I'm pretty sure he is talking about the T-1 which is a multiengine turbo fan that comes with a Beech 400 type rating.

 

When I came out of UPT, we were told 'do a combat tour and you will get your choice of assignments.' I could have gone elsewhere but all the fighters were gone so I chose 02s as a FAC. In the theatre I wrote everyone and applied to all the various boards and even tried to extend to get into OV-10s. I also wrote on my 'dream sheet' I didn't want to be in SAC. So.. down comes my assignment and I not only get -135s but I also get a crappy northern tier base. I was not happy.

My commander in Vietnam said, "here are the rules, here is the airplane, here is the area of operations.. go do you job and I will be there to back you up."

In SAC it was a real culture shock. From being given a wide latitude to do your job to having to ask for permission for everything.. I didn't adapt. Also, because I had completed one tour, I was now a SAC 'asset' and I was not going anywhere although I continued to apply for various assignments. Knowing I had no chance at fighters, no chance of going to another command, I figured 'screw it.' I did my job as best as I could but I was one of the rogues you read about in Kern's books. I have some pictures around here of us refueling 2 F-4s and we (the two tankers) are in fingertip with me sitting about 50-70ft off leads wing.

Long way of saying I realized I was not going to have any choices of my assignments or bases and I was not willing to let some guy at Randolph pick my name out of a hat and send me to West-bumphuque. In retrospect, I was not the best officer and due to my rogue nature, not the best pilot. I admired the guys who did put in the effort and I have learned there is a way you can voice your concerns without having to kick over the table.

 

Go FAIP, it's the best deal going out of T-1s. Get your 3 years in, and hence avoid the inexperienced poolie status for the UAV, work for an AETC ops to ops if you can stomach it, and ride out the current administration and AF policy on palace chase. Do your networking with your Guard/Reserve units of interest and once you get the up and up from AFPC pull the trigger and attempt the palace chase. Worse thing that can happen is you burn bridges which is not that bad considering you're not looking into putting in 20 (although be careful, that active duty paycheck is addicting, I don't care how many SWA/FDX types say otherwise, you can't beat govt cheese and IMO the airlines are not to par pay wise with the stability of that AD paycheck).

I can tell you the ARC lifestyle is much better, my AD counterparts are not a happy bunch, granted I have my own financial hardships as a bum but I'm happy with that opportunity cost. I'm not interested in pursuing the airline (noooo thanks) but if that rat race floats your boat no better way to supplement it (as long as you don't double commute) than being a Guard/Reserve guy. Don't listen to the AD pay your dues "got the T-shirt" crowd, you can pull as much "volunteer opportunities" to the hell hole locales as you want in the Guard/Reserve, to check that container. Rack up that TPIC in AETC, have fun flying your tail off, and try to get picked up by the Guard/Reserves, if you are interested in flying consistently past year 10 of wearing a bag. Good luck.

 

I wouldn't recommend being a FAIP. I was an IP in a MWS by the time a FAIP graduating at the same time showed up at the squadron as a co-pilot. It's hard to ever catch up. You might catch up by the time you're a major, maybe not. Some guys catch on to an ops unit, others never shake the UPT mindset. In my experience, one FAIP was awesome, two never went anywhere in my particular little corner of the AF. In addition, I vividly remember the MWS guys in my Tweet flight ridiculing the FAIPs as snot-nosed LTs who could barely find their way home from the area much less actually teach anyone to fly. Looking back on it as an IP/EP/WIC guy, I think they were right. That wasn't official policy, of course, but that's what they said at the bar. FWIW. Good luck.

P.S. You say you want to do your 10 and get out, but you can't predict the future. The commercial aviation industry is in a nose dive with no end in sight. Also, it's not so easy these days to walk off the street into a guard/reserve unit. As competition increases, more and more units resort to the "bro" network, which can be a tough network to break into, especially if your credentials aren't tight.

 

Concurr with Deuce...I've seen guys who handled it well, but it can be tough to go from being a stan/eval or check-section FAIP to wingman or co-pilot in a MWS. You'll be co-pilot or wingman to guys that are under you in age and rank until you get caught up. But you'll be too old to just concentrate on flying by then. You'll be at the age where you need to be a shop chief or flight commander while you're still trying to learn the new jet. Not to mention that you'll already be too old for WIC, if you wanted to do something like that.

 

I've heard the total opposite. A lot of my IP's including a couple 135 guys said if I FAIP first then go fly 135's I will upgrade to AC in a couple months(still flying with very strong/senior co's), make IP within 6 months to a year, then become an evaluator after about a year or so. To me that sounds like a pretty good deal. You're definitely maximizing PIC time and getting a lot of the PIC time early on in your career so if that Palace Chase opportunity presents itself down the road you'll be in better to take advantage of it compared to the guy who went straight to a MWS out of UPT spent 2-2.5 years trying to get to the left seat then when they finally get there they have very little time in the seat and then get sent to a white jet tour lose currency in their MWS, but do the ATC thing for 4 years and then they have to try and get back in a MWS not to mention if that 3rd tour is close to the end of your 10 year commitment and you go to a MWS and get qualified in that you will end up incurring an additional ADSC.

On the flip side I definitely agree with nwaf16dude concerning FAIPing as a fighter guy. I have also heard it really screws fighter guys because they do get so far behind and it takes them a while to upgrade to 2 ship FL then 4 ship FL then IP then evaluator and makes it much harder to get to WIC.

Personally I would be more than happy as a 9 year Major flying the line as an IP knowing I'll never make Lt Col. I know guard/reserve units are hit or miss, but with all the tanker units out there and as long as you aren't a d-bag I would imagine it shouldn't be too hard to get a slot considering you'll probably already be an IP/Evaluator in their MWS. Who knows though. I'm not too familiar with how the guard/reserves aside from them preferring dudes that have roots in the area who would actually like to settle down in that town and not move for the rest of their career.

 

Exactly what I am thinking. I do have to disagree with you on the the pay argument...

During my casual status I worked at the Airman Family Readiness Center on base where a lot people go to when they are separating from the military to get help on transitioning to the civilian field. Well a lot of our "customers" were VSPers coming in to do mock airline interviews with our interview guy. Anyways I was shocked at how many dudes were getting out and really had no idea if it was a wise financial decision that they were making so I did some research and my research is actually what led me to this site.

As you may or may not know a casual LT has A LOT of time on their hands working at their casual job so I began to develop this excel file to analyze the different career scenarios that are presented to a military pilot in hopes our transition office could use it to provide further guidance to those seeking separation from the military.

Well I spent a lot of time on this excel file and it ended up being a very elaborate file that analyzed many different possible scenarios using pay charts from many different airlines. What I found was that it was definitely a lot smarter financially to get out at 10 years if you were able to get picked up Southwest, Fedex, or UPS(go figure). That's without even taking into account a possible guard/reserve job. Unfortunately for most of the other airlines it was pretty much a wash most of the time and didn't really matter whether you got out at 10 or 20.

Anyways I'm sure what I'm telling you probably is already common knowledge, but I found it interesting. Ultimately like you said nothing can replace the security of that government pay check though so then it comes down to what makes you the most happy and that's something all of us will just have to answer when the time comes I guess.

 

I think the guys who told you that are dead wrong. The guy who goes to a MWS right out of UPT almost always has it over the guy who was a FAIP. There are exceptions, however. I also think you've already talked yourself into it. Good luck, hopefully it turns out for the best.

 

That's very easy to say as a Lieutenant.

 

Have you considered the C-21? Best of both worlds, you should upgrade to IP/EP by the end of your tour and than go right to AC upgrade in your MWS follow on. Great flying experiences and lots of fun too...now if only they keep them around.