Tiger

Serious question here, not looking to start a pissing contest. I know there’s at least a couple people on this forum who have experience in both. Which was generally “more difficult” and what made it so? Or were some parts of one easier in the other and vice versa?

Thanks, that makes more sense now.

Can @Chida or anyone else shed some light on my situation? I separated from active duty about a year ago as a Captain with four years TIS. My DD-214 says Honorable, has my proper rank/grade, as well as my reserve obligation date for the IRR. Narrative reason for separation was FBK (completed active duty service commitment). A few days ago I got in touch with the Reserve Service Programs Branch (DPAMR) at ARPC regarding an unexpired UIF I had at separation. I wanted to ensure that it had been destroyed and removed from my career brief since it was due to expire last month. They've confirmed that it has in fact been removed from MilPDS, but they also told me that the PAS code I currently hold indicates that I was discharged and hold no current status, even in the IRR. According to them, it is SecAF policy not to scroll officers into IRR from the RegAF that have UIF's, even those that have a remaining MSO. They said that I am still eligible to seek Guard/Reserve jobs but that any prospective commander will have to submit a moral waiver with my packet. Here's where I get confused. I checked Milconnect that @Chidahad talked about in another thread, and it states that I am in the IRR. So milconnect and my DD214 say one thing, but ARPC is saying another. My biggest concern is that if I no longer have a commission in the IRR, then I won't be able to join the guard even though they claim otherwise. As it has already been said on this and other threads, I thought it was law that you had to serve your entire MSO barring some kind of punitive discharge or ETP.

Honestly that’s not unlike my situation. The military flight docs (and later some shoe-clerk O-6 at the pentagon) kept telling me my condition was “progressive”. Complete BS because every published medical article on the condition says the exact opposite. It was almost like they just started making stuff up to support their reasoning.

Well they do have the exception to policy thing where the vice chief of staff looks at your case, but that system seems to be broken. I wasn't even told the ETP program existed until I read about it once I commissioned. I've heard the only folks on active duty that get ETP's approved are the officers with the best strats, most CGOQ awards, etc which if true is a ridiculous way to pick pilots in my opinion.

I certainly understand this and I realize that the AF is looking for stability over a long period of time and a good return on investment if you want to call it that. What irks me is that in my particular situation, it's been five years, I'm an Air Force captain with no health issues, and I'm still meeting first class medical standards without any waivers when most trained Air Force pilots only need a second class (if I recall correctly?). If I was a pilot, I'd be nearly halfway through the training ADSC at this point in my career. When I first got disqualified, I did try this route with a few different politicians. But they would always refer my case back to the legislative liaison officer at AF Pentagon and I would get the same answer every time. I actually just separated from AD a couple months ago, so I was considering writing to a few generals since I really have nothing to lose now and can contact whoever I want without worrying about chain of command BS.

Quick discussion for the Air Force guys here. A few years back, shortly before I commissioned in the AF, I was selected for UPT but shortly thereafter medically disqualified at Wright Patterson AFB for all flying duty (Pilot, nav, RPA, ABM) based on a very rare but also extremely minor corneal imperfection, Thygeson's Keratitis (small spots on the surface of my eye). I still met the vision minimums but unfortunately the flight surgeons would not consider me for a waiver, and their justification was that this condition was "debilitating","extremely painful", and "progressive". I remember the day I was disqualified, they were adamant that I would never be able to get any kind of flight physical above an FC3, military or civilian. Later on, I saw a few private ophthalmology specialists (one of them an AF reserves flight doc) that concurred with the diagnosis but did not agree with the Air Force's claim that it could cause extreme pain and told me that it was in no way a progressive condition. These doctors both provided written statements for me to send to the docs at Wright Patterson, but predictably the Air Force still wouldn't budge and I was out of luck. Not surprisingly, I never did experience any of the symptoms that were used as justification to disqualify me. Fast forward to today. I'm getting ready to take a biannual check-ride this week, so I go to an FAA flight doc to renew my third class medical. I do the standard tests (vision, urine, etc) with the nurses and then go into the exam room to wait for the doc. He comes in, goes over my test results, examines me, and then says that I qualify for not only an FC3 but also an FC1 and that he'd be happy to issue one to me if I'm interested in flying for a career. Long story short, I walked out of his office today with the medical certificate the Air Force told me I would never be eligible for. On top of that, I didn't require a single waiver. So, I'm curious as to what you gents think about the situation. Does an FAA FC1 translate to military flying duty whatsoever? I'm not sure if and how the standards differ, but I don't understand how in the eyes of the FAA I'm medically qualified to captain a 737 for Southwest airlines, but according to the Air Force I'm apparently too disabled to fly even remote control aircraft, let alone C-130's. It almost as if the Air Force can't see the forest through the trees, because they keep complaining about a pilot shortage but keep turning away perfectly qualified applicants.