What he said. I was in the Reserves, flying heavies (gues which one) and flew fighters before those years. I worked 23-25 days a month for 18 years. Five days a week plus two weekends for full timers like I was. But, like the fighters, no AF in the world has the military power--it doesn't come without work.

GF

Don't believe everything you hear from a heavy guy, and don't believe anything you hear from a FAIP.

This....AF Flying should realistically be 8-10 hrs/day unless you are deployed--(where it is much more generally) unfortunately, keeping up with the careerists requires you to do another 4 hrs of....stuff....that the lack of, will not be noticed by the CC, but will be noticed by the busybody exec or DO...And it isn;t good stuff like tactics or briefing--No it's really crappy stuff like making sure the Christmas Party is well planned, or a series of GOD-AWFUL meetings with group staff about the 21 flights that went out today and the 3 that didn;t make it out because of MX...Info that could be summarized at the end of the week in a spreadsheet through E-Mail...If Military Flying was just about flying--It would be wonderful, but unfortunately it is more about career progression than anything...

AF

This .....................

How is life for the army warrants flying helicopters? Same 12 HR days?

I'm curious, are the hours better in the guard if your full time?

It all depends on your duty station and what additional duties you're tasked with at your unit. It's hard to gauge, but I'd argue most days it would be easy to work 12 hours if you're doing your job right. I work at a very high operation tempo unit and I'd say I do 10-12 hours most days. Every now and then there's a random day or series of days that are 14+ hours. Occasionally I'll work only 6-8 hours (Fridays most often), but there's PLENTY to be doing at your own job, let alone performing random taskings from higher and helping coworkers.

I think so. I also think things are less demanding in a non-fighter unit than a fighter unit, but there are non-economic valuations that drive that difference, which isn't inherently a bad thing. A to each their own kinda thing. In general I think most folks would agree the majority of full time Reservists have a higher QOL vice their mirror on Active Duty.

+1. I did the same in my last year and got crapped on in my separation Eval for it. I just laughed all the way to my new hire class a week later.

I would go back and do it all again though.

Another reason I advocate ANG over the Reserves. Most Guard squadrons work 4 day work weeks. 4x10s provides an amazing QOL. Now, if your squadron has an alert commitment (fighters), it changes things a little. But as long as your leadership doesn't have an active duty mentality, you can still run a great squadron and have a good QOL.

It's still great, but times are changing...some good, some bad. Today's Guard is not the one I entered over a decade ago. The biggest complaint I'm hearing is leadership that have never been part timers (total foul in a community of part timers) or leadership that have never dealt with part timers, and apparently have chosen not to...