Both the guard and reserve will hire you off the street. Not sure how the fighter units work, but expect it to be VERY difficult to get a slot from a fighter unit as an off-the-street hire.

And, in case enough people haven't said it already, don't go Active Duty. It's not what you think it is. You will regret it. It's not about flying planes. If you want to fly planes, keep your job and join the guard/reserves.


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Correct, you have to go full-time active duty for all of the sea services. But like I said, you could do that and still have your regional job at the end of the ten-year commitment.

mmmmmmm... high Gs are the best. Obviously not everyone finds them "unpleasant".

Seriously, though - getting a backseat ride in a fighter if someone had never pulled serious Gs is probably not the best way to decide if that's your thing. Working through T-6 and T-38 training will acclimate a newbie and the experience will be much easier to deal with after getting some "G exposure".

Fighter units do hire off the street on a fairly regular basis. I don't know how their UPT slots compare to other unit types, but in my experience, fighter units do want to hire new Lts.

Success in getting hired usually comes down to timing, networking and whether the unit pilots want you in the squadron. Success in UPT and beyond is the real variable. My squadron found it very, very difficult to find hiring criteria that gave an even marginally accurate hack on whether a candidate would be successful in UPT/FTU.

I've been at the regionals for just about 5 years, additionally been a guard guy for about 7 years working in the maintenance group on F15s.

Next year our unit is holding a board, was going to apply for this one in April but am going to wait until next year.

Guard has been the best thing to happen to me, counting down the days until I get to interview at my unit.

Great group of guys. I will say that it seems to be incredibly difficult even getting looked at for fighters without any internal recommendations or being an active duty fighter guy transitioning to the guard.

Also another consideration is as a regional pilot your airline may allow you to jumpseat. If this is the case why limit yourself to Fresno Guard, you can rush fighter units nationwide, and commute to your guard duty. BTW C-17's are just like fighters, we have sticks, HUD's and fly by wire!!)

Yikes. I'm not sure I've ever heard someone seriously offer this as something to do on purpose.

Maybe the situation is different in a C-17 unit. Commuting to a fighter ANG unit is not usually an optimum plan. It certainly can be done, but it definitely makes life more difficult and diminishes some of the positives that can be available when juggling an airline and ANG schedule (especially as a new hire airline guy).

AND you guys do REAL shortfield landings--carrier style! --almost.

Now let's not get CRAZY!