T45Heinous

LU-
Good luck with your Navy training, it will be one hell of a fun ride (especially the cat strokes)! Enjoy and don't forget what an honor it is to fly and fight for your country.

Fly Navy!!!

Voski

I still can't seem to a definite answer on this, but does the ANG or USAFR hire prior Army aviators? I'll be 29 when my commitment is up... just so conveniently close to being disqualified by age for UPT. Since I'm already a military aviator, I've heard the age limit does not apply for full UPT since they can "convert your aeronautical badge" via an FEB. Any gouge or info from anyone that has made the transition or knows someone that has?

degarbage

Voski;

It has been done, a guy in my heavy unit got hired as a prior army helo guy. He went to a shortened upt course from what I recall. This was 10+ years ago when half the SQ had quit over the anthrax shot and were desperate to hire. Where do you want to fly? As a matter of reference, if you aren't a current, qualified IP/EP in our airframe, we won't even interview you. Next year could be different, who knows....

Good luck, timing is everything

Voski

degarbage --
Good to know. I am interested in heavies, though I'd be happy to fly anything with starched wings for Uncle Sam. I've got all my civilian fixed-wing ratings as well (if reserve units care at all). The FWQ (fixed-wing qualification) course you mentioned, the one prior Army helo guy went through -- as I understand it -- has been discontinued for budget reasons sometime within the last 1-2 fiscal years. If they allow a full UPT syllabus for my situation, I would not mind going through the full USAF indoctrination.

2loud

Sure can! When I was a tweet IP, I met a AFRes tweet IP who was a former Marine chopper pilot. I also met a former Navy chopper pilot who flew heavies on active duty. I don't think neither one of them had to go through the full 52 weeks of SUPT.

2loud

1) Already answered by many.
2) Good grades, test scores, and a technical degree helps. Being a jock and/or having several extracurricular activities under your belt doesn't hurt. Having a PPL and other ratings will definitely help getting a slot. I had a few hundred hours and they helped in getting a slot. My flight experience came in very handy in tweets IMO (T-6 now) but everyone caught up in T-38s (or T-1). I've also seen commuter pilots with thousands of hours wash out of the program but that's rare. My advice to you is to have a good attitude and not mention that you have a lot of civilian hours. The Air Force way of doing things are extremely anal so keep your pride in check and fly the way they teach you.
3) bad question
4) Yes

Here's my .02. As you can probably tell, I was in the Air Force. If you want to fly on active duty, I'd pursue a pilot slot in the Navy. Seems like they are looking for pilots more than the Air Force. I wouldn't have said this 20 years ago but today's Air Force is not the same-3 words: Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV). If you fly on active duty, you will have to dodge this bullet at least once during your 10 year commitment and it's very hard to dodge. I believe none of the Navy pilots have to deal with this, yet. I would venture to guess that the worst thing about the Navy would be having to live on a boat for 6+ months at a time, unless you are land based. If you want to fly in the Air Force, definitely go ANG or AFRes. If you do, buy some heavy duty knee pads and baby wipes for your nose!

DeuceMountain

I'm leaving the AF after 16 years. I lucked into an early retirement deal, and jumped at the chance. I now have a job offer with a Major and I'm really psyched. I did the "I just wanna fly" thing, and the AF hates that. Still, I got to fly all kinds of cool stuff: T-37s, T-1s, KC-135s, C-21s, T-38s and U-2s.
My credentials were great for the airlines, but the lack of staff assignments and gamesmanship got me passed over for Lt Col. That was a real blow to the ego, but I knew the game all along, and played by my rules, not the AF's. I think that's going to be less possible for new guys. The threat of UAVs is FAR more prevalent now than during my time, and the AF leadership seems to care very little for pilots in general. Expect staff assignments and long duration trips to the desert.
My suggestion: Find a Guard unit where you want to live, and rush them. See what happens. If that's a bust, consider the AF Reserves, but remember: they're still attached somewhat to Big AF. Then consider the Navy, then the AF.
Good luck to you. There's been some REALLY good advice in this thread, but the most relevant is anything that says the AF ain't what it used to be. Believe me when I tell you that's true, as objectively as I can make it. I'm not a "sour grapes" kinda guy. In fact, my career has played out better than I could have dreamed. It's very unlikely to happen the same way for others.

e6bpilot

Great post. I second that from the Navy side. It ain't your dad's Navy. The expectation is that you will do a minimum of two non-flying tours on the way to O-5 command. Yes, there are exceptions, but they are rare. At least we don't have the wide scale threat of UAVs...yet.

CAFB 04-12

The UAV problem has decreased considerably in the past few years in the Air Force as they've started a UAV specific career path instead of yanking pilots out of cockpits.

totaleclipse

"military will make you a better pilot without a doubt. Not that a military pilot is better than his civilian counterpart, but what we will teach you to do during your military training can not be replicated in the outside world"

Really?? I can't believe what I just read. Not only did I pay for my Bachelors and Masters ('I' do you hear me? 'I') I paid for all my flight training. Yes, in a Cessna and a Beechcraft. The list goes on and on. Yes I flew twin Turbro Props, Dash 8's, ATR's, SAAB 340's. Then I flew 50, 70 and 90 seat Passenger Jets ranging from the ERJ to the CRJ. When I got hired by SWA with an all civilian background, I had 12,000 hours total time (4 Jet type ratings) of which 5000 hours of that was PIC TURBINE alone. My civilian counterparts had 3 and 4 times the total time of the Retired Military guys. I had more PIC turbine than most Military guys had total time by a long shot. The Military men and women by in large require additional training both sim and aircraft just to make it through as new hires. You may have flown more high performance aircraft during your initial training, but you did mostly VFR and mostly a type of flying that had not one thing to do with Part 121 aviation (IE; flying passengers into Aspen/Vail/Telluride, in heavy snow; holding in a 90 passenger jet outside of Kennedy waiting for thunderstorms to pass; on and on) So to say Military makes you a better pilot is so inaccurate but part and parcel of what we as civilians have to listen to day in and day out when you guys come over to OUR world. Get humble man and spread that word. Part 121 will eat your lunch if you don't.