Talked to a recruiter for the Army Guard.
 

I talked to an Army National Guard recruiter today about getting a helo slot. Though the guy seemed straight forward I left the conversation with a few questions. He said the best way to apply for a pilot slot (Warrant Officer) was to enlist first then apply for the pilot slot once I was already in. Is this indeed the best way to go? I'm a bit leery of enlisting, failing the physical or otherwise not getting a pilot slot then being stuck in a nonflying job. I've got a Bachelors Degree, and 3700 hours of fixed wing time. The Air Guard is a no go because my color vision isn't perfect, but I'm FAA unrestricted. Can anyone offer advice or shed light on the process for the Army Guard? Thanks.

DO NOT enlist first if that is not what you want do. The recruiter is simply trying to fill his quota and has no care for what your actual aspirations are. This is especially coimmon for people who try to get on as Warrants in the army to fly Helo's.

Be steadfast in talking with a recruiter and make sure he is doing what you want him to.

Yeah the whole enlist first thing sounded a bit suspect. How should I approach it then? Has anybody joined as a civilian and gone straight to ANG aviation?

Tell him you want to apply directly to WOFT...most recruiters won't help you because they know its a long process (at least 6 months) and they probably wont be around when you do finally submit your packet.

Whatever you do, don't enlist.

Good info on here:
KiowaPilots.com

Absolutely follow the advise given. Under no circumstances enlist. You are qualified right now to be an officer, warrant or commissioned. Even if you did not have a degree I would still not enlist, finish school first. If you want to fly a ton, go the warrant officer route. Recruiters have nothing to gain from you trying to be a warrant officer to fly, if you are not enlisting you are not helping their numbers. I almost did the WOFT program right out of high school, but changed my mind and got my degree instead, and ended up joining the AF to fly. Good luck and if you want to do it I say go for it.

This makes me want to puke, that the DoD enables and encourages these walking turdballs to lie through their teeth to make mission. We railroad so many kids into a deal which was not quite what they were led to believe, and then as soon as they get to boot camp start drilling them on ethics and honor. What a load of hypocrisy...is it worth it?

They could double the number of recruiters if that's what it takes to get the job done without lying, but that would be slightly expensive. Well at least we have a ballpark estimate on the cash value of honor. This **** just burns me up :mad:

As to the original question, no don't enlist, that is a ludicrous proposition for someone with your qualifications unless you want to go into special operations.

I appreciate all the replys guys. So if I want to apply to a given Army Guard Aviation unit in California (I live an hour away) Should I go to the unit, or tell the recruiter I want to apply directly to WOFT, which I assume is Warrant Officer Flight School. If he says pound sand who can I turn to to put together a packet?

Is the recruiter associated with the guard unit you are interested? If not, I would go talk to someone at the unit.

+1 to all the advice, with a few add-ons. Caveat 1: I'm not 100% familiar with Army Guard, but I'll bet it's pretty similar to ANG.

Reference your color vision. If ANG is where you want to go, don't give up on this just yet - remember: for every regulation there is an equal and opposite Guard waiver. You may get the "no," but it's worth asking.

For Guard, go VFR-direct to the unit you want to fly for. Don't stop at any recruiter. It may be that enlisting in that unit is the normal track for selection - a lot of units hire the lions share of their UFT folks internally, but even in units like that, they'll go outside for the right candidate.

My unit, and most ARNG aviation units, select our pilots directly. We do not work with recruiters to hire pilots. You need to be talking direct to the aviation units in your state, as these selections are made by unit commanders and the State Aviation Officer (often one and the same). Most units will require you to put together a packet similar to an ANG packet, and attend a selection board. We just had our board on Sunday. Hiring a pilot just isn't the same thing as hiring an infantry soldier, or even another type of officer. In my state (VT) and all others I'm familiar with, it is completely unit driven.

Enlisting may be the only option to go warrant, in some states. We would not hire a non-prior service warrant candidate. I want to know you have the basic ability to survive in the military before I waste a flight school slot on you. Active duty has a number of programs that hire pilots off the street. Normally a non-prior service applicant would be a hard sell to a commander, but a lot of prior flight time would be looked at highly.