Hornut,

If you are in town for the Oceana airshow this weekend, come by our C-9 static display. We have recruiting info and some SelRes pilots there to talk. I will be there Sunday afternoon. We are looking for pilots. Sorry for the longevity to reply.

 

Duke,

I've just read this whole post and I can say that your predicament is exactly the same as mine. I love flying the viper, but have been completely burned out by 3 CAF assignments. I have no desire to go back to Active Duty operational squadrons and put in 12+ hour days doing scheduling / Top -3 / repetitive monkey-work instead of concentrating on flying and fighting. I would love to stay operational in the ANG or Reserve to combine the benefits of location, stability, and reduced work-load.

I've been rushing some Guard units, and can let you know what I've found if you're interested. It will completely depend on the unit of course, and the after-affects of the BRAC are still major players. To me the ANG and Reserve offer me my "Golden Ideal" of flying and deploying operationally while maintaining a stable home life and decent work hours.

I am not on the Active Duty bonus, as I too have decided that having the flexibility to decide my path for the next decade (being a "free-agent) was worth more to me than the after-tax bonus sum. The nice thing is that it gives you options. The bad thing is obvious.

One thing I have found helpful is writing out, I mean REALLY writing out what your priorities are, and the pro's + con's of each situation you are considering. Heard that before right but many people never do it. This is especially key for married types. I have found that after I did this, my relative importance placed upon location, work-hours per day, job type (flying, ALFA, staff) and others were much easier to see.

The other thing I've found is that as I approach 12 years service, the idea of finishing out 20 obviously becomes more viable. For me, the point of no return will be 15 years service. If I can't get an AGR job by that time, I'm going to stay in AD and roll with the punches before i start my second career.

Some of my random thoughts, hope your decision-making is going well. It's a harder decision than you thought, isn't it! It is for me. As someone told me, "It's a leap of faith no matter which direction you choose."

 

First piece of advice - before an airline interview, get interview prep.
For anyone contemplating getting out, I'd recommend finding a Guard/Reserve job as the top priority right now. Send out your airline apps, but if you get in a Guard/Reserve unit, you can meet a lot of people who can help you out. It's not great for airline hiring right now, but if you have some contacts, it definitely greases the skids. There are plenty of airline pilots in Guard/Reserve units.
Figure out where you want to live and try to get on with a Guard/Reserve unit in that area.
Figure out which airlines you'd be willing to fly for. Out of the majors currently hiring, there's FedEx, UPS, Southwest, Continental, AirTran, Frontier, JetBlue (I'm sure that I missed a few). I expect United to be hiring within 12 months (if you're a ringknocker, that's about all you need to open the doors there; my class in Jun 2000 was >25% academy grads).
Are you willing to accept a job at a regional? The pay's less, but it'll give you a taste of flying commercial aircraft. You can always take a bit of mil leave and the fact that you're familiar with 121 ops would help you out in future interviews.
Last piece of advice - get interview prep. 'Nuff said on that?

 

The other thing to think about with respect to Force Shaping, is that anyone who survives it will probably in better position to make it to O-5 and all the way to 20.

Like many of you, I'm a new O-4, in 11 years, and working on ACSC/Masters/etc. I was also pretty burned out on the CAF, and I was completely decided on separating for the ANG and the airlines when my UPT ADSC was up (I'm late rated with an 8-year ADSC). I happened to get an ALFA tour in IFF, and that allowed me to recharge my batteries and see the AF gig with a different perspective. Also, about half the reservists I flew with were furloughed airline guys, so I got to hear what it was really like at many of the carriers (Delta, FDX, JB specifically)...and the grass is definitely NOT greener outside of big blue.

Although I'm tempted to get out, I'm gonna cinch the shoulder straps down and see if I can tough it out until 20. I have had the discussion with my wife on what our priorities are, and in an era where pensions at airlines are going away, we both think that the miliary pension is a good bet...worth delaying 8 years of seniority at whatever airline.

 

Wow.


I haven't heard of Delta and FedEx being lumped together in quite some time.




I got out at 13, and wish I'd gotten out sooner.





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Tony C..... That's what I am talking about. This is a great thread that apparently has been running for quite some time. Here are 2 more pennies. Duke, it sounds like you are a successful Fighter pilot. You got there because of smarts, drive, and determination! When, and if, you get out, you will still posses those attributes. Use them to take the world by storm and get exactly what you want. Just some pennies from a simple man in a similar position.

R,
LvgTHEDream

 

I was mentioning those carriers specifically because that's where the reserve dudes in my squadron were flying as their "day jobs". Wasn't implying that they were all in the same ballpark in terms of desirability or profitability.

I agree with you...13 is a pretty tough place to get out. I'm thinking that either you need to get out ASAP when your commitment is done (at least prior to 10 years), or tough it out to the end. Anything in the middle is sort of wasted time, unless you needed it to make ATP or hiring mins.

 

Well, I'm still not sure what message you've received, or what message you were intending to send, about the reservists with whom you fly. You mentioned furloughs and green grass. I can assure you, the grass IS greener on this side of FedEx. I can understand Delta guys, and furloughed Delta guys having plenty to complain about. Retirement down the tubes, payrates going backwards, workrules going backwards... it's not a happy situation. But there are success stories, too. Continental, AirTran, FedEx, UPS, Southwest, JetBlue... all good places worthy of your consideration.



25 by 60.

That's what you'll need to get full retirement at FedEx. 25 years of employment before your 60th birthday. (Or, more accurately, the mandatory retirement age, which I hope will remain at 60.) I wish I had known that. I'll save you the math and simplify the goal - - get hired before your 35th birthday. I wish I had known how important that was when I was taking my time getting out of the Air Force.

Seniority is important, and everyone "knows" that. 25 by 60 is more critical. It trumps military retirement.




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Wow. Did not know that.

Something to think about, thanks. Are the other major airlines just like this?

 

Unless the airline in question has a viable A Plan, it's a moot point. That narrows it down a bit. UPS's 1% A Plan maxes out at 30 years (if I read their contract on this website correctly). It's worth investigation.





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