OnlyInCleveland

Yet another, I can finally finish my timeline! Reserve Heavy Squadron Interview & hired - Oct 2018 MEPS - Dec 2018 FC1 - May 2019 AFRC Board - Nov 2019 Swear in - Dec 2019 340th In-processing - Oct 2020 OTS - Oct 2020 UPT 2.5 - Feb 2021 Age waiver, medical waiver, and a pandemic...don't give up!

It was submitted during my FC1 by the optometrist.

Not at all, hope I can help!

Hey, thanks! I did get picked up! It worked out at a Reserve unit who was comfortable doing age waivers and it was approved. I am still waiting on official OTS dates because at this time I only have projected dates from the 340th. I was planning on writing up a longer post once everything is sorted out with that. I was hired around the end of 2018 at this unit, it's a long process! Rickenbacker originally told me they wouldn't do waivers and then a few months later called me up out of the blue and told me to come in for a "pop up" board but I had already started the process with my current unit. As for advice, I followed what @FDNYOldGuy did as best I could even though he did an even better job than I did! Do everything you can possibly do before you even apply or get an interview. It will make a difference, trust us. Get your FC1 done on your own dime if you can and check out the things offered on BogiDope. I did a mock interview with them and it definitely helped. If you have specific questions, you can always pm me.

You have better scores than I did and I also needed an age/medical waiver. Keep pushing!

It's competitive, it's Tampa. There's some good dudes down there and they definitely want you to visit before the board.

I had an eye waiver that was approved in under 30 days last summer.

That's accurate. ANG guys swear in much earlier in the process than the reserve side. We do it right before we get gained by the 340th.

You will work with the unit that hires you and a recruiter to navigate the lengthy age waiver gauntlet.

If it were me, I would absolutely not retake the AFOQT. Your scores are great and are super competitive. Your resume and experience is much greater than most people that apply. Make sure you communicate that being older has led to achieving all of the things you have done so far etc. You have a phenomenal well rounded packet imo. (just my .02 coming from an age waiver heavy guy)

I personally would start applying ASAP but that depends on what you want to do as a career and whether that involves favoring AD or flying civilian or even something else entirely. If you want a good shot at fighters and the family doesn't mind moving around for a while then AD is the way to go. The scores look good but I would advocate doing at least some single engine GA flying to bump it up a few levels and get to that first solo at a minimum.

I used BogiDope for a mock interview and was thoroughly impressed and feel a lot more prepared for the real deal. Without giving all of his info away just in case (seems like some of us spoke to the same person), the interviewer I had is a current fighter pilot commander who not only interviewed over 5 times himself as an applicant but has now sat on more UPT boards than he can remember. It was great practice and just a good way to ease some of the nerves before going to the real interview. He gave me great feedback after and I really feel a lot more comfortable after having done a mock with him. I also just love getting emails from the site saying that a new job posting has opened up and frantically opening the email to see what airframe/where it is!

Brad Pitt is dreamy... Side note: I got my rejection email from the 133rd ARS at Pease for the KC-46 today. I know most of you guys are looking at fighters but good luck to whoever gets a shot at the new tanker, looks pretty nice compared to the 1958 model!

I haven't rushed any too far from me yet but have chatted with the guys at Youngstown who were awesome and said they definitely need pilots and can work a waiver. I plan on checking out Mansfield and have heard great things about the guys at Rickenbacker. I did get a couple interview bites for next month at some heavy units so we'll see how that goes! I also got rejected today for the KC-46 at Pease but I figured that would be a pretty competitive one anyway even without needing an ETP.

Grats, that's awesome! That seems to be the normal timeline recently, I'm guessing you did not need a waiver? Are you able to share where you got picked up at by chance?