I think you are thinking along the right lines.

If you apply for FTS, you will stay current, but you have to obliserve for another few years.
VT and VR SELRES will not only allow you to stay current, but it will also be an outstanding networking opportunity with a bunch of airline pilots who are drilling. If I were in your shoes, that is what I would do. It will allow you some flexibility while also keeping you in the game while you apply to the airlines. You can take extra drills to earn a little more cash and can apply for an FTS slot if you decide being a civilian isn't for you.

That is great that your pop works at FedEx. I think it will be a huge help for your chances. Did you fly multi on your shore tour so that you got the mins?

In any case, you have to weigh relative seniority at an airline job with what you will get out of the Navy if you stay in any longer. If going to the airlines is your goal, getting started sooner rather than later would be in your best interest.

I took the devil's money and went to the boat with a fair degree of certainty that I would get invited back to TACAMO. Luckily, it all worked out and it looks like I am going to be retiring just as hiring really starts picking up.

Remember, timing isn't just a thing, it is everything...that applies in the Navy and out.

 

That's what you hear from people with sour grapes. Not true.

 

If you drop the LOI and resign will it constitute a break in service if you go straight to the guard/reserves after leaving AD? Isn't that break no bueno?

 

Not necessarily....VT-35 had a couple USAF dudes transition to the Navy and we had to wait for their official paperwork. One just got off AD and one was off AD for about a yearish.

 

You might want to explore extending your current set of orders. Despite what your PRD is, orders are funded through the fiscal year so you might be able to prolong your departure until it doesn't make sense for them to move you. For example if your PRD is December, you may be able to extend until next Sept/Oct. At that point your MSR could be only a few months away, not worth a paid move & new set of orders.

To the poster who says the hiring flood gates are going to be wide open, I disagree (2-3 years from now probably). I think there will be lots of hiring next year compared to years past but Delta, United, and American all have furloughs that can come back which will slow things down a bit. Delta and American also have flow throughs. FedEx and Southwest are both overmanned so probably only a trickle of hiring if any next year. Plus about half of those hired at any company will be civilian guys.

FTS is the safe bet and a great path to selres as well.

 

I'd love that option but it's not likely. We have very odd timing in my command where I'm already one of the senior LTs. We just had a COC fitrep in which I got tapped for an EP. I'll have another in January 14 with the same results unless I royally self destruct. Since my prd is early 15...I'm actually more likely to have to move out prior to the jan 15 fitrep . Triple tapping me with an EP screws over the big group that's right behind me. Even if an extension were possible...due to the 8 year hook, it's simply too much of a reach for approaching my MSR within reason.

7 years would have made all the difference. Doh.

 

Assuming you fulfill your current orders through your PRD, my guess is you'd be an O-4 select, thus in a different FITREP reporting group? If that is the case, it's a good thing if you indeed will come out with 2 competive EPs then you'd go back to the bottom as a select, transition to FTS/SELRES and then start back up hill. I tell you this bc your AD FITREPs matter for SELRES/FTS promotion and screening for CO if that is your intention. If you are going to get double tapped and you're still an O-3 in a competitive group(timing dependant) as you leave and your intentions are made known you'll have a declining trend assuming the CO puts you back in the MP category as a LT. Buyer beware...

FWIW I left AD (Navy) in August 2008 after my MSR and at arguably the worst economic time in recent history short of 9/11 as airline hiring dried up (2 major interviews cancelled within a week of one another). I have been flying SELRES (SAU) since and working as a GS. Keep your options open and always be able to walk back across a bridge.

Good luck!

 

This can't be stressed enough, I've seen CO's do it. An EP-EP-MP is pretty much a bullet to the brain.

 

Sounds like you have to take orders somewhere. 99% chance if you mention dropping your letter/airlines/getting out your not gonna get an EP. You gain nothing by talking about that so don't to anyone but your wife. The unwritten rules of AD, civilian, and Reserve life are VERY different. So be careful and choose your words carefully. Be ready to answer the COs questions on your intentions. Shoot for FTS if that is what you want since it leaves you options. But if that doesn't work then when you get to your next duty station and it is time and to your advantage, drop your letter. Have your ducks in a row!

 

It is mostly true right now. Majors are starting to screen applications using a computer-generated point system...the more points the better, and LORs on file add more points. Since they aren't hiring that many, the folks with the whole package, including LORs, are getting called but they aren't getting down into the "pack".

If you are a stellar applicant, perhaps with TPS on top of all the usual stuff, you might have enough points to push you over the top without LORs. But for the rest of us, best be calling up your bros.

Assuming things open up a bit a year or two down the road, interviews should be available to the "pack".