Leaderboard

So to bring closure to this thread, I got picked up by a guard 135 unit and selected for naval aviation in the same week. I went with the guard 135s for a few reasons. From my research QOL in the guard is exponentially better, I get to keep my house and live closer to family. While the chance of landing hornets on a carrier is bad ass, I'm not sure it outweighs 9 months on a carrier on the Arabian ocean. Good luck to everyone else in the process, my only advice is to try to meet as many current military pilots and pick their brains on what the different missions are really like before limiting yourself to one specifically.

Career timing and post military opportunities. In the Navy, if you don’t screen for squadron command the odds of flying post department head (ADO) are almost zero. For me personally, I’m a senior O-4 that flew helos in the Navy and I was looking at a non-flying desk job for at least three years. With no guarantees of flying afterwards (even though I volunteered for UPT instructor, etc), and the Air Force offering me the chance to fly heavies for at least the next four years, it was a no brainer. Even if I don’t fly till I retire I’ll have a lot better shot at the majors afterwards instead of slogging through the regionals for 5-6 years waiting on flow through. The same applies to a lot of the guys I know that have swapped over. No real aspiration for command but happy to fly our asses off for the rest of our careers. That, and the 75 day tanker deployments are quite ok when compared to 6-9 month boat deployments.

Greta Thunberg, Time Traveler? 😱😱😱

I didn’t list every time I shut an engine down in the T-38 or anything that wasn’t a reportable incident to the FAA. I listed my one Q-3 (that guy is blacklisted and not by me), and that was about it. I was involved in a Class C which was later upgraded to a B, which I probably should have mentioned but I had honestly forgotten about it because it happened at the school house when a C-17 broke our boom in half and landed with it still in his receptacle. That was a weird situation because the SQ/CC of the C-17s was flying and I guess he was a golden child. We waited around expecting to pee in cups but magically it all went away as if it never happened. Right before I graduated the IP found me and told me the damage was so bad that they had upgraded it. Those things you definitely want to list. I would say don’t hide anything but also don’t be the worrier who psychs himself out so much that he can’t perform come game day. Also don’t be like the guy in my wing who showed up for the interview dropping the F-bomb every other sentence. The feedback I got was they really wanted to hire him but just couldn’t justify it. Sent from my iPhone using Baseops Network mobile app

Annual retention report is out. Active Duty grew the pilot force by 54. At this rate, we’ll be where our manning numbers need to be in a mere 13-15 years! What a stupendous job Aircrew Task Force! The Generals need to cry uncle. They need to ask Congress for a bigger bonus, or if stuck with only a $35K bonus they need to offer it with a one year commitment and renewable annually.