Forfeit UPT Slot for Civilian Route?
 

Hey y'all looking for advice.
Fed up with my guard unit. My board was 2 years ago, FC1 almost 1 year ago. They won't put me into TFOT until July. Graduate August. UPT and everything else to follow. Very sick of waiting and putting a huge strain on my family life - Wife no kids yet-

Its a refueling unit. I really do want to serve they just make it so difficult with all the hurry up and wait. Plus I'm stuck commuting to drill every month and doing pushups with all the enlisted high schoolers.

Is it worth it in the end to stick out all the bs to become an airforce pilot?

Or should I take the easier way out go the civilian route finish up my ratings in a few months, be a cfi, and be at the regionals by the time i'd finish ANG training? With all the money and retirements coming up it is tough to sit on my hands and wait.

Yes, it's worth it. It may seem like a pain in the ass now but it will pay dividends down the road. Your military experiences will trump anything else you do, hang in there bud!

What he said--it pay off

GF

My inclination as well.

In the meantime: make damn sure you can pass the PT test; in particular, the sit-up test!!

And, if you are doing civilian flying: it will help initially, so keep at it. But two months into T-6s, you will realize how little you knew about flying (at least, that was how I felt in T-37s).

Good luck.

2.5 years to UPT from the board?! Hell naw brother. That's standard "monopoly money" Guard antics. In 2006 AFRC sent me through OTS/UPT/FTU with less than 2 weeks between events. Insane that one would have to brag about that. I hit the line as a CMR guy as a 2LT.

Honestly, I'd be looking at other units who could send ya a quicker. That timeline is retarded. Some AFRC units are sending multiple dudes a FY to UPT. The only reason anyone would hang out for a unit like that is because you're a townie, which is also a common M.O. in the Guard. Nothing wrong with that, but life's riddled with opportunity costs.

Same deal with AC upgrades at guard tanker units. The AFRC sucks on the AD-Lite shenanigans, but at least we get people paid and hours on the logbook stat. Game is chess, it ain't checkers. Good luck to ya bud.

I'd advise going the civilian route. Try to get hired by a regional with a follow through to a legacy; even with a military background there's a chance you'll end up taking that route anyway.

Having a military background means a lot less than people think it does.

Fastest way for you to get to a major airline is probably civilian if you are close to having your ratings. Mil flying is fun. At least it was for me...shooting things from helicopters, hanging out with the bros, that kind of stuff. The mickey mouse BS the man is dishing out can suck it though. Flying tankers? Not my cup of tea. Especially since you have to deal with the man still. If you were waiting to go fly F/A-__s, and that is your dream, I'd say stay. You can never do that again. Or if you really want to pass gas to fighters then stay (blah). If flying rubber dogpoop out of hong kong is your thing, do it at FDX/UPS and make a lot more money.

The desert isn't cool. Losing friends isn't cool. Sure C130s and C17s do some cool stuff. I've jumped out of both. I've flown in the cockpit in both doing army parachute drops, and rode up there going to/from/around the desert. They do some okay stuff. Nothing that cool though IMO. My tanker buddies have some ok stories, but they are generally from some cool TDYs and not from the flying itself. The flying itself isn't that appealing to me and I've never heard a cool tanker flying story, unless having fighters fly formation and get gas is a cool story. They have some cool TDYs/overnights, but I'd rather have better seniority at DL/AA/UA and have better overnights there where I'm making more money and generally not going to the armpit of the world on most TDYs/deployments. That's just me though. Good luck.

If you can stay in the guard, get your ratings and get on with a regional with a flow, then go to UPT, you could get a flow number and could potentially get the best of both worlds. Not sure if age-wise that's a possibility.

USAF/Guard Bureau buerocracy is a *****. For needing pilots so bad they haven't seemed to figure out they're part of the problem. Hang in there.

This couldn't be more wrong.

The military background helps you get hired by a Legacy with a lot less hours than straight civilian.

The quickest and more importantly the cheaper way to the airlines is to go to UPT with the guard/reserves which gets you all of your ratings free of charge. Hit 750 hours and get your restricted ATP, also courtesy of having a military background, and then immediately go fly for the regionals. Continue to fly at the regionals and in the Guard until a Legacy calls.

Or you could spend a lot more money getting your ratings, slug it out as a CFI until 1500hrs, go to a regional, and slug it out there even longer because your hour requirement will be higher than a military guy.

IMO this is a no brainer.

Read the bolded in sequence. Fastest to AA and you'll get the military training, experience, and service benefits.