SabreDriver

Joachim

You can ENLIST in the Navy and serve in that capacity as a NR alien, this practice sometimes expidites the residency path to US citizenship, even if you are stationed outside the confines of the US and its territories. (one might read that as Iraq, or any country that ends in "stan") IMO, enlisting to expidite citizenship is adimirable, but not without risk.

You must, however, be a US citizen to be commissioned in the unrestricted line, and you must be an unrestricted line officer to go to pilot training. Furthermore, by law, you must be commissioned prior to your 31st birthday, this facilitates the opportunity for completing 30 years of commissioned service prior to ones 61 birthday, as prescribed by law. (yes the airlines are not the only ones with mandated retirement ages)

Remember that you need to have that 4 year degree completed as well. If you are already 23 and don't have any college, I submit, it will be nearly impossible to get there from here. There are programs for selecting young career enlisted members for commissioning programs(and flight training), I submit that you are already past your prime age for selection for those, given that you are 23 and not already on active duty. Pilots are not normally selected from the enlisted ranks past the age of 27. If you do already have a 4yr college degree, then the only option you would have as an enlisted member would be an appointment to OCS, very tough to get. Might be better to go VFR direct to an officer recruiter for an OCS appointment once US citizenship has been established.

Before I get flamed here, I know there are exceptions, history is repleat with examples of senior officers on active duty past age 60, ADM H. Richover comes to mind, but a good examination of history will reveal that congressional action was required in each case, due to special circumstances related to the job and the qualifications of the specific officer in question. As for the enlisted programs, I am quite certian of the facts, as I dealt directly with those programs during my last assignment on active duty.

Bottom line, it can be done. You must meet/exceed the requirements. Citizenship, 4yr degree, under the age limits, service has a "need" and you get selected, and you make it through the training.

Finally, you said you want to be a fighter pilot. Don't lose sight of the fact that only about 10-12% of Navy pilots are "fighter" pilots, and that is of the one that make it through the training. Fully >50% of Navy pilots are Helo pilots. A candidate on the first day in flight training has about a 1-2% chance (statistically speaking) of becoming a fighter pilot. Timing is everything. "Your milage may vary"

Fly Safe, best of luck to you on your adventure.

SD

Scout

Roger, you got me on the technical. Here's the scoop, not a rebuttal, but alot of folks on this board don't really know about the Army Warrant Officer, "The quite Professional." Now days with the length of Flight School, and the follow on advanced aircraft there are very few WO1's in the field units...but your right.....and the last Air Force Warrant Retired about 20 years ago!

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In 2005, the Department of the Army developed a new definition to encompass all warrant officer specialties and grades.

"The Army WO is a self–aware and adaptive technical expert, combat leader, trainer, and advisor. Through progressive levels of expertise in assignments, (bla, bla...)(Para 3-5, DA Pamphlet 600-3, Dec 2005) Further clarification of the role of a warrant officer is found in FM 6-22.

“Warrant officers possess a high degree of specialization in a particular field in contrast to the more general assignment pattern of other commissioned officers. Warrant officers command aircraft, maritime vessels, special units, and (bla, bla)....Their extensive professional experience and technical knowledge qualifies warrant officers as invaluable role models and mentors for junior officers and NCOs.”
(Para 3-12, Field Manual 6-22)

Candidates who successfully complete Warrant Officer Candidate School are appointed in the grade of Warrant Officer One. When promoted to Chief Warrant Officer Two, warrant officers are commissioned by the President and have the same legal status as their traditional commissioned officer counterparts. However, warrant officers remain single-specialty officers whose career track is oriented towards progressing within their career field rather than focusing on increased levels of command and staff duty positions.

Grade Structure
There are five grades within the Army Warrant Officer Corps A person is initially appointed as a Warrant Officer (WO1), and progresses to Chief Warrant Officer Two (CW2) after 2 years. Competitive promotion to Chief Warrant Officer Three (CW3), Chief Warrant Officer Four (CW4), and Chief Warrant Officer Five (CW5) occur at approximately six year intervals for Aviation Warrant Officers. (20+ years to CW5). I think this should just about cover it!
CALcitran thanks for taking the time to call me on this!...

reCALcitrant

True. BTW for the original question. WO's are some of the finest people I've run into. Also, W school from what I understand, is TOUGH. Cheers to all my boys (ok and girls) in uniform. I am proud to serve with you all.

LAfrequentflyer

Deciding to become and stay a WO is like settling for 2nd place in life. No thanks.

-LAFF

Scout

You would most likely never make it anyway...and you would get the "no thanks'! If by some luck you did make it, your attitude would get your a$$ handed to you when you showed up at your first assignment! Those "2nd place WO's" are why you can run your mouth here....try it in a Air Cav or Attack unit and you will get you’re a$$ kicked and the education you should have gotten on the school ground growing up!

LAfrequentflyer

I got news for you. I made it thru AF OTS. I would have no problem in W school or any other military training environment.

I'm also the reason I can run my mouth...Active duty for 10+ years and proudly holding back terrorists, liberals, and that mad Korean Lil'Kim.


Rationalize it any way you like...W's settled for 2nd place. Had they the motivation / desire to excel they would have become officers - leaders of men.

-LAFF

rickair7777

There's always a few ringers in EVERY crowd, but I agree that most warrants are great people.

I don't have a problem with folks who just want to do a great job in a narrow technical field...sometimes I wish I had gone that route (but NOOOO...I had to keep volunteering for ******... )