Ok, so here's my situation: I'm a low time (700 hours) furloughed ERJ pilot who is 25 years old with a college degree. I've talked to the army, and tried once upon a time to fly for the air force via ROTC, but it was too competitive. I want to get into some military flying now, but am afriad the current budget crunch/UAV phenomenon makes it hard to get a staight shot in. What I would really adore is to fly for the coast guard or national guard, but their recruiters are proving to be unreachable or don't follow up. How can I get an honest to God flying gig??? I've tried the Air National guard Recruiter, they too do no seem interested in making things happen. Am I just doing this wrong?

 

Don't talk to the recruiter, talk to the guy in charge of pilot assignments/officer assignments at the guard unit. Some squadrons I have even talked directly with the squadron commander. Some units only get one or two UPT slots per year, and some list these openings on baseops.net and wantscheck.com . Some units don't ever list them and you have to find out directly from the squadron. Find a unit that you are interested in, and ask to get on a mailing list for pilot announcements. When the application window is open, they will send you the official announcement, and you may only have a month or two to get a package turned in.
as far as coast guard, some gouge I heard is that they usually pick up guys who have served for a couple of years and they usually don't hand out pilot slots to OCS guys. I'm military but not an aviator, but there's nothing more that i have ever wanted except to be one. I have been through the whole process of applying for a slot (both through AFROTC and the Guard, and I have researched every avenue that I could find) so if you have a question where to look, PM me.

 

Everything zondaracer said, plus if you're really sure that's what you want to do, consider enlisting in the unit you would like to fly for as a crew chief or something else where the ops guys will see you regularly and get to know you. I sit on most of the UPT hiring boards in my unit, and folks who are already in the unit get a guaranteed interview. If we know them, like them, and think they'll make it through the program and be a good fit when they get back, they've got a HUGE leg up on the competition. That competition is largely guys off the street like yourself who've got flying experience, but we don't know them. So the choice becomes bet on someone you know, or someone you don't.

 

I don't know if I'd enlist at his age(25). The clock is ticking. If you got selected today odds are you wouldn't start UPT for about 2 years. So essentially, you have 3 years to get an offer before you'd need a waiver. Waivers are not easy to come by right now. Not impossible, but not great odds.

 

After 18 yrs AD, if I had to do it all over again, it would be in the Guard.

 

Definetly Go Gard!

 

You're not doing it wrong, it just takes persistance.... and call around to all guard/reserve units in cities you'd be interested in living in.

 

For a ton of info about the selection process, active vs guard check out http://www.flyingsquadron.com/forums/ Excellent forums and information over there.

 

I'll pipe in here like I always do when people ask about getting military flying jobs. If you applied to fly for the Army, I can almost guarantee that with your ratings you would get picked up the first time if you want to go the warrant officer route (active dut). You would most likely be flying helos though. If you could find a f/w guard unit, you might be able to get hired, but that would be a little more difficult. You can probably get hired by a guard unit that flies rotary wing, but a full time job would be harder to come by. I went through flight school with someone who was an RJ pilot as his day job and is now a blackhawk pilot in the guard.

 

The Army has a WOFT program... but that's for rotorwing and warrant officers, however it's mostly direct in, I'm not sure of the specific, but from what I've heard they are hurting for rotorwing pilots. As far as the Air Guard goes if were in ROTC and have a DD785 you are generally not eligible for any flying positions. If you do get into the guard it goes AMS for 6 weeks, then onto UPT. From what I've heard they take mostly their own, however if they like you, you may slip into a slot.
The Army is the easiest bet though. I'm not sure how fixed wing slots open up, but I have heard they are usually given to 4 year degree holders via ROTC.