[ANG VS. RESERVES]

What bonus? The $25,000 ACP? AGR is considered Active Duty and is subject to the same pay and allowances. Traditional reservists get partial ACIP but not ACP or Aviation Retention Bonus according to the most recent regulation I've seen. I am still to many years away from the 12 year requirement to care much about the bonus. Someone with more experience than I may be able to shed a different light on the subject. You can access the regs for yourself for any clarification http://www.dod.mil/comptroller/fmr/07a/07A20.pdf We are still trying to get a full month's flight pay for maintaining the same flying qualifications and standards as our active duty counterparts.

[General AF Reserve info]

You do not need to transfer anywhere to apply for any slot. As 21 said, many units will hire and promote from within rather than going outside the unit. It all depends on the unit. It has been my knowledge and experience that more guard units hire from "within" than reserve units. AFRC units must submit your name, if "sponsored," to a centralized hiring board before they are allowed to officially send you to UPT. There is no requirement to enlist in order to apply. If a unit can get you to enlist, then they own you whether or not you get to go to UPT. Since you are a prior service individual, which is greatly in your favor, this doesn't apply to you. If you are qualified, with good scores, many units will transcend traditional "unit boundaries" to submit your name for UPT. It all comes down to the interview. If they like you, you're in, if not, tough luck. Best bet is to narrow down all of the units you are willing to relocate to fly for, get great letters of recommendation from everyone you can, and send out as many applications as possible. Good luck!

[ANG VS. RESERVES]

I apologize in advance for the lengthy post, but I hope I can answer a few of your questions, anyone else please chime in. Most Guard units have one hiring board for pilots per year. Reserve units have flying boards in March and September, and your application package is sent before a central board to determine if you are qualified (i.e., a given unit may put your name up and sponsor you for consideration, but if you aren't qualified compared to the others being evaluatd, your unit may be told to select someone from the list who is qualified but not sponsored by another unit or resubmit your application at the next board. Other than that, the hiring and recruiting process is very similar. After being selected, AFRC goes to USAF OTS (12 weeks) at Maxwell AFB and ANG goes to Academy of Military Science (6 weeks) in Knoxville, TN. Then its off to UPT with all of your active duty counterparts, and the rest is history. As far as activation goes, that is pretty unit specific, depending on mission capabilities. Most units, both AFRC and ANG will rotate crews in and out of the AOR (battlefield) to keep TDY days manageable for civlian employers (i.e., 2 units will each send 2 aircraft to the AOR and rotate 4 crews per month for the duration of the deployment). Most of the heavies, herks, and tankers have no trouble keeping their crews fed and paid.

[Approach Plates]

Good idea to familiarize yourself with Jepp products if you are soon to be applying for a commercial flying job, such as a regional carrier or major. They like to see that former military pilots can effectively use both types of plates.

[PIQ vs CIQ vs PMQ]

That is too bad, I really enjoyed the one checkride deal. Good luck on your checkrides. Huey, are you in the "new" program, both left and right seat qual? If so, how is that going?

[PIQ vs CIQ vs PMQ]

Very valid point HD, 2shay

[PIQ vs CIQ vs PMQ]

I'm not trying to start a Horse vs. Jody battle (aka 53rd AS vs 62d AS for non herk types), but the checkride setup HD was referring to definitely leans in favor of the "one checkride" approach. Much less time under the "gun" of an evaluator, and the setup is actually pretty smooth. Fly a low level, followed up by some instrument/pattern work for the right seaters and some assault work added for the left seaters, a very logical approach. Also, only one EP evaluation to suffer through. Definitely not painful from my experience. The one checkride approach is definitely big picture, but equally thorough.