paulcg77

Let me tell you a story (I know this sounds lame, but bare with me). When I first joined the CG it was 3 years after 9/11 during a period when the service was expanding and the economy was simultaneously doing great, so most officers including aviators were jumping ship after their minimum service obligation, which meant promotion potential/OOS was high and getting commissioned and into flight school was not difficult if you were competitive. By the mid-2000's the USCG was running four active duty OCS classes and two reserve OCS classes a year, which was a lot considering CG OCS is 17 weeks long and it's a small service.

Fast forward to 2011. Retention is at a record high because the economy sucks and no one, whether an aviator or a cutterman or a duck scrubber, is getting a civilian job, so there is a record surplus of LT's competing for promotion. This, combined with sequestration and budget cuts that leads to serious training and billet reductions causes a **** show that lasts for almost a decade in the CG officer corps where it's literally sink or swim, every man for himself. When I transferred to the Navy in 2012 the environment was absolutely miserable and morale was exceptionally low. Good officers and great pilots were spending 8+ years as LT's or if they weren't lucky enough to get on the LT continuation board they were axed completely. At the same time, because of the economy, airlines were barely hiring and had no interest in giving any credit for rotary wing pilots, no matter if you were God's gift to aviation.

Right now is like it was when I first joined the CG 15 years ago. The economy is beautiful, the hiring wave is real, and the military in general is hurting for pilots because we are all going to the airlines. This WILL change. It is a pendulum and it swings back and forth and if you really want to keep your options open you need to set yourself up for success.

The most flexible option that others have mentioned is either the Navy or the Air Guard/Reserves. If you really want flexibility, only the Guard/Reserves can guarantee you flight school AND airframe in advance, which is awesome. If you can find a guard unit with C17's who likes you, you will be guaranteed a C17 slot before you even start Air Force officer training. If you truly want to fly 121 later in your career and don't want to play russian roulette, do this. If you are fixated on a long term active duty career with 121 later on, go Navy because you'll at least have a significantly better chance of fixed wing AND as long as you aren't a complete tool you'll make it to 20 years and a pension (I've seen many tools achieve this too but it's even easier in a service as large as the Navy). IF you insist on Coast Guard, you won't find out your airframe until late in flight school and it is the needs of the service. I'll say that again: the needs of the service. Right now, everyone wants to set themselves up for 121 flying post-military so expect the C130 and C27 slots to be few and far between and to be strongly sought after by everyone. IF you get Coast Guard fixed wing, and you decide you want to go reserves some day because of family or whatever else, you'll be looking at the Navy or Air Guard/Reserves anyway. Or you could just take a guaranteed C17 slot in the ANG right now, go active guard, fly your ass off and go straight to Delta or FedEx and make bank. Your choice but you can't say you weren't warned.

Also, what DeeDee214 says is another great point. CG OCS is still the smallest there is and it's competitive. If you get it and do it you might find that you don't really want to be in the Coast Guard; not everyone wants to spend 17 weeks in Chase Hall memorizing nautical terms in the spindrift and taking **** from the academy cadets who are on the floors above you. Everyone, including you, will take the deck watch officer exam and prepare first and foremost to go to a cutter for your first tour. If you really want to fly and you don't get a flight school slot and end up in the fleet on a 378 fixing broken props all day you are going to hate life. If you go Air Guard you go from OTS straight to flight school then straight to the C17, guaranteed. Just be careful what you wish for and consider all of your options.