FDNYOldGuy

They ask/care because the pipeline (OTS through FTU; roughly 1.5-2 years) is a lot of work and you have to consider relationships or lack thereof. If you’re single, that makes the moving, studying, and time apart easier, but the bases are all (for the most part) in dating wastelands where you’ll be pretty isolated. Most of my single bros/broettes in UPT struggled with being single or dated in the circle of other students, which has its own pitfalls. If you end up with someone below the level of married before going, the AF could care less about him/her and you’ll receive none of the dependent perks. Less pay, no healthcare for them, zero consideration of that person moving/living with you, etc. make things tough to kindle a relationship. If you’re married, then it’s someone else they’re paying for and pushing along with you. Relationships can strain under the demands of courses, travel/moving, and studying. If they’re with you, time allocation choices have to be made between relationships and studying; if you’re apart, you’ve got all the time available but none of the support. Kids are a whole other wrench in things. So, the main point is that they probably want a gauge of what your relationship status is/plans are so they have an idea of the challenges you’ll be facing outside of the pipeline.

Non-airline civil service job here. You can get hired off the street, go through all training, and pop out the other end and head back to your job. Actually, even more, the ~2 years of UPT pipeline actually don’t count toward the 5 year USERRA limit. When you spit out the other end, the above posters are right about them wanting to make sure you can feed your fam/pay your bills, which is why they ask. There is the potential of just picking up orders (Troughing/Bumming), but COVID might throw a wrench in the availability of that as folks come back from the airlines. Guard seems to be more available for orders, but that’s just anecdotal from what I’ve heard and it can vary greatly by unit/airframe. The Reserves offer TDART, which is an up to 4-year, non-orders, full-time GS job. You’re in your flight suitm working at the unit, but it’s not on orders, so you don’t get any USERRA protections if you’re trying to hold onto your old job and you might have to pick between the two. But, the positive is that it’s an “entitlement,” which means that you’re owed the job and it’s yours, if you want.

Definitely know more than a few Captains, and a Maj, that lived in the dorms at Vance. AD and Guard/Res, so definitely a mix. Although I think the Guard/Res folks did it because they were firing BAH money back home to families because, for some reason or another, us Guard/Reserve folks didn't get charged for the dorms at all where AD folks did get dinged for 98.69% of their BAH. I lived in the dorms briefly while the fam was back home/I was at SERE and they were a mixed bag. My room was okay, but there are definitely horror stories of mold/humidity problems (the contractor installed the dehumidifiers wrong then went bankrupt...yay), bad AC (not fun in OK summer), and broken water lines flooding rooms. I moved to a house on base when the fam came down and enjoyed it, but I'm just a lowly 2LT so the BAH burned for the house was less than I could rent something comparable off base; you'll be in a different boat because they'll be charging you O-4 BAH, which is quite a bit higher than I was getting and makes it less attractive. Are you considering roommates or that out of the question? You might be able to get a spot on base with some roomies, get the benefits of living close and with other folks, and not burn all your BAH, if so. Dorms or base housing, the convenience is awesome, you'll have tons of folks from your class and other classes as neighbors, and it's nice to be able to go to BBQs/get boxed at friends' houses/go study/etc. and just have a short walk home. The pool and gym are nice and close to housing or dorms, as is BX/Commissary, and you can be at the squadron in 3 minutes, which is priceless on 0430 show days or night weeks landing at 2100. Downsides are that it'll maybe feel a little bit like prison because you will leave base less, you'll be surrounded by UPT reminders (I was on T6 inside downwind and it was not always awesome to be hearing planes going over; especially night weeks), and if you do have a bunch of friends off base and go drinking there, the Ubers can't get on base to drop you off if you take one home. The walk to the dorms from the front gate sucks with the load on. As for apartments off base, Esplanade is nice and has a lot of UPT studs there, so you'll likely have hangout friends. But, there also seems to be emails every few months coming out from leadership saying the management there is pissed at UPT studs for partying too hard and destroying the pool or something. Could be a pro or a con for you, depending. There's also Toscana, which is about 15 minutes from base, and will have it's fair share of students (and a few IPs) living there. Never heard of the Edgewood Arms or of anyone living there, so can't really speak to that, but the fact I never heard of anyone living there might also be telling.

Thanks, @CharlieHotel47. It’s proof being a pain in the ass pays off. Haha. And @GreenArc, I appreciate the congrats and still can’t believe it actually happened half the time. But, through it all, what is quoted above is 99% of the game. If people like you because you’re a good dude(tte) that shows you want it, proves to be a solid wing that the folks around you don’t hate sitting in the jet with, and that you’re willing to put in the hustle and legwork to be ahead of the game, folks will move mountains to help make it happen. But, they’re not going to do it for you; you’ve gotta go above and beyond doing your part. If you bring a problem and no solution you’ve also brought yourself, most of your gatekeepers (recruiters, squadrons, IPs, etc.) are going to balk. Have paperwork ready before you’re asked or ASAP after getting it, offer to help where you can to move things along, and keep pushing. No biggie if you’re annoying; you’re the one wanting the job and not them, so you should be your biggest advocate. Good luck and feel free to ask away if you have questions. No one draw you an exact road map because situations are different, contacts change, and, frankly, you’d probably not be the first to ask exactly what to do. But, most folks will point you in the right direction and, if you have the hustle, you’ll find your way.

Dude, the AFI above gets the point, but keep this mentality and don’t stop pushing. Granted, ANG can be a little different beast and I’ve heard of bumps in the road that don’t make sense per AFIs, but ETPs (waivers) are 100% possible. You just need a unit (eg, pilots/commanders of the squadron/wing) to write it up and push the signatures. The recruiter will have little to do with the actual waiver. Source: Non-prior service Reservist that recently graduated UPT and pinned on wings at 38...and my waiver went through in 2018 when the limit was still 30 and I was 36. It’s entirely possible.

100%. Time IN the market is better than timING the market.

First and foremost, stock market doesn’t equal the economy. The economy is, IMHO, headed for a serious recession (if not full Depression), but that doesn’t mean the corps that make up the stock market are hurting as bad as average Americans. They have a faucet of cheap debt and bailout cash to keep their profits up. ~$3,000,000,000,000 in freshly printed bailout money, with a solid chunk going to corporations to buy back stock, pay bonuses, and take out more cheap debt to lather, rinse, repeat, is a large part of the stock market continued push. Unemployment benefits and salary loans pushing off the inevitable are trying to stop the bleeding, but it’s not gonna hold. Oh, and the fact it’s an election year and I’m sure more than a few Rs and big money backers think (probably rightfully so) a tanking stock market will hurt election chances (hence higher future taxes), my guess is we’re in solid early-mid 2008 market between Bear Sterns failing and before Lehman went belly up. If it survives to the end of the year (no matter who wins the election), I’ll be pretty shocked. The real estate market might not be far behind, as unemployment hurts demand and the fallout of AirBnB pushes a glut of homes onto the (longer-term) rental and purchase market, I don’t see it being pretty. Then again, I’m an idiot fireman trying to fly jets and not a trader for Goldman Sachs, so what the hell do I know?

Message received. Again, my unit has been more than awesome about everything and no part of the post was meant to say they’ve been anything less than stellar. I have zero expectations of them to accommodate me any more than anyone else. I was curious for a better understanding of Big Reserves’ reasons for creating the position, their goals with the program, and whether there was hope of change in the bigger picture when it comes to USERRA and TDART. I have enjoyed the military environment, as has my family, and the opportunity to fly/become a better pilot, so trying to figure out how to prolong my time in this world without too much damage to the finances or security provided by my civilian career is my reason for asking. If I don’t ask, I don’t know what’s possible, and knowing what’s possible helps make a big decision clearer. I certainly do not mean to come off as an entitled ball bag expecting to get my way, if that’s what this sounded like. I’m grateful for the opportunities I’ve had to get this far and will have in the future due to this. I don’t mean to be putting my foot in my mouth if that’s how it’s coming across, so I’ll take my crayons outta my nose and go color. Thank to all for the info.

Just reiterating first my unit had been great and says they’ll do what they can when the time comes; it’s just hard to know what things will look like in 6-9 months. I completely understand that and don’t have expectations of them doing anything different. TDART is the push is out of the Reserves as a whole across all units and talking most of my Reserves counterparts here are all in the same boat, so it is not a unit-specific thing. Everyone still gets the 140-150 days of AD seasoning orders. It’s just the timeline beyond that seasoning/prog tour that I’m talking about. And, again, while I think it’s awesome Big Reserves offered to shoulder the cost/manning burden of creating the option to avoid units having to pick and choose their battles, I just was curious if there might be a chance in hell to address the fact the option comes at a high cost for Traditional Reservists that have established careers before heading to UPT when orders with USERRA protections, as used in the past, ensured they would have coverage.

DEFINITELY pumping the brakes on putting any of this on my gaining unit or anyone anywhere trying to short me RPA days. They’re 100% not doing anything shady, I have my 140 queued up for after PIQ, and they’ve gone above and beyond to help out. I am not intending to sound alarm for anything that’s been done or coming down the pike. My point is that I don’t want to potentially take food out of other folks in the unit’s mouths who don’t have other income options, like I fortunately do. I’m sure being low man on the totem pole means that won’t likely be an issue and I’m completely understanding of being last in line when it comes to getting fed orders; especially in a shit economy. It does seem as if “daddy Reserves” saw an issue with TRs leaving UPT/PIQ/Prog Tour and struggling being able to feed themselves, as it seems like you experienced @hindsight2020. Maybe TDART came out of units being hesitant to give coveted longer term orders to newbies over senior folks, especially in a bad economy, so they created something that would only be temporary and only an entitlement to new pilots. Again, it seems like a pretty awesome deal, so I’m not bagging on it existing: Reserves have a way to ensure their investment on training a pilot doesn’t wither on the vine and units don’t have to foot the bill or lose a manning spot to get us to ride without training wheels. It’s more of a question of the rationale. If the position was created to give newly minted pilots the option to become much more qualified and more of an asset to the unit, why make it an option that requires foregoing any previous career established, when the citizen airman is such a touted thing? Of course, it’s not a “forced” requirement to take the TDART job, as @Royal alluded to it might have been levered as in the past, but to not take it is to take a much slower and longer route to be as qualified and as usable by the unit. My intention is to see if garnering those USERRA protections is a changeable thing. Nothing gets changed if no one asks for it. If that’s a Federal hill to die on, it still can’t hurt to ask; even if it’s of no benefit in my timeline, it might help someone down the line. Just wanted to see if anyone had any ideas where that question could get posed first.

BLUF: Where would you think a good start might be to look into/start bugging people about possibly getting USERRA protections for TDART slots? My Congressional Representatives? A military rep somewhere that has more lobbying clout? Tom Cruise? Crazily enough, my 38-yo, Billy Madison-ass is UPT complete and a couple days from graduation and official wings on my chest. I’m stoked for PIQ and beyond as I continue to grow as an MWS pilot. But, one of my biggest gators is getting closer to the boat: the end of official pipeline orders after my 140-150 days of unit seasoning. To continue to become better and more qualified pilots, the Reserves have switched to civil-service TDART (4 year ART) jobs over giving AD seasoning orders. It’s a pretty solid deal for the units, with AFRC footing the bill and it being an over-hire/not coming out of the unit’s manning. Plus, there’s no long-term obligation of building AD retirement time. But, it makes it tough for those of us that have established careers on the outside. I want to continue training and becoming a better MWS asset, but taking that job means a full leave of absence from the FDNY. No more time clicking off toward pension/retirement, no more earned promotions (even losing an already earned promotion and the years on orders, if I don’t officially return to the FD before taking a TDART slot), and the chance that they revoke the leave of absence and I have to choose between flying or losing my FD career. I’m sure this translates to other fresh out of UPT brothers and sisters in airlines, engineering, teaching, or just about any other field that depends on USERRA protections. The only folks that it doesn’t likely effect are those that are hired and head to UPT right out of college or without an established career beforehand, where a guaranteed 4 year civil service job is a home run. So, why’d they shift from seasoning orders with USERRA protections to making it a civil service job? Since this is the current option, who can I talk to about possibly getting USERRA protections for TDART? I’m good at being persistent and annoying, but I’m not sure where to start. The Reserves spent a lot of money getting us wings, I’ve gotta think they can have a better way than leaving us choosing between our full-time civilian career and being a barely mission qualified pilot or putting that career on full stop to try to become more valuable pilot assets.

I had the same with Reaper just prior to COVID hitting full force. I ordered patches in Jan and it took over a month for them to show up. I emailed them and got no replies, nor did I get any updates for the order shipping when it finally did. I was a couple days from just calling the credit card and charging back the order when they just showed up in the mail. They came through in the end and the patches were fine, but the timeline and communication sucked.

Agreed with my esteemed colleague. Even as Reservists and not having the level of pressure to be top performers to have a better chance at a track or airframe, it’s still stressful. For me, I still had more stress in UPT (mainly T6s) than I’ve had in the few hundred burning buildings and hairy situations I’ve been in over more than a decade of playing fireman. Trying to balance family with UPT was another layer of stress. For me, family always wins, but I also have the lower impetus to be at the top since I’m set in my airframe and just not a type of personality that needs to be #1. My hat’s off to the bros and broettes that are I’m the AD fight for tracks and airframes; especially those with families and/or home issues. Sacrifices and compromises have to be made to balance it all and those are tough decisions. The uncertainty of how your hard work will play out is also killer. That all said, there are certainly fun moments and great times with great people in UPT. It’ll be among one of the only times in life where most of us were just tasked with learning how to fly airplanes and not having to deal with the queepy stuff that’ll be part of the world outside UPT. It’s one of those things that is easier to look back fondly on when it’s over than revel in while in the thick of it. I wish I enjoyed T6s more in the moment because it’s an amazing and fun airplane; especially with hindsight. Fire academy was the same; 6 months of suck/getting yelled at/repetition/etc. that I wouldn’t wanna do again, but was well worth the job the struggle earned that (mostly) gets better every day. But, by now, I am stoked to be a few rides from getting those wings and ready to move on to getting proficient at flying my MWS and hacking the mission. Not that 6-9 patterns/approaches/or turning rejoins aren’t fun, but feeling like more of a grownup and doing things for real in the plane I’m going to be flying for more than 6 months is going to be a nice change.

The S&P 500 Index originally began in 1926 as the "Composite Index" comprised of only 90 stocks.1 According to historical records, the average annual return since its inception in 1926 through 2018 is approximately 10%-11%.[cite] The average annual return since adopting 500 stocks into the index in 1957 through 2018 is roughly 8%. Not really assumptions, honestly. My using of 6% market returns are on the conservative side when taking the above into account, so the investment vs. payment numbers would likely average out even better. Your “guaranteed” 2.75% loss is technically lower than that, even, when you take the tax savings of interest deduction. (As an aside, you’ll 100% have me agreeing about “guaranteed losses” when we’re talking other debt; especially for shiny things and credit cards.) Home prices have had a much lower return; even with the crazy returns the super-low interest rates since 9/11, the rise of Airbnb, and the simple increase in population have brought. More to that, home prices have mostly synced up with stock markets, so if markets are down so is your value/store of equity/pool of buyers. Again, each person has their own wants, needs, and risk tolerance and, more than returns, they need to make decisions based on those. Timing of and market during buying and selling affects home value as much as it affects stock values. Of course, you can be in the unfortunate situation of wanting or needing to sell in a bear housing or stock market with little control over that. That’s just part of the game. But, the old boilerplate thinking of paying off mortgages as quickly as possible does have some pitfalls and investing that money used to pay off the mortgage can have some serious merits.

I know one thing: you missed out on the golden opportunity to go for the username “Perspiring Pilot” over “Aspiring Pilot.”

100% true I didn't highlight investing the $2100 after the note is paid off. There are certainly a lot of assumptions made with all of it and there are certainly things lost in the number-wang. Your $610k number is monthly compounding on the $2100, where I did annual compounding for my $8400 to get $664k. I get $586k for 15 periods of $25,200 ($2100 x 12 months) at 6% compounded annually, which is ~$80k lower than my route. Or, my numbers run at $700 and that 6% compounding monthly is $703k, so now we're talking almost $100k more. Not to nitpick, but just to clarify and make it more apples to apples. I also completely left out the additional savings of interest tax deduction for all of those years; mostly because it's nearly impossible to calculate and different to each person's situation. That also helps my cause a little bit, as you're "saving" more money in taxes through the higher mortgage interest deduction of the 30 year PLUS the reduction in income if you are putting money in a pre-tax TSP/401k/IRA. Nor did I highlight inflation's positive aspects of the longer timeframe notes. That payment becomes a much smaller part of your income as the years click off and inflation/annual CoL raises kick in. The rabbit hole goes deep. Haha. The biggest keys to EITHER route chosen is discipline to invest the money, which isn't always humans' strong suit. A higher mortgage payment is more "forced" savings, where the other method requires one to stick to the plan and invest the extra money. Plus, as @Jon - Trident Home Loans says, the security in being able to make a lower house payment if times get tough (as they certainly are for a lot of folks these days) and not worry about trashing credit is pretty big. Then again, so is not having a mortgage at all. YMMV, is the biggest takeaway. And, in reality, fewer folks actually hold a mortgage to pay off date, anyway. Most move, refi, or just pay it off early. Just trying to put another perspective out there.

Third on this. People get very wrapped up in the fact they’ll “save” all the difference in interest owed between a 15 and 30, but they don’t take another piece into account of the extra money spent on payment. Personally, I am a believer in taking the difference between a 15 and 30 year payment putting it into TSP/IRA/401k/etc. over making extra payments. The banks are letting you borrow f-tons of money for super low interest that you get to write off; might as well use the excess to fund your retirement and get better returns (also tax sheltered). Here are a few financial calculator-run numbers. Say (slightly rounded numbers for all this for simplicity) you get a $300,000 loan. A 30 year payment is $1400/mo at 3.75% interest and your 15 year is $2100/mo at 3.25% interest. Over the life of the loan, you’ll pay $200k in interest for the 30 year and $80k for the 15, a difference of $120k. Initially, you look at that and say, “Ouch! What a waste!” But, that’s if you don’t invest the extra $700 in monthly payment savings in your retirement accounts. If you’re spending it on shiny shit, it can be a waste. Everyone is different; over-saving and not enjoying yourself can be a bad thing, too, so there’s a happy middle in there. But, I digress. So, say that $700/mo ($8400/yr or $252,000 over 30 years) going into a retirement asset is earning, conservatively, 6% compounding annually. Over a 30 year period, that will give you $664,000 total in the retirement account. Not bad. Even taking out the $252k since it’s money you paid in yourself AND taking the “wasted” $120k in additional interest expenses, you’re coming out ahead by $292,000. This, obviously, isn’t guaranteed, as markets can fluctuate, returns can change, and if you’re not disciplined about putting the extra payment money away, the benefit is lost. Plus, it doesn’t take into account the “peace of mind” having paid off your house can bring. But, it can be greatly beneficial if you do it right.

Here's an excellent article (with super informational links and rabbit holes to run down) by Harvard Business Review (penned Jan 7th this year) that explains a huge part of exactly what your takeaway is. BLUF: companies have been taking on massive amounts of "cheap" debt in the low interest rate environment we've lived in to buy their own stocks back and pay out dividends over reinvesting in R&D, paying higher wages, expanding workforces/manufacturing, etc. Little true "value" has been created, but prices have been driven up as capital flocks to the stock markets to chase returns. Which feeds back to the cycle of PE ratios, debt, and stock prices all increasing without there being much true growth. Lather. Rinse. Repeat. The emperor has no pants, IMHO, and COVID was a catalyst to help show that. Which it did...until the Fed stepped in (and WAYYYY overstepped their mandate) by buying...everything...to prop prices up.

Agreed

It’s like hurricanes in the SE USA (or a million other things). When one is threatening, people went nuts and prepped for it by buying supplies. It would come through, be a dud, and people would feel like it was a waste of time. Lather. Rinse. Repeat. A few hurricanes later, they just stop prepping...until one comes that’s legit. Then it’s a holy , end of the world rush level of scramble to prep for the beast bearing down. It would hit and people would get wiped out and say, “how did this happen?!?” People didn’t think this was serious. Ebola and SARS weren’t, so everyone let it go. But, this one turned out legit and people weren’t prepped.

But, much like Pearl Harbor or 9\11, this is an event that is disproportionately affecting those particular locations more than others, which can make it hard for those on the outside to grasp the gravity of the situation. For my Manhattan firehouse, nearly 20 of the 65 people assigned have or are recovering from COVID, with nearly 20% of the entire FDNY out on medical leave with it. Bros are having to quarantine in hotels away for days/weeks from their families to avoid bringing exposures home. Our work chart is changed to one that hasn’t been used since the days after 9/11. They’re told by the FDNY to report to work EVEN IF THEY TESTED POSITIVE as long as they’re not showing symptoms because manpower is so dire. CPR calls and home deaths, usually around 20/day throughout the whole city, are well north of 200/day. It appears those deaths are not being counted as COVID, at least initially, because they haven’t tested the deceased to tie it to that. I guess I’m saying that, just because it seems like this is a ridiculous inconvenience that’s overblown in a lot of other areas of the country, it certainly is capable of being way worse and having much further-reaching ramifications if left unchecked.

The new rules are like the TSA, but for everyone’s health and without the excitement of advanced screening pat-downs. All mostly theater to make it seem like something is being done and to give some folks warm and fuzzies.

This one was me. I got told by the AD recruiter when I was graduating undergrad back in 2004 that I wouldn’t get a flying spot without a STEM degree. Recruiters never lie, of course, so I took it as the truth and chased after playing fireman. About 15 years later, the turntables and here I am; an age-waivered ancient 2LT in UPT.

Reserves have boards, too. One board to get yourself hired buy the unit for the slot, then they’ll send you to another board to get yourself hired by the Reserves itself/get you picked up as an officer. Lots of boards than don’t meet all that often (Reserves board is quarterly, at best), so it’s a lot of hurry up and wait, as I’m sure you’re well versed in. I didn’t have to rush either unit I got offers from, actually. But, that’s not always the norm, so it certainly pays off if you want to get things moving faster or if you’re going for a desirable spot with a lot of people vying for few slots. Then again, Rona’s probably got visits off, anyway. Networking is the big key and getting to know as many folks in this situation is what’ll get you the furthest the fastest. Talk to everyone and see what happens. A lot of my run happened due to networking and random help along the way. The more people you talk to, the better chance you have of bumping someone that can point you in the right direction or lend a hand.

100% what @brabus said: a solid application can overcome the initial hesitation on age. As the old guy @Metalhead731 mentioned, I got a majority of “No,” blanket “Thanks for applying,” emails, and “We don’t know if we can do waivers,” in my journey. But, a couple units gave me an interview and said, “Yes, we’ll run a waiver up for you.” I was 36 when I got picked up (37 by the time I actually hit UPT) and my waiver was cleared when the cutoff was still 30 (changed to 33 when I was in OTS), so it’s entirely possible at your age. Put together a solid packet and apply everywhere you’d consider flying. No only means no when they mace you and put a restraining order on you when it comes to applying, so put the time into sending out packets and networking as much as you can. Good luck!