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I dont know if theres a subtopic that this topic fits under so Im just posting this here. Here is my story of how I got picked up by a KC-135 ANG unit. Roughly 2.5 years ago, at the ripe young age of 28, I decided to pursue this thing with all that I had. I got started so late because, in my youth, I made some stupid decisions. At 19 I failed out of college (straight up just kind of stopped going). I really dont have a good reason for having this attitude. I just had little motivation, wanted to hang out with friends, work, and just do things my own way. In some respects, I feel like I only enrolled in college because everyone else I knew from my high school did. So I went with no real desire to be there with no regard for the consequences of doing so. Immaturity in its purest form. In the following 6 years, I was enlisted in the South Dakota Air National Guard as an AMMO troop. On the civilian side, I spent a year busting tires in a tire shop (1 year), then worked in a hotel front office (1 year). In 2014, fed up with making horrible wages, I went up to North Dakota and worked as a floorhand on a drilling rig. Money was great, the work was incredibly physical and dangerous, but I was finally making good money. After a year and a half, the price of oil went down the toilet, and my rig was stacked, and I was laid off. Then, in 2015, I found a job back in Western South Dakota near my hometown operating a bulldozer at a local bentonite mine. Somewhere along the way, I really started thinking about what I 'actually' wanted to do with my life. I knew running a bulldozer for 12 hours a day was not it. I enjoyed my time as an AMMO troop in the SDANG but, because I met my wife while 'deployed' to Korea in 2015, I opted out of reenlisting in 2016 so that I could move to Guam where she was stationed. After moving there, she was pregnant and done with her enlistment by 2017. This is when I really became interested in flying. My uncle, a former Naval aviator and retired Delta pilot, had always instilled an interest in aviation when I was younger but, through my ignorance, I truly believed I had just messed up my education beyond repair after failing out of school. (This is why I never even thought to look into the process of being a pilot while a member at the SDANG, an F-16 unit). But here I was; back in South Dakota, 28 years old, newly married with a young daughter and I knew if I was going to pursue this, I needed to go now. I was obviously incredibly discouraged at that time to find out that the age cutoff was 30, meaning that if I were going to be selected, then I would have to have been selected right there and then with no college education and no flight time. I had heard about the possiblility of age waivers and so, that was what I was going for. I reenrolled at a school that has an accelerated program shortly thereafter, began taking flight lessons, called the Ellsworth AFB Education/Training Center and scheduled the AFOQT and TBAS within the following 6 months. The best news about all of this was that the school I enrolled in actually doesnt take prior institutions GPA's into consideration, so I basically got a clean sheet. Probably better news was the age was bumped up from 30 to 33 last year which, to me, was the biggest relief and it made me realize that this was truly doable and lifted some of the weight off of my shoulders of the notion of a fruitless pursuit. I turned 30 last June and the time from 28 to 30 have been the busiest years of my life. I work 50 hours a week, go to school more than full time (amounts to about 20 credit hours per regular semester), fly as much as weather and finances permit, and try to be a somewhat present husband and father. I finally reached 90 credits this January, and started applying to units in February. I was obviously missing a Bachelors (will complete in August) and a PPL but, some units are stingier than others on prerequisites. I made a spreadsheet in which I mapped out every ANG unit in the country that has a flying mission and gave everyone of them a call (believe me, they dont all post on Bogidope). I got ahold of a few chief pilots, many recruiters, and left many messages requesting information about upcoming UPT boards. I got a text back the next week that literally read: "(Name) here, give me the basics; age, AFOQT scores, PCSM, degree, GPA, flight time." So I did and the following text he sent me about floored me. He said "Can you be here for an interview on March 7?" At this point, Im pretty stunned, so I called the guy. Wondering who this guy was, and who had the authority to invite me to an interview through a text message, I asked him what his position was and he said "Im the Chief pilot here." I replied emphatically that I wouldnt miss the interview for the world. Long story short, I am at the the interview this past weekend and they ask the one question I knew they would: "Its very obvious that you're passionate about this and that youve worked really hard the last couple of years to achieve this, but where was this drive and determination 10 years ago?" I looked him right in his eyes and said "Thats a great question. It wasnt there. I wish I could make up some excuse as to why I started this pursuit so late but I cant. I was a clown in my earlier years. I didnt take anything seriously and had no regard for the consequences of my actions. Full disclosure, because my transcripts dont show it, I actually failed out of college at 19. But life has a way of knocking you down and making you grow up and, after the last ten years of working full time, I realize the value of taking my education seriously. It is already paying dividends because I wouldnt even be at this interview if I hadnt started taking things seriously. I cant change the past but I hope that the last two years show you guys that I am serious about this." Overall, the interview went well. It was much more relaxed than I imagined and I got along really well with the other candidates. I wished them all luck, and just tried to realize that we were all here trying to achieve our dream. I just made it a point to be myself, be humbled, socialize and just be completely transparent about my mistakes and my journey up to that point. I found out two days ago (Just three days after the interview) that I had been selected. My offer is contingent on me completing my bachelors and PPL by the end of the year. So, while there is still tons of work to do, I feel so blessed to have the opportunity to be given my dream job and will certainly be meeting those two contingencies. I want to thank everyone on this forum for sharing their insight and knowledge on the multitude of topics that this process entails. Im certain I will be referring to it in the near-future. This place is a great resource for anyone pursuing a career as an AF/ANG pilot. Lastly, though it sounds incredibly cliche, dont give up. I felt that at times I was never going to make it. The doubt definitely got to me at times that I had started too late, or screwed up too bad or, that I missed my opportunity and am too old. But, as the email I got from the Chief Pilot the other day states, my "ticket is punched." FWIW, here are is what my numbers were on the date of my interview. Nothing special thats for sure: Age: 30 AFOQT P:90, Nav: 78, AA: 55, V: 68, Q:48 PCSM: 72 w/14 flight hours. GPA: 2.93

Copy that, it is probably the only data set to study if the AF were inclined to take up Maj Byrnes ideas, or this particular one. Agree on that base of experience, acquired at an early stage in one's military flying career is crucial and likely what led to a higher rate of difficulty, sub-par performance you observed in cross-flows. I would still support a Heavy/RPA/Recce/FAIP cross flow program but with lead in experience building to promote a better cross flow fighter pilot / wingman. What that lead in experience would be for these already rated dudes coming from a non-fighter assignment would be is the $64,000 question, unfortunately we don't have a platform like the A-37 in the inventory that took pilots from all platforms that met a requirement and built tactical experience in aircrew from other backgrounds. Cross Flow (X to fighters) is not / would not solve all the AF's cultural problems but I think it would be beneficial. Costs to be sure but in the rated community I think it would have a sizable positive impact, particularly with aviators in the beginning of the career looking for that second shot and likely to stay for a career with a background that could make a well rounded leader. Benefits to the AF and the fighter community I believe also if executed properly. Good article on the A-37: https://www.airspacemag.com/military-aviation/legends-of-vietnam-super-tweet-8974282/

The democrats are hell bent on keeping Trump as POTUS. I can't believe they are dicking this up again so badly, but they continue to slide further and further left and can't help themselves. Welcome to 4 more years of the "orange man". He wasn't my pick, but I'll take him again any day over the dems top two.

Oh, I’m with you. He is not word-smart. But he’s going to wipe the floor with Joe “you-know-the-thing” Biden. And I happen to really like Joe Biden.

Yeah... In Tampa Bay... with Orlando being a crew base just 2 hours away... Sent from my iPhone using Baseops Network mobile app

122nd FS just cancelled squadron visits for this upcoming weekend due to coronavirus concerns. I wonder if this is affecting decisions for other upcoming visits/boards (i.e. ft worth, DC). I'm guessing probably yes.

Please tell me someone got screen shots before they deleted it! Sent from my iPhone using Baseops Network mobile app

I’m just glad he was able to get internet installed in his moms basement/bunker. Sent from my iPhone using Baseops Network mobile app

If you follow The Pilot Network on Facebook and want some entertainment, a familiar poster is currently going through the phases. https://www.facebook.com/groups/ThePilotNetwork/

nsplayr, you used a phrasing I’ve commonly heard: that Bernie didn’t expand his coalition (similar to some media articles that he didn’t shift to attract wider coalition) He’s genuinely not interested in moving his platform to what the electorate wants. He thinks the electorate should flex to his platform. And that’s a fatal flaw.

Wait, are you talking about the same Trump that orated this gem? The man can barely finish a sentence. “Look, having nuclear — my uncle was a great professor and scientist and engineer, Dr. John Trump at MIT; good genes, very good genes, OK, very smart, the Wharton School of Finance, very good, very smart — you know, if you’re a conservative Republican, if I were a liberal, if, like, OK, if I ran as a liberal Democrat, they would say I’m one of the smartest people anywhere in the world — it’s true! — but when you’re a conservative Republican they try — oh, do they do a number — that’s why I always start off: Went to Wharton, was a good student, went there, went there, did this, built a fortune — you know I have to give my like credentials all the time, because we’re a little disadvantaged — but you look at the nuclear deal, the thing that really bothers me — it would have been so easy, and it’s not as important as these lives are — nuclear is so powerful; my uncle explained that to me many, many years ago, the power and that was 35 years ago; he would explain the power of what’s going to happen and he was right, who would have thought? — but when you look at what’s going on with the four prisoners — now it used to be three, now it’s four — but when it was three and even now, I would have said it’s all in the messenger; fellas, and it is fellas because, you know, they don’t, they haven’t figured that the women are smarter right now than the men, so, you know, it’s gonna take them about another 150 years — but the Persians are great negotiators, the Iranians are great negotiators, so, and they, they just killed, they just killed us, this is horrible.”

Tulsi polls around 2% so yea...stop trying to make Tulsi happen. It's not some secret conspiracy, she is just not popular. The DNC does not pick the party's candidate any more than the RNC picked Trump; the voters decide. In 2016 the GOP primary voters chose Trump against the wishes of many in the party, and in 2020 Dem primary voters decisively did not choose Tulsi. I will quibble with this in that Bernie is doing significantly worse than he did in 2016 and this nomination is over. Bernie does poll very well among "younger" voters, which I mean people under 50, but they don't vote nearly enough to outweigh the preferences of older voters. Many of Bernie's ideas poll well in the Democratic Party and the party has moved somewhat to the left ideologically compared to the Obama presidency, but Bernie never succeeded at expanding his coalition from 2016 and in fact lost over half of it 4 years later when other candidates not named "Clinton" were available to choose from. Due to tornado damage where I live, I waited > 2 hours in line to vote in my state's Super Tuesday primary. The old lady in front of me waited the same 2+ hours...to vote in the GOP primary that is not even remotely competitive! That's a hell of a commitment to voting and good on her. Barring some kind of black swan even in the primary, Biden will face Trump in November, and it's because his coalition within the party (older people, African Americans, etc.) actually votes.

Maybe a democrat can help me understand....why is it that the DNC doesn't realize that (it seems to me) Tulsi Gabbard is the one candidate remaining that could actually go toe to toe with Trump and come out winning? Why is the DNC railroading her when she'd clearly get traditional swing voters and likely many never-trumpers? Is the Sanders/Biden machine really that strong?

The Navy is having a major Strike Fighter shortage as well. They recently followed the Air Force in raising their age limit (to 32 now) and the application process is much faster (have heard of guys showing up at Navy OCS with an aviation contract within 6 months of talking to a recruiter). The active duty recruiters for the Navy or Marine Corps actually get things done whereas the active duty AF recruiters it is like pulling teeth. Downside is there is no Reserve option for off the street people. You have to fill your active duty service commitment in the fleet before being eligible to transfer to an aviation reserve squadron. I've had my feet in both processes so feel free to DM if you have any detailed questions.

I can confirm this, I refinanced with @Jon - Trident Home Loans back in November, he beat every other bank and had lower closing costs. As for USAA check to make sure that there aren't points included, that's been my experience the last two times I inquired with them, great rates to get you in the door until you see the fine print points.

I am amused at the Democrat party currently. The two leading candidates are both old white men. The DNC is literally ignoring the one remaining candidate, a smart minority woman. From the party who cherishes "diversity." One of them is seemingly in early Alzheimer's never mind his political record and adopting of the most leftward policies on this campaign trail. His third try, by the way. 1988, he had to withdraw after being caught plagerizing a British politician's speeches. And beaten by Obama in 2008, who he called a "clean, well-spoken black man." The other is literally a Socialist and not a member of the Democrat party. And had a heart attack during this campaign. Amazes me that Trump literally will be the youngest, healthiest contestant in the ring. That took some doing.

I get verbose, so here's the TL;DR: The training pipeline is a very time consuming and stressful time. You'll have 3-4 months of time you'll have to be apart no matter what due to types of training. If you come with him, your support will certainly help him; but realize that he might not be able to be as engaged in the relationship or reciprocating of the support. You may also have trouble finding work, as UPT bases are in the middle of nowhere small towns. If you stay back home, you'll spend a long time apart from one another; being alone will allow him to focus more on studying, but the stress of the program and strain on your relationship may make it tough for him to actually stay and complete the training. Regardless of what you choose, it's not going to be an easy road, but it's manageable if you have the right expectations (whichever you choose), your relationship is in the right place, and you both understand that the sacrifices made are just short term; things will get better and return to more normalcy as time goes along. Here's the longer, more in-depth version: My .02 from inside UPT now and what I've experienced/heard from other UPT folks. I'm late-30's, married, and we had a 7 month old when this adventure started and enjoyed living in New York City. I brought them with me and it's been much better. Even if I decided to complicate things further by adding another kiddo to the mix, arriving before the end of UPT. First, I went the Reserves route, because your training is all in one continuous line; he'll start OTS and will be on full-time orders from day 1 until popping out the other end (about 2 years) as a trained and unit-qualified pilot. The Guard has more breaks in training, where he might go to OTS, come home for a few months, then to SERE (takes a month), then home, then to UPT (takes a year), then home, then FTU (3-9 months, depending on airframe), then to his home unit. The breaks could be nice if you were staying put, but they could be more of a PITA if you're going with him and pulling up roots at your current home. You're going to 100% have to spend OTS (2 months) IFT (6 weeks, I think. He'll have to go to this if he doesn't have his pilot's license before starting UPT/skips it if he does), and SERE (one month) apart, as you really have no ability to go with him to any of that, so you'll be separated regardless. Then comes to the big chunk of time and stress; UPT. To make a bunch of long stories short, the gist I've seen from multiple folks and is that, unless you're PREPARED to spend that much time apart, it is VERY hard to be successful at UPT without family with you. I know more people that have dropped due to not having families come with them and only know a few folks, every one of them prior military service folks that have dealt with separation before, that are doing okay without their families here. So, if you're not used to spending serious time apart, it's very possible the strain can be too much for the relationship. The downsides of you coming are also notable. First is that UPT is a very demanding schedule and 12 hour days (just the time he'll be gone; not including him studying/mission planning at home) are very common. He'll be target-locked on studying and likely not be able to give as much time to you/your relationship as you're used to, since free moments are few and far between at many points. If you're used to him helping out a lot around the house, cooking dinner together, being able to sit and talk/watch TV with you for hours each night, etc., it'll likely be reduced greatly as he'll have to go study. Or, if he does still try to give that time to your relationship, he's going to be sacrificing the studying time and likely not doing as well in the program. There's only so much time in the day. Personally, I have had many moments where I needed to study and the need to be an engaged husband and father also required my attention. I've certainly erred toward my family over hitting the books as hard, which has certainly affected my performance, but those are the calculated decisions I've chosen to make. Everyone does their own math and handles it all differently. If he is a perfectionist or struggles more with some aspects along the way, just realized he might choose differently. Many people have done it and made it all work, but each person is different and you'll have to take a long look at yourselves and how you think you'll handle it. There's also the inability to get out of "this life" in that the bases are pretty much only for training pilots, so everyone is in the same boat. That can be good for support, but he is going to live and breathe UPT, which means you likely will, too. Your social interactions will involve him with other UPT students talking shop and you hanging with spouses that are also likely very involved with talking about UPT-related things. You're going to know where you're going being Guard/Reserves, so that stress doesn't exist for you guys, really. You're also on the older side (like we are), so your life experiences, wants, and needs may be different from other students (most are single) and spouses that might be fresh out of college, not working/never had a career, not thinking about kids, etc. Last big piece if you come with: UPT bases are in the middle of nowhere, so jobs can be tough to come by if you have something specialized that only exists in bigger cities. It's very likely the pay will be quite a bit lower; although your bills are much lower, so it kinda evens out. That said, chances of you finding a PR/Communications job you love as much as your current job (unless you can work remotely) close to one of the UPT bases are going to be pretty slim. Again, YMMV and I'm certainly not trying to scare you. But, it's important to have rational and managed expectations of what the choice makes. It's an amazing thing and extremely rewarding, but it's not without pitfalls. But, that's life. Haha. Anyway, sorry this got long. Feel free to ask away with any other questions you might have! Good luck to you both!

The latter, I think there is a general discord between the public’s perception of this bullshit flu and the media/Corp/govt/whatever organization you can think of. The general public being on the side of “this isn’t a big deal.” So when the public get ahold of an event that actually isn’t cancelled they will jump on it like wildfire. If every organization in the world didn’t overreact to the extreme already, life would still be normal and no one would’ve noticed or cared. I haven’t met a single person who is worried about catching it, but as a maintainer we take hydraulic fluid baths so take that how you may. edit: people will riot if they cancel Airventure