Who to talk to?
 

I am a recent college graduate and my goal is to fly for the local air national guard (145th wing) out of Charlotte, NC.

I was wondering who would be the best people to talk to about this and how to contact them? The forums all say to stray away from recruiters as all they want is your name on the dotted line and to instead talk to pilots, but whats the best way of doing this?

Thanks

Thomas

Recommend you use the search function and dig around on this site (and other sites).
Questions like this have been asked,... and answered,... numerous times.

Go to the CLT ANG recruiter, tell him your interest in UPT and firmly, but politely ask to meet with the flying squadron operations officer. He is likely very busy, what with the recent accident, so be patient.

GF

Thanks for the advice. I will try to get in touch with him as soon as I can get a recruiter on the phone to talk to. They don't like responding to emails and never seem to answer the phone for some reason.


Thomas

Just like anything else, you gotta know someone. If you dont meet any members of the unit around town, then a "cold call" might be the answer. Get ahold of the recruiter and request a tour, that will at least get you in the building, then its up to you. Shake hands, ask questions and bring booze :)

Its a tough game, but we want to see the persistant people.

I will give you my 2 cents on this subject. Although it does help to know somebody in the squadron, persistence is equally as powerful. I did not have any contacts or connections to any military units. All I did was put together a list of all the units (Im speaking of guard and reserve units) that I was interested in and just started cold calling around. I would avoid recruiters entirely at first because they are no help and will just make extra work for you at first. Get a phone number, any number, inside the squadron and call it. Google the unit and you'll be suprised how much info you can find. Just ask whomever answers that you want to talk to the person in charge of pilot hiring. They will give you the phone number of an Officer and most likely you will get their voicemail. Leave a message and they always call back. Tell them youre interested in a pilot slot then the "persistence" part comes into play. Keep bugging them (respectfully of course) by calling once or twice a week. Also, volunteer to hang out at the squadron and help with odd jobs or just hang out on drill weekends and do whatever. you will build a rapport with the pilots and eventually they will consider you a non-official member. When they hold the next pilot board you will most likely be chosen. This process may take a few months but how bad do you want it? persistence, persistence, etc. hope this helps. good luck

The flying squadron operations officer has the gouge on hiring. He doesn't make the decisions on who gets hired, but he's the one who has to deal with manning issues on a daily basis so he's the one who knows if they're short/overmanned and what their projections are.

Usually he's a Lt Col or sometimes a Maj (rarely these days). He's used to being the point of contact for these kind of issues. He's probably busy as a chameleon in a box of crayons and you'll have trouble getting him on the phone.

Good luck.

Ohhh, and bring booze.

I was hoping for some clarification from your post by now. You may have not meant to do so, but I thought your post was in very poor taste. I interpreted what you wrote as basically saying the squadron has some open slots due to the tragic fatalities that recently occurred during fire-fighting ops.

Am I the only one who thought that?

Are Operations Officers in such a squadron much different from others? I would think that the leadership of that unit at all levels would be incredibly busy right now with the recent mishap. I don't know what GF meant exactly, but personally I think you might be reading something into the post.

USMCFLYR

That is MOST definitely NOT what was meant at all. I've been in squadron with an accident, the Ops O will be max'd out with work. How could possibly get the idea that I mean openings?

I have, in 18 years, selected and sent about 20 pilots to UPT in AFRC, so I think I might know something about the process. Admittedly, it has been 7 years since retirement. Tomorrow, one of my selectees is taking command of "my" old C-5 squadron.

GF