Landon -

Have you considered military flight training? I would urge you to at least consider it if you might be qualified.

You will need a bachelor's degree and acceptance into a program. Those are not easy tasks, but they are achievable. Once in, the government will pay you AND pay for your training, and then you will owe a certain number of years in the service. At the end of that time, you can evaluate where you stand, and where the civilian aviation market stands, and decide whether to stay in or separate.

There are several routes to go -- active duty, Reserves, National Guard. Different people on the forum will advocate different routes. If I had it to do over again, I would just apply for everything, and then make decisions based upon which you are offered.

Do you plan on going to college? If so, I recommend you do that first. If you can afford to fly while in college, great -- get your Private Pilot's License. If not, the degree is more important (in my opinion) to get knocked out. My advice would be to go to a regular 4-year college and get a regular 4-year degree in something that interests you. You do not need an aviation degree to fly airplanes, and a degree in something else may give you some other options in case a back-up plan becomes necessary.

While in college, join ROTC. That will give you a small glimpse of what the military lifestyle is like, and you won't be committed until your junior year. If you like it, you may also qualify for a scholarship (there are strings attached).

If you are interested, I'd be more than happy to chat with you. You need more posts to send a PM, so just post in this thread that you would like me to contact you and leave an e-mail address. If not, no sweat -- but talk to as many folks as you can about all your options.

Good luck!