You all probably get this alot, what is the best path to be a military pilot? - Page 4

#31

beis77 , 04-24-2008 02:47 PM

Gets Weekends Off

Quote:

Originally Posted by SoPinesHeel

I think it depends on what you want to do...

If you want to be a Fighter, Bomber, Tanker, Airlift or Predator pilot go Air Force...
If you want to be a helicopter pilot...go Army.
If you want to land on a carrier like Maverick and drive ships too...go Navy.
If you want to be a Marine...go Marines.
If you want to rescue people and fly in some crazy bad weather...go Coast Guard...

If you want to drink beer (if that is your poison), travel the world (if you feel like it), have 30 day deployments (if you need some tax free), fly nicely maintained planes (because the maintainers take pride in ownership) and have some freedom in your life to pick your path...go Guard/Reserves.

very nice

#32

130drvr , 04-26-2008 01:27 PM

Gets Weekends Off

Quote:

Originally Posted by usa3000go

fly 6584, how did you like Air Force ROTC? Also...for any other active duty Air Force guys, how is life on base Active Duty? Days off, etc...Thank you.

Well, there are a lot of AD guys on this site for a reason, we are getting out. That being said, life on AD for a new guy isn't bad, first off you will never know what it was like 10 years ago, before the tempo kicked into high gear. Depending on the platform you go to, you may be gone quite a bit, which you may or may not prefer. Most guys only get hours while deployed(at least in my community). I fly C-130's, currently at the schoolhouse, but my buds at operational units are doing 4 months in the desert, 4 home, ya dig.

I have some buds who do their first herk tour then branch out to be a UPT IP because they enjoyed it a ton when they went through.

I did AFROTC at Texas, and enjoyed it, pretty easy gig. Just have a non-flying option in mind, I did intel for 4 years before going to UPT.

The point is there will be guys with horror stories and guys with awesome stories. If you do ANG/Res, which most of us leaving end up doing anyway, you need to be prepared to have another job on the side or just bum until you get hours for the commercial world. I see students all the time come through the schoolhouse and talk about bumming until getting on with a regional, etc. The AD will get you to a ton of hours and pay you well along the way. But you are a slave to the man, and when he comes down with your 365 day "opprotunity," it is hard to say no when you have a 10 year committment.

If there is a Res/ANG unit near you and you want to stay local, I would check with them, most all of them have UPT hiring boards.

#33

130drvr , 04-26-2008 01:35 PM

Gets Weekends Off

And oh by the way, I was NROTC for a year, then transferred to another University and went AFROTC. The 6 month deployments as standard had me a little worried. If you do go Navy, I recommend P-3s. My USN friends at Corpus during UPT said it was the best kept secret, great locations(Jax, Hawaii, Maine, Seattle) and shore duty.

Look at the number of acft in the AF versus the Navy or other services, the AF has more planes to fill.

#34

130drvr , 04-29-2008 08:58 PM

Gets Weekends Off

watch the PBS series on the navy, on last night, holt sh^t, they are not very happy "on the boat"