Originally Posted by
C130driver
There are some blue koolaid drunk senior leaders *cough cough* my old commander that scoff at the guard/reserves. They think less of them. They don't realize that at the end of the day, we on active duty and the guard/reserves provide the same product to national defense. Heck, some even do it full time!
My solution for this pilot crisis? Increase utilization of the guard/reserves. Boost up AGR slots, etc. As rapidly as I want to bail active duty myself along with many of my peers will happily continue serving in the guard/reserves while starting our careers at airlines....2 cents
Unfortunately the guard and reserve is short pilots too. After 9/11 and until recently guard/reserve units were chock full of O-4s serving their max 24 years and O-5s serving 26 years+. Most of these guys/gals were airline furloughed after 9/11 and they hung onto their guard/reserve safety blanket. Well, all of those folks have or are retiring. The next generation, guys like me; we left active duty and got an airline job, we have never been furloughed and we are not staying in the guard/reserve one second past 20 years.
Also, many flying units are losing or have lost their ARTs to the airlines and I hear many units can't fill open AGR slots. So many dudes/dudettes are completely sick of Big Blue, they dont want full-time guard/reserve jobs. Heck, I know 5 part-time AFRC pilots (I am one) that recently quit their flying jobs for non-flying 2-day a month jobs or Academy Liaison Officer or Civil Air Patrol jobs. Even as part-timers flying 4 to 6 days a month, we are tired of the Air Force B.S. I also know 2 active-duty IPs that just got hired by the airlines and they want nothing to do with the guard/reserve. Once airline/FedEx/UPS pilots hit second year pay, the guard/reserve becomes a pay-cut and with that pay-cut, the B.S. tolerance drops immensely.
So, increasing guard/reserve utilization will not work.