What do the words "DET" mean in US Navy helicopters?

[Eli Raphael]

B)

[MikeC]

B)

Detachment?

[Tailspin Turtle]

The usual meaning is detachment. When a squadron is bigger than the deployment requirement, a detachment is sent out. Same as for fixed wing....

Is there a context?

[Spongebob]

Close - HSL, HSM, HCS and VRC work on the detachment system. There is a parent "home guard" with the CO, XO and a core staff - they are shore duty and do not deploy. Everyone else is sea duty and organized in detachments. I know for an East Coast HSL, they have 10 dets: 6 1-helo and 4 2-helo detachments. Each detachment has 4-6 pilots and 12-16 maintainers, and they are permanent units that have the same "reporting", inspection and other requirements that a full squadron has (so think "mini-squadron"), and they are led by an Officer In Charge (OIC - usually an O-4). There are a bunch of legal/admin requirements, so if they were made a full "squadron" it would add about 10 people in overhead that there are not racks for. It's common to stand up / stand down the dets as most squadrons only have people for about 7-8 dets at any given time.

In my case, I was on HSL-48 Det 10 (2 1/2 month drug ops), Det 3 (the "Bad Dogs" as in "Bad Dog, no biscuit" - we didn't get along with the SWO's) and 2 cruises with Det 2 ("Outlaws" because we had some legal troubles on our way out the door and "Smokin' Cobras" - because we came up with a cool patch that fit that). in -48 it's traditional for each det to paint up a sonobuoy launcher cover with the det logo and everyone's names, then when it stands down, the cover goes up on the hangar wall.

CODs run permanent dets (like Det 5 is a 3 year tour in Japan) with more maintainers and 6 pilots.. and HCS runs various flavors from forward deployed (Desert Ducks in Bahrain), etc. etc.

HTH

Spongebob