Originally Posted by
F15andMD11
Yes they do, otherwise half the ANG would never get there. I’m one of them on Title 32 orders. Realize it will take you at least twice as long to get to 20AD in ANG as a part timer. That’s 5 more years. Unless you’re thinking you’ll just come back to full time orders. Here’s the scenario, “Oh you want orders and you’re an O-5? (Very few of those per unit, called control grade). Sorry we’re saving those for our future commanders so we can give them the bonus to keep them.”
Dude you’re only 39🙄. 60 is too far away. Get your retirement! It’s worth it for Tricare alone.
Being the DO will help time fly! Heck maybe even CC in a year.
Good luck!
F15andMD11 - thanks for the advice. I would only leave if there was a guard or reserve unit where I could feasibly get some active duty time each year to finish up the 20 years till AD retirement. It sounds like there are some non-flying jobs out there at different AOCs or in DC that I would be happy to take, but it's hard to know just how likely active duty-orders will be, so it's a big risk. From your post it sounds like active-duty orders in the guard might be harder to come by then I thought. On the other hand I've got two friends who are traditional reservists/guardsmen who are on full-time orders right now, so it must be possible for some people. But it's a big risk.
Thanks to all of the other posters regarding the advice to stay in. It's killing me to stay in but there are lots of good reasons to suck it up, and this is a good reminder. I'm going to continue researching my guard options to have an out if that 356 comes and I can't get out of it. No kidding, last year they tried to send a field-grade pilot from my wing to Afghanistan to lead convoy operations for a year, and he punched just a I would have. If that call doesn't come I'll continue building hours and get my apps in with an availability date set to my terminal leave. Thanks to all for the good advice!