Have flown for both the DoD and DHS. If you want to go active duty, go Coast Guard. If not, USAFR or ANG.

Being part time is nice but balancing family life and airline life can be tough if you want to stay married.

Well when I (NAVY) showed up in my BDU's to an AF bunker in Korea for a non-flying gig the first thing my COL said was where is your flight suit? I said, uh, this is a non flying gig, he immediately scribble a chit and said get your ass to supply and pick up a couple flight suits.

HHMMM Which ranks did Star Trek adopt? :-)

http://www.military-quotes.com/media...roll_spray.jpg

OK... you got me on that one.

You got me there, too. It was amazing how the whims of the everyone from the squadron CO up to the CNO drove the constant policy changes on the when and where we could wear the flight suit.

Still, I've never been stopped by security and told I had to walk through a break in a painted line to access my plane at a Navy or Marine Air Station.

I will echo what everyone else is saying. Do not go active duty!

Ah yes, the "Les Nessman" lines (for you 80's fans of WKRP). I guess it's either that or common sense (or keep your aircraft so dirty no one but the flyers will go near them ;)).

Echo the go guard or reserves theme:

Guard: Typically more laid back(if that matters to you-does to most people)
Generally less money for trips/pay days/etc.
Usually little movement to other units unless you want to(meaning stay in 1 unit for a career if you want)
State run so you get screwed by the lack of benefits at times for Title 32(No Tuition Assistance) orders but if
they really need you they'll activate you and you're no different than you reserve or ad counterparts(at least
until the orders end)

Reserves: A little closer mentality to active duty but still a good deal
Generally more money than guard to pay for days/trips/etc
More likely to move around the reserves if you desire
Federally run (Always Title 10)

One huge benefit: In the absence of federal activations to support wartime contingencies (AKA: Title 10 Orders) YOU retain the right to say no if you don't want to do something, go somewhere, fly a trip, take a deployment, etc. Not so on active duty. The caveat being that I understand this can affect pay days, future opportunities, etc. but you can say no if you don't want or can't do whatever it is that is being asked of you. For career and reputation sake you obviously don't want to say no to everything, I'm just illustrating a point. Both the guard and reserves will begin(some already so) to see big turnover in the technician/art world with airline hiring ramping up so there will likely be lots of future opportunity to grab those jobs if that suits you. For the guys that don't know; that's the full time guardsmen/reservists that aren't agr's (active duty orders in the guard). They're paid as a civil servant (GS-12/13/14 with pilot overrides) and work drill weekends and after hours as a military member. Good benefits and money with a pension to supplement your military pension at age 60 or whatever it is 20 years from now. Finally, most guard and reserves units have quite a few airline dudes so that can make networking for an airline job a bit easier. Active duty guys have the same thing, they just have to look harder since the guys they know have likely separated from active duty and may not be a daily contact.

AD: Steady paycheck on the 15th and the 30th with a decent retirement after 20(for now), if you can stand it. Like anywhere there are lot's of great people and commanders on active duty. There are also some really really bad ones that ruin it for everyone. You serve at the needs of the military. That's somewhat true for everyone but more so on active duty. That works out great for some people and not so great for others in terms of location, jobs, progression, etc.

Lastly, I have many many many friends who have come into the guard and reserves from active duty. I can say I have never heard any of them say they wish they could go back to active duty. Some guys have done limited returns to active duty to capture a 20 year full retirement as Lt.Col.'s, but that's it. Some may disagree on this forum but I doubt many.

Anyone, please weigh in if I've omitted something or you find this to be inaccurate.

Back to the ANG recommendations:

Good info from C-130Driver.

Having done both AD and ANG, I would concur with the recommendation. However, that’s kind of a loaded recommendation to someone who’s just getting started evaluating their options. A lot depends on the pilot candidate’s goals; the mission of the unit and how they handle the training of their pilots.

Obviously, you have to be willing to serve and accept all the potential sacrifices that may require.

Beyond that, if your goal is a military cockpit as a full time pilot and you can get hired by an ANG unit, life can be very, very good.

My real message is to the guy that wants to eventually end up in an airline cockpit and fly as a traditional (part-time) Guardsman. IMO, achieving those goals in as little time as possible is probably best accomplished in a non-fighter unit.

If you really want to fly a fighter, you need to understand that is not going to be a fast track to an airline cockpit. There’s the obvious short sortie duration and slow accumulation of flight time (even though you’re logging PIC time from the get-go while the non-fighter pilot has to take a few years to upgrade to aircraft commander). But, it’s more than just lower flight time accumulation. In addition, accepting the commitment to join a fighter unit is going to result in years of required training and experience before you would have any hope of being able to do that job part time.

Most part-time fighter pilots in the ANG have spent 10+ years flying on active duty before joining the Guard and are highly experienced. For a newbie to expect to show up after UPT, fly for a couple of years full time and then go part time as an airline pilot is not realistic. . Any ANG unit that allows that to happen is really doing you and themselves a huge disservice. Even a 10+ year fighter pilot may take a mission or two to get back up on step after being gone for a couple of weeks flying with his airline. Realistically, 6-7 years as a full time ANG fighter pilot would be the absolute minimum most guys would need to be worthy in the jet and ready to possibly go part time.

In the end, when you look past the lure of building a great airline resume, getting on at an airline in the next wave and flying fast movers with the bros in the flying club – you’re training to go to war, survive and get your mission done well. These days it shouldn’t be too hard to envision a scenario that has your ANG unit fighting alongside the AD bros somewhere on the planet. Getting ready for that needs to be priority one.