UPT thru AFRES dead?

[Dangerzone]

Reached out to a few reserve units to ask about pilot openings or their next UPT board and through the course of the convo and exchanging niceties they essentially gave it to me straight saying the previous AFRC board selected 5 of the 70 fully qualified and vetted applicants ~10%. They mentioned they’d sponsor me no problem but it doesn’t really mean anything because the selection rate is so low due to AD taking back some UPT spots, the current backlog of applicants, and the UPT slots are going to the flying units that are under manned. 
Just seems like going Reserve these days is a pretty bleak prospect with all the variability. 

Think this is an isolated issue or will it continue to be the case? 

[Av8]

I posted a similar question a few weeks ago. Seems like the consensus is that it was the end of the fiscal year and boards are just not advertising as much. However, I have had similar experiences to you. I’ve reached out to a few units I was interested in. The typical response follows the same lines of 1. We won’t have a board for awhile (without a specific timeline) 2. A lot of guys aren’t retiring so we don’t need to fill as many spots. Mind you this was in both the reserve and guard squadrons but the general theme is the same...a lot of uncertainty about the future boards

[mb1685]

That seems to mirror what someone said they heard in this post. Seems pretty plausible.

[Dangerzone]

13 minutes ago, mb1685 said:

That seems to mirror what someone said they heard in this post. Seems pretty plausible.

Thanks for sending. Anyone have an idea how to get a list of what units are undermanned? Figure it’s tankers in obscure places like Kansas, but would be nice to not waste time applying to units that can’t hire a pilot for multiple years. 

[Ten30Seven]

46 minutes ago, Dangerzone said:

Thanks for sending. Anyone have an idea how to get a list of what units are undermanned? Figure it’s tankers in obscure places like Kansas, but would be nice to not waste time applying to units that can’t hire a pilot for multiple years. 

One squadron I reached out to in May told me that AFRC is short of pilots for the KC-135 and C-130, so they recommended applying for those aircraft. Also since I have an unsponsored UPT slot, the C-130 unit at Dobbins and the C-17 unit at Dover contacted me saying they're looking to hire. So those would be good options too.

[tarheelaviator]

I feel like this is what the AETC must look like over the last 12 months.  Doesn't appear the Guard or Active Duty is any better based on the wait times I am seeing with people selected for those.  

[FDNYOldGuy]

On 9/30/2020 at 1:09 PM, Ten30Seven said:

One squadron I reached out to in May told me that AFRC is short of pilots for the KC-135 and C-130, so they recommended applying for those aircraft.

This checks with my somewhat dated knowledge from my hunt in 2018 and what I heard from unsponsored folks in UPT. 135s at Beale, Niagara Falls, and Andrews were lower manned and looking for pilots (Beale and NF just got back their flying missions and needed to restaff, IIRC). 130s I didn’t know as much about, but do remember Keesler being on the list of options for unsponsoreds.

Actually pretty surprised if you got calls from Dobbins 130s and Dover 17s. Both usually are tougher to get into due to proximity to airline hubs, from what I’d heard in the past. Granted, not sure how COVID is diddling with that dynamic, but those are fairly sought-after spots if you’re considering and don’t already have your eye on a specific airframe or location.