College grad looking to join the service

Yeah Yeah......The pipeline breakdown for FY10 has the majority of people getting helos with a handful of fixed wing slots. I was told by CO, who assigns us our aircraft, if we want tilt rotor he'll give it to us. I would love the osprey and 53. Not to mention the Marine Corps has the new cobra and huey coming out.

 

The Navy takes off the street people with degree into OCS. From there you can be a pilot, with your vision probably not a fighter pilot though... I don't know, the Recruiter will help.

check out this site:
http://www.cnrc.navy.mil/phoenix/contact.html

call this number:
Toll Free: (602) 254-3347

 

Go Cargo...yes fighters have the allure to them but after you serve 20+ years in them military and you get ready to retire you won't find many jobs looking for retired military fighter jocks. Plus with cargo you get more flight time. Hell think refueler....It's the heavy you looking for. Can't say what the market is for C-130 guys but DC-10's and DC-9's....oh hell yes lots of jobs. Plus the airforce if memory serves me corretly are getting ready to buy a butt load of 767's or Air Bus planes to replace current fleets. Same with attach helicopters....I'm a cargo guy there but blackhawks or OH-58's are better for employment after the military. Blackhawks for the border patrola and OH-58's for the civilian medevac mission....

 

yea, my dads really been pushing me towards a tanker kc-135 unit here in PHX. He said the same thing you did. You build time a hell of a lot faster than in a fighter, which is good for a potential airline pilot after the service. The way i look at it though is by the time i hit 20+ years, ill have enough flight time in whichever airframe i decide to fly.

Im going to start my private license here in 2 weeks, then depending on my drive and how I feel about overcoming the odds, ill either follow through with it or I may try to go Special forces. Maybe a PJ, or a Seal. I know everyone has the dream, but I believe i have the mentality, drive, and strength to do it. We will see.

 

"Listen to your Dad," if you've never listened to him before. Listen to him on this! He's right 100%. I'm army and I got to tell you I recruited my son into the Army for the training that he got and is now a computer geek civilian making a fair wage ($70K) a year. Special ops and special forces and air borne ranger and all that stuff is great but where will it get you at age 36...most likely in a wheel chair or with a walker or cane. Those guys are used up pretty quick. The physical stuff is very demanding and yeahhh you can say when you medically retire that you were one of the ground guys then limp off and take pain killers for the rest of your life, if you call it life. I spent two years in the infantry and learned alot but can never see myself there again and being used and abused like we were. Your KC-135 should be converting to either KC-10's, KC 767 or the new airbus when the contract is finally let. Then it will take several years for them to hit the inventory and finally push out the old KC 135. (Those a/c are older than me and I'm ancient!)

On your private pilot's license I highly recommend you hit a shake and bake school to get your private pilot's license. It is the quickest and least expensive. And remember if you make your private license with the minimal hours you are probably a minimal pilot. Sixty hours is about the avg when I got my ticket. Everything after that should be in a classroom so you get world class training. Flying around in the IFR environment is not for the rookies. Only the professionals. Good luck and keep your nose in the books!

 

rme, thanks for the advice, I appreciate it. I have one question for you though. In all honesty, what do YOU think my odds are of joining the AF and receiving a Pilot slot? (assuming that i will have no problem with the academics or the physical). How likely is it that a guy coming from the civilian world, and not through ROTC or the Academy, will actually get a slot?

thanks a ton!

 

If you go ANG your slot will be almost guaranteed! Look into the Air National Guard. It is a well kept secret. Start talking with the airguard recruiters and see what enlisted billets are out there. Do your homework here and it will pay off later. Doing something high-speed like Special Forces/SEALs is not guaranteed. Lots, and I mean lots, of people wash out and go back to what they were doing before they tried to make it. Then in the SF community your body is well used.

As a military transport pilot it really doesn't matter what airframe you fly. They are all multi-engine and you will be getting PIC much sooner than in the civilian world. So since you are a reserve pilot in the ANG but taking all the active missions you can, your flight time will rack up fast and you will not be waiting 20 years to fly for a major airline. More like 6-10. Then when you are a senior captain or junior major your hours should be well within hiring range for any major airline of your choice.

As for getting some pilot training/certificates before you go in check with your dad to see if you are eligible for a military flying club. These are a super deal compared to your normal FBO (fixed base operator) schools. I trained at a civilian flying club and enjoyed it. If you have any community colleges which offer ground school this will save you a lot of coin for good instruction.

Since you are hoping for a military flight training slot any training you do before you arrive should be kept somewhat secret. The last thing you should do is go to UPT (undergraduate pilot training) and boast about your ratings and flight time. If someone asks of course you share what you already have but there's no benefit to talking it up.

Some good links:
http://www.baseops.net/militarypilot/
http://forums.jetcareers.com/

 

again, thanks so much for the insightful response. Ill be sure to go through those links as time permits.... now again, a few more questions (sorry for asking so many)...... Lets say i put my packet together and the board likes me after some time, and i get a slot...... THEN, im only guaranteed a part-time reserve slot right? I know there are very few "full time" green-card holders at guard units, but id like this to be my full-time job...... Are there ample "active duty" missions to supply me with full time work in the Guard?

 

Check out USAF pararescue if you like adventure and don't want to spend most of your time flying a desk. http://www.specialtactics.com/ I spent 21 years in Pararescue, first in the active Air Force and then on reserve and active duty with the Air National Guard. Pararescue now has officers if you want to go that route. If you want to be a pilot I would go with the Air National Guard. You can decide what you want to fly, find the ANG Unit that has that plane and then contact the recruiter for that ANG Unit. The advantage of joining the ANG is that if for some unforeseen reason you don't make it through pilot training you won't be stuck in the Active Air Force doing something you don't want. When you do make it through pilot training, there are plenty of opportunities to transfer to the active Air Force if that is what you want. Frankly, being in Pararescue is much more fun than being a pilot. When I was in, they ask me if I wanted to be a pilot. I asked them, "You want me to go from riding in the back of the limo to being the chauffer?" I said no thanks. In Pararescue you are still on flight status with all the perks, but you have pilots to fly you around so you can have fun.

 

I cited an example in this thread I believe.

I had lunch with the former wing/base commander for the Van Nuys ANG recently and he told me about his son's track.
He enlisted while working on his BS/BA. I believe he finished his private pilot cert and instrument cert. Before he graduated he had begun working with his XO/CO to get his packet ready for submission. When he earned his degree his packet was ready to go. He flew every mission available since he wasn't doing anything else. Flying the C-130 all over the world with the Air Guard. They don't only fly one weekend a month. There are AFAIK a lot of missions available. He promoted and became aircraft commander, think captain position with the airlines. When he had well enough hours he submitted his resume and application to American Airlines, not American Eagle. He was hired and has been flying with American for about 8 years now. It can be done. No need to work for a regional airline with all that military flight time.

 

Are you sure you wouldn't like to try flying a submarine? Nuclear power training and the extensive submarine systems training you'd receive are really great! In the nearly forty years I've been associated with the Navy, I have yet to see an unemployed or under employed former or retired submarine qualified officer.

 

Right now I would say your chances are better than 50/50. But having said that I am more afraid of what will happen within the next 10 years to the military forces.

When the national budget is out of control the military is usually the first one to take a hit. The fastest way to realize savings is to cut personnel. We have a little thing called RIF (reduction in force) This is when the military services can't get enough people to leave on their own then you start a rif. Explain to me how they reach the criteria to let you go because I have no idea how it works . (I'm a young guy...only been in 33 years) This is what I counsel alot of my young officers on. It's not a matter of being selected anymore but a question of "how to stay in!" Look at the economy and you can see why there is not an exodus to get out. Doesn't matter if you owe the gov't an obligation for your flight training. If they need to save money and getting rid of you is one way to do it then out you go. I've seen a young PFC who had 9 months of training from the army come into the unit on a Monday and left on a monday the next week. You will shudder in your boots when you see how the money is wasted putting people out to save money. It's not a quality thing it's a quanity thing. Even the experience goes out the door....it's really unbelievable.

If your heart is set on flying (mine was) talk to the recruiter, take the test and see if you can make the score. Then take the physical and see if you can pass that--Remember the physical is trying to find something to keep you out of the cockpit. By the way there is no shame in not making the score. It's a test like no other or at least it was for me when joining the Army (rme). How many pilots test it take to screw in a light bulb...(I think I got that one right!) Always keep your options open. If for some reason you don't make the pilot training the AF seems like they want to push alot of guys into maintenance management. Screw that...18-20 hour days are not in my nature...

Let me know what else I can do to help. Best advice...listen to your Dad. It sounds like he is familiar with what's going on and how best to guide.

The answer is no if you don't ask. If you don't ask you will wonder for the rest of your life if you could have made it. Answer that question now. Better than 50/50. Alot of people don't even make those odds.

Your best career manager---is "YOU!"

 

Quoted and bolded for truth. There is one sure why NOT to get a pilot slot- Not asking/trying for one.
I've seen a lot of crazy things that you wouldn't think should happen-but they do because someone wanted it that badly.

 

you dont have to be the guy flying the aircraft. you could be the guy jumping out of it. USAF Combat Rescue Officer (CRO) or Special Tactics Officer (STO). just throwing more options out there...

http://www.specialtactics.com/

 

As a Officer PJ aka CRO(Combat Rescue Officer), you will not be "in the shit". You will be more of a management position, making sure your PJ's are taken care of in the battlefield.

AF helo pilot's KIA rate is pretty low.

 

true, but they still get some pretty sweet, specialized training. STO's have a more "active" role i beleive. i'm more familiar with the pararesuce side

 

All kinds of birds to fly and Special Operation Opts as well.

 

If flying is what your heart is set on, look into the US Army Warrant Officer Candidate School. Any recruiter should be able to tell you all about it, or at least get you in touch with someone who can help. I'm currently going through flight school at Fort Rucker and there are TONS of guys here who are what we call "street to seat" (college grads with zero military experience). Warrant Officers will fly far more than a commissioned officer and deal with far less of the "paper pushing" that has been cited by earlier posts.
With the vision thing, 20/25 is nothing to sweat. I entered flight school with 20/40 and the day that you sit in the cockpit for the first time the uncorrected vision requirement goes to 20/200. The Army will let you fly with glasses.
Like I said, I'm in the Army aviation pipeline right now, so if you have questions feel free to PM me.

 

when you say WO fly more than officers are you talking about straight flight time and missions?

 

Yes. Warrants will generally average more flight time than their O-Grade counterparts.
I know there are a few Army pilots on here, so they can correct me if I am mistaken.