I enlisted in the AF with the same plan, thinking I was stepping closer to the goal while I finished getting good stuff for my application. Maybe it helped in the long run, maybe not. Enlisting is definitely NOT the fast track that gets you closer to a commission and flight slot that it would seem to be, though.

It is very competitive inside, and enlisted service is pretty consuming right when you want to be focused on another goal. Admittedly, I had to finish school first and insisted on working on my ratings on the side as well, but it was a long, very uncertain process trying to get an officer slot in the end anyway.

I ended up getting out after a fun, busy enlistment. It was undeniably the springboard that led to my DoD employment and eventual entry into WOFT, but alas my vision wiped me out before I could get my Army wings. Ironically, it was a degradation of my distant visual acuity (which the ex-AF doc had passed me on during my initial) that eventually disqualified me. I blame the avionics work I did in the Air Force.

IT was my fall-back then, and has proven lucrative, flexible, and stable while I fly as a civilian, but as a Plan B, the route I took was a lonnnnng one.