How is the Military these days?
 

I am currently 23, have all of my civilian ratings all the way up to CFI/II (60/300TT). I have been the in market for a CFI job for over a year now. When I went to college I started looking into the military, but at that time the Civilian market was good. One could get hired on at most of the regionals right out of college. Those times have sadly come and gone, having missed them by 5 months or less myself.

Recently I have started looking back into the Military sector. Not only for stability but also as a fun job. To those currently in the service, How its it? What do you like/Dislike? And what service do you fly for?

Any information would be great. I am going to call some officer recruiters later in the week. But I would like to have some information thats not coming from one of them.

Loved it enough to spend 20 years doing it during the good times, bad times, and all the times in between! :D

Just make sure that you know what you are getting yourself into at the start as much as possible. The same goes for any job really. Education is the key. Of course you could get into the military without knowing the first thing about it and possibly be as happy as a clam, but what I've seen most pften is the opposite. People get into the military with the wrong expectations and then are disappointed by the reality (does this remind you of any other career? ;))
Just make sure that you know the WORK side that is required in order to have that "fun job" flying.

Best of luck in the hunt though Der Meister. It is certainly a road that you won't soon forget.

USMCFLYR

I get to fly several different pointy nose jets off boats, blow stuff up, see the world, and make ball park $100K/year.

Flight school will be the best 2 years of your life, 3 if you're smart.

Der Meister,

I love it, plain and simple. I don't want to turn this into a service-bashing thing, however because it is a VASTLY different war at treetop level than it is at FL250, my experience with military aviation is incredibly different from the fixed wing drivers in the operational sense. I would imagine the administrative and "officer-stuff" is almost identical. For most of the services, getting helo's is something you either REALLY want, or were at the bottom of the list in flight school, or simply didn't get a choice. For us, we specialize in being the best helo-drivers out there, period.

I can't tell you how many AF and Navy guys I have talked to that have said we are balls-crazy for doing what we do. I guess you kind of have to be.

Rotary flying is some of the most fun you can have with your clothes on. I am sure the carrier dudes in the USN/USMC will say the same thing about a carrier shot. I love being down in the fight having a direct impact on the battlefield and having the ability to get down low, fast, and yank and bank in narrow canyons and valleys that a fixed wing driver would simply bypass and overlook as a part of the landscape.

Since taking this job I have been shot at countless times, had RPG's streak toward my aircraft both in the air and on the ground, had mortars walked in on me in distant landing zones, extracted troops in heavy in contact, and called in gunships to kill the bad dudes. On the other side of the coin, I have slung-on supplies to war-torn villages, helped build FOB's, helped build a dam for a power source, and slung enough food and water in to feed an entire village for a month. I have brought some of the finest men and women to the fight and been the first flight to take them home for R&R. You just can't get this type of experience in any other service.

In no other area do I think I could get the satisfaction and job variety that I have being an Army pilot. I have great people to work with and for, and even as a Warrant Officer, I make more money than a regional airline captain. That being said, this job is a ton of work outside the flying. I could go into great detail, but it would just be an onslaught of acronyms and form numbers that mean nothing to you.

Look into all the services, and don't discount anything off the bat. Somewhere there is a right fit for you.

Someone on here told me that the application process was a marathon, not a sprint. Boy.... were they right! It took probably about a year and a half to get picked up. I know some guys with a lot of flight time, good GPAs, very pro-active, etc... that are having difficulty getting in and have been going at it for over 2 years... hopefully they'll be picked up soon! Good luck whatever way you choose.

Careful....
 

It's hard to tell too much from just your one post, so bear with me. I may be way off base. That said..............

Joining any military service as an officer and pilot usually isn't an after thought when you figure out the civilian market isn't what you expected. It's also not a decision that's generally influenced by the apparent "stability" and potential "fun".

You're considering a pretty big step and it will require a sincere desire to serve and lots of sacrifice (potentially everything if necessary). I didn't really get that side of it from your post.

The military is stable as long as they need you. Compared to the airlines it's rock solid. However, there's plenty of guys out there who hit their timing wrong and were forced out during a down-sizing.

Just make sure you're doing this for the right reasons. Good Luck.

I agree with a majority of what you say in your post ChinookDriver47 - but you seem to have forgotten about USMC helo drivers in there somewhere (I could practically exchange the word Army in your post for Marine), and maybe forgotten that some of us have seen the war from FL250 over 500+ miles behind enemy lines AND down on the ground with some rounds dropping in too.

Btw - I DO think you helo guys are some crazy people for some of the stuff you do :D, but if I have to be down at 100-200' (sorry - that is suppose to be my lowest), I enjoy the yanking and banking too!

Thanks for doing the job that you do CD47 - and too all of the rest of you out there still doing it.

USMCFLYR
(Wishing I could still be in the fight a few more times):(

Der Meister ... there's a lot a dozen threads from guys like you in the archives. You need to do some searching. Without rehashing all of those threads, I'll be extremely blunt.

Do not join the military if you aren't willing to:

1. Die for your country
2. Serve in a 3rd World nation far away from home, deployed or out to sea during most holidays
3. To do a job OTHER than flying.
4. To fly a UAV.

I could go on and on with this. The reality is, the military needs Officers first. Pilots are way down the list. And job stability as a pilot in the military, although it has a better long term track record than civilian flying, is becoming less stable. You could literally end up in non-flying positions, flying a UAV, failing a physical (they're much much tougher than FAA), or failing a checkride (they're much tougher than FAA). Either one of the last two could profoundly doom your chances of going Part 121 with a reputable airline.

Joining the military takes a lot more than a desire to fly and like the others have said, know EXACTLY what you're getting yourself into before you make the leap of faith. Do not believe what any recruiter(s) tell you. Get prepared mentally, physically, and be able to rock the ASVAB/Officer tests.

Good luck.

This is true. It's the same goal, just different fights I suppose. I went down about a month ago due to mechanical failure in bad guy land. IMM Button - PRESS? Pretty scary. It all worked out, though. However, I could go without experiencing that again. I would have been glad to see any helo, Green or Gray with a gun on it. I won't turn my nose up to a welcomed ride out.

Guess I did leave out a few part to myself. Im referring to KC10 FATboy, 1-4 I have no problem doing, 2-4 I am also considering in the civilian market.

My Back Ground, is IB classes in High School 4.2/5.0 GPA, Sports Captain 3 years Wrestling, and Eagle Scout at 16. College (Embry-riddle) 3.0 GPA with minor in Meteorology. Only Check ride I failed was my CFI oral. I also did an internship with Continental in the summer of 08. It was a great experience and I had allot of fun doing it.

I did also use the search feature as well, and have read many of the threads. I was more or less interested in how you liked it not as much the process it takes to get there. The only stories I have are from my grandfather and while they are good, they are also about 60 years old, He flew for the Army Air Core. He retired as a Major with a DFC.