ANG vs. Reserves?
 

Can anyone please explain the difference between getting an ANG UPT slot, or getting a Reserve UPT slot. Thanks

The process for both is pretty much the same. Apply to and rush the units, interview at their UPT board if selected for an interview, etc. Applications vary unit to unit but are similar. The one difference is once an ANG unit hires someone, the unit/state/NGB work accessions and assigning a UPT slot, whereas in the reserves once the unit hires you, a reserve officer accessions recruiter does the accessions piece and also works with your unit getting paperwork in for the centralized AFRC UPT selection board (every 2 months currently). Then you fall under the 340FTG (admin unit all for all the UPT pipeline dudes) until complete with UPT. Guard guys still fall under their state the whole time.

So in theory you could get “hired” by a reserve unit, go to the centralized board and not be selected, and then you’d have to apply a couple months later to the next centralized board. But, at least lately, I haven’t heard of any reserve sponsored guy not get selected by the AFRC board.

One other difference is that the reserves occasionally have an unsponsored board. When there aren’t that many applicants, they open it up to people not yet hired by a unit, and they get to UPT and have to find a unit to sponsor them at some point. No idea what the status of those have been lately or if they are still doing it.

What BeatNavy said. I'll also add that I'd highly recommend the ANG over the Reserves. Of course you gotta take what you can get, but all else being equal, lean Guard. The AD just has their fingers on you just a little too much in the Reserves as compared to the ANG.

Goodluck!

After my 22 yrs in AFRC and 6 yrs in the ANG I would say this was true. But after the last 18 months or so, not anymore.

A couple of points:

- If you are in an associate unit where the AD owns the jets, they tell you what you are going to do. At least that how it was in the 90’s in the KC-10. There is always flying and $$, but it is a lot like AD.

- If you are in a unit that owns their own jets, that is the place to be! AFRC unit equipped KC-135 was a good time. We would pick and choose when and where we flew (except for AEF time) and they usually could keep you gainfully employed. If an ANG unit has an alert mission, that will keep you paid too!

- One plus with AFRC is your AD days are all Title 10. For every 90 days you do, it reduces your retirement age by 90 days. In the ANG, AD days are either Title 10 or 32. I find it hard to get Title 10 days since most of ours are Title 32.

Now how the ANG has changed recently is with the shortage of pilots in AD. I work in a squadron that is considered deployed in-place. Us and our sister unit both where handed in-voluntary activation orders for a handful of rated personnel, mainly pilots and me being one. The story I was told, the ANG said that we could not fill them, it went back to HAF and he went VFR direct to NGB Chief and said you will fill them. So we are stuck now with filling slots annually! My understanding is the last Resreve commander sold us all out in both the Guard and Reserve to get her fourth star (was a 3 Star billet). With that, the current Sec. AF stated this fall that there is no longer AD,Guard and Reseve, but just one big family to draw manpower from, so expect 120 day deployments for all.

So I suggest finding any Guard or Reserve unit that will take you. Maybe start with unit equipped and expand out to associate. Either way you’ll have a great time and some fun flying.

Best of luck!

Yes, I should have further clarified. You want to be in an ANG unit that is on its own base and owns the iron. This is the last bastion of hope in the ARC world....which is slowly fading.

I remember a buddy of mine complaining about AD and so ready to get out. I told him whatever he did, do NOT join the Reserves, especially not a one that is mixed on an AD base. Then he decides to join the reserve squadron that is integrated into the very AD wing he was currently based. *facepalm* Surprise surprise, two years later he's had enough and looking to bail to an ANG squadron. You can lead a horse to water...

Giving a newcomer advice about sticking with non-TFI units is a bit of missing the forest for the trees. One is unlikely to be able to hold on to that condition for 20 years. The advice is get in wherever you can, then pivot. That's life advice for the world of what things are (where I live), not the world of what things should be.

Research the recent proliferation for involuntary non-flying individual mobilization augmentee billets, and where does your target unit sit on that front. Avoiding those is probably a more significant QOL differentiator than just avoiding TFI units outright as a generality. Personally I'd take a unit where all I had to do was barter for 90 day chunks doing my assigned flying duty on a deployed basis, TFI or no TFI, rather than get my scrotum pinched by the zipper of individual IA mob. This is especially so if you want to give yourself a fighting chance of seeing a 20-year letter as opposed to what people are doing these days, getting burnt out and throwing their arms up, leaving entire retirements on the table. 10 years ago I would have said that was ludicrous and impossible, yet here we are, peers of mine no less.

Yes, it stands to reason and it is the case that TFI units are riddled with Active Duty mentality as a captive audience. But also understand there are flying communities where there are no stand alone ARC units anymore.

To be frank, I would be prepared to do a lot of unit hopping in the future. The ARC world is in a lot of turmoil right now. It's a good membership to have to stiff arm the juniority of the airline industry (much to the chagrin of your civilian competition), but it's not without great opportunity costs as well. All that said, I probably would have never served in a military capacity if not for the ARC. The Active Duty "devil's trade" never appealed to me, at ANY price.

Maybe, maybe not...that's why I gave the caveat all else being equal. That said, if I were looking everywhere and I had a choice between SCANG Vipers or Tulsa Vipers, I've got a pretty good idea which one is more greater chance of being colocated with an AD squadron. However, I don't disagree with your get in and pivot comment.

Which would totally destroy one of the last great things about the ARC...squadron camaraderie (at least in my squadron). Having flown with the same group of dudes for the last decade plus has created great morale and camaraderie which is one of the few reasons that dudes stick around in my squadron.