hindsight2020

The answer is that it won't hurt you but it won't help you fundamentally either. The opportunity cost of enlisting is delaying the completion of a college degree between deployment, training and exercises, count on it. In my opinion it's not worth it, so no I wouldn't enlist.

As to the process, I spent 2.5 years actively pursuing a Guard slot and was unsuccessful, eventually I became aware of the Air Force Reserves and got in through them. The Guard fighter world is way more clickish than the Reserves, though the Reserves fighter world is virtually non-existent in numbers. In the Guard quals matter but social compatibility and connections matter more. This is true of the Reserves but to a lesser extent, and lateral mobility in the Reserves is way more common than in the Guard. There's also better money pots in the Reserves in my biased opinion. Good luck, I was you 7 years ago, which is why it took me longer to get in, as all I did was apply to F-16 units. Had I courted C-130/KC-135 units from the beginning I submit I would have probably gotten a head nod sooner. Not making adjudications, just stating the facts.

As to F-16s or bust, I gave up that dream and in hindsight it worked out. Flying an F-16 would have been awesome for a while but the bro-check culture would have rubbed me the wrong way after a while and there's not as much opportunities to bum as a wingman in a Guard unit. Would love to fly A-10s that's for sure, -38s were a blast in UPT I won't lie, but I guess in this day and age with the fighter game drawing to a sunset I was statistically born a little too late to the party. As it stands the universe tends to unravel in mysterious ways, so I encourage you to apply away and see what happens. Good luck to you.