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Just got an interview with SWA with: 2,800 total 1000 hrs in T-6 1500 hrs in KC-135 Not sure how close that is to “min time” but probably pretty low comparatively.

Is this dude for real? Look @katdude, you're not special. Wanna check back with TAMI-21, or BRAC 05 folks (for us AFRC brethren), to see how that worked? Newsflash: the fighter pilot shortage is an illusion. It's not cockpits they're short bodies for, it's 11F rated staff weenies (that's O4 and above generally) that they're short on, while calling it an 11F shortage. That makes late-to-the-party dreamers like you get the false impression you're in some sort of buyer's market for your services in a fighter cockpit, when it comes to stomping and demanding your fighter dream. You've been misled if that is your understanding of the dynamics of present hiring. If I was a heavy unit, I wouldn't want you taking the trash out for my unit. If you don't want to fly heavies, don't fly heavies. Go duke it out at the regionals or go to medical school and pay for your own L-39 on your own dime. Otherwise, STFU and get in before you get slammed out. Timing and luck, there is no justice. Nobody is gonna jump over their own ass to get some nobody UPT candidate an ETP to go fly fighters. Unless you're a legacy case or a woman, that's just not the market environment we're in. And by going Active Duty, you risk the chance of sucking at UPT (I can just see the quibbling), or at the very least not hitting the right class in the FY, and not getting a fighter anyways regardless of performance. Yes, even in this so-called shortage environment. Here's the bottom line truth: You had your fighter epiphany too late. Time to own up to that fact. There's people who start at 18 and all they want to do is fly fighters, and never get it. Ask me how I know. And you rolled out of bed at 29 and said "fighters or go home", plus cop an attitude about the fact the ETP process is not more forgiving, based on no-shit bad gouge/read regarding the hiring market for USAF pilots in the first place? GTFO here with that shit.

do you have any civilian flying experience? If not, maybe go out and take a discovery flight. If that experience doesn't solidify the desire to fly, then it's time to graciously bow out. Flying is something that you either love, or your don't. If it's not for you, then it's better to make that decision before stepping into a program like UPT.

It's almost that time of year again! 😋

Duck's future isn't riding on this one, so it'll be on time.

There’s also a pilot/physician program out there, and other unique opportunities, like astronaut, among others. Take whatever path you can to get in, then take opportunities to go where you can with whatever opportunities present themselves with the qualifications you have. In my small circle I have a good friend about to go to space who used to fly attack helicopters, know someone who flew helicopters in the army, then flew fighters and at some point went to med school and was a flying physician. I know a non prior service lawyer older than you hired to fly fighters in the reserves. I’ve tried to become a fighter pilot since I was 18, finally got hired by a fighter unit 16 years later after an interesting, circuitous path. Since age is a factor, you can’t be picky with what you fly or where you fly it. But you can move around later. Getting in is the biggest hurdle. Edit: also, no matter what unit you go to or what you fly (assuming you get hired), you will be taking out the trash when you get back from training. Age/rank/previous other experience doesn’t matter if you’re the FNG. I was taking out the trash when I was rushing and expect to be doing the same when I get back from training, and this isn’t my first military flying career. It’s not a disrespect thing. It’s just what you do as the FNG. Somebody’s gotta clean the bar and take the trash out.

Congrats!

Can’t tell if serious. You can move state to state. And you can be a GO in the guard/Res. And you can fly different airframes. You sound like you should be an AD test pilot. Also, active duty dudes don’t generally hop between airframes that often.

Did his sword get a DFC too?

first..."restricted to that state" please go a little further with that...are you worried about not being able to live out of state and commute to the squadron? Or worried about transferring to a different unit in another state? As far as your recruiter goes...who cares what their feelings are. You are pursuing success in your career...not his. Sure he wont "get the sale" but you should not concern yourself with the whims of a recruiter. They are there to fill slots and meet quotas not be career counselors. They don't have your best interest in mind....generally speaking. As far as ETPs are concerned...there is no rule that says reserve gives them more than the guard of visa versa. even a unit that gave one to a guy may turn around and completely deny you because they wanted that last guy...and don't want to hire you as much as they did that other guy. Even then...a unit that historically has been giving away ETPs can change in an instant with a change of command who does not want to support ETPs. Cat the net far and wide and don't major in the minors. If you get hired by a guard unit, and later want to switch to a reserve squadron or a different guard squadron because they are closer to family or whatever...the squadrons will typically understand and support you. Hope this helps

Am I the only one anxiously awaiting this story? 🍿

Knowledge gained... One more vaporware that's a Photoshop mod of the A-29.... Bears a passing resemblance to a P-38. Add ER saddle-bag tanks like the MC-12/KA350ER, take the fuel tank out of the backseat for a CSO station, keep the cannon in the nose but upgrade to a 25mm like the Rutan Ares concept had, integrate an MX-20, etc... and you have a good medium attack / ISR platform... probably would need to grow some for that wish list but it's worth it...

I’d say over again by 3 months from the original date they should have the results by.

After wings have already written them. Again. Over-under on this board having the same delays as the last one?

I didn't zero sum the math myself, but my brother who is finishing up med school now did. It comes down to opportunity costs. Doing the military thing is a guaranteed job, with an opportunity for a pension, and no malpractice insurance, but you get paid much less than what you can get on the outside. Or you can go out and take a little risk in the civilian market and make some really good money. Or another strategy some doctors take is just min run their loan payments, live it up, and die with debt. A doctor that just finished up their residency and thinking about joining the military is like a military pilot at the end of their initial commitment: you could stay in/join the military, but financially, it makes sense to go get hired by a major airline/work in a civilian hospital, but there's always that chance you might not get hired. Then again, you won't have to deploy, or move if you don't want to. All that to say, there no real comparison between doctor and pilot bonuses. Each gets paid what the military thinks is fair, and yet both groups are still undermanned. Saying we (pilots) should get a 100k/yr bonus because the doctors do is dumb. We should be paid enough to make the jump to the civilian world not as enticing as it is now. Then again, would $100k/yr bonus keep more pilots in if the AF doesn't address toxic leadership, doing more with less, and culture problems? Outsource medicine? What if the local doctors don't want to take new patients, or don't think Tricare pays them enough? What if the only hospital in town goes bankrupt? How many AMEs are out there to do flight surgeon stuff? How about getting doctors to go down range? If people aren't fit for duty, the unit mission suffers. If you want to outsource dependent care, sure, I can see a case for that. I'm tired of pilots thinking we're the only ones that matter in the AF. Yes, our service needs pilots to accomplish it's core mission, but we can't do it alone. Yes, we deserve to be paid better to help with retention. But we also deserve support functions that can actually support us, so we can focus on flying. The underlying problem is we are not manned or funded to do the things our nation asks of us, but we are too afraid to say we are at (or really past) our breaking point. On top of that, we self impose the ridiculous OPR/PRF system that wastes innumerable man hours- that's self inflicted. We created a culture where failure is not an option, so people will go out great lengths to cover up problems rather than identifying them and solving them, instead of using failures as learning points to make ourselves better. We can't contract everything out and keep cutting our support functions; we've been doing that for years and we are paying for it now. Finance sucks because they've consolidated to save on manning. Having our own medical capabilities means they should better understand the environment we work in, but we can't attract enough medical personnel. Contract mx sucks. It took Vance a year to get its runway repaired through a government contract, while Stillwater airport 45 min away did theirs at about the same time in 3 months. Why not get rid of the MAF and contract it all out? Contractors already fly some Army airdrops in theater, why not expand it to all airdrops? There's contract ISR already too, so let's get rid of that as well. I'm sure we could find a contractor willing to do light attack. Where do we draw the line at for what must be done by active duty? But hey, just give the pilots a big bonus, and all the AF's problems will be fixed. Scratch that, just give the fighter guys a big bonus, everyone else can be contracted out. I got mine, screw everyone else, sucks to be you.

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