Originally Posted by PasserOGas

Just be aware that flying in the active duty Air Force has taken a back seat to "officership". In other words you will probably spend most of your time doing desk work. It is a cool job, (cooler than most), but if you have visions of "Top Gun" walk away. There are exceptions to this, but they are very highly sought after and hard to get. The pay is steady, and the benifits are good, but the flying is slim.

If you want to be a pilot for the flying then get yourself some hours and start interviewing at guard and reserve units. You can do nothing but fly and they are ok with that, for the most part. Not only that, but you can live where you want, and be guaranteed an airframe before UPT. The pay is less steady though, and you might need to get another job to make the ends meet.

The units also tend to recruit pilots from within, so you could consider enlisting in the guard, and working it that way if you can't affoard to get hours. Just make sure they know your long range goal is to fly, and do your best for the unit and it should eventually happen for you. You will still need your bachelors degree. Just know this, recruiters will try to get you to enlist in the active duty by telling you it is a path to the cockpit. NOT TRUE. You need a degree and a commission to fly. Your comments about ROTC say that you know this, but I just wanted to make it clear.

Also, get your medical early. It would be a shame to do a bunch of work only to find out you aren't medically qualified to fly in the military.