J4000

I thought I would get some opinions from some of you already in the service. Here’s a short run-down of my situation. I have a mountain of student loan debt for an aviation degree and my flight training. I’m on my second furlough, despite 2500+ TT, 1600+ turbine 121 SIC, etc. Nobody’s hiring pilots and nobody will be for quite a while. I’ve considered changing careers, but an aviation degree isn’t worth much outside of aviation even in a good job market. I can’t find anything. I’m 34, no wife, no kids (though I hope to change that sooner than later). The clock is ticking, the economy is in freefall, the job market’s in the toilet, and my experience and education happen to be in the one industry that’s at the forefront of said freefall. I feel like I’m pretty much screwed, except for one possible solution.

I’m seriously considering joining the military. As I understand it, they’ll pay off a substantial portion – if not all – of my student loans, and give me a stable income for four to six years. I could come out the other end debt free, or close to it, and hopefully back into a recovered economy. I don’t see any other way out of my disaster in so short an amount of time.

According to my local recruiters, the Army is the only branch willing to give me an age waiver, despite being in good shape, intelligent, educated and experienced (if anyone knows that this is bad info, please let me know). So on that front, I’m looking pretty strongly at WOFT, but also thinking about OCS. I’m on the fence about whether to pick an MOS in aviation, since I already have considerable experience and a degree in that field, or one where I’ll get some training in a different field so I’m not so pigeon-holed, professionally speaking. I haven’t completely ruled out straight enlistment, but considering what I bring to the table, I tend to think there are better options. I could be wrong.

Any and all advice, opinions or suggestions, military related or otherwise, would be tremendously appreciated. I seriously need to get out of this mess. And by the way, thanks to those of you already in the forces for your dedication and service to our country.

PittsDriver

If the Army is your only option as far as flying, maybe consider flying for an Army guard or reserve unit? That would give you a couple years of full time income (all your training, flight training, seasoning, etc) and then hopefully the airline business will be better by then. I just think the guard or reserve is a better deal than active duty. I would not under any circumstances enlist since you have your degree. I do not think things have changed but I am pretty sure that the commissioned officers do not fly nearly as much as the warrant officers. I would look for the guard/reserve flying units and try to get hired by them, and active duty second. Good luck, and regardless if you join active duty or reserve/guard, expect to spend a lot of tax free months in the desert.

navigatro

Just remember that whatever your motivation, you are making a HUGE commitment to join the military, especially during a time of war.

Talk to people that are in the military, and get as much info as you can.

Good luck.

KC10 FATboy

I know your situation is unique, but there are many threads on here and other websites about whether one should join the military. I post the same comment to everyone ... so here it is.

DON'T JOIN the military if you don't WANT TO SERVE YOUR COUNTRY in the military. Joining just so you can hold on for 4-6 years, then go do something else, is probably going to be a decision you will regret. You must acknowledge things like:

1. You will go through basic and/or officer school training at age 34. Passing physicals and PT testing isn't going to be easy.

2. Being low ranking and treated like an 18 year old is going to suck, especially if you enlist; even as an officer.

3. Pay for college debt? That is news to me, but wouldn't surprise me. Always get second opinions and don't believe recruiters. Yes, they often lie to hook you.

4. Commitments could be a long way off. A USAF pilot training commitment is a minimum of 10 years. Do you want to be 45 when you can finally separate from the service? I know there are shorter commitments with other services, just make sure you know exactly what you're signing up for and for how long.

5. Are you ok with a non-aviation job that you don't like? What if they make you a services person and you work at and/or are in charge of feeding GIs in the chow hall? What if you get helicopters and not fixed-wing? What if you have to live in a barracks with 30 other dudes in Fayettenam, NC?

6. Are you cool with deploying and putting your life on the line? Trust me, in todays military, you're going to spend a significant portion of your life overseas at places you don't want to be. It is cool when you're young, but for someone trying to get married and to quickly start a family, it will knaw at ya.

Ok, so don't take any of this personally. These are just some of the things you have to consider. And being older (age 34), you have plenty of reasoning skills to figure this out on your own. I'm not purposely being hard on you, I just want you to think about ALL possible scenarios besides the $$$ that you *might* make.

Obviouly, you didn't really want to serve because you didn't join during the previous 16 or so years of eiligibity. So please, it you are truly commited to serving the Country, even for a government or President or war you don't support, get as much information you can BEFORE you commit and make an informed decision.

With that being said, speak with debt counselors and/or the student loan folks. I know they can at least stop repayment while you get back on your feet. Here is a good website with a lot of good reading material for helping get yourself back on your feet. https://www.daveramsey.com/ Good luck !!!

EvilMonkey

I am in a similar situation to you, J4000. I just signed a 6x2 enlisted contract with the Army National Guard last week...I plan to go to Officer Candidate School sometime after Basic Training and AIT. I weighed my options very closely and came to the conclusion that having no family (can't get a woman to sleep with me, let alone bear my children haha) and being a bit younger (25), the benefits outweighed the risks. I have been told by many of my friends and co-workers that are previous and current reservists that deployment is virtually guaranteed considering my enlisted MOS. Hopefully OCS comes VERY soon for me!

Some of the benefits I'm looking forward to:

Getting approximately 2/3 of nearly $50,000 dollars of student loans wiped clean. Would be more but I took out Private loans to fund my addiction to flying. This was ONLY available to me in the Guard if I enlisted before going to OCS. Not sure if this would be true in the regular Army or not...

New GI bill is soon in coming, I am told it is the largest increase to the GI Bill since WWII. I am hoping to go back to school and get a Masters in something other than aviation.

I signed into 88M, Motor Transport Operator. It is one of very, very few MOS's that still offer an enlistment bonus. It also offers a kicker to the GI Bill, so when I go back to school I will get a little extra money every month.

As far as going into an aviation job, I think you are on the right track with doing something in another field. You have the experience you need if you want a flying job down the road, why not take the opportunity to get qualified in something else?


Hope this helps, I know it is a huge decision and thought you might want to hear from someone who's taking the plunge...we'll see how I feel in the middle of January while I'm in Basic Training in the middle of winter! PM me if you have any questions about the process I went though, I'd be glad to give any help I can!

Good luck!