Hello,

     I am new to the forum and had a couple questions about the lifestyle of Guard/Reserve mobility pilots.  I'm an Army officer (about to make O3) with 6 years in the guard, and I've heard that the AF pilot age has been extended to 33.  I have always wanted to fly fixed-wings (no military aviation experience currently, I come from a CBRN background), and have been considering applying AF Guard/Reserves units when my Guard contract ends in 2 years.  I have a couple questions about the lifestyle of Guard/Reserves Cargo or Tanker pilots, and I would really appreciate it if someone with knowledge in these areas could share some of their experience.  Thank you for your responses and advice in this subject!

1)  What is the average number of hours you will fly per week or month once finished with training?

2)  How far do people typically live from the unit?  How easy is it to switch between states/units if needed?

3)  What are the typical deployment cycles/rates?

 

All these will differ from unit to unit but for my KC-135 Guard unit...

1) as much or little as you want. We only fly 4 days a week but theoretically you could hop on a 2.0-4.0 flight all 4 days. Right now there isn’t much competition for stick time.

2) We have a rule that you must live within the state but we haven’t enforced it. Most of our airline guys live one state over at their airline hub. No one is gonna care unless you start turning red on currencies.

3) We are doing 60 day deployments so that we all get mob protection at 1 to 5. So it ends up being 90 day orders (60ish days gone) and then untouchable for the next 450 days. Most guys are able to deploy on a 60 day once every two years.

You didn’t ask but it should be part of your questions when you start looking at units. We are not doing any volunteering for additional trips or taskings except for an occasional good deal trip now and then. 90% of our Squadron is Delta, Southwest or FedEx so it’s hard to fill those trips. Our younger guys are all sitting as GS-13s making a ton of money while trying to build hours.

It’s cool because our old guys are happy and our young guys are happy. The leadership has done a good job trying to keep the good deal Guard going.


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