O Face

For certain...It’s pretty easy to smell entitlement in an interview.

Ok, but I bet you guys gave the home unit guys an interview though? Point being, times are tough and apps are way up. Kicking ass in an interview is always great advice.

Yup. We have selected countless unit members, with significantly lower scores, over an unknown person off the street. It may not seem fair to the off the street guy, but you gotta look at it from the unit’s perspective. Test scores are just a small slice of the whole pizza we’re looking for. In years past, maybe enlisting could have slowed the process down for a very select few people, but with competition being what it is these days - Enlist if you want a leg up on the competition, or even a chance in hell, I’d wager.

As a longtime Guard pilot who has run many of our pilot boards over the years, I can assure you that, yes, applications are through the roof. I can also say it is heavily due to the lack of civilian options as a result of COVID. As far as Maverick and a YouTube channel are concerned I cannot say, but personally I haven’t heard of this being any of our applicants inspiration. The bottom line is that it is more competitive now than ever and if you really want an advantage - Enlist in the unit. Granted it’s no guarantee, but it’s the closest thing you’re going to get to one. All our hires in recent history have been enlisted in the unit - and it makes perfect sense, we know them, we’ve deployed with them, if we like them, we make them pilots. Again it’s not foolproof, or the only avenue, you could spend the next 3 years shotgunning apps, trying to attend a meet-and-greet, paying for flight time, and get noticed. Or you could enlist, prove your dedication to the unit, talk to the pilots on a monthly basis (at least) and most units guarantee unit members an interview.

Very cool! Thanks for sharing!!

Ok Fuk, I re-read your endless diatribe to make sure I comprehended it all and I came up with this summary: 1.)The internet is a giant crime preventer. 2.)If only all those idiots (sorry, they're not dumb, just everything they believe is) would simply come and worship at your un-church where you don't learn the teachings of Jesus, Buddha, Muhammad, Joe Smith, or Tom Cruise, but rather Stephen Hawkin, then the world would be full of happy and super smart people running (sorry, rolling) around enjoying no crime and world bliss. 3.)While we're at it, we should consider moving to Massachusetts where the crime rate is shockingly low. Forgive me if my summary didn't accurately portray your thoughts, for they are vast, and my simple mind couldn't begin to understand. I'll just go back to playing with rocks now.

Holy Fuk you're ill feelings toward religion are causing you to draw the conclusion you were hoping for from your statistics. Your google research could just as easily "prove" that hot weather, or the prevalence of Waffle Houses, or Nascar attendance also leads to a higher crime rate in the south. You should knock out a statistics class or two before your next research project.

I recently heard from somebody, who knows somebody, who robbed somebody that Charlotte ANG is gonna be converting to C-17s, from Charleston, in the near future.

BigRed300, Go to Downtown in Memphis, they are going to prepare you for your checkride, don't worry about failing. You fly the exact checkride profile the day prior and they supply you with all the study materials you need to pass the oral eval. The IP is a Guard C-17 pilot and the DPE is a great old dude who even took my buddy up in his T-6 following their checkride. The price is unbeatable, and you can stay at billeting on the Navy base in Millington which provides a good free breakfast and has a decent beer garden right in lodging. Don't waste your money going to all ATP's or something, you have enough C-17 time, I'm pretty sure the airline doesn't care about the extra 10hrs of time you log in some shitty Piper Seminole at All ATP's or whatever. I cannot say enough positive thing about my experience here.

I took the advice of others on this forum and got my ATP with Downtown Aviation in Memphis, and I'm very glad I did. I HIGHLY recommend this place. Your IP is an TN Guard C-17 pilot and the examiner is a retired Army surgeon. I can't say enough good things about these guys. I was in and out in 2 days and paid under $1500 for everything. You get a few hrs of ground school and 1 training flight followed up by a check ride the next day. They treat us military types like professional aviators and not like student pilots, consequently, they save you a lot of money by not wasting your time on unnecessary training. They are quite busy, for good reason, so if you're interested, call ASAP to get on their schedule 901-354-3001.

Thank you for the recommendation. "A Lonely Kind of War" was an excellent book. It was very well written, a true page turner.

Very cool pictures. Thanks so much.

Pitts - PM sent.

The only opinion I bear, in your case, is that I don't believe you quite understand how difficult it is to get selected to fly for a guard unit. Spend some time on the "What are my chances" section and you might gain a clearer picture of the pain dudes are going through to get to fly an Air Force jet. I don't think "getting your masters is going to slow down the process of getting a pilot slot" because some guys could have finished med school twice before they got picked up for UPT. The point myself and Kenny Powers were trying to make is that, for most of us, the UPT slot was priority one and something we sacrificed greatly to achieve. I don't think your idea is a bad one at all. If you want to fly C-17's go enlist in a C-17 unit and get your masters done while you are a load, that sounds like a fine idea. The part that leaves me scratching my head is, if you really want to be a pilot, and you already graduated from college, why haven't you applied for that UPT slot yet? I'm not knocking your plans man, if you want the guard to pay for grad school that sounds like a good idea...if you want to be a pilot, it might take more than a load with a masters who thinks "Joining the ANG/AFRes has been on my mind for a few years now" is going to get you slot. Best of luck.

Well, being a guard guy I can offer you my advice, but I have to ask what it is you are trying to accomplish. From your post I gathered that you really want to go to grad school, so are you trying to join the guard to get your school paid for, or are you hoping to get a guard pilot slot and feel that having your MBA will help with your packet? If a C-17 pilot slot is what you want then I would say don't waste your time on an MBA because nobody on your board will give 2 shits if you have an MBA or not. I would recommend spending the grad school dollars on obtaining your private pilots license which will score you many more points with the board. Keep in mind guard pilot positions are extremely competitive and if all you are looking for is tuition assistance, well then I would go enlist in any any unit that will provide tuition money at a school where you want to study and not worry about the pilot thing.

Wait a minute, so God's prototype is allergic to peanuts? Seems odd. "Are you trying to tell me Jesus Christ can't hit a curveball?"

Same here...Also, I must have been absent everytime they came in and held a gun to my head forcing me to play football. Pretty sure Seau could have walked away anytime he wanted to as well.

Watching the marathon today. Excellent footage, but damn I wish I had DVR'ed it, they have more commercials than program.

Just finished Hero Found by Bruce Henderson. It is about a Navy A1 pilot in Vietnam who was shot down, captured, escaped, and eventually rescued. It was a quick read, author wasn't a pilot so some of the flying stuff was a little elementary , but the E&E story is incredible. Amazing story of the will to survive.

Chem, I would go talk to the guy who is handling your paperwork at your unit. They might be able to put in a request to get you in to Columbus, or whichever works best for you. I'm not saying it is going to work, but it's worth a shot.

2012-12-10T09:41:00Z Court martial for pilot in Montana parachute deathThe Associated Press The Associated Press 8 minutes ago • Associated Press (0) Comments JOINT BASE LEWIS-MCCHORD, Wash. — A court martial is scheduled Tuesday at Joint Base Lewis-McChord for a C-17 pilot accused of dereliction of duty for a training accident last year in Montana where a paratrooper from Pennsylvania died after landing on a roof. The Air Force accuses Capt. Jared Foley of reckless conduct for approving an additional airdrop without command approval. Sgt. Francis Campion of Holidaysburg, Pa., was the last out of the plane on July 10, 2011, in windy conditions. He was supposed to land at Fort Harrison's Marshall Field but hit a roof and fell to his death. Campion was training with the West Virginia National Guard and had served in Afghanistan. Foley serves with McChords' 62nd Airlift Wing. McChord operates 51 of the C-17 transport jets Read more: https://billingsgazet...l#ixzz2EfXfQCgS

Just finished "Bury Us Upside Down" and "Low Level Hell" excellent books, couldn't stop reading them. Thanks for the recommendations.

Yup...That is what I did. Alternate at one unit, went shopping, got picked up by another unit. Dudes from the original unit wished me luck and said they would have done the same thing.

Nailed It!!! Which Guard unit never called you back for an interview anyway?

Good advice all... Retake the test. Try Catbox's technique, also try scanning back and forth, side to side, letting your eyes go blurry almost, and only look at the bottom half of the circles. A doc told me this trick once and it worked very well. Good luck to you.