other than they fly the UH-60 (army nomenclature) so I guess you won't be getting away from the Sikorsky anytime soon.

[Roadburner440]

Yeah.. Going on their site I saw that they fly the HH-60H.. Never worked on that T/M/S before. Is going backwards from where I am at though as they are pretty much a stipped out version of the SH-60B/MH-60R.

[TARPSBird]

So... you put in for VP and VRC as your first choices and ended up going to another helo outfit? Gee, your detailer must really like you. :rolleyes: The HSC-84 parent squadron is stationed at NAS Norfolk, although with the tempo of ops around the world these days I doubt you'll spend much time back here in Tidewater.

[Roadburner440]

Yeah. I didn't mind going to Norfolk. I just can't believe going to do helo's again.. Guess I should of taken his advice and gone to Lemoore for F-18's, LOL. It will be fine. Am all about going on deployment again. I think shore duty has caused a few screws in my head to come loose. Certaintly is very different from my first tour being at the parent command ALL the time. At least I got some choice this time though. The first time I came up for orders I was deployed so they just told me I was going to HSL-40. At least I got to choose different things from a list, and I actually got one of them even if it was my last choice.

[TARPSBird]

I'm thinkin' your sea duty with HSC-84 will be a bit more arduous than if you had taken your detailer's suggestion and gone to the Hornet community. At least with a tailhook squadron you get a turn-around period between deployments. In HSC-84 they can (and probably will) cross-deck your det from ship to ship, or from a ship to some desolate forward base in the Afghan or wherever this month's crisis is boiling. Packing and unpacking cruise boxes every few weeks gets old real fast.

[PRB]

Spent a lot of time at Lemoore (1982 to 2006, more or less). I really did like living in California, a state that has so much to offer. And Lemoore, being in the Central (San Joaquin) Valley, really is centrally located. The problem is that Central Valley is so frikkin huge that it seems like you’re living in a desert: dusty and hot. Visited a lot of great places while stationed there. LA, San Francisco, Death Valley, Chino Planes of Fame, San Andreas Fault, Yosemite, Kings Canyon, Vegas, Mojave Desert. I kind of miss the place!

[Roadburner440]

Cross decking is fine with me. Need to catch up for my 3 years of not being on deployment. I am not used to having a set optempo anyway.. As in HSL I have deployed with as little notice as 15 hours (they called me one afternoon and asked if I could get on a plane to Panama to relieve somebody)... Granted I have never cross decked, but been home for as little as 2 weeks before leaving again. I like the whole det concept, and not being at the parent command all the time... Is what has made this last 3 years so hard. Trying to function in (what I consider anyway through my experience) dysfunctional shop concept. Where in my old command I would remove any panels, cannon plugs, and other stuff that I needed to do my job as would others. To here they cut "assist" MAF's and then have to wait for someone else to come do it.

I do imagine Lemoore would have been fun as I have always wanted to go to the Grand Canyon and other places. Unfortunately in CA the BAH is the exact price everyone charges for rent, and base housing was filled to the brim. I try to somewhat plan ahead for future expenses and all of that. Not to mention it would be difficult to go find a place all the way in CA with only 10 days of leave to do so.

[Bone]

They like to practice auto-rotations to runway 20 at Newport News (KPHF). I see them out there every so often, and I got a short clip of them doing it a few months ago.

CLICK on it

http://i993.photobucket.com/albums/af51/BonesFlightBag/JetCamVideo/th_HSC84autorotation.jpg (http://s993.photobucket.com/albums/af51/BonesFlightBag/JetCamVideo/?action=view&current=HSC84autorotation.mp4)

[Navy Chief]

Well finally order selections came out today. I was trying to escape working on H-60's and go do something else.. Put in for VP-5, VP-16, VRC-40, and HSC-84 (as a last option).. Looks like I will be adding another 3 years and a new type model to my belt. I cannot find much information on this place though, and can't find anyone that has ever been stationed there. I guess they used to be all reserve, but are now transitioning to an active duty outfit. Regardless they fall under SPECWAR and not NAVAIR. So I will be camping in tents in the desert with helo's it seems. Look forward to the challenge though. Just disappointed yet again I will not get to work on fixed wing, or see what life is like on the carrier. Guess can always try next tour.


Wow! Things must have really changed. Used to be it was almost impossible to avoid carrier duty. Unless you had a NEC like P-3s or something like that, you could almost count on going haze gray and underway........

What about VQ? They have both shore and sea, I believe.

NC