Catman

Part of these interviews is a social outing that usually involves drinking. Ask for a non-alcoholic beer or mixed drink and try to socially open up the healthy way. I wouldn't make it "a thing" that you're under 21 because then the focus is on "oh hey this guy's 20" and not "hey this guy's a solid dude"

*goes into web code* *Ctrl+F: http* *replace with https* *profit*

If you want to get past interviews as fast as possible, the helos will do that for you. Otherwise, best of luck, you've got a great application package! The only items that would help you past where you are now are instrument rating and a time machine to go back and get some military experience and a STEM degree. That being said, military experience is a surprisingly minor boost and an economics degree is pretty damn close to STEM. You're solid, just start schmoozin, turn 21, and start boozin.

AFOQT scores are percentile-based. You can almost treat them like letter-grades. You'll want to get >90s in Pilot, Quantitative, and Academic Aptitude with an average score overall of >80. Those are numbers just pulled out of my @$$, but they're not too far off if you want to be really competitive with AFOQT scores. Essentially anything >90 is great, anything 80-90 is good, anything 70-80 is acceptable, anything 60-70 is looked at with a discerning eye, and anything <60 is a concern. Less emphasis is put on verbal and navigator scores IIRC, but best to have everything as high as you can get it. I used the Trivium AFOQT study guide and kicked the test's butt. Now I've just gotta figure out how to kick an interview's butt.

I would grab an AFOQT test prep book and rip through that as much as possible to figure out whether your Quant score (and possibly AA) are indicative of your actual abilities or if those were flukes (mismanaging time during exam, etc...). If you have knowledge gaps that can be fixed with some practice (i.e. you've learned how to do them but are just out of practice), then it's worth a retake. If they are true shortcomings that you simply have no idea about, then it becomes a little gray whether you should try and learn those concepts and retake or just persevere with applications. The Q and AA scores aren't so low that a board would discount you much, but they are low enough that you'd be an easy applicant to drop if they were comparing you with another applicant.

I'm speaking from the standpoint of applications, interviews, and earning a slot. The interviews I've done and the pilots I've spoken to have taught me that the magic experience range is between PPL and IR, possibly CPL. However, though less often, the interviewers have said that on some boards, they are targeting those with much more experience. The least often they are looking for are those with <10 hours (no solo), though, apparently, that is occasionally something they desire. It depends on what they're trying to get out of the candidate -- generally, they'd prefer getting at least a couple years of full-time out of you before you back off to drill status. Sometimes they don't care if you go right back to your airline at the earliest moment. Others are desiring someone who will stay on full-time until retirement. Obviously, they can't hold you to any of those expectations, but based on manning and requirements, these boards have varying desires.

You'd have to have an insane interview experience to get past those issues. If you want to apply, apply. However, I think people ask these questions so they're not spending time and money on applying only to spin their wheels in a scenario where the chances are pitted against them. Even with airline standby benefits, it will get expensive.

Showing Not Secure for me. Also, I don't know where you get your certificates, but https://letsencrypt.org/ is always an option.

Agree with cagg. It seems like anything under 50 is a concern. Large differences between scores are also concerns. An Air Force pilot is an officer foundation with pilot focus and skills built on top. If your resume is less than ideal for a generic officer like, say, Logistics or Maintenance, then your extensive pilot qualifications are almost moot.

Hey everyone, I am an air guardsman right now, and I have a pretty complete grasp on how the applications work for Guard UPT slots. However, the Reserve side is a mystery to me. From what some other folks have said, it almost sounds like there is some sort of application you can fill out that gets sent to multiple bases, and they will reach out if they are interested. Is that a thing? Was that a thing? Whatever information you can give me so I can understand the differences between applying Reserve and applying Guard would be super helpful. Thanks!

To add to EvilEagle, your vast flight experience in concert with your vision situation would be a tough cookie to sell. >1000 hours flying makes you an "old dog" to teach "new tricks" to. Some folks get hired on with these huge amounts of hours, but it's usually a stretch for them... and your vision would be another excuse for them to not take you on.

PM'd

With that kind of background and an interest in RPAs, units will go head over heels for you. You oughta be waiverable, but I have no knowledge or experience in the RPA realm, so don't quote me. I think the vast majority of pilot postings are DSG, but there oughta be full-time positions available at your base through technician/AGR routes. The opportunities are generally... fly RPAs. There are a lot of contracting positions for RPA pilots, and I've heard they pay quite handsomely. Only speculation, but from my experience, it seems that big Air Force does a lot of contracting when they need to bridge a gap that they are working on bridging. So you could have a lucrative career contracting for a few years and then it suddenly goes *poof*. Again, no direct experience, but generally, DoD doesn't like to drop huge stacks on contractors when it can drop small stacks on military members.

It's not great, but it's damn good. A re-test maaaaaybe would be worth it, but it's not a huge concern.

You might benefit slightly from a TBAS retake depending on how you felt about your performance on the first one, i.e. if you know how you could have squeezed some more points out. Otherwise, forget it, you're pretty solid on that front. Good that you're already commissioned, got your PPL, and have graduate work in progress. Might want to diversify your LORs a bit. ANG, after all, is a lot of civilian folks with a military side-gig, so knowing that you are civilian-capable is important. Unless the content of each one is very distinct, it is not going to mean much more than a single LOR would.

You should make your own thread.

Well, I wish I could have told you to enlist a few years ago. It would've paid for a good chunk of school and it would have taught you quite a bit, but there's a reason the ANG is "the best kept secret in the military". Not everyone knows it exists and fewer know how cool it is. That's all in the past, there's no way to go back now. I'm with you on this. Enlisting *now* while you're pushing for a commission is not worth your time. Some bases are backed up quite a bit on training -- my base has dozens of folks waiting for training dates and some have been waiting for over a year. It's insane. What I suggest is sticking to what you're doing now but finding *every* opportunity to show your face to the ANG unit, whether on or off-base. ANG units host or participate in all sorts of volunteer events, stuff like 5Ks, etc... and if you can figure out where the pilots are going to be, you can show your face at these events. An important note if you choose to do this: you're pretending to be "pretty much part of the Wing" not "pretty much part of the Fighter Squadron". If you're familiar with what Student Flight is on an ANG base, you're pretty much pretending to be one of them. Also see if you can't get your medical stuff out of the way ASAP. First class medical, who cares. The military is super crazy about weird medical tidbits. I knew a guy who had an inhaler prescribed to him as a kid. The inhaler did not help the symptoms he was feeling, so he stopped using it, and he grew out of it after about a year. It took almost an entire year to convince the medical folks that he's in tip-top shape and the inhaler had no impact on him.

I spent a couple weeks getting my uniform squared away (huge ribbon rack change -- we wear blues pretty much once every other year) and didn't notice a glaring issue until the morning of the board. Without going into detail, think "What's the worst thing my tailor could do to my dress blues?". Attention to detail and whatnot, I completely understand, it's my fault in the end. I considered changing into a regular suit, but I thought that would be a cop-out since I would imagine they would rather hire SSgt ___ than Mr. ___. Probably a dumb move, I shot myself in the foot with that one. But some of the other folks there were absolutely outstanding. For anonymity's sake on their part, I'm going to change the details, but imagine if a decorated Army Ranger showed up to your board. I was hoping for more dopey folks to show up 😏. A lot of advice coming from airline pilot family and their colleagues who fly/flew in the ANG. I did not do enough talking to pilots in my unit, though. I did talk to a few including an O-6 in the unit, but it turned out those folks were completely uninvolved in the hiring process. The Peoria, IL ANG unit flying C-130s is pretty desperate from what I've heard. Details are fuzzy, but something along the lines of: their unit hired 3 folks during their last UPT board, and they all failed medical, so there's a huge gap in their manning. Feedback other than the above uniform thing was mostly that my 5-10 year plan was not solidified enough. They wanted me to talk about becoming a SME, an Instructor, a Wingman, and that sort of thing. My issue is that I don't fly fighter jets yet, so I can pretend to know what those roles entail, but without actually being directly involved, it's all playing pretend. To me, it's pointless: I'm going to end up where my talents, my desires, and the squadron's needs intersect. I don't have the talents yet, my desires will not be fleshed out until I'm flying these things, and the squadron's needs are not defined. Obviously, that stance is not what they're looking for -- can anyone attest to what the right stance is and why?

I'll stop wearing socks then. Sorry, my macho vocabulary is weak in the morning. The F-15 makes me feel some type of way. I can feel it in my pluuuums. We fly F-16s now, and we're slated for F-35s. I'm pretty much doxxing myself at this point, haha! The board that I did not get chosen for was the last board they were having for F-16s; the next one will be set up for straight F-35s. I know fighter guys fly airliners, but I've heard some folks say they have to spend a lot more time flying regionals. I want to get international and heavy relatively quickly. My attitude on tankers is somewhat skewed because of the awkward conversation in this video. I know the guy talking ain't a pilot, but man does he make it a difficult conversation haha! They definitely do set you up for airliner life, though, with the multiple engines, turbine power, CRM, and whatnot.

I'm an ANG Staff Sergeant (should be getting Tech if the pandemic ever ends) working in Communications. Here are my numbers: Major: Computer Engineering (Minor: Leadership, University known for good engineering school) AFOQT: Pilot: 96 Nav: 96 Acad: 98 Verbal: 94 Quant: 96 PCSM: 94 w/ current 112 Hours, 97 w/ 201+ Flight Hours: Earned my PPL. 112 hours with Complex Rating and ~50% through Instrument. Age: 26 LORs: Squadron CC from deployment, Flight CC from home station, Professor from capstone course in college Civilian Career: 3 months on a semiconductor company internship, 9 months at a healthcare software company, been working for a year Title 32 as one of our base's project managers for conversion to F-35 Military Career: Pretty normal ANG gig. Honor Grad and Distinguished Grad during training, earned an AFAM at home station and an AFCM on deployment. Clearance: Currently hold TS/SCI I think I have good odds, having quite a frustrating time securing interviews but I am making more of an effort to rush. I'm having a hard time with a couple things though: Airframe: I'm probably trying to go airlines at some point, but I like keeping my possibilities open as I might want to stay full-time with the unit or do something else civilian-side. I don't have a strict order of preference, but it would be something like A-10, C-17, F-35, F-15, C-130*, F-16, C-130 *C-130 with special mission, like EC-130, LC-130, HC-130, fire-fighting mission Updates: I've interviewed at home unit twice (F-16 --> F-35), St Paul (C-130), Phoenix (KC-135), and sort of interviewed at Stewart (C-17) -- they did a phone interview to lean out the interviewees a little more, and I did not make it past that. See below feedback 😐. Recently committed to doing much more rushing, but that decision came right before COVID threw those plans on the ground. However, I've got an interview with OKC's (MC-12W) unit, and I'm crossing my fingers that Baltimore (A-10) will have me interview as well since they told me I barely missed the cut last year. Feedback: This has been one of the more frustrating topics. With units that turn me down before interview stage or even after interview, the feedback is usually nothing more than just "You're super solid, but you just barely missed the cut", "Very competitive application, just didn't make it this time around". I did the BogiDope application prep and we found some shortcomings in the resume and cover letter that have been knocked out, but my results have been marginally better at best. Thanks! EDIT: Updates to my original post have been underlined.

I'd say you have a better than average shot. But, yeah, make your own thread for that if you want more replies. I'd try to boost that guy up. At the very least before your retake, I would recommend a discovery ride to get yourself acquainted with the controls more.

It was sort of voluntary, sort of non-voluntary. I did not see a tasking and volunteer for it, but rather, my unit was given X involuntary taskings and they sent out a survey gauging interest in the taskings. So in essence, by expressing great interest in deploying (read: your life and family would not be in shambles if you deployed) they knew who they could give these already-involuntary taskings to. I signed up, regretted it immediately afterwards, then un-regretted it when I got my assignment, then regretted it when I found out what the job entailed, then un-regretted it after I got used to it. Fun times. But, yeah, it was a difference of formally volunteering for a Voluntary versus "pretty much volunteering" for an Involuntary.

Yup. That's the standard for when ANG deploys folks individually. I volunteered for a deployment a while back and received my orders only to find out that I had been "involuntarily mobilized".