Due to training timelines, it is not uncommon for new officers to wait up to a year or more for their pilot training course to begin.  Sometimes these officers are given other opportunities like the chance to obtain a Masters Degree or attend another professional course.  In other instances, they are held in an “awaiting pilot training” status, filling a sometimes menial position in another unit.

Thirteen new Marines took another path:

Instead, 13 active-duty lieutenants commissioned with aviation contracts are on the ground in Afghanistan, leading infantry platoons with 1st Battalion, 23rd Marines, a Houston-based Reserve unit in need of platoon commanders.

The lieutenants volunteered for the job while still in The Basic School at Marine Corps Base Quantico, Va., because there was still a one-year wait for a seat in flight school.

Some other Marines ended up going the same way as other services:

While some lieutenants enrolled in the IOC — where they were nicknamed “sky grunts” — others have participated in language training and logistics officer training, or have been temporarily assigned to billets across the Corps to “enhance their professional development as Marine officers,” Villiard said.