I would try every guard and reserve unit that flies fighters/bombers. Baseops.net is a good place to look for contacts. Guard units get their own pilot training slots, the reserve units all compete for that year's reserve training slots. Stay away from active duty. even the guys finishing 38's are not guaranteed a fighter/bomber, unless the pc12 or uav's count in you book. good luck!

Sounds like you're set on going USAF, but if you are truly interested in military flying, you should not rule out the USN/USMC. I can't speak for the USAF ROTC but as for the Navy a good way to explore your options is to go to a univ with an ROTC unit, affiliate with the unit on a non-scholarship basis for your 1st year and see what you think. At least in my day, you could "play Navy" for a year as a freshman ROTC puke and opt out if you did not like it after that 1st year. Day 1 of our sophomore year we all had sign on the dotted line, but freshman year was a freebie - no strings attached. Not sure if that's still the case. As for schools in the Pac NW, U of W, U of Idaho and Oregon State U all have NROTC units. There may be others, but those I'm sure about.

I'm from WA, went to Oregon State, and am finishing up with 20 years of flying A-6's and EA-6B's out of Whidbey Island. Not exactly "fighters" but tactical carrier-based jets none the less. Also, the 1st EA-18G is now at Whidbey. Still has the new car smell and is much more fighter-ish than anything else the Navy has in the NW.

Mink

Well, although it is slightly easier to get an Active Duty pilot slot, once you get to UPT, your chances of getting a fighter goes down (assuming all things equal).

If you get hired by a Guard or Reserve fighter unit, you are guaranteed to fly their airframe, as long as you finish in the top 50% of your class during the T-6 phase...if you don't get in the top 50%, you could actually wash out of UPT unless they can find a Heavy unit to sponsor you.

If you go as an Active Duty student, then you're in a straight-up cut-throat competition with all of the other kids to get into the T-38 (fighter/bomber) track. You will need to finish in the top 25%-30% (ish) during the T-6 phase to get T-38's, otherwise you will go Heavy's. Once you get to T-38's, it is still possible for you to get a Bomber instead of a fighter, or even UAV's or T-6/T-38 Instructor Pilot.

You may even decide that Heavy's are the way to go. One guy in my class wanted to switch to T-1's after a month in T-38's...no dice. He got B-52's.

As far as AFROTC goes, if you are on scholarship you can do the first year of ROTC and see if you like it or not, if you quit before the 1st day of Sophomore year then you were not obligated anything and you did not have to pay back any part of your scholarship. If you were not on scholarship, I think up until your first day of class after field training (which is usually during the summer between sophomore and junior year). That way you can decide if Active Duty and ROTC are the routes you want to go and if not, you can get out and wait till you graduate and then hit up guard units. Let me tell you, you are in a good position, doing research at the right time.

Additionally, lots of guys who started AFROTC after freshman year had a harder time getting a pilot slot, so start doing ROTC from the first day of class, it is not impossible, just harder if you are competing against guys who the Commander knows from day 1 vs you being around a year later.

I also want to add that the year I went up for a pilot slot in ROTC, only 56% of the people across the nation in AFROTC competing for a pilot slot got a slot. From my University everyone got a slot except for 4 cadets. Three of those 4 cadets got navigator slots and ended up getting upgraded to pilot later. Two of the guys who had pilot slots got medically disqualified after going to the medical at Brooks (1 was me, doh).

Also, once you get to UPT, you have to compete for a T-38 slot if you want to fly fighter/bomber aircraft. You have to be ready to accept a T-1 (or T-44, or helicopter) slot. But hey, you may get to UPT and decide you don't want to fly fighters any more, which does happen. If you go Guard, you don't have to compete for the T-38 slot if you get hired by a fighter unit (but you still have to be competent enough to fly a T-38).

If you go ROTC and get medically DQ'ed, you have to be fine with doing a desk job for 4 years. If you get medically DQ'ed from flying in the guard, you can do the military stuff on the weekends with the occasional deployment, and if you really enjoy it go for an AGR position, meanwhile doing your flying as your fulltime job. Looking back, I would have gone into the Guard and after getting medically DQ'ed, i wouldn't currently be stuck in the AOC, haha. But it would have been hard to trade in the experience I had in ROTC, and my current deployment (to Colombia, not the desert) has actually been a great experience.

I agree with this approach. A guy in my unit is doing it this way, crew chief in the unit trying to judge if he would like to be a pilot in the guard unit and also doing the ROTC thing in college. You keep your doors open, get amazing experience and a little time in service. Not to mention the free tuition and extra cash from the GI Bill is nice to have.

Would active duty bother you if you didn't fly fighters? Thing about the Navy is the primary factor selecting out of primary flight training is going to be the Navy's needs. A student I flew with not to long ago just finished and finished at the top, Commodores list with a 62 NSS (the Navy Standard Score is the grade given to students at the end of primary and advanced flight training. A 50 NSS is the middle and anything above is considered good and is required to select tailhook out of primary). He didn't get any of his choices...tailhook, props, E6's and was rewarded helo's for all his hard word. Thats the Navy way. Want to be a fighter pilot, going in the Navy is not a sure bet. The majority of all Navy pilots are helo pilots. Just heard it's over the 50% mark. It's about 70% in the Marine Corps.

Agreed, there are no guarantees, but as was posted earlier, the pecking order is based on:

1. Needs of the Navy
2. How well you did in school/training
3. Your desires
4. When in doubt, see #1

Yes, something like 2/3 of all Navy pilots are helo and P-3 drivers. Just the way the numbers work out when you have single seat jets and multi-piloted helos and props.

Unlike what was posted above about the USAF pilot slot process, if you're medically qualified, meet the grades and there are needs for pilots, you will be very sure to get your seat in flight school (the fighter or prop or helo selection comes later). In fact, I have heard there are not enough USNA and ROTC grads selecting aviation right now due to the long service committment (something like 7 or 8 years AFTER getting your wings...?)

SPOT ON...

You guys are going to love this! Here in SUPT land it was just announced that starting in fiscal year '09 (starts October 1st), the USAF will send TRIPLE DIGIT SUPT grads to UAVs. I kid you not.

Here at Columbus we were told that we will start the ball rolling by assigning 1 T-38 grad and 1 T-1 grad to UAVs starting with class 09-01 (they graduate in early October). I'm guessing the same thing will happen at Vance and Laughlin. I have not heard how many T-38 grads from Sheppard will be UAV'd. Anyone else know?

I'm telling you greenshoes, if you go active duty USAF you are foolish. We have 2 guard kids right now here at Columbus in T-38 training. They will finish SUPT, go to IFF, off to F-16 training, back to their guard unit two years full-time, then they will be part-timers. Yes, their squadron may be turned into a UAV squadron someday but highly unlikely unless there is another DoD BRAC.

Yet another kick in the junk. Glad I am not going through right about now.

Pretend I haven't been near a UPT base in about 18 years. What's a "triple digit SUPT grad". :D