N6724G

Yoke,

I am already a Flight Instructor. But yes, I enlisted in the Army National Guard wayyyy back in 1988. I was an Infantryman. I loved being a soldier. it was my intention to be a military pilot. I had absolutely no interets in being an airline pilot. However back then, you had to have 20/20 vision which I did not so I forgot about aviation and pursued a military career. Went active duty and was stationed in Hawaii. Itook flying lessons there everyweekend Ihad off ( I was single withno kids) I ETSed and came home and rejoined the National Guard and I went to OCS. Got commissioned an Infantry Officer and deployed to Bosnia. Camehome with a crap load of money and finished my PPL. I did all the rest of my certificats and ratings at pt 61 and pt 141 schools. Got my commercial at a local NavyFlying Club.

Went to American Flyers and got my CFII and CFI in 2007 and have been instructing part time ever since. The airline industry is not the vest right now and to be honest I am not sure that I want to do that type of flyinganymore. i am not ruling it out but I am looking at other types of flying such as flying for law enforcement, flying for the FAA, USFS, or freight. I wouldnt mind flight instructing as a career if it paid better. I am thinkning of getting a masters degree and maybe teach aviation at a university or something.

Meanwhile I am still in the Guard non flying. I am a Company Commander and I enjoy it.

NWAC

For all those on here who have served, Thank You! And be sure to look into Chapter33 VA funding because we have many actives and retireds that are starting their training and degree who are getting 100% paid for and getting a living expense check too.

Make sure you really research your schools because some will qualify for the funding but most won't.

Best of Luck in your career!

pattupilot

Things might have changed from the days I used to instruct. I had a lot of students that were veterans.They really enjoyed everything. They used to get the latest equipments from the pilot shop, as well as the most expensive headsets. The only problems they used to face was lack of funds. The VA used to be very late with transferring more funds. Thats the reason for why they used much time on their certificates.

One of them took multi add on after his private. He did also ask if he could continue flying the multi on his instrument. But the VA denied that. So he did his instrument on a cirrus and C172 glass. He later took his commercial single and multi, CFI, CFII and MEI.

SiShane

Yoke- Welcome brotha, Im also a veteran....Looks like you have a pretty good plan man, I would definetely follow that route. The only thing is you are going to be on a much more limited time frame so I would stay away from the college frat parties and just concentrate on meeting the right people and getting stuff done on time. Another thing is make sure whatever degree you do that they accept all or most of the classes from Dutchess towards your bachelors. Like someone said before start buying and reading those FAA books like the Aeronautical Knowledge and Flying Handbook. It will only make things go smoother once you get in the airplane. Good Luck to ya man!