Joining with a juvenile record
 

Hello, I am in college now getting my bachelors in aviation, when I graduate I want to fly for the Air Force reserve or air national guard. (I am already a private pilot and will be a CFI by the time I graduate) I know I will have to go through the militaries flight school from the start regardless. The only thing I am worried about is a misdemeanor charge I have from when I was 13, adjudication was withheld so I was not convicted, and I got probation for 6 months. I have talked to an active duty recruiter who said he would work with me if I scored very well on all the qualifying test, and I have no other issues besides the 1 misdemeanor and I have 1 traffic ticket. But other then that nothing and by the time I graduate I will be 20 meaning the misdemeanor will be from 7+ years ago. Do you guys all think this will make it hard for me to get a pilot slot in the guard or reserves? And will it help that I will already be a commercial pilot and CFI, or does that not really have any effect? Thanks

Your record won’t have any impact. If a recruiter said he can work with it, any other qualifiers he puts on it after are irrelevant. Waivers aren’t tied to test scores in any way and probably aren’t required for something that was adjudicated (and sealed?) anyways. You might be able to spin it into a positive in your essay as the turning point in your life where you found purpose and committed to your current career trajectory.

Being a CFI or commercial ticket holder will make you more competitive for the Guard/Reserves. The hours would help your PCSM score for active duty as well.


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Probably not an issue, assuming it was nothing really heavy. Had a good buddy who did a recruiter tour. They could work with juvie shoplifting, simple assault, vanadlism, *maybe* drug possession, etc. Could not work with weapons charges, sexual stuff, drug dealing, weird stuff, etc.

Also I've heard online crime, hacking, of any sort is no-go these days (security clearance disqual).

But sealed, expunged, juvenile, charges dismissed is NOT exempt from DoD (or other government agency) scrutiny. Everybody who joins in any capacity today must be eligible for a security clearance, and they need to know your history including any arrests and juvie stuff. Just because the state sealed it will not keep you out of federal prison if you get caught lying about it.

Make sure you are talking with a officer selection recruiter not a standard enlisted recruiter. The only issue might be in getting a TS clearance.

Do they have those again? They were a thing when I commissioned ~10 years ago but my recruiter friend informed me a few years after that that they did away with officer accessions recruiters and consolidated all recruiting together.


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They do for the AF reserves.

Yes, for active duty they have enlisted recruiters and officer recruiters currently

Get it expunged. Even the military can’t look at it at that point, and you can legally say you never committed a crime.

I don’t think this is true. Mine showed up, didn’t matter, I disclosed anyway. Great opportunity to talk about what you learned and how it helped build your character, also I used some self deprecating humor about it in my interview.

OP,

It won’t be a problem. I had a disorderly conduct misdemeanor when I was 20. I was also charged with resisting arrest, the resisting arrest was dropped and I took a plea bargain on the disorderly conduct. I was arrested at a college party. Did community service at my college library, and they liked me so much, they offered me a job. I joined the AF 9 years after the incident.

Be prepared to talk about what you learned, and you need to own this 100%, there is no room for quibbling. It actually can make a good interview discussion, and personally, I think it builds some character, it shows that you can pick yourself up and move on, rather than just crumple. They are hiring you to kill people (possibly), not be a choir boy.

The officer that interviewed me had a good laugh with me about my story. Years later in an interview for a very high security clearance, this happened again. But I freaking owned my mistake and ok the full blame. In reality, I really wasn’t guilty of what I was charged with but I have never said that in an interview.

Feel free to PM me.

PS, be very careful with your recruiter, some of them will lie to you. I had 1 great recruiter and one not so good.