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I'm not totally surprised by it, as the Army FW program really isn't as in-depth as the Air Force UPT. But having gone through a full RW Qualification with the Army and then another FWME Qual totaled nearly 21 months of school for me. I don't think I can suffer through another flight qualification pipeline at this point in my life. I'm approaching age 32 and I just don't feel like starting from the beginning again especially after already having a 9 month FW deployment and accruing over 1K mil hours.

Going through a full UPT is probably going to be a deal breaker for me. I might as well just continue as a GS-11 and wait for another full time position to open up. Typically with O grade vacancies we see 1-2 a year.

I'm looking for some info on possibly joining a local ANG wing. I've got 11 1/2 years in the Army National Guard. I'm currently a 2LT (I was a CW2 and I Direct Commissioned last year) qualified in the UH-60 A/L/M as well as the C-12V. I've done one deployment in the C-12 and have about 540 hrs FW and another 525 RW. I'm a PC/AMC in the UH-60. I've been an Army technician for about 7 1/2 years. For the last 4 years I've been working a tech job that isn't flying as a GS-11, eventually hoping to move to a GS-12 or 13 flying position. Over the past 2 years I've applied for several jobs both AGR and Tech to move on from my current position. Although I've been told I interviewed well for all of them I was not selected. I'm currently going through a GS-13 selection process and if I'm not selected I think I'm going to make a change. I have a local refueling ANG wing here local which is essentially co-located with my Army unit. I've read several threads about going back through UPT and officer school with the air guard but most of that applied to CW2's that were RW pilots. Does anyone have any experience with prior Army fixed wing transitions for commissioned guys? Also, what is the best way to approach the wing. Should I try to schedule a sit down with the wing commander or try to talk to some pilots that fly there to get a foot in the door with a decision maker? I work closely with the wing BCE who is an O5 and I think he has a good relationship with the wing commander and could probably ask about an interview, but I wasn't sure if this was a good approach.