hindsight2020

As far as a pension, not exactly. Reserve retirement is a fractional system, where you are paid a pension at age 60 as a percentage of active duty "points" you have relative to 20 years worth of active duty retirement points. Ergo you'd have to be active duty for 20 years worth of credit in order to attain an AD pension. A Reservist would have to accrue the equivalent of 20 years worth of AD retirement points to get the pension. This will take a Reservist not on an AGR status longer than a one-for-one year, since he won't be in AD status 365 days a year normally. But yes, if you're willing to finish it out in the Reserves and don't get bumped out by rank TIG limitations (you still gotta promote to buy time to get that check) or "sanctuary" shenanigans at a less than gracious unit, you can get an AD retirement check out of the Reserves (you do forfeit a Reserve retirement check in the process of course, who cares though...)

As to the flying, it depends, go figure. Airframe dependent. Fighters fly under 200ish non-deployed, heavies fly a lot more than that and then some if deployed, back home not so much. ISR platforms and the like are the flavor of the month and fly a lot, gone a lot. RC-26s, RC-12s, U-28, you name it. Honestly, I'd go for sortie count if I were you (i.e the fighter guys have the edge). I've come to accept that high cruise is as much of a snooze in a military aircraft as it is on a 121 operation. Takeoffs, landings, assaults, bomb runs, strafe runs, merges, air refuelings (from the receiver POV anyways) is what we really got into this gig for. More sortie count = more chances to do that. Hours in that respect are a non-item, nevermind you're not trying to snag this gig for time building purposes anyways. Also, higher sortie counts makes you a more experienced pilot in my book. In that regard yes, 1000 1.0s in a cessna 172 make you a better stick jockey than one 1000.0. I digress.

Once again, I caution you about TFI units. That's Total Farce.. er Force Integration by the way. It's an initiative where the AD leadership "partners" with the AFRC leadership and "shares" resources, anything from maintenance to personnel to iron and ownership of such. It's the devil. Aside from the UPT Reserve IP units (by definition classic associates) being the exception to the flying hours rule, I believe my personal experience to be representative. In my particular situation I was flying in excess of 400hrs/yr pre-TFI in an airframe where AD bubbas fly between 150-200hrs/yr. I was getting paid 60% of an AD paycheck for the priviledge. Post TFI? I'm down to AD flying averages or slightly below, on the same 60% of a paycheck. I'm at work just as much as I was before. What do I do now instead of flying? AD qweep. Not upgrading in a timely fashion. Which if nobody has clued ya in on it, is how reservists get paid in this gig. Seat quals, not rank, is the gravy that brings the mortgage payment to mama and the kids for those of us looking to get paid on the 15th and 29th like the rest of the peanut gallery across the ramp. Otherwise just rusting away. Running around in gas masks not doing the mish, getting graded on some fighter general's metric of "ability to deploy" that doesn't even apply nor add value to our unit's [pre TFI anyways] ability to get this thing done the Reserve way, getting nasty-grams from comm nazis about keeping up my govt computer certificates updated or they'll lock me out of my "primary officer duties" of schedule monkey and all-around gopher. Best returns for an undergrad and grad education. Ever. I used to fly more for less pay, now I fly less and get paid less too. I'm really a scab if you think about it, that whole need to take care of my family and my selfish desire to serve my country in a flying capacity clouds my judgment. I need to take up drinking or compulsive gambling, message boarding is gonna crack me in half .

Research the particular unit you'll be working for, many of our new guys now finishing training were not privy to all these changes when they were being interviewed, which will seem like a bait-and-switch to them and will in turn lead to potential bridge burnings and doing laps around the big wig table with your elbows sticking out; not pretty. We'll see. Keep transfers in your back pocket but do not go into it with that plan as your plan A, in that sense I don't completely agree with the "get in now, transfer tomorrow" game plan, not in this economy. Good luck. My $1.41