Originally Posted by
lancejohnson
I'm considering jumping ship at 17 years and finishing out in the reserves in order to make a run at the majors.
-Obtaining a AD retirement in the reserves is most likely not an option for me.
-I'm a helo guy with 1000hrs of FW multiengine turbine. I may or may not be able to pick up another FW flying tour to finish out my 20 but would likely fly less than 500 hours during that tour.
-I'm way over active duty for the same reasons everyone is and should have gotten out earlier.
-Financially I have a low 7 figures in the bank and have young kids with a wife who works.
My concern with staying in:
-My main concern is putting up with 3 more years of crappy active duty QOL to then transition to the airlines on the backside of the wave in 2025 and then have crappy airline QOL due to low seniority.
My concerns with getting out:
-It ends up taking me 3 years to get to a major anyway with my current low FW hours
-COVID or another event disrupts hiring again.
Interested in hearing any and all perspectives. Thank you
Oh man, I just saw this.
lancejohnson as a reservist myself, I have a few words of caution for you. Please PM me if you want to talk about this in more detail - I don't want to pry publicly if you aren't willing to discuss, but entering the SELRES with 17 years TIS is brutal. I understand you think you won't make it to retirement, but have you heard of "sanctuary"? It's an actual law, Title 10 United States Code. It basically means that once you get to year 18 of active duty, you can't be forced out prior to retirement short of some type of disciplinary related event. You are within a year of this so if you can just make it one more year without RELADing, you will be protected and will be able to get an AD retirement.
My biggest regret is not staying on AD until retirement. I made a lot of super important career decisions almost a decade ago as a knee jerk reaction to a few really bad years during the recession when many were getting passed over twice, OOS for anything beyond O-3 was depressingly low, and budget cuts/sequestration were ruining the military. I had probably some of the same complaints you do right now and was very disillusioned. I even laterally transferred to another branch of the military for more opportunities. I eventually went into the SELRES as a JO and took a lot of ADOS/T10/T14 orders to build points but it just wasn't the same. It's only now in middle age that I see what a difference in QOL it is among my civilian 121 co-workers who are retired AD and collect their pension already while I have to wait until age 60, which is still quite a ways away for me.
I don't want to be a buzzkill but I normally recommend anyone over 15 years AD TIS just stay on AD until sanctuary and retirement, even if you do consecutive shore tours and have to pay for stick and rudder time at your local flight school. Spend the next 3 years using your VA Chapter 33/Post-9/11 GI Bill benefits to get more fixed wing time and tickets while you finish up so that when you do retire, you don't need to do a rotor transition program with a regional. You've spent 17 years taking it from the green phallic symbol that is the military and you're less than a year away from guaranteed check of the month club for the rest of your life starting almost immediately, not at 60 like the rest of us schmucks in the reserves. Either way, good luck brother.