February 22, 200520 yr I have talked to people in this unit but they are busy so I might as well ask all my questions.I know that they have C-17's coming and 135's.Is there a chance to guard bum,how long to upgrade,what kind of trips are available and how long to a full time position?Thanks
February 23, 200520 yr C-17 = Guard Bum Dream if you remain available and can stay away for extended periods. How long to upgrade: Now that the C-17 school has aligned itself with the new standards(old for some platforms). The first time you step onto your C-17 as a qualified co-pilot, you will be a qualified "First Pilot". Next step Aircraft Commander if you have enough time and experience in the jet! 1300 hours plus total time(includes UPT time)... Trips: They will have a year or less to complete their conversion and run missions CONUS and OCONUS of course as they build experience with the jet. I'm sure with their West Coast positioning they'll intially head West to the Far East, etc. Supporting much of the AMC/Reserve/and PACAF requirements. They'll eventually fly opposite direction to Europe like McChord does and eventually in the Sandbox as experience is gained. Full knowledge of trips can be only known by their current ops section which lands the good trips for the squadron to fill every month or so...! Full time positions - Last time I looked at the March manning document, they had even more full-time positions than us. But, you must understand that most of them will be for the tried and true veterans who have sunk their time and did the deed for the unit over the years and any newbie will be lucky to land any one of these in the beginning. Maybe, maybe not - it's always worth a shot! Good luck! [ 22. February 2005, 23:56: Message edited by: AirGuardian ]
February 23, 200520 yr Author Thanks for the great post.How long is a normal trip or does it depend. [ 23. February 2005, 01:50: Message edited by: scoobs ]
February 23, 200520 yr Depends upon the trip itself and what the unit signs on for! Average for us at least is 4 days. Sometimes 3, and at other times 6 or more. Normal AMC channel missions doing the deed twice a month to support them/their lines or an Air Evac. Other missions include Guardlift which means supporting our fellow Guard units in the system by bringing their equipment/personnel to their training sites such as Red Flag or other areas of excercises to include Davis Monthan, Luke, Tyndall, etc. They buy our support, we belong to them and we are used as needed! Army Guard as well as regular service support are done as well. Just saw a McGuire bird doing approaches at our home station here so I know they have been up and running fairly quickly during their conversion to the C-17. You might want to check them out as well. We trained alot of them in our sim here and they are a great bunch with their accents vs ours... just a good bunch of folks!
February 25, 200520 yr Author How hard is it to pick up trips.I know it depends on how many bums are in the unit.What are considered good locations compared to bad locations?Also is it possible to be gone 20+ days a month? [ 28. February 2005, 15:49: Message edited by: scoobs ]
May 8, 201015 yr Does March still have a tanker unit? Yes. I was there last weekend and I saw several KC-135s with March on the tails.
May 9, 201015 yr March has Reserve KC-135's (and C-17's). They were supposed to get an active duty squadron there, which will be a GSU of Fairchild, however they are still waiting the results of an environmental survey to come back. Many people at my base have had orders there for the past 1 1/2 years but are either still waiting or getting orders else where.
May 9, 201015 yr ...will be a GSU of Fairchild... What is this GSU thing? Never mind, you did say AD (not ANG). Edited May 9, 201015 yr by flyerpapa
May 11, 201015 yr Author How do alerts work in general? Do they fly down for a couple days and fly back? Or is there someone permanently assigned?
May 17, 201015 yr How do alerts work in general? Do they fly down for a couple days and fly back? Or is there someone permanently assigned? From what I understand after talking to some Fresno ANG pilots is that each pilot sits alert for two 24-hour periods per month, but not back-to-back. After all, you are supposed to be alert and that's hard to do if you're pulling a 48-hour shift. Most of the guys drive down there since it's only a few hours. I suppose you could fly down there in your own GA aircraft, but the F-16s stay down there until they get swapped out with other jets. I'm not on the inside, currently still a wannabe, but if there are any guys from Fresno on here, I'm sure they would be happy to clarify/add to this.
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