I am in a similar situation to you, J4000. I just signed a 6x2 enlisted contract with the Army National Guard last week...I plan to go to Officer Candidate School sometime after Basic Training and AIT. I weighed my options very closely and came to the conclusion that having no family (can't get a woman to sleep with me, let alone bear my children haha) and being a bit younger (25), the benefits outweighed the risks. I have been told by many of my friends and co-workers that are previous and current reservists that deployment is virtually guaranteed considering my enlisted MOS. Hopefully OCS comes VERY soon for me!

Some of the benefits I'm looking forward to:

Getting approximately 2/3 of nearly $50,000 dollars of student loans wiped clean. Would be more but I took out Private loans to fund my addiction to flying. This was ONLY available to me in the Guard if I enlisted before going to OCS. Not sure if this would be true in the regular Army or not...

New GI bill is soon in coming, I am told it is the largest increase to the GI Bill since WWII. I am hoping to go back to school and get a Masters in something other than aviation.

I signed into 88M, Motor Transport Operator. It is one of very, very few MOS's that still offer an enlistment bonus. It also offers a kicker to the GI Bill, so when I go back to school I will get a little extra money every month.

As far as going into an aviation job, I think you are on the right track with doing something in another field. You have the experience you need if you want a flying job down the road, why not take the opportunity to get qualified in something else?


Hope this helps, I know it is a huge decision and thought you might want to hear from someone who's taking the plunge...we'll see how I feel in the middle of January while I'm in Basic Training in the middle of winter! PM me if you have any questions about the process I went though, I'd be glad to give any help I can!

Good luck!