Topic: Air Combat Systems Officer ( ACSO )

[Loachman]

Can't take a joke?

Several years ago, before "snowflake" took on its latest additional meaning, I referred to SAR helicopters as "gaudy yellow" in a work e-mail.

Three months later, a CO-to-CO e-mail was forwarded to me down the Squadron chain-of-command. The butthurtedness was hilarious.

For my Dead Guy Photo for my second tour in Kandahar, I wore a "Loachman" nametag, and my rank slip-on had my first name on it instead of the unit title. While home on leave, this photo (from my neck down) was apparently put up during Comd TFK's CUB one day. I was accused of such things as "desecrating a CF slip-on" and "not treating the war seriously" (I did, but not the prospect of my death; if it did happen, however, I wanted friends and family to at least get a chortle or two out of it) and ordered to get a new photo taken  as soon as I got back. Our A3, however, thought that both photo and fuss were excruciatingly funny.

So, no, not everybody.

By the ring around his eyeball,
You can tell a bombardier.
You can tell a bomber pilot
By the spread around his rear.
You can tell a navigator
By his sextants, maps and such.
You can tell a fighter pilot
BUT YOU CAN'T TELL HIM MUCH!

[Dimsum]

Several years ago, before "snowflake" took on its latest additional meaning, I referred to SAR helicopters as "gaudy yellow" in a work e-mail.

Three months later, a CO-to-CO e-mail was forwarded to me down the Squadron chain-of-command. The butthurtedness was hilarious.

For my Dead Guy Photo for my second tour in Kandahar, I wore a "Loachman" nametag, and my rank slip-on had my first name on it instead of the unit title. While home on leave, this photo (from my neck down) was apparently put up during Comd TFK's CUB one day. I was accused of such things as "desecrating a CF slip-on" and "not treating the war seriously" (I did, but not the prospect of my death; if it did happen, however, I wanted friends and family to at least get a chortle or two out of it) and ordered to get a new photo taken  as soon as I got back. Our A3, however, thought that both photo and fuss were excruciatingly funny.

So, no, not everybody.

By the ring around his eyeball,
You can tell a bombardier.
You can tell a bomber pilot
By the spread around his rear.
You can tell a navigator
By his sextants, maps and such.
You can tell a fighter pilot
BUT YOU CAN'T TELL HIM MUCH!

Hell, one of our guy's DGPs was him (a larger fellow) brandishing a plastic fork and knife in a karate stance.  I'm sure it wasn't the official one, but knowing him, he probably *really* tried to make it so.

Anyways, back to ACSOs - we sometimes do things. 

[BurmaShave]

Man, fighters is an instant thread derail button 

For ACSOs, aren't they also backseaters in the Alpha Jet at 414?

[SeaKingTacco]

Yes.

[Loachman]

How many fighter pilots does it take to screw in a light bulb?

[Oldgateboatdriver]

Don't they have Aero-techs to do that

[Blackadder1916]

How many fighter pilots does it take to screw in a light bulb?

According to them they don't actually screw it in, they just hold the bulb and the world revolves around them.

(Surgeons claim to have the same ability.)

[Overboard]

Hi all,

A few questions.

1. How many months per year are ACSOs deployed for MH and LRP?
2. How many years does it take to become a Major for those who want to and are competitive?
3. How many years does a Captain spend on their airframe before being sent to a desk job.
4. Is it possible for an ACSO to get dive or parachute training?

Edit: Also do those on MH have secondary duties like the ship's crew?

Thank you!

[dapaterson]

Hi all,

A few questions.

1. How many months per year are ACSOs deployed for MH and LRP?
2. How many years does it take to become a Major for those who want to and are competitive?
3. How many years does a Captain spend on their airframe before being sent to a desk job.
4. Is it possible for an ACSO to get dive or parachute training?

Thank you!

ACSOs parachuting is generally a sign that things have gone terribly, terribly wrong.

[SeaKingTacco]

Hi all,

A few questions.

1. How many months per year are ACSOs deployed for MH and LRP?
2. How many years does it take to become a Major for those who want to and are competitive?
3. How many years does a Captain spend on their airframe before being sent to a desk job.
4. Is it possible for an ACSO to get dive or parachute training?

Edit: Also do those on MH have secondary duties like the ship's crew?

Thank you!

1. It varies wildly based on luck of the draw. Anywhere from 0 days to 9 months.
2. Depends on entry scheme, how hard you work and what operational/staff experience you get. As a very minimum, it is 4 years as a Captain and about 4-6 years getting to Captain. So anywhere from 10 years all they way up to never...
3. There is no hard rule, but generally two flying tours are followed by a staff tour. So, 6-8 years flying followed by 3-4 years on a desk.
4. Yes, but it depends on vacancies on thoses courses and you are nowhere near their target audience.
MH duties on ship- at sea, you are busy enough with your primary job of flying and keeping the operations of the air department going that you have little time for anything else but food, sleep and a bit of PT. Alongside foreign port, you will stand as Duty Air Officer once every 5 days. In your home port, you have little enough to do with the ships as you are busy at your Sqn.

[Jazz]

Hello Everyone!

I just recently got back from ACS!  I passed for AEC and ACSO (but not pilot, and this was expected).  Before I went, I was leaning towards AEC more, but now that I have had some time to really think about it, I have been really seriously considering ACSO over AEC, and I feel like it would be a more challenging and rewarding career for me personally. 

So, I was hoping that any current ACSO's would be able to share with me their personal views on the pros and cons of this trade, or any other information they had wished they had known before they accepted the trade!  Just a bit of background information on me, I'm a female in my mid 20's with no current ties to the city I'm living in, so the idea of possibly travelling quite a bit is appealing...

Any help, information, or tips are much appreciated!

[Dimsum]

So, I was hoping that any current ACSO's would be able to share with me their personal views on the pros and cons of this trade, or any other information they had wished they had known before they accepted the trade!  Just a bit of background information on me, I'm a female in my mid 20's with no current ties to the city I'm living in, so the idea of possibly travelling quite a bit is appealing...

Any help, information, or tips are much appreciated!

Pros:  Lots of travel, generally live in coastal areas (Vancouver Island or Nova Scotia, with some possibility of Winnipeg or Trenton with Search and Rescue aircraft) for your first tour,

Cons:  Lots of time away for courses and deployments/taskings, no direct civilian prospects (unlike AEC)

Feel free to PM me with more questions.

[Antonioakatrell]

Hello ,

I am a current ACSO candidate waiting on firm dates for ACS and was wondering. What parts of the ACS test matter for ACSO as I want to buckle down on those sections.

[Titix]

Hello,

In regard to my educational background, my recruiting officer just offered me to pick ACSO as an occupational choice. It wasn't part of any of my 3 original choices (not available anymore) but I would be very interested to pick that one as my new #1 choice, the other choice available being Military Police Officer (I'm not really into it).

I've been a plane lover since childhood but I eventually found out after several years I could never be a pilot or an ACSO in the French air force because I had eyewear (I moved in Canada since then and got my citizenship). Thing is, I had laser eye surgery 5 years ago and now I see perfectly good. It looks like I still can't be a pilot in the RCAF (V2 visual acuity required and corneal reshaping procedures are not approved for Pilots, website says), but there is no such restriction for ACSO (V3 is ok, and there is no word about eye surgery).

Does anyone know about ACSO and eye surgery? I would like to reply to my recruiter but I want to make sure I'll be medically fit.

Another question : After my high-school diploma in France, with a science and engineering major, I did one year of engineering school before I quit to take a totally different path (marketing, communications). I hear that high school math is good enough to succeed at the test. Is there any practice test available to train before the exam?

Thanks!

[Ashkan08]

Hello,

In regard to my educational background, my recruiting officer just offered me to pick ACSO as an occupational choice. It wasn't part of any of my 3 original choices (not available anymore) but I would be very interested to pick that one as my new #1 choice, the other choice available being Military Police Officer (I'm not really into it).

I've been a plane lover since childhood but I eventually found out after several years I could never be a pilot or an ACSO in the French air force because I had eyewear (I moved in Canada since then and got my citizenship). Thing is, I had laser eye surgery 5 years ago and now I see perfectly good. It looks like I still can't be a pilot in the RCAF (V2 visual acuity required and corneal reshaping procedures are not approved for Pilots, website says), but there is no such restriction for ACSO (V3 is ok, and there is no word about eye surgery).

Does anyone know about ACSO and eye surgery? I would like to reply to my recruiter but I want to make sure I'll be medically fit.

Another question : After my high-school diploma in France, with a science and engineering major, I did one year of engineering school before I quit to take a totally different path (marketing, communications). I hear that high school math is good enough to succeed at the test. Is there any practice test available to train before the exam?

Thanks!

Do you mean for the aptitude test?

[Titix]

Not for the CFAT. I think I'll be ok (I hope!). I mean for the ACS test which I think comes afterward. I didn't study science or math during my post secondary studies so I don't want to hope too big if this test is like high-level math oriented! On the other hand I don't think that all ACSO have an engineering degree!

[Dimsum]

Not for the CFAT. I think I'll be ok (I hope!). I mean for the ACS test which I think comes afterward. I didn't study science or math during my post secondary studies so I don't want to hope too big if this test is like high-level math oriented! On the other hand I don't think that all ACSO have an engineering degree!

Think about it this way - most folks who are going for ACSO take the test in high school to get into Royal Military College.  It'll be high school math at most.

[Titix]

That's right, I didn't think about that. Well I'm 33 so if things go well I'll need a refresh and pay for some math lessons anyways! Thanks.

[Spc_Cdt]

Anyone know approx how long from BMOQ to getting wings for ACSO? I just passed ACS, waiting on Air Factor. Since everything else in my file is complete, I'm hopeful for a job offer (as long as I get AF2). So now I'm trying to figure out a timeline... silly me didn't take any screenshots from the ACSO presentation in Trenton 

Can anyone help me fill in the blanks? Did I get this right?

TRAINING PROGRESSION ( ?? yrs to wings)
15 weeks BMOQ (St-Jean)
?? weeks Sea Survival (??)
?? weeks Land Survival (??)
1+yr ACSO course (Winnipeg)

** receive wings **
1+ yr posted to squadron while waiting for OTU

COMMON INITIAL POSTINGS
- Aurora (long range patrol): Greenwood NS, Comox BC
- Cyclone (maritime helicopter): Shearwater NS, PatBay BC
- Polaris (refuel): Trenton
- Herc (SAR): Trenton, Greenwood, Winnipeg, Comox
- Alpha Jet (e-warfare): Ottawa

Career Progression
- 1st tour: flying
- 2nd tour: instructional (Winnipeg)
- 3rd tour: staff positions

After Baseline Employment
- possible OUTCAN postings to Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) aircraft squadrons

[Guy Incognito]

Can anyone help me fill in the blanks? Did I get this right?

TRAINING PROGRESSION ( ?? yrs to wings)
15 weeks BMOQ (St-Jean)
Posted while waiting for ACSO Course - Indeterminate amount of time
1 week Sea Survival (??)
1 week Land Survival (??)
1 week Aeromedical Training
1+yr ACSO course (Winnipeg)

** receive wings **
1+ yr posted to squadron while waiting for OTU

In terms of start to wings, the biggest variable is going to be how long it takes to get onto the ACSO course after BMOQ. A fair value to anticipate would be about 2 years from start to wings.

[Campbell95]

I am curious about an ACSO's role in SAR operations. From what I understand, they are the navigators. I would like a little more detail on what their role looks like in a typical SAR operation. Is there a thread that talks about this or has anyone had experience in SAR that could help me out? Thanks for the feedback!

[Ditch]

SAR ACSOs Work at the tactical level on the platform.  They program the various search patterns in the kit, maintain comms with outside agencies and also act as a safety person in the back of the Buffalo for live para and supply drops.  The new airframe will have them sitting in front of a massive array of sensors (EO/IR, RADAR, Nav data, etc). 

In the transport role - they are in charge of flight planning the IFR or VFR leg and for programming the on-board Nav computer.

SAR Navs are the last true navigators in the RCAF. 

[Spc_Cdt]

In terms of start to wings, the biggest variable is going to be how long it takes to get onto the ACSO course after BMOQ. A fair value to anticipate would be about 2 years from start to wings.

That's great info, thanks!

[TechCrmn]

Hey Guys,

Just had a question for anyone in the ACSO training system or someone that knows from experience. I have recently applied for CEOTP as an ACSO and my application, ACS, medical are all completed and awaiting the selection board this spring. I am just wondering that if I'm selected and subsequently posted to Winnipeg to complete the ACSO course, sea/land survival etc. if I am entitled to a full move including my family, or if it is a restricted posting (only me)? The 1.5+ years it will take to complete the all the training is a long time to be away from family!

Thanks in advance

[carpeboi]

For now it’s a full move. Don’t know about the new course.


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