Originally Posted by
Mink
Sounds like you're set on going USAF, but if you are truly interested in military flying, you should not rule out the USN/USMC. I can't speak for the USAF ROTC but as for the Navy a good way to explore your options is to go to a univ with an ROTC unit, affiliate with the unit on a non-scholarship basis for your 1st year and see what you think. At least in my day, you could "play Navy" for a year as a freshman ROTC puke and opt out if you did not like it after that 1st year. Day 1 of our sophomore year we all had sign on the dotted line, but freshman year was a freebie - no strings attached. Not sure if that's still the case.
Mink
As far as AFROTC goes, if you are on scholarship you can do the first year of ROTC and see if you like it or not, if you quit before the 1st day of Sophomore year then you were not obligated anything and you did not have to pay back any part of your scholarship. If you were not on scholarship, I think up until your first day of class after field training (which is usually during the summer between sophomore and junior year). That way you can decide if Active Duty and ROTC are the routes you want to go and if not, you can get out and wait till you graduate and then hit up guard units. Let me tell you, you are in a good position, doing research at the right time.
Additionally, lots of guys who started AFROTC after freshman year had a harder time getting a pilot slot, so start doing ROTC from the first day of class, it is not impossible, just harder if you are competing against guys who the Commander knows from day 1 vs you being around a year later.
I also want to add that the year I went up for a pilot slot in ROTC, only 56% of the people across the nation in AFROTC competing for a pilot slot got a slot. From my University everyone got a slot except for 4 cadets. Three of those 4 cadets got navigator slots and ended up getting upgraded to pilot later. Two of the guys who had pilot slots got medically disqualified after going to the medical at Brooks (1 was me, doh).
Also, once you get to UPT, you have to compete for a T-38 slot if you want to fly fighter/bomber aircraft. You have to be ready to accept a T-1 (or T-44, or helicopter) slot. But hey, you may get to UPT and decide you don't want to fly fighters any more, which does happen. If you go Guard, you don't have to compete for the T-38 slot if you get hired by a fighter unit (but you still have to be competent enough to fly a T-38).
If you go ROTC and get medically DQ'ed, you have to be fine with doing a desk job for 4 years. If you get medically DQ'ed from flying in the guard, you can do the military stuff on the weekends with the occasional deployment, and if you really enjoy it go for an AGR position, meanwhile doing your flying as your fulltime job. Looking back, I would have gone into the Guard and after getting medically DQ'ed, i wouldn't currently be stuck in the AOC, haha. But it would have been hard to trade in the experience I had in ROTC, and my current deployment (to Colombia, not the desert) has actually been a great experience.