Good luck and Godspeed. Thank you for your service. If you lean forward in life, you might get lucky! Go for it and I hope you have a blast….

Thank you! It will definitely be a nervous next 12 months for my family and I, but they are behind me 100% and I feel it's definitely the right call for where we are in life.

Another plus to getting off AD now is that my wife is starting Dental Hygiene school a year from now and will be using the 9/11 GI Bill for that. Considering I will no longer be on AD we will receive E-5 BAH while she is in school and that comes out to almost $1700 a month for where we will be living. Her school is 6 hours away from our current base so if I stay on AD I would have to pay for 2 places to live without that BAH and live apart from her and our son for 3 years.

Between that BAH, Traditional Guard/Reserve pay, and Regional pay we should at least be able to survive and hopefully get to about 75% of what we were used to as a 7 year AD Captain. Hopefully at about the time she is graduating from Dental Hygiene school I will be getting picked up by a Major and life will be good not to say it isn't already really good!

Goodluck FLY. Any idea which regionals you're going to be considering?

Fly,

I'm in the Reserves and I can sense your enthusiasm and wish you the best but I sincerely think you're overestimating the odds of anyone getting VSP approved in any significant number. I will say with your lack of initiative on getting AAD started or completed, plus the history you've already shared on this board from a couple years back, that you have a good shot at getting RIFed.

Understand you're not really at much advantage in terms of getting hired in the Reserves as a function of getting VSP versus RIFed. We have plenty of RIF hires from the 2011 bloodbath and though I agree that having an earlier available date is beneficial in applying for a TR position in the Guard/Reserve, 4 months is really a drop in the bucket. It's not airline seniority; we actually turn people down who apply from time to time. Timing does nothing for that.

some advice for the gallery: Active duty cats who show up swinging their appendage with the attitude that because they're current-qualified they're doing us a favor by applying, tend not to fare great in the hire process. Temper your enthusiasm as required, I mean that in the most encouraging/constructive way possible. Another tidbit, and this one is unit dependent, but the more active-duty espousing you present yourself, the worse you'll fare in the hiring end. Disposing yourself from the Active Duty mentality and embracing the Reserve education will do wonders. Remember, we all quit Active Duty for a reason, and hate to say it, most did for reasons that dealt with dissatisfaction with AD work rules and leadership attitudes. Brain dump your AD life on your way into the interview room, and you'll do great.

Good luck and if I were you, I'd still focus less on your VSP application and more on your RIF RRF. I'd absolutely write a DNR letter to the board, no question about it. That's about the best thing you can do for yourself at this point. I'd also write the most mediocre self-torpedoing RRF you can get your leadership to sign off on. Blank one would be better.

Good luck to ya.

Fly6584, I'm in the exact same boat you are in, or pretty close. In fact, I think I might know you. PM me.

based on what we are seeing with the TERA results I'm thinking the VSP is going to be a long shot even with the overage charts.....

Thanks man. Actually Silver Airways is at the top of my list due to the TPA Domicile. My wife is going back to school in Tampa and we have a 17 month old child so I'd like to avoid sitting in a crash pad up in Detroit or Minneapolis for 2/3 of the month if at all possible. I'm not really concerned with pay or upgrades because I have the TPIC I need and the BAH from my wife using my 9/11 GI Bill combined with a Guard/Reserve job should supplement my Regional income at least enough to survive for the next couple years.

I will also be applying to Expressjet, Compass, Skywest, and American Eagle. Any others you suggest? I'd like to at least stay in the Southeast if at all possible...

Thanks for the advice man! I am really looking forward to the change of culture.

I will let you all know as soon as I find out if the VSP was approved. I'm hoping we don't see the same results that we saw with TERA, but then again it's AFPC we're dealing with and I wouldn't be surprised.

Which is exactly why I am no longer waiting to hear about a Guard/Reserve job before putting in for it and have decided to put in for it at 0001CST on 6 Feb. I want to make sure I have the best chance at getting it approved. After talking with my wife and thinking about where we really want to be in the next couple of years I would put in for the VSP regardless of whether I had a Guard/Reserve job which may sound crazy to some. One way or another we will make the Regionals work.

FLY -- I notice you didn't mention applying at any of the Majors? Do that as well….