Does anyone know what happens if one who took the pilot bonus decides to break the contract and leave early? I assuming the bonus would need to be paid back in full, but is it even possible to break the contract?

its possible. pm me. i have all the info you need.

Interesting timing to your question. We are going through that right now with an AGR who has the pilot bonus contract. Stand by for words, but as of right now the dude got his curtailment denied. Things have hit the proverbial fan right now in the AFRC. BL, in this airline present hiring environment, expect to have your AGR curtailment denied if you currently have an ACP contract. I would not be taking an AGR right now if you intend to get hired by an airline in the next 3 years. We're being told AGRs who don't have a bonus commitment would be allowed to curtail, but I personally wouldn't gamble a mainline job on that empty promise.

Now, I will also tell you this. When it came time last year to approve the ACP waivers in order to curtail AGRs members who were giving up said AGR in order to be hired into ART jobs as part of the big bad AGR-ART conversion scheme, the waivers and approvals flowed like waterfalls.

Caveat emptor people. Cat's out the bag.

Well here's the deal. I'm an ART right now. I've been in the ART program almost 3 years. I came to the ANG from an AD Palace Chase transfer about 9 yrs ago when the majors weren't very stable and full-time Guard jobs, both AGR and ART, were few and far in between.

In the meantime, I took every temp-ART, temp-AGR, and/or MPA orders I could get until something opened up. Fast forward to 2012 and I finally landed one of a few ART jobs that began to open. A few AGR vacancies opened up afterward, but they ended up going to a few airline guys on mil leave trying to get a 20 yr AD retirement before going back to their company. We've had a few seasoned ART's bail to the airlines in the past year and most of us "new hires" from O-4 on down are beginning to get the airline bug also.

An AGR job was just advertised within the unit in the midst of me polishing up a few apps to the majors. I have about 4,000 points, but hesitate to apply and accept the position (if selected of course) if and when I get a call and get a job offer later on down the line with one of the majors I apply to. Whether it's a year from now or four, I'd like to have the option. Paying the bonus back is the least of my worries. I'd have no problem banking it for 5 yrs. My mil pay as an AGR would be about $15k higher per year than my ART/mil pay combined and I'd be financial comfortable enough to not have to blow the bonus.

I'm not so confident that the NGB is as worried as AFRC about the max exidus of full-timers amongst the ANG yet. I think their heads are in the sand IMO.

It's your life, but knowing how the hiring is these days, I wouldn't want to get locked down by an AGR job, if your end desire is to end up at the airlines. I'm an AGR currently, but I troughed as a younger guy in the 2006-2011 time frame (we're talking 2LT/1LT/junior O-3 troughing here). Trust me, I know the struggle.

The difference in pay and benefits between an ART and an AGR is indignant only when you look at it from a permanent career standpoint. No question about it, ART is active duty on the cheap. For O-4s and above, no contest. But, when viewed in the light of an honest desire to be a major airline pilot as the end game, the ART becomes the hands-down winner in my view. It removes a layer of uncertainty, for pretty much a negligible amount of money, if we're talking about 3 years versus foregoing a 15-20 year airline career.

Thanks for the replies. So it looks like getting out of the retention commitment worked for some and isn't working for others. Interesting. I'm sure the ropes will only get tighter.

I will most likely apply for the job and at least interview since the announcement closes out soon. In the meantime I'll do a little more homework to make my decision when and if that time comes.

Knowing, first hand, what "Needs of the Air Force" means, I'll most likely decide to stay an ART.

One more question... is the acip only in 5-9 yr intervals or can it be done for say 1 yr for 25k?

They only allowed me to take the $25k bonus for the length of my AGR order - 4 years. Then I got extended a couple of times so I was eligible for 14 more months at $15k.

Ok thanks. I heard they only cut the first order for 1 year when you get hired. Kinda like a probation year. That may be unit specific.

Fy15 acp was 1-35 months at $15k/yr prorated or 36 mo at $25k/yr