I bid you all good evening. AD CW3, 40 years old. BS. Retire in 2020. 2000 hours PC/AC. Any way possible to fly for the ANG when I retire?

Fly safe er’body.

 

As soon as the Air National guard gets those Apache helicopters you will be a shoe in.

 

ARNG=Army National Guard, ANG=Air National Guard

It's very rare for someone to fly for the Guard or Reserve after a full AD retirement. The problem is that you forfeit your retirement pay for every day you work in mil status for the Guard/Reserve. So, you would be working for half pay. There is some kind of waiver required I think. In my time as a Traditional Guardsman and Reservist, I never knew of anyone to go through with it.

 

Don’t think any fixed wing unit would hire you since you’d have to go through UPT, and your age and time in service would likely preclude that. I doubt NGB/AFRC would approve that exception to policy, nor would any unit level commander. It just doesn’t make sense to send someone to training for 2 years when they are retirement eligible at the end of training, despite the ADSC that comes with pilot training. As for flying HH-60s (maybe ospreys too) in the ANG/USAFR, if you just got out tomorrow and stopped your clock, with 3 years left, you’d still have to get hired by an hh60 guard unit, but it may be theoretically possible. ARNG may be an easier sell as the accessions from Army AD to ARNG is a lot less of a nutroll than AD Army to ANG. I have a friend going commissioned Army AD UH60 to ANG HH60, and it’s a pain in the ass. If you’d done this 5-10 years ago it would have been much more possible.

 

No. [/B]
Retired is retired...

 

Maybe not in the guard, I've seen some odd stuff. But he'd give up retired pay on the days he worked. That's for certain I think.

 

There are civilian pilots (General Schedule - GS11 -13) who are pilots in the Army and Air National Guard; however, they are what is known as, "Dual Status Technicians". In other words, their employment is contingent upon their ability to hold a drilling billet (fill in the military rank here) in the unit which they are supporting. Therefore, IF you would forego your retirement check, and IF you were able to find a unit to accept you into a commissioned officer slot, and commission you, it could work. But I can't imagine any scenario under which that might happen.

But, on the other hand, If you want to start an airline career (different retirement check), you will be eagerly sought by a regional airline if you get a few easily obtained ratings. After which, you will be very attractive to any number of good airlines. Although you may think that 43 is "old", you'll have enough time to do twenty years at a decent carrier if you get started now. PM me if you want a road map from a guy whose made all the mistakes.

 

As a fellow Army retiree who flew Apaches I truly wish you luck in the civilian world. Suggestion: lose the Army nonsense, hardly anyone understood what you typed. To keep the confusion to a minimum I will just say helicopter pilot.

Are you a D and E model pilot? Also an IFE and a SIP?

Could have just said Apache IP or AH-64 Instructor. Simplier.

 

Ive never heard of someone in their forties going to pilot training. Sometimes there are age waivers for guys already in the unit. But most likely you would need to attend Officers training and complete undergraduate pilot training.

I always thought you had to go to a unit before you retired