Dry Fly

Looking for some honest opinions...

Does an AD pilot have a legitimate chance at getting an AGR position? Aren't most AGR positions filled by current members of the Guard/Reserve?

Adlerdriver

Depends on the unit and the people in it at the time. Also, some units have a skewed mix of AGR vs. technicians. I've seen Guard units with many more AGRs than techs and others with just as small number of AGRs. It's not always an even split.
Not everyone already in a Guard unit is looking to be AGR. Many have already taken the technician route and prefer that. Others are traditional and have no plans to go full time. Last two guys in my unit to go AGR came straight off AD and have been there ever since.

LivingInMEM

For all AD to AGR's, just one message. If you want AD, stay on AD - don't try to take the AD with you to the Guard/Reserves.

Adlerdriver

Don't quite get this advice.

From the perspective of the two guys in my unit I mentioned it's a beautiful thing. They're both about ready to retire w/ a full AD style retirement after about a 50/50 split AD/AGR. I say, if you can do it then do it. All the great things about the Guard w/ a retirement that starts paying right away. What's not to like?

Albief15

I think his point was "be a Guardsman, not a dick!". Most guys get it, but some full timers missed that part of the in-brief.

golfandfly

Dry Fly,

It depends on the needs of the unit. Generally, it helps to know folks in the unit to help you get in. As far as AGR positions go, it just depends... If airlines are hiring, many guard units have fewer applicants applying for full time jobs. I can say that I'll bet it is a little harder now that hiring has dried up.

Here is what I would do. Call your friends at Guard/Reserve units. Ask them if they are hiring pilots. Then ask them if they are hiring AGRs. Many units still hire more ARTs then AGRs. If you don't have contacts, you just need to get lucky and find a unit where they need IPs/EPs etc, and they have no other applicants. In this environment, it would be tough,,

If you don't have a unit picked out (and one that is interested in your services), you might be better to stay on AD if you are looking for an AD retirement..

hindsight2020

Put another vote in for the no AD straight to AGR. The majority of these folks end up in leadership (ahead of the line anyways), and have NO concept of what it is to be a TR or a bum/trougher. My experience with these types is that even if they are amicable and/or somewhat tolerable to work with/for, they consistently display the yesmen corporate attitude that was expected of them in Active duty, and are slowly but surely giving up the kitty at the expense of the people who substantiate the very existence of their position number in the AFRES. If you think these straight-to-AGR types are not, in aggregate, instrumental in the success of the TFI blitzkrieg campaign being waged by AD, I got a bridge to sell you. Seen it with my own eyes, food and rent taken away from my own mouth and that of my family, all for an addaboy and AD-level benefit and hush money. I'm not saying they're willfully screwing people (some are), most just do not have a working concept of what it is to be a TRUE volunteerman.

As lose lose as it is, the AFRC is opting to throw a "ton" of ART positions into the pot in lieu of AGRs. They know civil servants are going to continue to see erosion in the benefits category, and that still fares over better (very few ARTs in existence relative to the whole military) than antagonizing a couple hundred thousand active duty military members who wouldn't be so patriotic if their pension benefit were to dissapear by 2/3 of the benefit TODAY. (CSRS vs FERS discussion). Ever heard "RMPs are 4 hour MINIMUM"? "Sorry the AT orders got rescinded in mass, the Wing miscounted funds"? "You need to take care of your pay issues on your OWN time"? I have. And if you have, chances are it probably came from a AD-AGR dude. Sorry, I just can't play nice with those bubbas at the playground. You can't get along with everybody in life, it is what it is.

So that's a couple reasons "why not?". There's no free lunch here, someone is getting screwed when you put these types in DO"X" positions. And really, what else are they gonna do? There are no indians left in shop anyways, just a litter of full-timer indian chiefs who have no indians to delegate to because they're too busy shortchanging the troughers and chasing away the TRs with "your [proverbial] viper is more important than your wife" bro-checks and "8-day-a-month-assuming-100%-go-rates-and-no-WX-canx" nastygrams to your private e-mail. So nothing gets done, people are ****ed off and the AGRs get their retirement. Yep, sounds like something that would come out of an AD dude. My only sick twisted solace is watching O-4 and below AD dudes calling in the squadron asking about automatic full time jobs and watching their smiles turn upside down when we tell them there's no straight lotto ticket at their level. It's a total "minimum sec prison?!? More like federal pound me in the .. prison!" moment. In this economy, most of these so-called "I got tons of options in the outside, I don't need the AD bull" types end up right there, staying put and walking a tight blues-on-monday line.

The thing that gets me is that you get this kind of seniority-busting and scabbing talk in the major boards and you get a 300 page thread, it's outright blasphemy, but you throw the same scenario in the AFRES these days and it's par for the course. We're flat-spinning quick......if somebody doesn't go full stick FWD, boot thru the firewall the other way real quick we might as well get our blues ready (another gem but I digress) for the AFRES "Grand opening!...Grand Closing!" event.

It ain't your grandaddy's Guard, that's for sure. That's what happens when you base future performance on past behavior. I'm not even talking about a 10 year backlook (what I did when researching the Guard/Res), I'm talking about months to a year, where the kid who you hire off the street today will come back from training to a completely different unit or no unit at all. I digress...

Adlerdriver

Wow!

Sounds like you need to have a blanket party for the guy(s) hiring these tools. Last time I checked we still get to hire who we want. All our AD to AGRs have been and are top notch - I wouldn't trade a single one.

Slice

Shack, Albie!

GunnF16

I and about 5 other AD guys recently went to Syracuse as we transition from Vipers to MQ-9s. The AGR positions were created by converting technician spots into AGR for Title 10 considerations and b/c many Viper guys found jobs in other locations.

Dry Fly, from the research I did before leaving AD, you either need someone who thinks highly of you in the unit, have some serious quals that the unit needs, or have a situation which does not appeal to a lot of people, i.e. the Reaper.