Originally Posted by
Goes211
As a former Marine F/A-18 driver, I have to ask how you think your career is going to pan out when the first thing you are asking is what is the "easiest deal" out there?
If you are only considering a military flying career if it can be easy, then please reconsider whether you really want it. JFK said something about doing something because it was hard, and I assure you I have never regretted taking the harder route.
My advice: Apply for OCS, get a commission and go active duty. You'll never have to wonder what you could've done!
In my interview at FedEx, I said I've always done the hard thing when they asked if I liked to fly at night, and ALL night!
Like some have already explained, the OP was asking which one was a more readily accessible route from the context of the Reserve Component. He wasn't asking about AD. FWIW, as a Reserve baby myself, I find no intrinsic value in doing things the hard way for the sake of itself, there's no value in that in my book. Minimalism is a virtue in my life experience so I can't say I relate, and judging by your philosophy of life I don't expect ya to hold it in much light, to each their own. I've met enough AD dudes hating life and wanting to go Guard/Reserves to rest easy in the fact that I did the right thing by doing my homework (some of those AD types didn't) about military aviation during college and placing my efforts on what I deemed the 'best of both worlds' choice. The OP is thinking right
To the OP, you're kinda limited by living in HI, but in my experience the Reserves are easier to get into. Granted I got in as an unsponsored candidate and that pipeline is closed for the forseeable future, but I spent a couple years pimping Guard units (granted mostly fighter units) to no avail, and yes it was before and during the 2005 BRAC period. That was 3 years or so. Then I spent less than 10 months from picking up the phone and asking whose responsible for pilot applications, to getting approved by the board, medical approved and all, to finding a gaining unit and swearing in. The extra kicker is that once you're in that side of the fence, 9 out 10 times the Reserve dude will beat the Guard dude to UPT. The NGB is off the rocker when it comes to wait times for training dates and package approvals, the Reserves turned me into OTS in less than 30 days from swearing in, and UPT report-to dates less than 2 weeks after that. The pace was furious but you'll hardly be able to match that in the Guard. Of course there's hardly any Reserve fighter units compared to the Guard, but if that's a non issue then the Reserves look better. I also think reserve units are a little better on the man day money pot but I have no way of proving that so I'll acknowledge that as potential chaff. Good luck, move CONUS if you want to expand your chances of getting into Guard/Reserve flying.