Originally Posted by
BeatNavy
Army aviation is the armpit of all military aviation. That’s what I was told by one of my teachers in college (AH64 and C12 guy). After 8 years in the army and being around fighter squadrons for the last 8 years, I have an appreciation for that statement, because it’s mostly true. Especially as commissioned guys, we don’t fly a lot and are never IPs. And we don’t have a recognized legitimate fixed wing training program. I kind of see their point—the year spent in Air Force pilot training covers a whole lot more than the army fixed wing course. Not sure what this new initial entry fixed wing course entails, but I’d be surprised if it was as comprehensive as SUPT. Plenty of my AF friends give mad props to the work we did killing stuff in apaches/kiowas, but the AF as an institution doesn’t really care for much of what we did in the army, unless it involves going to fly helos in the ANG. Army fixed wing guys don’t get much credit when going over to the AF. Not cool, but a fact. Maybe it’ll change with the new army fixed wing course, or maybe they will create a short course for army dudes to help free training resources in the Air Force.
All very true. Someone once described the difference between UPS airlines and FedEx to me as UPS being a trucking company that flew planes and vice versa, and the same comparison holds for Army/AF. The Army is a massive ground game with helicopters (Army FW is so miniscule it hardly counts). Witness the flightsuit assimilation police.
I went to Rucker with 3000 hours and a regional/night cargo background, and was stunned at the lack of "aviation" concerns - airspace, ATC, instrument flying. Just a different focus. Here at CBP we see tons of Army guys fail our checkride due to inability to fly an approach or hold.
Back to the OP, I know three RLO's who made the transition to ANG, one vipers and two heavy cargo. All went almost immediately after getting back from IERW, within a year. Probably had started their packets while still there.
I would think that the best transition from ARNG to ANG right now would be through active duty.