Civilian FY 2020 OTS Boards

[DinaMight 1]

On 1/13/2020 at 8:51 AM, tarheelaviator said:

Hi all,

Thought I'd create a separate thread from the AD UFT one.  Anyone else reapplying/applying to the active duty civilian boards for active duty Air Force (not Reserve)?  Curious if anyone else has had any success getting a UPT slot this route.

As a quick lesson learned from the last board don't let your recruiter force you to put any job on your sheet other than pilot.  My recruiter(s) made me believe it was required to put alternate jobs beside pilot (put CSO as the 2nd choice just to get pushed through).  Turns out that is not true and is absolutely not required.  If your recruiter tells you this is required just move on and call a different one don't make my mistake.  

Cannot stress this enough, I was in the exact same shoe and listed 4. Pilot CSO RPA Missileer

Picked up for CSO. Life has already set me deep into a professional flying career and now this is requiring me to essentially choose one or the other. 

If anyone has info on how to go about turning down the slot and reapplying please share your experience, I am all ears. 

To everyone that got selected, congratulations A LOTand to those who weren't. Keep at it. I know the feeling. It took me ROTC and then OTS to get here. You know the process is arduous but the reward is worth the effort.

[DinaMight 1]

On 4/27/2020 at 9:27 PM, Terminator5lf said:

Apologies I attached it

Terminator5lf, can you link the source document?

[DinaMight 1]

On 5/14/2020 at 3:41 PM, Kiloalpha said:

Thanks! PCSM is 94. AFOQT is 98 pilot, 96 nav, 83 academic, 94 verbal and 60 quant.

Congrats man! I was curious, on top of your PCSM did you have strong academics or volunteer work (they seem to love this one)?

[DinaMight 1]

On 2/3/2020 at 10:53 AM, tarheelaviator said:

The whole if you turn down a previous non-pilot offer to try again for pilot it will hurt your chances isn't really true either.  Bottom line don't let your recruiter(s) scare you into taking a job you don't want.  

How do you know this? I am considering dropping my slot but my recruiter told me if I did as such, I could essentially toss away the dream of being a USAF pilot.

[Terminator5lf 17]

10 hours ago, DinaMight said:

Terminator5lf, can you link the source document?

There was no source document. My recruiter only sent me that exact picture. 

[Kiloalpha 318]

10 hours ago, DinaMight said:

Congrats man! I was curious, on top of your PCSM did you have strong academics or volunteer work (they seem to love this one)?

Thanks! Academics wise not really? I had a 3.3 in college (BA in Political Science), but I did get a business certificate at an Ivy League school that helped with my job at the time (hint: They just want your money... it’s not that impressive or hard to get into). Volunteer wise I was super involved with Special Olympics for a while, but when I started working multiple jobs it kind of dissipated.

PM with any questions or info. I’ll give you whatever I can find to help.

[tarheelaviator 30]

10 hours ago, DinaMight said:

How do you know this? I am considering dropping my slot but my recruiter told me if I did as such, I could essentially toss away the dream of being a USAF pilot.

DM'd you but again always consider the motivation of the person telling you something.  Their job is to get you to go to OTS not to get you to become a pilot.  It sounds like a scare tactic to me.  

[tarheelaviator 30]

11 hours ago, DinaMight said:

Cannot stress this enough, I was in the exact same shoe and listed 4. Pilot CSO RPA Missileer

Picked up for CSO. Life has already set me deep into a professional flying career and now this is requiring me to essentially choose one or the other. 

If anyone has info on how to go about turning down the slot and reapplying please share your experience, I am all ears. 

To everyone that got selected, congratulations A LOTand to those who weren't. Keep at it. I know the feeling. It took me ROTC and then OTS to get here. You know the process is arduous but the reward is worth the effort.

Wait you are a professional pilot (commercial?) and they offered you CSO?  God who the on these boards actually has any common sense?  

[Guardian 258]

Don’t do it. CSO’s are second class citizens int the Air Force. Well pilots are too. But not as much.

 

Plus if you want to fly. Fly. Riding is technically flying.

 

Same same. But different.

 

 

https://media3.giphy.com/media/C6JQPEUsZUyVq/source.gif

[DinaMight 1]

46 minutes ago, tarheelaviator said:

Wait you are a professional pilot (commercial?) and they offered you CSO?  God who the on these boards actually has any common sense?  

No am currently working on my commercial at a flight school. At this point I have already invested a lot of money into this so to hang it up and put in on hold for 8 years will not leave me in good footing with the airline industry once I get out of the USAF.

[mb1685 62]

2 hours ago, DinaMight said:

No am currently working on my commercial at a flight school. At this point I have already invested a lot of money into this so to hang it up and put in on hold for 8 years will not leave me in good footing with the airline industry once I get out of the USAF.

Since you’ve invested so much in your hours and ratings, I 100% would recommend not accepting the CSO slot. I’m sure it’s a great career in many ways but you’d be throwing away so much money and opportunity compared to someone with little or no flight time.

I can’t speak to the odds of getting picked up for AD OTS again after turning down a position, but it doesn’t hurt to try. And as most people here would recommend, pursue Guard and Reserve units. You’d be able to continue your civilian flying career in parallel, and I’m pretty sure 99% of their selection boards are not going to bat an eye at someone in your shoes having turned down an AD CSO slot.

Edited May 17 by mb1685

[tarheelaviator 30]

2 hours ago, mb1685 said:

I’m pretty sure 99% of their selection boards are not going to bat an eye at someone in your shoes having turned down an AD CSO slot.

I can 100% confirm they will see it as a positive.  I was in a similar situation to him and turned down a CSO offer last year.  Everyone I've mentioned it to during squadron visits, Zoom meetings and phone calls from Guard/Reserve squadrons saw it as dedication to being a pilot and said they would have done the same thing.  

[CharlieHotel47 100]

Don’t do it. CSO’s are second class citizens int the Air Force. Well pilots are too. But not as much.
 
Plus if you want to fly. Fly. Riding is technically flying.
 
Same same. But different.
 
 
https://media3.giphy.com/media/C6JQPEUsZUyVq/source.gif

One of the best shows to watch while drinking at the squadron bar is a CSO and a NAV arguing about who was the most important/toughest/coolest job between the two. And how the other guy couldn’t handle it...


Sent from my iPhone using Baseops Network mobile app

[DinaMight 1]

On 5/17/2020 at 2:14 PM, tarheelaviator said:

I can 100% confirm they will see it as a positive.  I was in a similar situation to him and turned down a CSO offer last year.  Everyone I've mentioned it to during squadron visits, Zoom meetings and phone calls from Guard/Reserve squadrons saw it as dedication to being a pilot and said they would have done the same thing.  

Was it the same when reapplying for OTS?

[tarheelaviator 30]

1 hour ago, DinaMight said:

Was it the same when reapplying for OTS?

Don't know yet unfortunately.  

[tarheelaviator 30]

On 5/15/2020 at 7:40 PM, Kiloalpha said:

That’s nuts. You’re applying again though? Keep at it, your stats are rock solid.

To illustrate how freaking incomprehensible the boards' selection criteria is there is someone bragging on the FB group about being picked up for pilot with a PCSM of 32, AFOQT pilot of 73 and 0 flying hours.  Granted they are saying their undergrad GPA was 3.5 but that's still ing nuts.  Is this how these boards decide on pilot candidates?  

 

[Kiloalpha 318]

6 hours ago, tarheelaviator said:

To illustrate how freaking incomprehensible the boards' selection criteria is there is someone bragging on the FB group about being picked up for pilot with a PCSM of 32, AFOQT pilot of 73 and 0 flying hours.  Granted they are saying their undergrad GPA was 3.5 but that's still ing nuts.  Is this how these boards decide on pilot candidates?  

I saw that. She did say she reapplied a number of times, so I’d think that helped her case somewhat.

Did you see that google doc in the FB group? That might have more info as to what more selectees had (more data points can’t be bad). That said, I think it’s fair to say you got shafted with bad timing.

[tarheelaviator 30]

2 hours ago, Kiloalpha said:

That said, I think it’s fair to say you got shafted with bad timing.

My military aviation efforts in a nutshell

Edited May 19 by tarheelaviator

[DinaMight 1]

10 hours ago, tarheelaviator said:

To illustrate how freaking incomprehensible the boards' selection criteria is there is someone bragging on the FB group about being picked up for pilot with a PCSM of 32, AFOQT pilot of 73 and 0 flying hours.  Granted they are saying their undergrad GPA was 3.5 but that's still ing nuts.  Is this how these boards decide on pilot candidates?  

 

Yeah but she shared her TFOT application and one can see why she was selected. Its that "Whole Person Concept" the AF loves to talk about. No flight hours but lots of leadership and volunteer experience. LORs from O6s and such. 

By the end I get the impression that for USAF, its better to have 100 hrs and lots of volunteer experience rather than 500 flight hrs and no volunteer experience.

[DinaMight 1]

According to AFMAN 36-2032: reapplication for nonselects/decline is 12 MONTHS not 6?

 

[tarheelaviator 30]

21 hours ago, DinaMight said:

According to AFMAN 36-2032: reapplication for nonselects/decline is 12 MONTHS not 6?

 

Was shown something similar and found someone who would work with me anyway.  Everything can be bypassed.  

[DinaMight 1]

12 hours ago, tarheelaviator said:

Was shown something similar and found someone who would work with me anyway.  Everything can be bypassed.  

Maybe even bypass the 6 months and start earlier?

[tarheelaviator 30]

On 5/23/2020 at 10:52 AM, DinaMight said:

Maybe even bypass the 6 months and start earlier?

No idea.  I'd just call different recruiters until you find one who's amicable to your cause.