I was Navy, but if I had it to do all over again, I'd find an ANG unit that flew the kind of aircraft I wanted to fly. Why?

You go to the rest of the services and you roll the dice on what pipeline and A/C type you'll get based on the "needs of the service."

My example: The week I got out of Basic I had the highest grades of the six of us coming out. There were ZERO jet slots available so it was a choice between props and helos. The prop pipeline overwhelmingly supplied the P-3 and C-130 communities at the time. Because my ultimate goal was the airlines, I wanted props.

Unfortunately for me, 3 of the other 5 were married with families and the other 2 were ex-Orion aircrewmen. Seeing it was the end of the fiscal year and I was the only single guy, it was cheaper to move me from Corpus Christi to Pensacola. Therefore, the budgetary "needs of the Navy" got me assigned to helicopters.

I was at a party in SAT just after that and met a guy who was going through Air Force Officer School. "I'm going to fly F-4s!", he told me. I began telling him my story and he said..."I'm in an ANG unit and all we have is F-4s."

Granted this was back in 1980, but you get my drift. Find an ANG unit that flys Tankers, Fighters, Warthogs or whatever tickles your fancy. That deletes the risk of getting something you don't want.