Coast Guard
 

Hey Folks,

I'm looking for some insight/advise. Just to give a quick run down on who and what I am so that y'all have some context. I'm 21, currently working as a Paramedic with very minimal college experience. I've wanted to be a pilot all my life, however I let myself get talked out of it every time I really got serious about it, thus leading me down the medical route.

I'm revisiting the idea as I still have this deep desire to become a pilot and serve my country. My question to you guys, is how do I get there? Yes I know things are competitive, especially when dealing with military flight slots, however I have every confidence that if I take the right steps and really really want it (which I do), it can be done.

I've thought about doing it in virtually every branch, however I've always had a special place in my heart for guardians. Just seems to be a better fit for me. I know that in order to be a pilot, gotta have a college education, pass a brutal flight physical and be in impeccable shape. I've got no health problems to speak of, 20/10 vision and I'm in good shape (not impeccable) but am more than willing to get before it all happens. My questions are more in regards to the education and logistics of making it happen.

Do I join as an enlisted reservist now so that I can start getting some TIS and money for school while I finish my degree? Or would it be better to get my degree first then apply? Speaking of, does it matter what degree of study I choose?

Thanks,
~Zack

Enlisting in the CGR, ANG, NG, USNR,(what ever) has little or no bearing on becoming an “O”.
Enlist only if it will help your current situation, i.e.; helps pay for college and/ or possibly turn into a full time Federal job later.
I’ve known a pilot with Bachelors’ of History. I think there are some Art Major pilots out there too. That might not be the best route, but possible.
That’s my limited experience. But if your 21years old with no college, you are already up against the age clock. Need to get busy

Yeah, I know...Kinda sweating it a bit actually. hehe I know the reserves won't have any effect on a commission, but it would mainly be for assistance in college plus the experience...Would I be wrong in speculating that currently being in the service would assist my application for flight school? And can I apply for flight school from the reserves and only go active if I were to get accepted? (In the CG you have to be active to be a pilot).

Thanks for the reply, I appreciate any information you guys can provide...There is a wealth of information on this forum. It can keep you busy for days

~Zack

In order to be a pilot in the CG you will have to be an officer. In order to apply for OCS you will need at least a 4 year degree. Since you are still young you have some time but your priority needs to be finishing your degree. You can always enlist in the CG and this will help with money towards getting your degree but it will not be the fastest route. CGR is an option but I'm not sure of what educational programs they have. As far as what degree to get it's really up to you. I've heard sometimes they look favorably on technical degrees but I've met tons of pilots who have non technical degrees. So, in my experience most degrees will work but you will need a decent GPA 3.0+. The CG has some other programs like Blue 21 etc but I'm not too familiar with them. It's always tough to say if enlisting will help your chances or not. Personally, I think your chances coming off the street are about the same as if you were prior enlisted.

Best piece of free advice you will ever get:

Be sure you physically qualify. Take the physical for UPT

Get into college, you will have to have a 4 year degree to be an officer pilot in any service except being a W/O in the Army. Trust me, you want the degree

Start no later than your second year of college searching out Guard and Reserve units. If you really, really want to be a fighter pilot, go to fighter units, otherwise every unit that you can live with, location-wise.

Do NOT give up after your first two visits or your next after that, make sure the Ops Officer and Squadron Commander know you are serious at being a long-term unit asset.

As soon as you have the degree, take the first unit that offers you. UPT assignment.

I did this back in the 70s and I hired and sent thru UPT about 15 now experienced AF pilots. They are full-timers, airline pilots and the like.

GF

Good advice above.

A few comments...in addition to providing college funds, enlisting will certainly give you a leg up for selection as a CG officer (assuming you are otherwise qualified) my wife used to screen CG officer candidates, so that is from the horse's mouth.

Also I think that ANY kind of enlisted service will be helpful when applying for ANY offocer program. Several reasons...

1. They know that you have at least some idea what you are getting into.
2. You are not a complete flake, and can handle military training and duty.
3. Your service record will reassure tham that you are not a problem child or attitude case (if not, don't bother applying for commissioning)
4. You will be able to get an endorsement/recommendation from one or more serving senior officers, including your CO. You really need a recommendation from an officer, and this will be better than a letter from your great-uncle Joe who was a Captain in the national guard in the 1950's.
5. You can get a lot of insight into how the military works, and assure yourself that this is something you really want to do.

Also...unlike the active duty branches, the Air National Guard units hire people themselves and they really like to get to know you first. If you have a local unit in mind that would be your first choice, you might consider enlisting there. Just make sure they are not downsizing, converting to UAV's, etc.


With that said...If you a stellar candidate (good grades, tech major, clean record, perfect health, athlete, extracurricular/community activities, good test scores) then do not enlist if it will delay your degree and application for officer.

One m ore thing...if you REALLY want to be a USCG officer, join the CG. But if you really want to fly, look at all of the other service EXCEPT the CG. The reason for this is that the CG does not (with one possible exception) award flight training slots until AFTER you complete OCS. This means that you are commissioned and committed to however many years of service before you find out if you even get to go to flight school. Also the USCG reserve does not train pilots off the street, they only hire previously rated military pilots (from any branch).

The other service will give you a "flight guarantee" of one form or another. Also your odds are much better if you apply for everything. As others have said, be persistent.

Thank you very much! That is very very useful information. I've tried doing some research on the Air National Guard but haven't been able to find a whole lot...What can you tell me about them?

This is just a run down of the plans I have in my head. Please tell me if they are unrealistic and/or if there are better options out there.

I want to fly, but definitely not with Airlines. Preferably Customs or an agency such as that as it combines more than just flying people between point A and point B. However, I'm currently split between a career in medicine or a career in flight / law enforcement. If I enlisted, I would go for the ME rating which would give me a taste of the military and law enforcement with the possibility ( possibility in my head, anyway ) of applying for OCS and to flight school after college. Now, I could finish my degree first and then try to obtain a flight slot within one of the branches, but I'm leaning more towards enlisting in the reserves while I complete college for a couple of reasons.

1. I've always wanted to serve and this would provide me with that opportunity.

2. This would provide me with the insight (as you spoke of ) as to whether or not the military is for me.

3. It would also give me a taste of the law enforcement side of things, which would assist me in ultimately making the decision of what path I truly want to take for the long run

4. If it turns out that the military is not for me and/or I discover which one of the above paths I truly want to take forever, I have not invested anything but the time of my contract which is fine because I got to serve my country.

So, that gives you a run down of my thought process....Seems all over the place I know, but there is a lot of stuff I want to do in life and I only have one life to do it in. I don't want to screw it up.

Anymore insight would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!
~Zack

Military is a good lead-in to a law enforcement career, for a variety of reasons.

Also, since the federal hiring system for all jobs awards bonus points for affirmative-action status and veteran status and because federal law-enforcement flying jobs are so coveted, it is pretty much impossible for an average guy with affirmative action status to get one of those jobs...unless you are an ex-military pilot. Basically...if you an average white male you will need to become a military pilot and get deployed to the middle-east or other designated hot-spot. Your odds will be greatly improved if you get wounded or get a disability rating (easier than you might think).

There are a variety of non-federal law-enforcement pilot jobs, but I agree that the customs mission is probably the coolest one that I am aware of. Also be aware that most LE agencies use helicopters, so going the helo route in the military will help you out...this includes customs, which hires both fixed and rotary wing pilots.

Since I'm already a Paramedic, I could get a bachelors in Nursing in approximately 3 years, where as other degrees it will take me 4-5..As long as my GPA is high, would it matter to the selection board what my degree is in? If it didn't, it would be nice for a couple reasons. Mainly because of the time and the fact that all of my previous studies have been related to health care and the second would be that if something didn't work out and/or I decided that it wasn't for me, I'd have a degree in something useful that I enjoy doing.

As long as you have a decent GPA with the nursing degree I don't think that will set you back at all. From reading your posts I agree that the CG reserve would be a great path for you to take. As far as flying LE that is about 50% of the CG mission. We fly side by side with customs doing a variety of LE missions from counter drug/migrant, fisheries patrols & Homeland security missions. I know a number of pilots that retired/left the CG to fly for Customs. My advice would be to get started & finish your degree sooner than later so you have a buffer for your application. I'm not sure what the flight school cutoff is these days but if memory serves it's around 29 and the OCS cutoff is around 26. Of course there's some stipulations that can extend these cutoff ages based on time in service etc. The CG is a great organization whether you're enlisted in the reserves or flying the line on active duty.

Not sure about the other services, but in the navy if you have a medical degree/certification they will ONLY allow you to serve in a medical capacity. This is because they are so hard hard up for medical types. In fact, if a reserve member even enters a medical training program, they will force-transfer you to the medical corps. Not sure about the other services but I suspect the army is the same.

Not sure if that applies to nurses, but you might want to check.

Yeah that's what I'm afraid of. Do you know anything about the ANG? I know most units hire within, so I take it that I would have to enlist and hold some random job until I could get a UPT slot? Also, does anyone happen to know what the contract time is for AF Reserve or ANG pilots?

CGFlyer, I was under the impression that you couldn't fly for the CG Reserve? Thought you had to be AD for 11 years?

Don't know about the ANG...not sure if they even have their own doctors? I would suspect that you might be able to join the ANG in a non-medical capacity. It might also vary by state, since the guard is a state institution (with strong federal ties).

100% correct. Unless something changed recently, you have to be a winged military aviator to fly for the USCGR and that would generally require about ten years of AD. You could get hired as a USAFR or ANG pilot, fulfill your obligation to that organization as a part-time pilot, and then transfer to USCGR.

It is also possible that if the ANG/USAFR winds up overstaffed that they would let you transfer to another service early. Even if they are not overstaffed they might let you do it, couldn't hurt to ask.

Be aware that the USCGR will bump you down one rank, so if you were an ANG major would be start as a USCGR lieutenant.

hmm that sounds like it could be a good option. I wonder how realistic it would be to start with ANG or USAFR then switch over?

Depends entirely on...

1. Can you get hired off-the-street as a part-timer?
2. What airframe do you get assigned? Helo's would be best, particularly the H-60 series since the CG flies a lot of those but C-130 should work too. I'm don't think the USCGR requires that you have experience in the aircraft that you want to fly, but they have a lot of applicants so it would help to have experience in H-60's, C-130's, or a Falcon Jet. They also fly the Dauphin and soon the C-144 but (with the exception of SOCOM) no other US service operates those.
3. Can you get out of your initial commitment early? Depends on manpower needs at the time.
4. Can you get hired by the USCGR? It is competitive, even amongst military-trained pilots.

If you have your heart set on the USCG, you might just have to accept an AD officer slot and take your chances on getting a flight slot after OCS. If you don't you can re-apply after a couple of years of just finish your four year (?) commitment and move on to something else in life. There are no guarantees as far as military aviation goes, your best shot is to apply for everything.

If you go that route make sure that...
1. You are medically qualified to fly.
2. Your aviation test scores are good (study before you take the tests).
3. There is a current need for USCG aviators. This one is touchy, because they may not give you a lot of options as to when you go to OCS and if the flight training pipeline happens to be backed up you might be SOL. At least verify that the flight training pipeline is flowing and that there are no USCG aviation downsizings on the near horizon. You will need to befriend a current USCG aviator to get the scoop on that when the time comes.

Thank for the info! I'm not completely sold on the USCG...I'd be really happy with a USAFR or ANG slot as well. The main thing is that I just want to fly.. It seems to be one of the hardest parts of applying for this stuff is the lack of information available on the official websites. I've considered finishing my nursing degree, picking up a USAFR Flight Nurse slot (I'd love that job too) then applying from within after I finish my private pilot also. From what I've been able to find, you're more competitive for those reserve flight slots if you've already got mil experience, have a private pilots license (at minimum) and have already gone through OTS, all of which I could in theory have completed by age 25 giving me 5 years to get a reserve pilot slot...

Am I off par from that theory?

Age cutoff varies between 28-30+. depends on the service and their needs at the time. Age waivers are possible, but uncommon although an in-house candidate would have good odds of an age waiver IMO. Just make sure that having a medical rating does not lock you into that field.

Also check out baseops.net

Zack, get that nursing degree!! You are up against a major time crunch, plus...our chief pilot in our rescue squadron has been a nurse for years and still pulls shifts at the local hospital on the weekends to keep his license up to speed So at least in the AF, a nursing degree should not keep you out of the cockpit. Best of luck!!

Terrific! Thank you for the info! Once I finish my degree, should I hold out for a pilot slot or do you think I should go in as an AF flight nurse and apply from within? If I did the flight nurse thing, I was considering using the pre-commission program while I'm still in school....Don't know if that would help me or ultimately hurt me?

I assume the flight nurse is an officer?

If you are enlisted, while not technically required to, the services have a tradition of ALWAYS allowing you to pursue a commissioning program in any service doing any specialty (unless they think you are a dirt bag). Even if you are in a high-demand skill-set, they will release will you.

But if you are already an officer in a critical skill, or even a non-critical skill with a training obligation, they have no requirement to let you transfer to a "cooler" skillset. Make sure you find out IF they will release a flight nurse for pilot training, and if they will require you to serve a certain amount of time. Each military skill community has managers who "own" that manpower pool...even if the squadron commander wanted to send you to flight training, he can't do it without the concurrence of the people who own your specialty.

I know in the navy a doctor, SEAL, or submarine officer who asked for pilot training would be told to shut up and get back to work...after they stopped laughing.

If you are enlisted, at least you know they will release you for pilot training.

Yes, flight nurse is an officer slot. Would a recruiter be the one to talk to about that?

Probably. Recruiters are usually falling all over themselves to recruit medicos (quite the opposite for pilot applicants).

But as far as the transfer question...the recruiter will probably say anything he thinks you want to hear. He'll tell you you can get a space shuttle slot right out of OCS if he thinks that will make you sign on the dotted line. You will have to do some research on that, and the answer may vary between services.

Zack, I agree with Rickair, if you go in a Flight Nurse officer, they will probably not be helpful in retraining you as a pilot. Just my opinion, but hold out and fight for the pilot slot from the get go. In the next few years, I think the AF is once again going to realize they are short flyers, and combined with a probable increase in airline hiring due to the age 65 retirement wave that's coming, you might hit it just right. As said before, it has little bearing what your degree is in, so long as you have a degree. Best of luck!

Zack, I see you already got a ton of helpful information. You can also find a large Coast Guard following over at airwarriors (dot) com. There is a dedicated Coast Guard section that you can find some useful and a lot of not-so-useful information!

Good luck!

Be careful about going to a recruiter. If possible, find an Officer Recruiter and ask him/her your specific questions. Your average "strip mall" recruiter doesn't know much about officer programs, he/she is looking to fill boot camp slots.

Absolutely! I assumed we were talking about an officer recruiter. Stay away from the strip mall.

Ahhhh! It shows my ignorance...I did not realize that there was a difference. How can you tell them apart so I don't go to the wrong one?

The one at the strip mall is an enlisted recruiter. You will probably have to go online to find an officer recruiter, and he may be located on a military base, meaning he will have to arrange to see you. An enlisted recruiter will able to put you in touch with an officer recruiter (but he will try to enlist you in the process). An officer recruiter will be an officer, usually O-2/O-3, possibly O-4.

Ahh I see...Would it be best to wait until I'm getting to that point where it would be time to sign up as opposed to setting up an appointment with him now and telling him it'll be a few years?

If it's going to be a few years I wouldn't waste their time, officer recruiters are very busy. If you do contact one it will probably be a few simple questions and you probably won't hear from one again until you call them back telling them your all set. I'm currently trying to obtain an officer slot in the Marines. The only thing my OSO is interested in is when I can take the flight physical. In the mean time look up the requirements and work hard to exceed them--its very competitive out there.

Good luck.