Acechris89, are you from RI? Are you willing to move to RI if you are not 'from there'? You can commute to a Guard job, as long as it's not too far to drive. We had guys who drove 1-3 hours to get to the base for drill weekends. If you are flying for the RI Guard, you could also fly for any airlines out of BOS or NYC, which is nice. There are lots of corporate flight depts. around that area too, check out White Plains, NY, etc. see if anyone needs a F/O in a twin.
When you join a Guard unit, they 'own' you. You'll be coming back to that unit when you finish pilot training (called UPT). If you do flunk out, they could offer you a different job, or let you go completely, ie. you are released, you just go away, which is more likely. You won't get stuck in a Desk Job unless you beg for one! Even then, they may not have any desk jobs that need filling!
You shouldn't worry about washing out of pilot training. You already have proven you can fly, now all you have to do is study all the books they'll give you and take the tests.
Oh, and anything less than an 85 on a test is a failure. There is a test every week.
It's work, but it's do-able. I studied more in the 49 weeks of UPT than in 4 years of college put together. I was a C student at UNH (while flying 100hrs. a month, night freight, going to class in the day) but I got straight A's at UPT. Mostly because I didn't study very hard at UNH, but I busted my butt at UPT.
Everyone in your class is in the same boat, doing the same thing, so you get together with a few of your classmates and make up 100 flash cards and play "Stump the Dummy". There's nothing else to do anyway, so you might as well study.
The best part of being a Guard guy while at UPT is, you are not competing against any of your class mates for the 10 fighters that might come down. You know what you'll be flying, and where. They all have to compete against each other to be the top in the class, for their assignments.
This is what causes some of them to freak out and wash out. They all want fighters, but guess what, very few fighter assingments come down. So most of them get heavies or T37/T38 IP slots.
Well, that, and they fact that 95% of them have zero flying time when they get in and they just can't handle the pace. It is like drinking from a fire hose when you first get there, but you already have a huge advantage, you know you can fly an airplane, so you should have lots of self confidence. All you have to do is learn to fly 'their way'.
We had one kid in our class from Embrey Riddel (sp?), he had about 800 hrs. and was active duty. He got the only F15 to come down. He did his 20 years active duty, got out 10 years ago, and he's now a Captain at UPS.
Nobody in our class with previous flying time (by that I mean at least 250hrs.) had any trouble getting through. The 30% who did wash out pretty much did it to themselves, by pannicking when they had troubles. Everyone has trouble at some point, but you just have to get over it and press on, not go into a tailspin.
I got into a big pizzing contest with my first T38 IP. He hated me. I was a smart ***, with over 4,500 hours and an ATP when I got there. All I talked about was flying for Delta Air Lines when I got out! He hated that.
I was his first T38 student. He had just returned from 3 years flying F4's in Germany, did NOT want to be an instructor, he called himself a Sh!t Hot Fighter Pilot, he even signed all my grade sheets with SHFP after his name. He was easily the Tool of the Decade, and he didn't want to instruct a "Heavy Driver" who would not kiss his *** (I was going to KC135's).
He said he couldn't believe that his formation flying tallent was being -wasted- on the likes of a Guard Heavy PUKE! So he would fly the airplane more than he would let me! He'd say, "Here, watch this!" and then he'd do 60% of the formation flying. Tool.
After he busted me a couple rides in a row, not for flying, but for being a smart *** on the radio, I went into the Flight Commander to request a new IP.
I got one, a really nice, laid back, mellow one. We got along great, and I got an "Outstanding" on my formation checkride.
So don't sweat it, you'll do fine, it is a great job and you will meet some great people. You'll meet a tool or two, too, but they are in the civi world too, so you might as well get used to that.