1nfrequentF1yer

Absolutely, that's why the takeaway I was trying to convey is that I don't see a downside on your behalf to get it done first (and as a matter of fact if that or anything else they let you knock out, do it at the earliest opportunity), but also not to expect that to speed up the whole process to OTS and UPT by any meaningful measures. Also, if you see your doctor regularly, and don't have any medical history, anecdotally you'll make it through just fine.

I followed the traditional process and although I don't see any downside with having you get sent to FC1 first I can think of a few reasons why that's not normally done in the grand scheme, and why I don't think it necessarily streamlines the process by that much. FC1/MFS slots are much more limited in terms of how many people they're able to see relative to MEPS. MEPS is intended to be an initial screening, so the thought is if you don't pass something at MEPS and cannot join the military at all, sending you to Wright Patt without that knowledge generates a lot of waste. MEPS is usually not the long pole in the tent compared to FC1/MFS. So, that's why I say it won't streamline the process by that much because MEPS is something you can knock out relatively quickly unless that's not true for your local MEPS for whatever reason. It took me like a month since getting the call to go to MEPS (middle of COVID) and 2 months after that go to Wright Patt. So when you roll up the whole timeline, it doesn't change much IMO. Since you're guard, you still need to: 1) enlist into the unit (which requires getting the thumbs up from MEPS), 2) put together your approval to appoint (which requires the thumbs up from Wright Patt), 3) get approved by NGB for your slot, THEN you would be put in for dates. Step 3 of the process is what takes the longest, from experiences of myself and others.

My company offers what I would consider to be very generous mil leave benefits to us. Obviously that's just my sample of 1. Except... I can't tell you what company and benefits we get (PM me if you want to know).

Your PCSM score is some combination of AFOQT pilot score, your flight hours, and TBAS performance. So a PCSM of 70 with 0 hours and a PCSM of 70 with 200 hours is a pretty different story. I'm not sure which camp you fall into here. GPA looks pretty good otherwise. Having taken the test once, if you know what you struggled on, then hammer those areas more. But if you don't know or didn't think you struggled on anything, then I don't really know what anyone of us here can tell ya besides trying again. Feel free to drop me a PM if you feel like there's anything I can legitimately do to help you do better next time.

For guard units, it's probably still possible to get picked up with those scores, but if you could do better, then obviously try and do better and retake. What's your GPA and PCSM looking like? With so many more guard/reserve applicants, the bar is also a lot higher now. Are you also interested in being a CSO? You said on your practice tests you were scoring over 90% of the questions correct. So take a minute and reflect... Did you just have an "off" day during the test? Were the test questions far off from those on the practice test? Was the test misgraded (this is very hard to prove and to contest)? You need to understand the cause so you're not trying the same thing without a new strategy. Taking some portions of the SIFT or ASTB that overlaps with the AFOQT will certainly give you more practice, but again, you need to understand why there's a big discrepancy between your practice scores and actual scores. The Baron book is what I used for practice, and it ended up to be fairly representative of the actual test. The AFOQT is graded on a percentile, but say, for a 32nd percentile of quantitative, that means you're in the lower third of some reference population that took the test (who makes up that reference population is pretty nebulous to us common folks). So I think it's a bit unrealistic to try and assume that your scores is due to others doing exceptionally well. But with that said, take his/her advice on highlighting other areas of your resume (flight experience... career... leadership/volunteer... passion... tell a good joke/personality?)

Short answer is no (as in nothing wrong with it). As a matter of fact, guard units usually prefer to hire someone local, all things being equal. Longer answer is also no, but if you aren't getting much luck with the local units, then either keep trying with them, or start expanding your search ie casting a wider net (or give up and move on with life). Besides location, the mission is also something to keep in mind whether it's one you truly believe in.

Went to Wright Patt for my FC1/MFS few months ago having done PRK with refraction error within the -8.00 to +3.00 limits. Can confirm this is to be facts.

If you're enlisted into the unit that hired you, then they should allow you to request an authorization in DTS for the TDY and book your travel through DTS (you'll need a line of accounting from your finance folks to fund that trip). Been said but my experience and experience I know of with other guard guys is that the unit will pay for it. So I'm not sure what's different about you going TDY to WP vs someone else going TDY to some other place. On the reserve side, the dudes I met at FC1 said they have to pay for it out of pocket and their recruiter will get them reimbursed.

I got approved by NGB same time you did, and got told like a week later I'm going to the August OTS class. Nothing on UPT yet since that's gonna be an FY22 thing for me so I don't know if that's been laid out yet.

Who did your DO send an email to? When you say DO I assume you mean your squadron director of operations. I would still give your FDO (force development office) a call. It's a fine balance between being annoying and getting stuff done but a lot of times that's what it takes because you have to be one keeping those that are pushing you through honest. So if it's been a month, I think it's fair to ask at least somebody, but don't be a douche about it. Be like "hey I know you guys are super busy, but I'm trying to get some information about my FCI being scheduled, if I need to do anything, etc". If they tell you you're being annoying then ask them (politely) to hook you up with some answers so they won't have to be bothered by you anymore 🙂

Not-a-damn-thing. Meet people, hang out, that's about it... Most/some units put you into student flight, but you might be able to "opt-out".

Has your base training office (FDO) requested an appointment for your FC1? The way I understand the process is that Wright Patt "gives" so many slots to NGB (assuming you're guard), and NGB magically gives you a slot. But your FDO has to add you to the queue. If they have, then I would ask them what the situation there is. If they haven't, then you should ask/have your recruiter ask/have your DO ask/have your Sq/CC ask them to do it ASAP.

Guard off the street heavy Applied: Jan 2020 Board/Hired: May 2020 MEPS/Enlisted: July 2020 FC1: Mid Oct 2020 FC1 Approved (with eye related waiver): First week of Dec 2020 Packet completed, send to JFHQ/NGB: JFHQ mid Dec 2020, NGB late Dec 2020 NGB Approved: last week of Feb 2021 and put in request for TFOT TFOT: Aug 2021 UPT:

That's interesting/hilarious since I applied to them a year ago, got the "Received" response, and never heard again either way. 🤷‍♂️

They will typically put you at a hotel they contract with for the night before. Then at 5 in the morning or whatever, you get on a bus and they will bus you onto the MEPCOM base. You'll then be asked to have all your stuff put away in this locker room kinda thing, and then get your medical file that you'll pretty much be carrying with you the whole time as you go through different processing stations. You then do some basic stuff like vitals, listen to a briefing, fill out some forms (check Enlisted on your paperwork, assuming this MEPS appointment is to enlist into your unit to get your commission stuff going), do a breathalyzer. Then off to the urine (they watch you), hearing, vision, exercise like the infamous duck walk/height/weight, and then a doc will look at you individually. They rotate groups in between these different activities, so the order you do them in will probably be different than what I've said. Then you can probably grab a lunch, chill for a bit, they tell you you're good to go, then check out of there and dip. Just wear something respectable, be polite, be patient, and listen to directions. In my experience, the docs there all seem really salty... I imagine them wake up in the morning and be like "f I gotta deal with these mfers today f f f". Don't let that scare or intimidate you per se, but those that work the receptionist areas were nice when I had a question for them.

Since I need LASIK or PRK, should I start working that independently, or first contact the units i'm interested in for guidance on their waiver process? Yes. For me, whether military flying was gonna work out, it was well worth it for convenience of life. You don't really need to contact the units about this specifically. Your unit doesn't handle the waiver so they'll probably shrug their shoulders. I've heard that some states' ANGs still require PRK over LASIK even though USAF allows both To pass FC1, either PRK or LASIK is approved, subject to the pre-op limits. Within the limits, no waiver is needed assuming good outcome/no complications. Outside the limits, but below a higher limit, a waiver is needed. I suppose a guard unit can specifically require one over the other, but I have never seen this myself and can't think of a reason they would be more restrictive than USAFSAM standards. How time critical is this part; is there still a 6-month gap between the surgery and FC1 eligibility? Not really that time critical. There is a 6 month period (you will need pre-op cycloplegic refraction, laser report, 3 and 6 month post-op report. Although I also got a 1 day and then 1 month assessment). MEPS will require similar paperwork. But assuming you get PRK/LASIK AFTER you get hired, it'd probably still be 5-6 months until you get to go do your FC1. I've seen people go within 2 months of getting hired, but they're usually prior/current service so they don't need to go through the enlistment process first. I'm assuming the surgery must be done prior to any interviews? See above, some squadrons I've seen ask that you submit the waiver checklist if you've done the surgery with your application, so... it might be easier to hold off so you don't need extra s#!t to submit with your packet but ultimately up to you. I already had mine done by the time I started applying. It's not in my experience that they're gonna ask how your eyes are in an interview anyway. Not related to your post really, but have baller AFOQT scores (I'm talking like 90+) and be able to talk confidently to the board about why you are trying to fly into the military now at a slightly older age and after already having a flying career and seniority at your 121 gig (assuming you're non prior service). Start calling up squadrons and networking now if you haven't yet.

For Jax, you should have gotten email on 9/7 about scheduling a time if you were contacted initially about it. They were supposed to happen on 9/9 and 9/10 from the email I got.

Definitely visit if you have the means to. I know it's a big time and financial burden but I'd pick 1-2 unit that you are really really interested in to go visit. Once you meet them in person and talk to them, you'll get a feel for the vibe and then decide how you want to stay in touch. It doesn't necessarily have to be the chief pilot or whomever, just someone you thought you vibed well with. Visit more than once if you can! If you don't feel like you vibed with anyone there, maybe it's not a great fit culture/personality wise for you. With that said, you definitely don't want to come off being fake. If you're qualified/check all the boxes on paper, sending out apps isn't actually that bad of a strategy - it just takes more time to get some traction. So, depending on your age and whatever circumstances, just keep sending apps (not sure when you started applying, but I imagine spring time hiring boards will kick into gear again. As someone said, what's happening at the airlines now probably aren't affecting boards too much since hired to operational takes like 3 years) and something is gonna stick, I promise.

I applied to ~10 units too, combination of fighter and heavy (actually all fighters except 2). Here's what went down for me: Visited: 2 units, 1 heavy, 1 fighter. Got interview for heavy, but didn't really fit me. Got TBNT for fighter. one Interviews: 2 heavy. Again, declined the interview for one. Accepted interview for the other, got offer, accepted offer (did not visit, first time in person was the interview. Loved the atmosphere, loved the mission, loved the people). Phone/first rounds: 2 fighters. 1 TBNT, other one I declined because I already got picked up. Stats-wise, ~180 hours, PCMS 99, P99/N99/V97/Q99/AA99. BS/MS in engineering, 4 years in industry. Moderately involved in undergrad. Cool guy all around 😎 (lol). Have you visited anywhere? It's tough to be interviewed without visiting is essentially what I've learned from the process. That and knowing why you want to be a fighter/bomber/tanker/herk/etc pilot and be able to delineate it well. If you get an interview, you're basically qualified. The interview is to weed out the people that are weird, jerks, not team player, not-committed, and not well suited for the military. If you aren't making it that far and have good stats/resume, the only thing left to do is making connections with people at the squadron especially for fighter units. Having someone within the squadron that is willing to vouch for you goes beyond any test scores or resume (assuming they still think you can graduate from UPT...). Also, keep applying.

First, congrats on getting and accepting an ANG slot. At this point, your recruiter is probably the best source of information. From my personal experience, it's a 1 year active (well, guard version of active) + 7 years inactive reserve as AF enlistment contracts are 8 years long. Essentially, that gives me (and them) a year to get pushed into the officer training pipeline. I didn't personally discuss it with my recruiter, but I am fairly certain that if something doesn't work out along the way (at FC1 or wherever else), I'll just go through an administrative separation process. All in all, there really wasn't much to it, no tricks, no gotchas.

Can’t stress this enough. For some context I had P99/N99/AA99/V97/Q99 and 99 PCSM, 3.8 undergrad, 4.0 grad GPA both in engineering, industry experience etc etc and got 2 interviews after being told no for maybe 10 other apps I’ve sent out mostly fighters, and maybe a 135 and 130 sprinkled in. So as people say low score isn’t automatically disqualifying, high scores aren’t automatically qualifying either. I wasn’t a believer before, but it’s extremely important to connect and meet the guys at a squadron you really want to get into. I’m lucky the first time I visited the unit I’m with now was at my interview. I felt super at home and I was pretty much cheesin the whole time during my interview because I just thought it really fit me well. Somewhat related, I think we as a community of current/prospective guys online should shift from the mentality of “Am I good enough” to “How can I improve myself even more”. You can’t control who else is applying but you certainly can control how well you present yourself, so as long as you are being the best you can possibly be, that’s what’s good enough. Just my 2 pennies in time of coin shortage. Best of luck gents and ladies.

It's more the thought that counts, if you have some interesting story behind what special liquor you wanna bring then go for it and make it a conversation point with the bros there. Otherwise the standard applies. It's (in my own opinion) extremely unlikely for them to hire one person over another because they brought some unique liquor. If you're their guy, then it's a really nice finishing touch. If you aren't, then no barrels of whiskey will make it so. Good luck, be cool, be yourself!

Time to dig up an old mixtape CD or that disc we used to burn a torrented game lol

I don't remember seeing this on Bogidope or anywhere but came across a posting for a joint UPT board at AK ANG (176th Wing and JBER and 168th wing at Eielson). Link here: https://www.176wg.ang.af.mil/Careers/Flying-Officers/UPT-Application-Information/

I remember hearing that the logistics would be sent out once they know who's doing which option, have you/anyone seen anything yet?