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Shadows

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  1. I posted over a year and a half ago and after many delays I have more things to show but do want to gauge where I stand in all this. Goal: F15 Unit. I think I'd also find enjoyment with an F22 unit but there are a small handful of these on the Guard & Reserve side combined. I've also given some thought on to applying for a C-17 unit (heavy) or a UH-60 unit (rotor). Age: 26 1/2 College & GPA: 3.66 GPA, Criminal Justice AFOQT: P: 98 / CSO: 73 / ABM: 95 / AA: 86 / V: 70 / Q: 90 PCSM: Not taken yet, anticipating a decent score due to hours LORs: Board member from CA POST Commission, Chief of my city's Police Department (the letter was written to me directly, I do not think I can have it re-written to a unit like some units ask for), Ex-Fire Chief of my city's Fire Department, my city's Sheriff Flight Hours & Experience: 230+ w/ PPL Single Engine & Instrument. Commercial & CFI scheduled in 2 month (I expect a unit will be open for applications once I have about 400/500 hours and as a CFI) Extracurricular: Competitive & Non-Competitive Swimming (not college-level), Non-Competitive Snowboarding 10+ years Volunteer Experience: Police Department Volunteer (non-sworn, 4 months) & Reserve Deputy (non-sworn, 1 year and ongoing) Leadership Experience: Leadership role in a private non-profit flying club with multiple aircraft (not official yet but including it now as it will likely be official when I apply) The "negatives": 1) I have some concern over the Verbal since I've read that units want 90+ in Pilot and 80s+ across the board otherwise. I like to think I did good enough to get looked at considering English is not my first language (I am a native US Citizen with US Citizen parents) although I'm a bit apprehensive with mentioning that to any squadron in my initial letter. The CSO score is also close to that Verbal score but I don't think that it will be heavily looked at since I'm not trying to be in such a position where that score would really be applicable. 2) I am starting to push into my late 20s which means the clock is ticking but I'm not too stressed about the age specifically whereas employment history... My employment history compared to others my age is probably not very good and might raise an eyebrow or two with units. I worked for one employer for 3+ years and got laid off due to COVID, I have not since returned to work since I wanted to focus completely on advancing my aviation career and finishing university. I've been able to sustain myself financially thankfully but I do worry that units will think negatively of my lack of work experience.
  2. Thank you for your detailed reply NABO! Seeing as how things could potentially work out for me I'll indeed be making this push. I still am a tad concerned that I may not have many extracurricular activities in my life that would wow people. As a result I'm struggling to think about what would make me appear good enough to interview outside of just getting to meet the people when they have open meetings. Based from what I've read it seems like the general advice is to go to open get-together of the squadrons that you want to join and just be social with the people (basically "rushing"). One squadron I read said that they don't do individual tours and they invite "selected candidates" for the weekend of interviews. In this case how would you introduce yourself before applying? I did notice that other squadrons have, at least this year, wrote that they were considering visits and you were able to call to schedule it. Edit: Managed to find a podcast about rushing squadrons. Pretty much answered my questions. In a way the process isn't convoluted and seems pretty straight forward. Just gotta pick up the phone and call the relevant point of contact it seems.
  3. Greetings! I'm very early in the process but I wanted to know if I'm in a realistic situation where I can make this push for fighters. Age: Just turned 25 College & GPA: 3.70ish in a Sociology major AFOQT: Not taken yet PCSM: Not taken yet LORs: Board member from the CA POST commission Flight Experience: PPL w/ 120 hours with plans of completing my CPL by next year Extracurriculars: Competitive/Non-Competitive Swimming for 10+ years (not in College, my university did not have a swim team unfortunately) & Snowboarding/Skiing for 10+ years (I've met some interesting people through this but nobody that I could think would give me a LOR). I plan on taking the tests in Spring of next year but prior to then I want to know if 2 factors are going to preclude me from fighters specifically. #1 - My age, I might not be pushing 30 but I've read a post here talking about how the average age of applicants is like 22 or 23 and I feel that by the time I show up I'll be 26 and will spend years chasing "No's" because I "should've been making this push earlier" until it's too late or be pushed to go AD. #2 - Distance; I'm lining up a career with Federal Law Enforcement but the problem is that due to the locations available I may end up hours away from the unit/state. How much of an impact could that be? I've heard some stories of units only sponsoring people who are residents of their state (specifically I heard this one about Texas).
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