Rhade
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Posts posted by Rhade
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1 minute ago, matmacwc said:
I've seen ANG dudes switch IN UPT, just hadn't started Phase III yet.
I'd heard similar stories. Thanks bud.
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11 minutes ago, RTB said:
I will refer you back to my "bird in the hand" comment. No idea how easy age waivers are these days. But taking a sure thing and turning it into a "maybe, waiver required" situation is probably not a wise move.
Yes, so true.
Hey first off thanks for being so helpful answering my questions. Second yes I know I have been given a golden opportunity, but if given the option there is another air frame I'd like to fly. So if I'm interested it sounds like it can't hurt just to apply and see what comes of it. So my second question is how far into the process can I go with my current unit before I'm committed? Is it once I attend OTS? or until I attend UPT?
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18 minutes ago, RTB said:
Well that does change things a bit and presents an interesting situation. Will your current unit let you defer OTS and UPT? It sounds like the other unit doesn't even know who you are so would you just be throwing your name in the hat as an off the street hire? Are they both Guard? Both Reserve? Same state? There's a good chance that having been hired already by one unit would give you a big leg up with the other unit since you've already been vetted to some degree.
If you can apply to the fighter unit without jeopardizing your C-130 slot, I'd definitely do it. Go to the unit and talk to their hiring guy and lay out your situation and see what they say. But again, it would suck to lose your current slot chasing a fighter slot and be left with nothing.
Yea I just got off the phone, they are interested in talking to me. (He seemed impressed by my package just talking over the phone). They are both guard units, same distance from me, different states. But they aren't meeting until September and I turn 30 in march of next year. So here is another great question. How hard is it to get an age waiver, or given the fact that I have alot of things already done could I get my dates in under the wire if they like me?
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55 minutes ago, RTB said:
Take the bird in the hand now! You can always transfer units after you get your wings. Starting over and re-applying could be a very tough road.
The open unit is a fighter unit though. I'd love the opportunity to "go fast" if it was available. I mean if I go C-130s that door is closed to me right?
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Lol wow thanks in varying degrees to everyone for the answers. Here is another question, I noticed another opening for a position with another unit that I would rather fly for. Is it too late for me to apply to the other unit? I have not yet gone to OTS or UPT or anything.
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Hello all,
I have been waiting in the wings this past year waiting for my TS to go through before my unit wanted to set me up with OTS and UPT dates. It sounds like it went through and they want to start setting up my dates. I'm a little nervous as this is potentially a major turning point in my life. I know the next 1.5-2 years of training will be hard, but my question is what will life be like once I get back? I am an engineer in my civilian life and I want to keep doing that. There are lots of boards talking about airline pilot lifestyle in the guard, but how about a more traditional civilian job? What kind of flying commitments will I have every month? Does your military commitment adversly affect your personal career? How do you manage two jobs and a family?
Info on me, I'm going to be flying C-130s and I live about 3 hours from my unit. I want to make sure this is the right call. I'm taking a major pay cut and I'm going to be spending alot of time away from my family. I'm getting cold feet and just wanted to know how other guys have been swinging it, and get your input.
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On 3/29/2016 at 11:35 PM, Kenny Powers said:
Keep in mind, being away from her isn't going to stop after UPT. How will deployments/tdys work? You'll probably stay busy/gone after you get wings so you need to take that into consideration. Like others have said, this job is great but I wouldn't put it before my family.
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26 minutes ago, brabus said:Kenny's point is huge. I've been gone from home a cumulative 4 years out of 9 years of marriage...and I'm pretty sure that's average at best, there are many dudes who have been gone a lot more than that. Flying is awesome and I love my job, but it's not easy on the family. I *think* the ANG is better than the picture I painted, but spending YEARS (cumulative) away from family is reality over a career, regardless if you're AD or ARC. UPT is only the beginning, and almost laughably low stress/easy once you get a few years in the future and compare that to UPT. It's a great life/job for many, but not for all; make your decision being the most informed possible.
These are great points and things we have discussed. From my understanding the Guard tends to have shorter deployments and I think she will be fine for those months I'm gone. Another question, is how realistic is it for a pilot to be a traditional part time guardsman? I've been told part-time is always an option after training, but i just find it hard to believe they wouldn't want/force me full time after spending a million dollars in training on me.
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4 hours ago, thingsthatfly said:
Just spitballing here but is there anyway that she can work remotely? Is she able to travel, how about her visiting you on the some weekends?
Sounds like money might not be too much of issue but if you were married you cant get a waiver to receive dependent rate BAH for where you spouse is living if you got to UPT as an unaccompanied married officer. So you would get your home zip code BAH (they normally just take this at UPT) on top of your LT salary that might help pay for some tickets. You can look that up here.
This would be ideal, but she is currently working as a consultant as opposed to a permanent employee. The rumor is they may make her a permanent offer soon, but until then she cant realistically make that request until then. We have talked about it though and that would absolutely be the plan if we could swing it. In the meantime we want to plan for the most difficult scenario. Hope for the best, plan for the worst kind of people. :) But yea good call TTF.
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1 minute ago, viper154 said:
Do a court house wedding, don't tell anyone and bring her along. Unless your in such a bad financial situation she needs to keep her job, in which case how do you expect to pay for flights ? And if she is working full time I would expect she has good enough health to fly and see you as well. I think every weekend probably ain't going to happen. Maybe once a month, or on the long weekends holidays. UPT is stressful enough, dealing with airline bullshit, sleep, travel ect every week sounds like a recipie for a bad time, mmmmk
Getting married is something we will definitely do if I accept. She has a very good job making a sizable income, and both she and I are very proud of her career. With me only making a Lt salary, we would want her to keep her job for the financial benefit as well as her professional satisfaction. It's not fair of me to ask her to give up her dream for mine. But you make a fair point about her visiting me on some weekends as well.
As a side note, I really appreciate all of your responses. The insight from you guys in the know is a huge help!
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12 minutes ago, HeloDude said:
Why not just marry her and bring her with you? Is her health situation that bad that she can't get the health services she needs at one of the local hospitals in a UPT town? What about asking to be stationed at Vance with the OKC hospitals not too reasonably far away?
If you can't make one of these options work, then I suggest you stick with what matters most...
No she can get care anywhere, but bc I would be ANG and would be returning to where we currently live we both agreed it would be best if she continued her professional career as opposed to putting it on hold for my 1.5-2 years of training.
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2 minutes ago, hispeed7721 said:
To start - you'll be on a plane home Saturday morning (because you won't finish on base till 5-6 pm on Friday), and on a plane flying back Sunday afternoon...MAYBE 36 hours at the house. I can't imagine what the cost for those flights are throughout all of pilot training for only 36 hours. Also, you will fly some weekends and won't be able to leave.
When I went through, last duty Friday until Sunday after lunch was a no study time. You need time to decompress, so being gone and not studying isn't really an issue. But if you're worrying about your SO's health in a different location during the week it will make things more difficult.
Like I said, not impossible. But completely unrealistic IMHO.
You have to decide what your priorities are. There's nothing wrong with deciding that your family can't stand to have you gone and commuted to the time UPT takes. But if you're going to attend UPT and actually graduate, plan to put the time in. Don't show up with the attitude of "I'm ANG so I can just breeze through." I've seen more than one ANG guy get the boot because they had that attitude.
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I have no delusions about breezing through UPT or it being easy at all, I'm just trying to find a way to follow a once in a lifetime opportunity while still giving my fiance the support she needs. I was planning on leaving Friday night and having all day Sat. and part of Sunday morning with her. I know it probably couldn't happen every weekend, but it's something I would want to try to take advantage of if the opportunity arose. In all honesty I got the idea from the LtCol I interviewed with who did something similar but via driving.
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17 minutes ago, hispeed7721 said:
Big question is where do you live and what base are you attending UPT at?
If it's more than a couple hours each way, I'd say it's not impossible but horribly unrealistic.
For ANG/AFR guys, it's usually less than a week from UPT graduation to RTU start, whereas AD is as much as 6 months
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I haven't been assigned yet, but all of the UPT bases are about a 2.5 hour flight from home. I haven't accepted the pilot slot yet, so I haven't been assigned. What makes it unrealistic? If we can swing the cost of plane tickets (we can I believe), I figured I could study on the plane. Thoughts?
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I have been selected for a UPT slot with an ANG unit. I am trying to make the difficult decision of whether or not to seize this opportunity. In other circumstances I wouldn't hesitate to jump right in and sign the paperwork. However my fiance (together 10 years) is a type 1 diabetic and has numerous health problems. She is still young/healthy enough that she can take care of herself for the most part, but I would like to be there as much as possible for emotional support and she would stay behind if I left to support us financially as an engineer.
So my question is how reasonable would it be to expect to fly home on weekends while at UPT. Again I would be in UPT as a member of the ANG so I would not be competing for my aircraft assignment. I would love to hear from you guys who went through the UPT process. Follow up question, how long is the gap between UPT and RTU (C-130s), out of curiosity?
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I have been selected for a UPT slot with an ANG unit. I am trying to make the difficult decision of whether or not to seize this opportunity. In other circumstances I wouldn't hesitate to jump right in and sign the paperwork. However my fiance (together 10 years) is a type 1 diabetic and has numerous health problems. She is still young/healthy enough that she can take care of herself for the most part, but I would like to be there as much as possible for emotional support and she would stay behind if I left to support us financially as an engineer.
So my question is how reasonable would it be to expect to fly home on weekends while at UPT. Again I would be in UPT as a member of the ANG so I would not be competing for my aircraft assignment. I would love to hear from you guys who went through the UPT process. Follow up question, how long is the gap between UPT and RTU (C-130s), out of curiosity?
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18 hours ago, ptwob408 said:
Disclaimer, I'm an active duty guy, but I have plenty of bros in the guard unit that augments us that have been through the guard process. Looks like you've got a competitive package, so don't wait to apply since you're already 27. And also don't limit yourself to only 1 guard unit and only C-130s. Beggars can't be choosers right now when it comes to getting a UPT slot. Find out who's hiring, go visit those units, be a bro, and I think you've got a good shot at getting picked up. Also, I've heard a rumor that there are "un-assigned" guard/reserve UPT spots that are going unclaimed. I was told that if you get one of those spots, you go to UPT, and then a guard unit will take you afterwards. I don't know all the ins and outs of that, but its something to look in to if you're really serious about going to UPT. Hope that helps.
Hey thanks, and yea it's a good point to apply to multiple units. I sent my package in the other day and I'm waiting for an interview. So you are saying I can go to UPT and be assigned a unit afterwords? How do I go about that? My recruiter seems super adamant about getting me rushing his unit, and he also seems kind of new so he may not be the best source of information on this.
Appreciate the help.
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Hey guys I completed the TBAS and got a PCSM of 93 with 61 flight hours. My breakdown for extra flight hours is:
81+: 96 PCSM
101+: 98 PCSM
201+: 99 PCSM
I'm waiting on one more letter of rec to be turned in to me before I submit my package to the guard unit. Should I hold off and build more time or just go for it once I get the letter? Thanks for all the responses!!
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Hello all. I just got back my AFOQT results, and I'm pretty proud.
Pilot: 99 Nav: 99 AA: 98 Verb: 97 Quant: 96
The catch is my college GPA was 2.6, but it is in engineering and from the #3 program in the nation. I'm also unemployed due to layoffs last year, but I spent 5 years managing up to 50 people at a time. I have my PPL, but I only have about 60 hours.
The rest of my packet is 4 Letters of Rec:
1) Former Col. of the Base I'm applying who happened to be my PPL flight examiner
2) My CFI
3) My supervisor from my old job.
4) An Ex-Marine who worked w/ me at my old job as a consultant.
I'm taking the TBAS next week, but I've been studying the flash cards and practicing with some combat flight sims w/a joystick to practice. Feeling Good.
So long story short, I'm 27 and I really want to fly a C-130, but my whole packet feels like a bit of a double edged sword. I wanted some advice on fleshing out the weak points of my packet. Advice from you guys in the know means a lot, I really appreciate it.
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I still have not heard from the 175th, anyone else?