ryleypav

Scores look good. Pilot/Nav/PCSM are the meat and potatoes of that section of the application, the rest of your resume and cover letter will speak for you as far as being a well rounded person/a guy they want to interview. Did you do anything outside of school work during college? Sports or clubs or anything? You'll want to have something to touch on aside from school, not that excelling in college isn't great, but like I said, well rounded is key. A lot of units hire guys with no mil experience such as myself, so its not the biggest factor, but with some units it makes a difference. They all do they're own thing as far as hiring goes. OTS/UPT are backed up for sure, the whole hiring process is. I got hired Nov 19 and just had my FC1 exam end of September. Still have roughly 4 weeks before I can even apply for OTS dates. Everything is slow (-er than normal) so be prepared for that.

For 1., It just depends on the manning situation of each unit. Some places hire once a year, some twice, some once every 2 years. They all do they're own thing based on when they expect to have manning shortages based on current retirement rates or guys leaving. You can just call each unit and see when they are expecting to have a board. But, you need those test scores before you worry about who has a board when.

We had a guy who got hired the board before me just drop OTS dates for this October class that starts like next week or something. Did your squadron submit for OTS dates then? Or is your ascensions package still routing?

Have you considered looking at other internal positions? Move around the company to a different department or something. You've been there long enough to likely be past any new hire probation kind of situation. We have people move internal positions at my company all the time when they feel they're getting stagnant.

I'd say take what you're offered. You already know you're on the higher side for age. And like OldGuy said, you haven't done the flying, you have zero idea how exciting it will be. What did the guys at the squadron say about the flying. If you think the mission is cool, you'll likely enjoy actually carrying out that mission. Also, just my opinion, if you dont think the flying is going to be exciting/want to fly for that squadron, then why even apply? I get the age part, but if I didn't have an interest in the style of flying a unit did, I wouldn't be applying there. Regardless, best of luck to you. You'll likely enjoy anywhere you get picked up, especially if the camaraderie is good there.

Make sure you check in with your tech prior to going. We had a mix of info coming into the week. The COVID pre-arrival and group arrival instructions said that we would be doing blood draws the first morning, and to fast the day before, but our tech had us do blood draws the second morning of testing. Also, its not super clear where you do the blood draws. It just says 88th MDG Lab. For your situational awareness, that is located in the Wright Patt hospital, across the street-ish from the Wright Patt Inn. Also, with COVID hours, the lab doesnt open until 7, and all the paperwork tells you to be there at 630. So unless you feel like waiting around for a half hour, I dont suggest getting to the lab right at 630. Get some more sleep. And dont be afraid to ask the tech what other tests you have for the day. I ended up sitting around for about an hour and a half one day thinking I had one more test or something to do, and I could have left way earlier and spent more time at the museum or something. But as a whole, was not as stressful as I anticipated. The whole environment was really relaxed and as everyone says, the technicians there are on your side and are all friendly. Make sure to get a group message going with the people in your group and get dinner as a whole one night. We did that and it was great. You'll most likely run into some of those people at pilot training.

Hot java. I just had my FC1 last week, I sure hope the UPT wait wont be that long. Have you gotten OTS dates yet?

Thats quite the route to end up in the Guard haha.

A pilot hire in my future squadron just got his OTS dates so Idk about that.

I would contact the unit directly vs some pilot on Linkedin in my opinion. Start by getting ahold of their UPT hiring POC. They probably have one, or someone in the squadron can get you the right guy to talk to. However, with all the COVID stuff, its going to be hard to go hangout on base these days.

To echo what was said above, who the LOR is from really isnt important. None of mine were from military guys. But they were all people who knew me well and could speak on my character. Besides, you're not going to network enough online to get a LOR from someone that is meaningful if thats what you were going for. You want people who genuinely know you.

GA really is a top notch community. Mostly. Gonna have your grumps, but people are just good in general I've found.

Tankers.

Scheduled for 29Sep. Hopefully its a breeze. Call and make sure they sent your physical on forward. A guy I got hired with, his package or whatever it is at Wright Patt just sat there for 3 weeks.

Yeah, its been a slow process. You have your FC1 done yet?

Yeah last November 2019. Guard unit. I have not attended OTS nor UPT yet. FC1 is this month. PCSM was a 83, 90 at 201+.

Id say just practice the parts you dont need the joystick for. Its not that complicated and is on the smaller portion of what the test consists of. Unless you plan on making a nice sim setup at home, I wouldn't sweat that part too much. I'd just get stuff rolling asap. Its a long process and there is a max age to start pilot training. I got hired November 2019, and I still dont have class dates.

Based on your original post, I'd step it into high gear getting the TBAS done. You're almost, if not 30 correct?

In regard to the second article, Vance will be operating the modified T-1 syllabus for FY21?

Yeah, just make sure the contract states "enlisting for purposes of commissioning only" or something along those lines.

Id back up what tarheel said. If you got selected as an alternate for a fighter unit, you're on the right track. Get some more flying in to get that PCSM up if you dont want to retake the TBAS. But, they know you're the alternate, dont bug them telling them you are ready whenever. They know. But basically, dont bank on an alternate spot working out. It does sometimes, but its no where close to a guarantee. And it can be a year or more until they find out their primary candidate cannot attend UPT for a mirage of reasons. You dont want to wait around a year + to figure that out. And while its great you got the alternate spot, dont go into the next board thinking you're a shoe-in just because of it. Maybe it gives you a slight leg up, but I'd still go in with the attitude that you're at the ground floor still. Keep applying and dont give up!

I'd take a look.

Yup. What mp5g said. I told them while I'd love to work full time for the squadron, I realize its not always an option, but I can always find a mechanical engineering job somewhere. Wanting to go to the airlines is fine, just dont give the impression thats all you're doing it for.

Like everyone said, just dont make it a deal. In college, one of the guys in my fraternity was a recovering alcoholic (Odd environment for a alcoholic I agree). Dude was always the life of the party, sober as a bird. Just hangout.

If you dont get bites from the ANG units, there is always the AD route to consider as well. But keep applying to every unit you can.