Deuce, while I agree with what you are trying to say, there's a huge caveat. I know guys who just went into military flying to build hours for the airlines, or avoid having to carry a gun and sleep in the mud in SE Asia, who wound up staying for a career, and I know guys who went in with a military career mindset who left for the airlines at the first chance. The reality is, most of us only think we know what our career path will be. Experience changes everything.

 

Interesting, good to know.

 

The only part of "ALFA" that doesn't apply anymore is the 'FAC'.

The first "A" is still "ALO". The "L" used to be LIFT, but is now called IFF (and is only separately listed because LIFT used to be in TAC/ACC). The second "A" is still "AETC" (meaning SUPT or ENJJPT).

RPA is not officially an ALFA tour, but some porch reps at AFPC unofficially have counted it as such for the last couple years. I don't personally know of any fighter guys who have gone fighter-RPA-fighter.

 

I know of only one, but early on (when it was still called a UAV), Eagle-Pred-Eagle... he has since gone back to AETC, and is now finishing up a 365 no-fly in Qatar with an AETC fly follow-on, which will put him current at 20+. Good deal for him. According to the guys at the porch on my last visit (a couple months ago), expect RPA now to be a one-way door. That said, 19 AF/CC renewed the rumor a couple weeks ago that UPT to RPA guys might see a cockpit some day. I wouldn't bank on it, though.

 

Your experience may vary. After 3 years flying at my airline, my W-2 is the same as what I was making when I left active duty. The kicker is, I average 14-16 days off work a month. Also, I've had most of the holidays that I wanted off, something that rarely could happen in the chair force.

It isn't about the money for me. It is about QOL. And I'm glad I left active duty. The flying was cool, but I hated the chair force.

 

Rule #1: the Rules change, all the time and with little notice or logic.

Examples: Mid 1990s (post Desert Storm) was the era of the "banked pilots" who graduated UPT and then went on to become maintenance officers for 3 or so years prior to getting a cockpit. There were about 1,000 qualified and flight screened candidates for every 200 or 300 pilot slots.

Late 1990s: at USAFA, if you were medically qualified to fly and didn't want to, you had to explain your rationale to the 1 star.

Early 2000s: the dawn of the UAV / RPA / whatever you want to call it.

2005ish: USAF redefined its manning and was overmanned severely. Showed a lot of LTs the door and offered huge bonuses for current and qualified pilots to separate.

Today: manning stable for now, but the USAF just cut 5,000 non-flying positions and tomorrow's budget will be TIGHT. Flying hours and training has been steadily cut and more training pushed to the sim. RPAs are now a separate "flying" career track. The fact is that there are more F-15 and F-16 pilots than there will be F-22 and F-35 pilots. Where will those "extra" pilots go? Early retirement? Separation bonus? Forced to staff or RPA?

Tomorrow: who knows!!! The budget will continue to shrink. Manning will continue to shrink. Today's politicians are trying to figure out how to exit Iraq and Afghanistan. Expect a substantial force reduction, kinda like post-Vietnam or post-Desert Storm. Maybe next year, maybe in 5, but it will happen in your career.

Bottom line: don't go to active duty thinking you're guaranteed to fly, or build hours, or get a retirement. Do what you like to do and if it works out, consider yourself lucky.

 

Fella's
The grass is always greener no matter what you do. Like Fat Boy said "it's about Quality of Life". So true. Some hate the military and some hate the airlines. What make you tick? The money will come but you need to be happy where you are at. I've had a great carreer. I flew corporate before getting in and now fly the Hog. For me, I'd take a part time Guard job flying anything near my home while flying for the airlines so I can have the quaity of life I want. And never move again!