Here's a slightly different perspective.

I'm not saying I disagree with the advice being provided. However, almost everyone offering it is doing so with a pair of wings on their chest, many with an airline job already. It's easy to look at the situation at that point and Monday morning QB. "I'd have been hired at my airline sooner if only I went ANG"..... "I never would have had those 6 PCS moves and a remote tour"...... "I could have gotten aircraft X, Y or Z straight out of UPT", etc.

Those may be all good reasons for a guy who already has a 4-year degree, sitting at a crossroads in his life looking at an aviation career and trying to decide mil or civilian.

You can't offer the same advice to a high school student trying to plan out college who may be considering joining the military as a pilot. If becoming a military pilot is his number one goal, then choosing to go ANG closes a lot of doors toward attaining that goal.

Unless he's going to enlist in the ANG and do the GI Bill in the hope he can get into a future UPT slot that way, he has to find a way to pay for college. If he's got that covered somehow, great. Otherwise, planning to go ANG after college means he's bypassing a potential USAFA appointment and ROTC scholarships and committing to paying his own way through school.

Then there's the challenge of actually getting a UPT slot. Like it or not, becoming a military pilot is a bit of a numbers game. Right now, the USAF needs pilots but that's not always the case. Bypassing a shot at the academy or ROTC now means lost chances at a far larger number of pilot slots than the ANG units offer. The odds of actually being selected for a UPT slot in an ANG unit are far, far smaller for those who only try that route than the guys who try every possible avenue. Most folks who really want it are willing to cast the widest net possible. At some point it may come down to just how much a set of AF wings is worth. Someone who won't even try unless they can achieve that goal under the optimum circumstances, choosing the jet they fly, the location and getting into a major airline job before age 30 probably really doesn't want to serve that badly.

The other thing for guys who want to fly fighters is this:
Unless we're talking all out mobilization, most of the time, front line active duty units are going to be the ones called up to the show. Look at the percentage of active duty units versus ANG units that participated in Desert Storm or who are currently involved in hot spots around the world. If you want to be able to do more than train in the local MOA, fly at your airline and watch the war on CNN, active duty is going to give you a better shot.

If I hadn't been on active duty, there are some once in a lifetime tactical combat experiences that I never would have had a chance to have. Just my .02