If you want a good deal flying job check out the Coast Guard. I flew C-130's in the USAF but I think being a Coastie would have been great also. REDWAVE

 

Yea have thought about that as well...my school qualifies me for the BLUE 21 flight initiative. Something about the CG never did turn me on though..

 

I barely eek out 3K/mo as a 1LT on 4 mandays a week and spreading my IDT evenly throughout the year. I can only imagine the kind of gig you must have landed to pull 3K as a 2LT. Granted, this is mostly academic, as the time spent as a 2LT back at the unit after you get done with AD training will be minimal. The point I want to stress is that I consider myself extremely lucky to have a unit in that kind of money position, and Im not competing with a lot of other troughers, but my anectdotal experience from buddies in Guard -135 units is that you pretty much need to give up a first born to get a manday. I agree it could be feasible if your unit has an alert obligation, but outside that, the impression I get is that bumming money is skosh in the guard for some heavy units... and bumming in a fighter unit is all but an afterthought. So buyer beware, mileage could vary. True there's always the rotation to the suck or the pacific islands, but when a reservist spends more time away from home than the AD peer that gets paid more it kinda defeats the spirit of being a reservist, money or no money lol. To each their own of course.

Other than that I'm happy with the troughing lifestyle. The opportunity cost is obviously that the hose gets turned off without warning, but for that price I get a lifestyle, schedule flexibility and pay that an airline job would have never afforded me. Obviously I'm doing it to land a full-time govt cheese job before the end of the century (my wife will probably leave me before then), I couldn't stomach doing it long term as it does put your life on hold, but as an under 30 it really doesn't get better job wise, so worth pursuing if your unit can afford you the priviledge.

 

Then the way I see it, if given the opportunity, I would "trough" (as you all put it) as much and as long as possible...Then if the hose gets cut off? Well then I guess it would be back to where I stand now, only with a sweet part time job...