Chances of going this specific route?

[grizwald57]

Hello All, I was hoping to get some input on my plan for eventually making it into flying Air Force...

 

I will admit to myself my prospects at this point are not great but that's not going to stop me from improving them. 

Age: 25

GPA: 2.98

Major: Information Technology (IT)

Civilian Career: couple months at a fast food restaurant, 4.5 years at a wholesale company, couple months as an IT support person at a medium sized company, 2 years so far at a large corporation as now a Senior Applications Developer

Flight time: 0 hours

LOR's: a close friend from work who is a Lead Applications Developer on my team, and an undergrad professor who also holds a PPL

 

One of my hardest things honestly has been securing letters of recommendation. I don't know many professional people who would be good for asking for letters from. The AF officer recruiter I was in contact has informed me I need at minimum 3, and the last person I can think of who would be a good person to request this from is my current manager (but obviously I am a little hesitant to request this from my current manager). 

Right now I need one more letter of recommendation before I can submit this to my AF recruiter and officially begin the process with him, but even so he has told me my prospects are low, which makes me want to improve my chances beforehand. I've thought of a couple of options to take at this point:

1. Go ahead and apply immediately to ANG with the prospect of eventually transferring to the AF

2. Begin lessons at my local community college and local flight school to obtain my PPL (This can help me in obtaining letters of recommendation as well), then apply.

3. Join Air Force as enlisted with the prospect of eventually transferring up to a pilot slot. 

4. Join ANG as either enlisted or reserve with the prospect of eventually transferring up to a pilot slot

 

Even after all this I know I'll have to basically ace the AFOQT in order to offset that lacking GPA. Please let me know what you think about these options I've put together for myself. Or if anyone would recommend anything different...

 

[ryleypav]

I never had to submit letters of recommendation to a recruiter, so I dont know what to do there.You will need them for any board application AD or Guard/Reserves, but there are other tests you need to take in which you wont need those. Have your recruiter get you signed up for the AFOQT first and foremost. Ask your manager for that last one, or if you really dont feel comfortable, ask a close family friend who isnt related to you. One of my letters was my best friends father. His was more of a character reference, but hey, it did the job. But first off, are you trying to go Active Duty or ANG/Reserves? But nonetheless, my thoughts:

1. Most people dont join the ANG and then go Active Duty AF. Its typically the other way around. Once you go ANG, you wont want to go AD. Also, when you say apply, do you mean for a pilot slot? If so, you have a few things to get done before you can do that. 

2. Yes, do this absolutely, but dont put so much stress on the letters of rec. They are important, but I dont think they are going to be the ultimate make or break. Having your pilots license or even being solo'd is a big thing for getting an interview should you go the ANG route. Many units have it as a soft requirement (not stated its needed, but highly encouraged). The hours also help on the TBAS/PCSM.

3.Be careful with this route. You can do this, but mind you it takes time. You'll need to go to basic and tech school, then have a service commitment. Not sure how it works if you get a pilot slot in the middle of a service commitment, if you can just leave it to go to pilot training or something. Are there jobs that interest you on the enlisted side or are you going to hate it. If you want to serve no matter what form, then this could be a good route. But if you want to serve as a pilot, this can slow things down. Can also help. YMMV. Lots of guys go this route. But to be clear, you dont just transfer up to a pilot slot. You would have to apply to a commissioning source (OTS or ANG/Reserves) and be selected. Same path as you'd be going right now, just delaying it to enlist.

4. See above. Same thing pretty much. Guy that got hired a few boards before me was a crew chief at the wing. Different squadron, but same wing. Granted, he put in a lot of time enlisted before moving up the commissioned side of the fence.

 

If you really want to fly, in my opinion go Guard. I think you'll find that sentiment shared on here quite a bit. Guard slots are competitive, especially fighters, but what I have gathered from this forum is that Guard is the best of both worlds.