Spencer42

Hello everybody, I recently graduated college with a management major (3.5 gpa) and I am very interested in being a pilot. I knew I have always wanted to serve but I wanted to get my degree done first. I would be most interested in flying helicopters and preferably in the guard. I have done some research and seen that there are a few air force helicopter guard/reserve units. Also, I know many army national guard units fly helicopters as well.

I am pretty aware on the whole air force side of things and how hiring works. But, I would like to know how the the army hires pilots for the guard.

Any help would be greatly appreciated, thanks!

AirBear

Lots of others here with direct experience and hopefully they'll stop by and give their input. But let me ask, are you looking for Officer Candidate School and flying as a Commissioned Officer, or are you OK with being a Warrant Officer? The vast majority of Army RW Pilots are Warrant Officers. Commissioned Officers do fly, but after the first few years it's not their primary job if I'm not mistaken. They'll have staff jobs and just fly part time. The Air Force doesn't have Warrant Officers, all pilots are Commissioned. Pretty sure the Navy is the same.

Spencer42

If I went army, then I would go the Warrant Officer route.

hydrostream

I was an active duty guy, but knew quite a few Guard aviators. The National Guard does not have a street to seat program like the regular Army does, so you're not going to be able to just go to a recruiter and put together a packet for the board. It's my understanding that there are some units that will work with you to do something similar though, and will allow you to enlist knowing they will eventually send you to WOCS. Whether your state has a unit like that or not is something you'll have to ask around about.

Every one of my Guard friends was enlisted in their units prior to going to WOCS, so I have no idea how common it is to get into one of the Guard "street-to-seat" units.

Anyways, I highly recommend joining the Army as a warrant officer if you want to fly. They do a lot of the administrative stuff around the unit, and also spend a lot of time as extra hands during packing days and what-not. But the amount of time an O-grade spends doing paperwork, meetings, building slides, counseling, etc. is crazy. You have to really enjoy management to get into that groove.

Blackhawk

Unless things have changed this is not true. Yes, sometimes they want you to enlist first, but some states will give you a direct slot. It all depends.

parking

There is no correct answer for the guard side, because it wildly varies from state to state (luck and timing too). Some states are closed off to outside applicants, and some are hurting for flyers.

Best thing to do if you want to go ARNG, is to contact the state's WO Strength Manager (WOSM). You can get it from the main National Guard website. The WOSM will be the the authority to tell you what options you have (seat-to-street, in-unit only, PPL/college, etc.).

Big Windy

Dude, if you have an option - go Air Force. I'm Army and that's all the other pilots talk about

hydrostream

Ah cool thanks for the correction. I was going off of the couple guys I've talked to that went to AIT with an almost immediate follow-on to WOCS.

Blackhawk

You have to go to basic training before WOCS. You don’t go to AIT but you are normally assigned a secondary MOS in case you wash out of flight school.
My wife was a branch transfer into aviation. As a 1LT she was a basic training XO at Ft Jackson. When she started flight school some of the recruits from her basic training company were WOCS in her flight class.

ItnStln

I have a related question. What’s the age limit to be an Army National Guard pilot for both the Commissioned Officer and Warrant Officer route?