Oxinatah

Hey guys,

I heard from an AA Pilot recently that said after hearing about my background, what I"m doing and trying to do, he suggested I look into joining the USAF.

My biggest reservation about joining is the "what if" for some reason, I wash out/physically unfit to fly/my eye explodes or w.e, will they dissmiss me from service, or would they put me in another position?

Also does anyone know if they're even looking for pilots/officers? I heard that they weren't.

I'm planning on contacting a recruiter, however I've heard stories of their legendary abilities to blow sunshine up your... well you know.

Thanks for the feed back!

Ox

rickair7777

Do some research before you talk to anyone. Check out baseops.net also.

Their hiring needs vary but they will always be hiring some pilots, for two reasons. The military has an "up-or-out" policy so officers who do not get promoted to the next grade are forced out (or retired if they have 20 years). They also need to keep the training pipeline going...if they shut it down it would difficult and expensive to restart.

This ensures that even if they are getting rid of senior people they will still be hiring at least folks at the bottom of the ladder.

Also...research UAV's. It's possible to get assigned to them involuntarily and that will do nothing for your civilian pilot career.

As to whether you can get out if you wash out of training, that depends on their needs or the contract you signed, if it has an escape clause.

Oxinatah

Thanks for the info! Very informative!

Would anyone happen to know if these "escape clauses" even exist, and if they do how one might go about getting it? Also, do you get checked out (physical) before or after you sign? I've never had a problem getting my first class medical, however one examiner said sometime down the road I may need to get classes because my left eye seems it may be weaker than my right. Will prohibit me from flying for the military if I need to get glasses?

Thank you all!

Ox

t6marine

That is a tough question to answer without going down a million rabbit trails. Bottom line question is why do you want to join the military? Is it to be a pilot, officer or another reason. You can always lose you pilot slot for one reason or another and still might have to serve out your 7+ year committment, which means you need to be happy with the decision you made.

During my 3 year stint, we washed out about 2 - 5 pilots a class out of 30 - 40 for various reasons. Thus sending them to a life without flying. During my 10+ years of fleet time, I saw 2 pilots get run out for various reasons. The biggest challenge you will face with the AF is the UAV track, which is not part of the training pipeline. There are ways to avoid it but that is entirely up to your performance and if you are at the bottom your future may be sealed. Other options are the Navy, Coast Guard or the Marine Corps. All have their different opportunities / benefits / risks.

Feel free to contact me and I can give you what I know about the main differences of services.... The more I know the better we can try to help guide you.

t6marine

You get a physical before you sign up in most services. They have to clear you before they send you on your way..... They do not want you if you are going to end up getting washed out for medical.

Oxinatah

Hey T6,

I would love to get in touch with you for further information! I unfortunately can't PM yet (I think the requirement is something like 25 posts) What would be the best way to contact you?

Thanks,

Ox

rickair7777

Yes, the escape clauses exist, but they may or may not be offering them. If they have trouble recruiting quality people for certain jobs, they may offer an escape clause to entice someone who might be reluctant to end up in a non-flying job.

With the economy down I would guess they probably have more than enough volunteers.

Oxinatah

Good to know. Is it something that a recruiter will have to offer, or is it something I can request?

Oxinatah

Oh, also, what is this UAV track I keep reading about? I know what UAV's are, but is it a bad thing to do? I'm assuming they don't count as flight time, and honestly I'd much rather be FLYING =) preferably fighters. That's been my dream since I can remember!

Tweetdrvr

What is your background? College degree, close to degree, post grad? You have to be an officer to fly in the USAF and that requires a degree.

Flying time? Not that it matters, but everyone!!! goes to the current version of Flight Screening at Doss in Colorado. In theory your prior time will not count for much, nor will many IPs care how much time you have. Because you are there to learn our way and adapt to our culture and be assimiliated.

What are you trying to do? If close to a degree with decent hours already, the ANG or AFRES might be more up your alley. If selected for those few and highly coveted flight training spots, you would be nearly full time pay status for at least two years for UPT, follow on aircraft training, then some home station seasoning--longer for some airframes with more complicated missions.

Don't talk to a recruiter about officer opportunities. The best people who are more than happy to discuss active duty opportunities for officers are at your closest university with an AFROTC detachment. In lieu of them, find an USAF Academy Liason admissions person--they can tell you about the Air Force Academy and AFROTC scholarship opportunities.

The basic ways to get here:
Four year AFROTC with or with out a scholarship.

Two year AFROTC if you are more than halfway to a degree, also works to get a second degree, if you already have one and can't get picked up via OTS--even more competitive these days.

Officer Training School--everything you wanted to know about the AF in a few short weeks. The smallest source of commissioned officers after ROTC and the Academy. Their numbers fluctuate based on needs of the AF based somewhat on who doesn't graduate from USAFA and AFROTC. In times like these, OTS is very small. In times of big buildups, like the great Ronald Reagan gave us, which likely never to be seen again, the tap is wide open and OTS can be very quick way to the AF and the cockpit.

The Air Force Academy

ANG or AFRES

RPAs (Remotely Piloted Aircraft), the emperor's new term for UAVs are supposedly going to get their own training program separate from 1st person UPT, and is getting started now. These 3rd person pilots will have their own set of pilot wings and be in a career field all their own. That means, if all goes according to plan, the threat of getting one from UPT is supposed to go away in a couple of years. This doesn't mean you can't go to one as a follow on from another airframe for career broadening later on. Hopefully this is successful and these folks do well at employing the weapon for its intended purpose. Because there are several threads here debating the merits of using these things and whether or not these folks will ever be able to rise to the task to do the job as well as someone trained to fly and who has done the job from a first person perspective. Plus we have yet to see how they perform when the big solar flares knock out the satellites from which they are controlled. This week may be a good test of that from an astronomical standpoint.

Go to the other sites as others have suggested and use the search function, because your questions have been posed many times over and some people aren't too amenable to folks who can't do basic research. If you don't have the initiative to seek out the info in this day and age of the "googles" and the "internets", then we don't want to spoon feed you in the military.

Good luck and thanks in advance for your interest in serving our country.