DCA A321 FO

You are crazy if you don't. :-)

So is "The Guardian" one of your favorite movies? It's one of mine, I flew SH-60s.

When I was flying out of JRB Fort Worth it was 8-15 days a month, but that was because I was flying for American Eagle. Min I think they wanted was 6 days.

When I was attached to a shipping reserve unit, it was just 2 days a month.

Vito

I almost got out of the Reserves at my 20 year point in 2006. I decided to ride it out until it ceased being fun. Glad I did!, in the Summer of 2009 they added the transfer of benefits feature to the GI Bill and that saved me a boatload of money for my Son's College. With the money I saved, I Put towards my Daughter's college tuition, so both my kids should graduate debt free ( because I stayed in) I can't tell you how many pilots I fly with wished they stayed in, especially as one gets older and approaches 60 yrs old and can start collecting Mil retirement, ($3500/month) for me. I'm punching out of UPS at 60, in large part because I stayed in till retirement. Remember, as you get older and you have to pay for tuition, weddings, cars, etc your costs rise a lot. It will take a few years to pay for all of these costs, and you'll end up flying till your 65, like many of my fellow pilots are planning to do (not by choice). So ask yourself, a little pain now, flying cool military jets with your Bro's, or more pain flying at age 60+ Flying back side of the clock, to pay for stuff. Something to think about.

DCA A321 FO

For sure, and some guys I fly with left at the 12 year mark. Hindsight is 20/20.

UAL T38 Phlyer

What Albie said. Depending on the unit and mission, it can be awesome.

I flew in the USAF Reserve for 16 years as a UPT IP. Best of both worlds (most of the time). For the bulk of that time, it was non-deployable, and fly as little as 6 days a month, or as much as you wanted.

Had I not done that? Then the furloughs and tribulations of 2002 and 2008 would have made life very difficult.

Different branches; different rules. Naval Reserve for a flying billet? Hit O-5, and you lose your billet. Non-promotable to O-5? Lose your billet.

Air Force? "Hey, can you fly twice today?" You have a good to great chance of making O-5 (depending on the year), and if you do, you just keep going.

I had two Navy buds join the Air Force Reserve because of that.

Finally, Tricare Reserve is generally superior (and cheaper) than any medical plan you will find on the outside. If you are lucky enough to get an Active Duty retirement from the Reserves (I did), the instant paycheck and medical benefits of Tricare in retirement (I have zero complaints) are a huge financial impact.

Now, if you get in a unit that is deployed for 6-9 months at a time? Your mileage may vary.

DarinFred

I spent a few months in the Reserves after getting off Active Duty. The job isn't what it used to, so I quit. Doing the airline gig full time now and I have zero regrets. Not having to deal with the nonstop queep, backstabbing leadership, political correctness, and active duty mentality slowly seepin in made my decision to break ties a no brainer.

BDGERJMN

Not true on the O-5 piece. Most Augment Units (non hardware squadrons) have 3 or 4 O-5 billets on their RUAD and all SelRes flying units have the ability to apply for and receive Over Grade Waivers (OGW) for the O-5s not in an O-5 billet.

If you're a terminal O-4 as a SelRes you don't automatically lose your billet, in fact you probably have a better chance of staying in the unit bc you don't require an OGW. Sure you're not promotable but you don't lose your billet automatically after you fail to select.

Concur with Abie's advice 100%. Don't commute if you don't have to.

Tummy

Everyone likes to point out the financial benefits of joining the reserves, so I thought it might be worthwhile to take a closer look. As a 1st year 7ER FO, I make $70.51 per flight hour. My average daily guarantee is 5:15, so my average daily guarantee is $370.18. I get a 15% contribution to my 401k and I’m going to receive 21% profit sharing this year, so my average daily guarantee plus 401k contribution and profit sharing is $515.10. On 2nd year pay, I’ll get $815.06, on 3rd year pay I’ll get $953.79. If I pick up a green slip, it’s $1,030.20, $1,630.12, and $1,907.58.

The reserves at the active duty unit I just left make $887.84 per day while drilling as an O-4 with over 10 years. The unit expects them to work 5 days per month (60 days per year) of which 48 are drill days and 12 are active duty for training. They don’t make double pay on active duty days, and they have to commute either to their reserve job or to their airline job.

$887.87 * 5 / 7 (commuting adjustment) = $634.17
(($634.17 / 2 * 12) + ($634.17 * 48)) / 60 [adjustment for active duty vs drill ratio] = $570.75

They also get a reserve retirement, but it’s not the same as an active duty retirement. I was on active duty for 11 years and 16 days. That gives me 4,031 points towards retirement. 108 points a year for 9 years would give me 5,003 points which is good for a 34% retirement starting at age 60. That’s $67,155.27 per year. The present value of a perpetuity of $67,155.27 a year at a 6.37% discount rate (the historical rate of return for Vanguard’s LifeStrategy Income Fund) is $1,054,242.84, so it’s almost like they give you a million dollars on your 60th birthday.

The present value of $1,054,242.84 on my 60th birthday is $139,447.21 right now if I use a 7.78% discount rate (the historical rate of return for Vanguard’s LifeStrategy Growth Fund). $139,447.21 / 9 / 60 = $258.24, so we can add that much to the pay the reserves give us each day. That comes out to $828.99 per day for working in the reserves as an O-4 with over 10 years.

We would make more money than that as a 3rd year FO on the 7ER. We would make way more money than that any time we ever pick up a green slip.

Right now, I bid avoid ACC and DKR. If Delta told me that I had to go to the Al Anbar province of Iraq and sleep in a tent for seven months to a year, I would tell them to go get bent. If the Marine Corps Reserves tell me that I have to go to the Al Anbar province of Iraq and sleep in a tent for seven months to a year, and I tell them to go get bent, things turn out poorly for me.

Having said all of that, I do miss the Marines. I miss sitting around the ready room lying about how good I can fly airplanes. I miss the people. I miss flying airplanes upside down, and I even miss the students I flew with. I’m just not sure that participating with the reserves is the no brainer financial windfall that so many make it out to be.

BDGERJMN

Tummy,

O-4 over 10 drill pay is $224.86/drill or $899.44/4 drills (drill weekend) per 2016 pay charts. So my math says max drill pay per day is $449.72 (without flight pay).

So your math is just a bit optimistic on the reserve side.

Bdger

viper548

I bailed from the AF reserves last year with 15 years of service. I was an E7 and only had about 2600 points. The time value of the extra money I make now far outweighed the $800/mo retirement I was looking at if I stayed. We also have little kids, so that also weighed heavily in favor of leaving.

Tummy

Great googly moogly! That's a big mistake. Thanks for pointing it out.

That would mean that I'm already making more than an O-4 with over 10 in the reserves as a 1st year 7ER FO! They need to pay reservists more.