Airline Pilot Central Forums - Looking to fly Guard/Reserve

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Looking to fly Guard/Reserve

Greetings,

Currently flying for a regional and in the reserves as a crew chief. Interviewed last year with a unit and was hired as an alternate. Looking to get on with either that unit this year or any others you may know of that are in need of good candidates. Have my bachelor's in aviation, master's in aviation safety and am working on my MBA. Any info is greatly appreciated.

"Ugly but well hung"

Quote:

Originally Posted by A10crewdawg (Post 322003)

You need to walk your package into the unit(s), spend part of the day and talk to them. After 9-11 and the furloughs, every unit had hundreds of apps. Still do.
Did your unit you crew chiefed with hire you? Thats your #1 unit to focus on!!! If not..the other units will ask you "why didn't they hire you?"

Expect a thorough background check and ref and even non-references to be called. Also realize some Res/ANG units will be bothered that you are applying to many different ones..as you have seen, many units take hiring very personally..plus they dont want to hire someone who commits to 3 units and ties up a UPT slot for months.

Quote:

Originally Posted by A10crewdawg (Post 322003)

Always be positive and give it your best shot. On the flipside I will say that currently most units have their hands full with very qualified app's. There are numerous guys coming off active duty now that are current 4 ship flight lead's/mission commanders/IP's in their respective airframe. I at least know this to be pretty common in the guard/reserve fighter community. Less and less cockpits are available for fighters as more and more guard/reserve units either shut their doors from the BRAC or are switching over to UAV's.

My unit will NOT hire a guy off the street and send him to UPT. I've heard other units are very similiar. Why send a guy to UPT where he might wash out and will take 3 years to get fully spun up when you can get a senior captain off active duty who takes no rides to spin up and can start leading flights the next day? Just food for thought. I don't mean to be a d*ck - just repeating data I've heard from multiple sources.

Best of luck, the guard/reserve is a great place to be.

Thanks for the info guys. I'm actually looking to get on in heavies. The unit I was hired as an alternate with last year is a C-130 unit in MN. MN is home for me so i'm looking to get back up there after being in Missouri for six years. From what you all know, if a candidate is picked as an alternate, do they have a fairly good shot at being a primary the next time around?

Quote:

Originally Posted by A10crewdawg (Post 322554)

That's how my unit generally does it....

hoser are you with the 133rd?

Quote:

Originally Posted by hindsight2020 (Post 322489)

Actually, here's an off-the-beaten-path reason that would be the case. Recently, the AFRC side of things via the majcom/cc threw out this little gem of a policy basically discouraging the practice of hiring in-house from the enlisted ranks to send to UPT. People I talked to in the Guard were like 'W%F' since that's the bread and butter of Guard hiring, but true to sh$t, that's what's going on on many units in the AFRC; happened in mine. So technically this guy is hurting his chances of getting an A-10 in the AFRC by being enlisted in it, go figure.

The Guard is very clickish and the odds of getting hired today are not good at all, so I wouldn't fault somebody to go fishing for units. Granted, some units might have an issue with it but the opportunity cost of stovepiping yourself to one unit is too great. Most units are aware of the reality and wont fault you for it.

Second what scrapdog said. The fighter game is dying, BRAC and UAVs are taking a toll on the Guard/Reserves and there is a surplus of qualified people looking to get out of the AD bullsh$t (that was a quote no less) and find homes in the Guard. So it's tough. Don't discount heavy units either, after 3 years of chasing fighters I had to get pragmatic and find a way to get in the game, and I'm glad I did. Getting in the Guard/Reserve is the best career decision I've made and will continue to be professional insurance if you may, as well as a potential career if I become full-time. You have a community of professional friends ready to help you (compared to any other joe schmuck corp environment), the wife doesn't have to complain about moving and you can set up shop in one place, and finally it beats a f$ckin regional for career development (my soap lol). Good luck with it and fly safe.

Bradley poo-poo internal hiring? *** is right? We had guys that worked the planes get hired and they already knew the plane, area, and how to get it off the ground and back to MX! We just had to teach them to fly..the rest they knew.
Well..another CC will roll along soon enough.

I meant to tell him not to publicize that he is courting other units. Doing it is smart, but don't announce it.

Quote:

Originally Posted by hindsight2020 (Post 322489)

stovepiping yourself to one unit is too great.

What does "stovepiping yourself mean"? Not being sarcastic. I want to know since you make some good points.

You know, to concentrate exclusively on one unit in the belief that such portrayal of loyalty will effectively convince the decision makers that you're the best candidate for the job. It's the opposite of the application mass mailer types (I was guilty of the latter).

At any rate, I agree, it's probably not a bad idea to keep your game to yourself, but I wouldn't waffle if asked on an interview, as a matter of fact I got asked that very question at many a interview.

Quote:

Originally Posted by scrapdog (Post 322349)

Why send a guy to UPT where he might wash out and will take 3 years to get fully spun up when you can get a senior captain off active duty who takes no rides to spin up and can start leading flights the next day?

You obviously haven't talked to Bang about how it works in our hood...:rolleyes::D