If you leave AD one day and swear in the next at the Guard, there is no break in service. If you stay in IRR ( or navy equivalent) and come to guard, still no break in service. Both of these have pros and cons. You must work well ahead of time to pull off leaving AD one day and coming into guard the next. It can be done and is the preferable method because of complications of going to IRR to another reserve status. I have had 3 navy and 3 marine pilots do both ways. Depends on your situation. Break in service = bad. You will probably lose a pay grade, hapened to me.

 

O-4 select wouldn't occur until a bit later and not a factor in my current shore tour. I agree 100% about AD Fitreps....and have no intention of going EP-EP-MP. The ONLY very slim reason I would consider that notion is that it would give me more time to be eligble to select for another FTS board....but I think that would be more theoretical than anything. The detailer would probably be already pressuring me on the first FTS board...let alone the 2nd if I have no orders. And that MP would raise some red flags. Completely a last resort kind of option.

So I'm basically looking at getting one shot at working flying orders and also having one shot at an FTS board, which of course assumes my community will even release me in the first place. I'll get a better feel of the situation when I get closer to a year out.

 

Yeah, it's very likely. As for the Fitrep...I'm off the beaten path and my command supports me. They will endorse whatever I choose so I don't have to play cloak and daggers here in which the consequences would be a poison pill.

Now with the detailer...that's a whole different story. Like you mentioned earlier, I'm going to try and argue the point of my DH chances are very slim. TACAMO is always a competitive community and the fact that I'm in non-production flying (although awesome!) is a factor. I'm sure I'll get countered with the whole "You can make up for it by going to the boat and break-out speech"....but I plan on staying firm. If FTS isn't looking likely...I will most likely plan on dropping my LOI to resign, which in theory is supposed to prevent overextending my MSR by 8-9 months and therefore prevent a boat tour. In all honesty...I'm not bothered by the idea of the boat THAT much...it's actually the 2+ years that makes me nervous as I'll lose currency. And that is the biggest deal to me.

Anyway, I'm going to gameplan with the XO in the next couple of months. He looks like hes going to have my back. I'll keep my progression updated as we go.

 

The pilot shortage is here:
At the regionals, they are DESPERATE for guys with an ATP.

But, in about 18 months, when Delta starts hiring a lot, and there will be a lot more hiring by others, the pilot shortage will be deeper. It will be easier to get on with a major in that timeframe.

cliff
PVG

 

Understood. I thought that he meant that "know somebody" was to know someone in hiring vs internal recs. There are so many thousands of major pilots you'd think everybody would know 2 or 3. I heard the magic number to max points is 3. Accurate?

 

Delta is starting a class on NOV of this year.

 

Maybe so.
But I'm curious if military pilots will apply to them. I would speculate it will be a small percentage of those that are looking for an airline job.
What are you seeing as far as military applicants to Regionals?

 

The military guys almost always prefer the majors to the regionals....most of the exceptions are helo guys who don't meet the major's minimums....though that will be changing now that all -121 pilots will need a ME ATP....the regional mins will be much closer to the major's mins than they were previously.

 

DAL won't be hiring off the street for awhile due to recalls and flows from reg partners.