Brudog13

I got picked up unsponsored last January board, didn't get my FC1 done until March. Not sure if it changed since then but that was my experience

You get what you pay for dood.

Personally, Bogidope was a godsend for me. All of the application and interview prep material on the internet is generic and not very well suited to a career in aviation. Bogidope's application prep helped me really iron out how to present myself at a fighter squadron and the interview prep set me up with knowing what to expect, and how to frame answers correctly. Got 5 interviews and 2 slots with the help of Bogidope, I wouldn't have made it without their help.

The default route for an unsponsored AFRC dude is T-1's. After you get selected, you start shelling out emails to all units, and you'll find out quickly that there are maybe half a dozen reserve fighter units that can even sponsor you. It's an uphill battle from the start, and the odds are against you. If you're up for the fight, it's not impossible to get yourself a fighter sponsorship. My route was insanely complicated, but I did recently go through this exact situation, and happened to come out on top. You can go through the entire Unsponsored process up to being gained by the 340th and still have apps out to ANG fighter units. If that is what you want to fly, pursue all options simultaneously. Water flows where it can. Your AFRC recruiter will want you to only pursue AFRC units because he's putting all the work into pushing your package forward, but you can and should branch out as much as possible.

I’m sure this has been said before on here, but I believe the standards have always been high across the board for both the heavy and fighter communities. The sheer number of applicants for the fighter squadrons means they have an incredibly competitive pool of applicants to choose from. The guys who get their foot in the door for interviews will tend to have the highest scores and have at least a PPL because they have that many competitive applicants they can be more selective. You can definitely be a good dude with no PPL or lower than average scores and still get an interview. Depends on what the squadron is looking for and if you fit into their perception of an ideal UPT candidate. The worst they can say is no, and the only way to guarantee rejection is to not apply out of fear. Sorry to beat a dead horse dudes, but just wanted to reiterate in case someone out there is afraid to send out an app.

I can send you the average scores for guys who got picked up on the January board with me. March didn’t accept unsponsored but I got those averages from a buddy who got picked up. From my experience, recruiters are extremely hit or miss in terms of getting your stuff in. At the end of the day it’s your career here, so the diligence comes from you. Once I decided to go full throttle in reaching the January board I was calling my recruiter every other day to make sure things were tracking and that all the paperwork from me was complete. I let a week go by and I fell through the cracks with my recruiter, he “thought I wanted the March board” and had nothing submitted the day before the deadline. We got it done just in time and I’d have been ed if I didn’t check up on it. I mean don’t be an asshole to the recruiter, but just treat the application like your dog that likes to run away when you don’t pay enough attention. Talk to your recruiter and ask what the next steps are and relay your motivation to meet the May Board with the April deadline. You should be okay time-wise considering 90% of mine was done the day before. If you truly hit a brick wall with your recruiter I can get you the info for mine, but try in your local area first. Pro tip: invest in Adobe Acrobat Pro, it’s an amazing tool for putting massive amounts of paperwork together electronically, filling and signing without the shitty print-scan-email dickdance.

Hey man! Best of luck to you in your UPT hunt! One route that you may not have known about is the Air Force Reserve unsponsored route. I weYou can submit an application to the AFRC and get a UPT slot that way. If you get picked up, you go to OTS and UPT, and you have until the end of training to find an AFRC unit to sponsor you. This will eliminate your “age waiver” question when you rush units if you already got the green light from AFRC. You’ll still need an age waiver, but getting set up with a solid recruiter who will route your paperwork well can hook you up. The board meets every other month and it looks like the unsponsored route is getting scarcer and only every other board is accepting unsponsored applicants. The upcoming May Board is accepting a limited amount, and the deadline is end of April. You’ll have results within a few weeks of the board meeting date. After you get selected (with your scores etc I’m sure you will). Then you’ll start rushing units as a guy who’s already got all the admin complete and has a for sure UPT slot. It is a way better position to be in when rushing units. Also, this could open you up to all the fighter units because you’ll have the age waiver sorted out via AFRC before even rushing. Beware: the default route for a typical unsponsored dude is to track T-1’s in UPT unless you get sponsored by a fighter. So your timer for fighters runs out at the end of T-6 land. Additionally, after the selections come out, you’ll get phone calls from various heavy units that are interested in sponsoring you. Some of these may be invites for interview boards, meet and greets, or just flat out job offers pending a squadron visit. If you are highly motivated to just get your ass in the cockpit and sort out the location and airframe later, go this route. I just confirmed with a recruiter that they’ll do age waivers for unsponsored applicants. One final note: this will restrict your options to AFRC units only, so all ANG is off the table once you get to UPT unfortunately. That being said, there are tons of units to go around, but fighters are very very few, and heavies are the majority. Hit me up if you have any questions. These forums have been so helpful to me, so I’m happy to pay it forward.

AFRES Timeline (prior commissioned officer with no IFS req) Board: 09JAN, notified two ish weeks later Put on the scroll same week. FC1: got an email 22JAN with dates for it, completed 07MAR Dates: got an email 09FEB with UPT dates ENJJPT Class 2019006 - 22MAY18-13JUN19 Future admin dates: 03APR Gained by 340th 17-19APR TDY to Randolph for Inprocessing Report to Sheppard NLT 08MAY Anyone else going to Sheppard for these dates? All future dates written in sand obviously. I won’t believe it until I have orders in hand.

Does anyone know any unsponsored AFRES folks going through ENJJPT currently/recently graduated? I’ll be classing up soon and have a few questions about how it all works in terms of rushing units while in training. I was told there’s a liaison assigned that helps get in contact with units? If still unsponsored at the end, how does the dream sheet/assignment work?

Any dudes selected for HIANG interviews this week, send me a message if you want to join a groupme. Just for greater SA. If anyone is getting in Thursday and wants to kick it let me know.

Has anyone heard anything back from Hawaii ANG?