Albief15

No guarantee at all a major will hire you at 17.5. Some have, but simply math (date graduated college, etc) can telegraph your years of service to an airline even if they don't ask. With thousands of military and former military pilots on the property, they aren't clueless when it comes to AGR options, etc.

Now...I bailed at 14. But 6 years left was 2 assignments, perhaps a remote or a 365 thrown in for good measure. I "could" have gone AGR a couple years into it but chose not to (different story). With 1 tour to go...I'd strongly suggest staying, securing the retirement, and using the 2.5 years to network like crazy and get your ducks in a row. Being behind 2000 numbers at Delta or 1000 numbers at FDX might be frustrating, but 40-50k a year and the security should more than offset the loss. The danger is you bail--don't get hired--and suddenly are plugging away at a regional wondering why you did that. 10 year guy? I'd push you off the fence. 14 year guy? I would caution you about the risks, but offer some tales of folks who have done it well. 17.5 year? I'm wiping your face with a cold towel telling you to wake up and walk back into the ring for 2.5 more years...the final bell is about to ring. You can finish this fight...

SaltyDog

the salient points.

Its fine to tell the OP to stay in, all from financial perspective. That is one element, not what they asked. They have plenty of folks saying "stay in".
I have served with folks that did that after their marriage, relationship with kids going downhill, needed to help a parent. Doing that last 365 could be a real showstopper. Divorce may have been prevented. Who knows.
Sure, the bench stock answer is brace up man or woman, stay in, at what personal costs? lose the family and then also lose real money from that...
Getting out is not a panacea, but perhaps it could recover a family situation. Don't really know the details in this case, but have witnessed enough while I was serving to know that sometimes, just sometimes, getting out may be the better course.
I'm counter flow in this discussion

Albief15

All excellent points, Salty, and in the end even the military is "just a job" . Its a job with a huge responsibility and liability, but when you decide to stay or go its a job--nothing more.

Certainly not worth losing a spouse or family member over. And yeah.. the threat of the 180/365 was a big part of why I got out. I was willing to take a few chances to avoid having to do that.

Junglejett

If you are set on leaving AD, consider a Cat-E PIRR gig. I am 1 year out from 25 and have the best reserve gig on the planet! I do not deploy, no drill, no annual training, and I build my own schedule. Now, some of what I do is for points only but there are plenty of opportunities for paid days if you need them. I work for CAP-USAF (Civil Air Patrol-USAF). We are liaisons between the AF and the CAP. We got a ton of airline dudes that do this and retire. We also have a 100% promotion rate to O-5.

Anyway...easy gig to get to retirement.

You cannot have been passed over twice for O-4. However, if you were a former enlisted troop, we can bring you on. We brought a guy on who got passed over twice and came back as an E-5! He flew F-15s and is a SWA Captain. Weird...

AFSoar01

F15andMD11 - thanks for the advice. I would only leave if there was a guard or reserve unit where I could feasibly get some active duty time each year to finish up the 20 years till AD retirement. It sounds like there are some non-flying jobs out there at different AOCs or in DC that I would be happy to take, but it's hard to know just how likely active duty-orders will be, so it's a big risk. From your post it sounds like active-duty orders in the guard might be harder to come by then I thought. On the other hand I've got two friends who are traditional reservists/guardsmen who are on full-time orders right now, so it must be possible for some people. But it's a big risk.

Thanks to all of the other posters regarding the advice to stay in. It's killing me to stay in but there are lots of good reasons to suck it up, and this is a good reminder. I'm going to continue researching my guard options to have an out if that 356 comes and I can't get out of it. No kidding, last year they tried to send a field-grade pilot from my wing to Afghanistan to lead convoy operations for a year, and he punched just a I would have. If that call doesn't come I'll continue building hours and get my apps in with an availability date set to my terminal leave. Thanks to all for the good advice!

Scraggly Heron

I think most people here are set on the airlines; that being said, right now the defense industry is also looking for pilots. It may be an avenue of interest for AFSoar01 or other pilots who have hit the point that they want to get out of the military regardless of the time they have remaining.

The challenge is that much like the airline industry, there are great jobs, mediocre jobs, and crappy jobs; unlike the airlines it can be hard to differentiate between them, or to know where to find the good ones. It's not for everyone, but the jobs are interesting and the starting pay can be on par with a legacy NB captain. (plan on time overseas for the highest paying jobs) Obviously this is similar to--and technically is--corporate aviation. The key differences are the types of flying and having a much more predictable schedule.

All that being said, it's not the airlines and doesn't have some of the benefits/lifestyle that you may be looking for.

tanker

I've been told by many of my fellow pilots who were ANG/AFR that AD orders where very difficult for those who were approaching the 18 year AD time frame. I was told that the reason was that once a pilot hit 18 year AD he was given sanctuary which entitled that person a chance to earn AD retirement. That was something many ANG/AFR units tried to avoid.

rickair7777

This is true. Per title 10, once you reach 18 years of active-duty service, you MUST be allowed to remain on AD to reach 20. There's no chance about it, baring some kind of misconduct, it's guaranteed.

For this reason reserve organizations tend to prefer to not let you get there, for two reasons...

1) They have to keep you AD, even if they don't have a job for you. With the federal services they could ship you overseas of course.

2) They have to pay for "early" retirement.

Different services deal with this differently, Army guard seems to be the most generous, depending on the state.

The Navy will cut you off from any additional orders around 17 years. They need the buffer because annual training counts towards sanctuary as well as recall orders, and they cannot deny you your statutory annual training.

CLazarus

Couple more thoughts -

Are you going to be a Quality of Life or Max Paycheck kind of guy? Because of my Check of the Month status, I am a QOL guy who generally works as little as possible. I drop trips regularly and sometimes take Leaves of Absence during the slow seasons. I'm home more with the family as a result, and my wife loves my job these days. When my oldest kids have flown the coop in a few years, I might pick up the flying pace... or not. Without that extra monthly income and the relatively low starting pay, you might not have much choice but to work the max out of the gate (which would be that much worse for QOL if you end up commuting).

Currency requirements - For SWA their page says "Experience should include actively flying two of the last five years". If you've just gotten back in the saddle, applying immediately after getting 100 'recent' hours may not cut the mustard. Not sure where the other majors draw the line these days, but a solid year or two of flying may be needed. With decent flying for the next year or so, I don't think it would cause any issues on your app if you got tagged for a 180/365 no-flying tour close to retirement (God forbid).

LuckyNo70

AF Soar,

Yes... you can find active duty orders to finish out your 20. It will be very very difficult. Any unit that will take an O-5 is going to be looking at you with the big eye and wanting to know the story up front, that being said, many units need that upper middle management type if you are willing to do those jobs. The AF is in a bit of a pilot shortage you know.

If you have some buds that can bring you in a unit and promise you a steady state of orders, then that is one thing. Understand this, straight from many Generals mouths in AFRC, "AFRC is not in the business of giving active duty retirements" (of course these same Generals all have their active duty retirements, brilliantly played)...not that it does not happen in todays AFRC. It is more and more uncommon. In the Navy, it is now impossible. Many Navy dudes crossover to tag a few more years of active duty and finish up. Again, rare and they knew someone or the units where dying for people..i.e reapers a few years back.

If you punch at 17.5 and all the sudden the rules change in AFRC to not let folks on orders after the 18 year point, how disappointed will you be..only you can answer this. It has not happened yet, but the stopping of orders after 18 years could happen at any moment. Congress, budget cuts, continuing resolutions, ugh, it is never ending when you are looking for orders and it is a new game every fiscal year. Can you get to the finish line and be a good employee to your new employer, yes, you are 38, you have 12+ years to get 2.5 years. That is pretty easy. I know a few jobs in AFRC that are looking for good help and have an endless supply of money, that being said, you have a bird in the hand right now. PM me and I can give you contacts if you wish to talk with them. If it where me, I would stay and focus on enjoying the last few years, fly as much as possible and prepare for your next run. Being a reservist and doing two jobs does have its drawbacks. Active duty is pretty easy, even with deploying, not like you need to worry about promotion and the silliness now that you know it ends at 20.