ANG Fighter Pilot Lifestyle

[Vertigo]

Here's the bottom line guys. Before you depart for UPT have a plan for what you are going to do full time when you get back. A Guard unit is a part-time gig and will not pay your bills overall. I suggest looking at it that way, therefore preparing for it, rather than the (what I've seen as) standard attitude and lack of planning of new guys coming back who ALL want that cushy full time job at the unit, and with the about-me SNAPS even a touch of expecting a full time position, doing every weasely thing to try and get one, then pissed and "I got screwed" if they don't. Sure, it's great and sometimes the timing works out. But your unit doesn't "owe you" a full time position and as a new guy in a Guard unit is usually a bad move (unless attitude/potential to go to WIC or all around ass-kicking guy, and a full-time guy leaves). The 2 years (roughly) you are gone plus the 1.5-2 years of orders you get upon return may seem like a long time, but it goes by quick. Again, have a plan. Worst is to NOT have one, then you are scrambling for money/jobs at the same time trying to get to the Guard 8-10 days a month, you're new and suck, you're flight commander is on you because you're new, suck, and aren't around, etc.

HAVE A PLAN.

Barney

Sage advice.

And for the love of God if you don't get a full time slot don't go posting a hurt feelings report on facebook and other social networking sites. (Yes, I know someone who did that - wasn't good).

[rico]

Got a question. Read this entire thread and some others but couldn't find the answer. I was at nellis talking to an aggressor dude who told me he was a guard dude. Also, talked to a dude in the test&eval at nellis who said he is a guard dude. So my question is how did these dudes pick up positions like that? According to the nellis site the 926th group is the only reserve unit on base and houses the 706th FS. So that could accont for the test&eval dude but what about the aggressor guy? Obviously these dudes aren't newbies and were prior AD guys, but is it common for experienced guard dudes to at AD squadrons where there are no guard units/associate units. I know the opposite is somewhat common.

[mp5g]

Got a question. Read this entire thread and some others but couldn't find the answer. I was at nellis talking to an aggressor dude who told me he was a guard dude. Also, talked to a dude in the test&eval at nellis who said he is a guard dude. So my question is how did these dudes pick up positions like that? According to the nellis site the 926th group is the only reserve unit on base and houses the 706th FS. So that could accont for the test&eval dude but what about the aggressor guy? Obviously these dudes aren't newbies and were prior AD guys, but is it common for experienced guard dudes to at AD squadrons where there are no guard units/associate units. I know the opposite is somewhat common.

8 dudes in 9 sentences?

West Coaster or a die hard fan of https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vY6o5313UhQ?

[sledy]

Got a question. Read this entire thread and some others but couldn't find the answer. I was at nellis talking to an aggressor dude who told me he was a guard dude. Also, talked to a dude in the test&eval at nellis who said he is a guard dude. So my question is how did these dudes pick up positions like that? According to the nellis site the 926th group is the only reserve unit on base and houses the 706th FS. So that could accont for the test&eval dude but what about the aggressor guy? Obviously these dudes aren't newbies and were prior AD guys, but is it common for experienced guard dudes to at AD squadrons where there are no guard units/associate units. I know the opposite is somewhat common.

Yes there are guard dudes flying in aggressors and also the 422 that I know of for sure. It's possible, to apply for the aggressor one, the others over there I think it's more of an internal dudemized recommendation. Overall you've got to be a good dude who's pretty also a pretty sharp dude. A nod from you SQ weapons dude helps too.

Sledy

The dude abides.....

[scoobs]

What I'm still trying to figure out is what jobs will accomdate someone to fly 8-10 days a month besides the airlines and retail/hospitality?

[Guest skipro101]

Well, my plan is

A - Airline Pilot

if that doesnt work for whatever reason then

B - Business Owner , preferably a whorehouse in Nevada.

if that doesnt work for whatever reason then

C - Stay at home dad

and if that doesnt work, then

D - bum

[Guest CAVEMAN]

What I'm still trying to figure out is what jobs will accomdate someone to fly 8-10 days a month besides the airlines and retail/hospitality?

Law Enforcement

[Guest 12XU2A3X3]

collegiate level education to some degree could accommodated. other commercial air, banner towing

[scoobs]

Ski pro will you have enough hours to go to the airlines when you get back from seasoning? Sounds like the best deal is finding a unit who has an alert mission. If you unit is near a ski resort you could become a patroller or ski school.

Edited March 16, 2011 by scoobs

[Guest skipro101]

Yea I have 3400 hours. Hopefully I can get hired by Delta next summer right before I enter OTS. Would be nice to come off seasoning with 2.5 years of seniority.....

[scoobs]

Great idea, what unit are u looking at?

[Guest skipro101]

Great idea, what unit are u looking at?

Just got picked up last month. Check your PM.

[Flaco]

You guys are harsh.

I'll add a little different tone. The LPA is small in an ANG fighter squadron. I think it is hard to be a Lt in a Guard fighter squadron, especially if there are a bunch of old school full timers milling about. The Lts get sh!t on to do things you would expect from a normal AD Lt. Things like...clean and stock the bar, paint a patch on the wall in squadron room at Red Flag, answer the EP of the day, show up and hang around the ops desk before every mass brief so we don't have to go looking for you (or worse, cancel a sortie) when someone calls in sick or forgets they had a trip. So, from the Lts perspective, they get their dream shot, go to pilot training where everyone tells them how lucky they are because they are in the Guard and don't have to compete for anything. They are cut all kinds of slack in all their training because no one cares about the Guard guy when he screws up, it's their unit's problem to fix them over the next 30 years.

So a kid finally walks into his squadron feeling 10 feet tall with 508 seasoning days ahead of him and the impression he is God's gift to aviation. He dreams really are coming true. He is positive he will get offered a full time position when Joe Bag-o-donuts full timer retires in two years. There are all these airline guys hanging around talking about their great lives in front of him (the Lts don't get to listen to the quieter conversations when the guys huddle in the Flt CCs offices and ask each other if they think their A/B funds are safe or if the stock options will ever be worth more than $1.10 a share or if the company will still be around in 18 months or how the work rules have become so tough that it is really hard to even think about walking away from the wife and kids for 1/2 a day to get a fight-tank-fight at the "F-ing Guard" as their wife likes to call it). The Lt is sure that his fantastic squadron mates with their airline pirate stories about far flung drunken travels with Jack and Coke and super hot hostitutes will personally introduce them to the chief pilot of every major airline the very day he gets enough hours.

Then they walk into the blast furnace. It's not really a blast furnace but it seems like it to them. They see AD patch wearers coming around to interview for the full time positions and the Lts think they are getting screwed by the unit for not offering them the full time job. They also find out that there are not enough days coming down from the Guard Bureau for everyone to get their sorties. All the commanders talk about is "where are we going to get the days for this and that"...suddenly the hopes of "Guard Bumming" are dashed and that expensive new signature "That's right ladies...I'm a FIGHTER PILOT" sports car, Top Gun motorcycle, expensive boat and three bedroom house seem like a bad idea.

To top it all off, they are getting sh!t on for...not being on the right freq, when they are on the right freq they say the wrong thing, not being in position, missing the target, making switch errors, not knowing the threats, screwing up the EP, not being at the ops desk, the bar is dirty, we're out of beer, why aren't you in the vault...

The intensity of the crap seems to go up as the number of seasoning days gets shorter. Now it looks like I won't become a flight lead before my seasoning days are over. My Flight Commander is asking me what I plan to do for a job in four months when the unit cuts the cord. A job? Are they serious? Am I really not going to get paid to come in and study and fly and drink beer anymore? This is my job! I'm a fighter pilot! Haven't they seen my car and motorcycle and boat and big ass house? WTFO?!

Maybe I can go on active duty for a year or two and get some upgrades and then come back to the unit to compete for one of the full time instructor positions. My flight commander thinks that's a good idea and he gives me the phone number of the fighter assignments guy at Randolph. What, you're not taking Guard Babies into the active duty fighter squadrons...in fact AD guys are allowed to Palace Chase into the Guard at will right now? Wait a second, when I was "on active duty" during all my training everyone told me how lucky I was to be going to the guard. Why won't they let me suck up the bad deals on AD?

Holy Crap, this isn't how my dream is supposed to end!

That's what ANG fighter pilot life can be like for a young guy.

Pure gold. I can't believe it took me 6 years to find this post. Any of you that are applying to a guard fighter unit, read this. Twice.

A wise old sage once told me "Being in the Guard is a marathon, not a sprint."

[Rivanthe5th]

Pure gold. I can't believe it took me 6 years to find this post. Any of you that are applying to a guard fighter unit, read this. Twice.

A wise old sage once told me "Being in the Guard is a marathon, not a sprint."

all worth it imo :)

I'd rather be dirt poor, driving a beater, and get tasked with crap jobs than not be a fighter pilot

Having a positive attitude, glass half full, and all that jazz, helps in these situations. Service before self and excellence in all we do ;)

Edited March 26, 2011 by Rivanthe5th

[Guest 12XU2A3X3]

all worth it imo :)

I'd rather be dirt poor, driving a beater, and get tasked with crap jobs than not be a fighter pilot

Having a positive attitude, glass half full, and all that jazz, helps in these situations. Service before self and excellence in all we do ;)

hell yeah

[scoobs]

Are there any people who went straight to a fighter guard unit want to share their experience?

[EvilEagle]

Pure gold. I can't believe it took me 6 years to find this post. Any of you that are applying to a guard fighter unit, read this. Twice.

A wise old sage once told me "Being in the Guard is a marathon, not a sprint."

Just remember that the grass is always greener on the other side. I was an AD baby and admit that I didn't know (and never will) all there is to know about being a guard baby fighter pilot. I thought it was awesome that they had less pressure on them because they knew what they were going to fly.

It's true AD guys don't have to worry about their paycheck, but many of the other things Rainman was talking about are the same. Not trying to rain on the party here (I'm going to the guard in a few months). Just trying to put some perspective - neither is easy - AD or Guard - they are different. I'm looking forward to some of the changes that the guard will bring to my life. Good luck to all you young guys, there are no free meal tickets anymore. It's an uphill battle but worth it.

[Rivanthe5th]

Just remember that the grass is always greener on the other side. I was an AD baby and admit that I didn't know (and never will) all there is to know about being a guard baby fighter pilot. I thought it was awesome that they had less pressure on them because they knew what they were going to fly.

It's true AD guys don't have to worry about their paycheck, but many of the other things Rainman was talking about are the same. Not trying to rain on the party here (I'm going to the guard in a few months). Just trying to put some perspective - neither is easy - AD or Guard - they are different. I'm looking forward to some of the changes that the guard will bring to my life. Good luck to all you young guys, there are no free meal tickets anymore. It's an uphill battle but worth it.

where you going guard at?

[hindsight2020]

all worth it imo :)

I'd rather be dirt poor, driving a beater, and get tasked with crap jobs than not be a fighter pilot

Having a positive attitude, glass half full, and all that jazz, helps in these situations. Service before self and excellence in all we do ;)

I'm assuming you're acknowledging the lifestyle of the guard baby viper driver, which is starkly different from the troughing barney/fred driver (until the MPA dried up for them too last year). The perspective of being a fighter pilot for $1400/mo versus making AD jack for the same privilege is different, anybody who says otherwise is being disingenuous. It's just like the kids coming off part 141 school and 100K debt looking at ATR jobs with Eagle @ KSJU. Sounds like a dream at 24. At 30? It gets old, quick. Same kid, same work ethic.

In the days of 3-4 days a month, sure, you could swing the niche. 6-10 days? Forget it. Like a buddy of mine told me @ KHST last year when I asked him about opportunities flying -16s in sun laden Cuba *er* Miami: "pulling 6-9Gs is overrated..dude". Bummer, dude. Life's a moving target and all that jazz. To each their own of course.

I wouldn't recommend anybody try to become a Guard/Reserve baby in the new AFRC/ANGB, the social contract broke a while ago for these types. If I knew then what I know now, the most sensible way would have been to go AD (again, at the time there was no UAV threat, so maybe the point is moot), separate with all those nice little IP quals that make you tasty (sts) to ARC units bleeding all these entitled and indignant O-5s, looking to replace them with unsuspecting blood, and go do the ARC thing as a TR with all the quals and hero medals under your belt after the 12 year stint. Guard babies are getting left in cold these days. I know I had to pull major networking and hoofing it all over kingdom come to effectively get me into a de facto active duty status so I could recover from attempting to do the guard baby deal right off college. Lockheed doesn't care you've been out of the labor market for 4 years because you were flying for the Guard, they're still not gonna give you O-3 compensation to work for them. You're doing that STRICTLY because the idea of pulling Gs in your 20s falls in whatever life story you dreamt up for yourself while you were trying to stay awake and stay inside the grading curve in Physics II. Which is great I guess, but let's not get carried away, it's not the answer to all the life questions. "Have a plan" is right. And in my opinion, the former is not a plan if you intend to not struggle financially in your 30s. I'm not being normative btw, just offering some POV from a different angle is all :)

break break---

holy shit scoobs, you still around? Brother did ya ever get hired by anybody, how old are you these days, 35? In the words of 40 yo virgin : 'good GOD man, u gotta get on that...'

[Insubordinate & Churlish]

Appreciate all the info. These are replies to tough questions that many of the applicants like myself have.

Hindsight, so if someone were to have a good paying civi job that worked well with the ANG fighter pilot schedule, they would have "fixed" many of the issues you're addressing above? Thus they would be able to focus on not f'ing up in the jet instead of worrying about putting food on the table for their family every month? Just looking for clarification.

Edited March 28, 2011 by Port Dog

[scoobs]

I'm assuming you're acknowledging the lifestyle of the guard baby viper driver, which is starkly different from the troughing barney/fred driver (until the MPA dried up for them too last year). The perspective of being a fighter pilot for $1400/mo versus making AD jack for the same privilege is different, anybody who says otherwise is being disingenuous. It's just like the kids coming off part 141 school and 100K debt looking at ATR jobs with Eagle @ KSJU. Sounds like a dream at 24. At 30? It gets old, quick. Same kid, same work ethic.

In the days of 3-4 days a month, sure, you could swing the niche. 6-10 days? Forget it. Like a buddy of mine told me @ KHST last year when I asked him about opportunities flying -16s in sun laden Cuba *er* Miami: "pulling 6-9Gs is overrated..dude". Bummer, dude. Life's a moving target and all that jazz. To each their own of course.

I wouldn't recommend anybody try to become a Guard/Reserve baby in the new AFRC/ANGB, the social contract broke a while ago for these types. If I knew then what I know now, the most sensible way would have been to go AD (again, at the time there was no UAV threat, so maybe the point is moot), separate with all those nice little IP quals that make you tasty (sts) to ARC units bleeding all these entitled and indignant O-5s, looking to replace them with unsuspecting blood, and go do the ARC thing as a TR with all the quals and hero medals under your belt after the 12 year stint. Guard babies are getting left in cold these days. I know I had to pull major networking and hoofing it all over kingdom come to effectively get me into a de facto active duty status so I could recover from attempting to do the guard baby deal right off college. Lockheed doesn't care you've been out of the labor market for 4 years because you were flying for the Guard, they're still not gonna give you O-3 compensation to work for them. You're doing that STRICTLY because the idea of pulling Gs in your 20s falls in whatever life story you dreamt up for yourself while you were trying to stay awake and stay inside the grading curve in Physics II. Which is great I guess, but let's not get carried away, it's not the answer to all the life questions. "Have a plan" is right. And in my opinion, the former is not a plan if you intend to not struggle financially in your 30s. I'm not being normative btw, just offering some POV from a different angle is all :)

break break---

holy shit scoobs, you still around? Brother did ya ever get hired by anybody, how old are you these days, 35? In the words of 40 yo virgin : 'good GOD man, u gotta get on that...'

I'm always here, causing confusion and anger. It sounds like heavies are the way to go if you want to eat. To many people with such a negative view toward AD to change peoples mind. Life is a crapshoot, just roll the dice.

[Rivanthe5th]

I'm assuming you're acknowledging the lifestyle of the guard baby viper driver, which is starkly different from the troughing barney/fred driver (until the MPA dried up for them too last year). The perspective of being a fighter pilot for $1400/mo versus making AD jack for the same privilege is different, anybody who says otherwise is being disingenuous. It's just like the kids coming off part 141 school and 100K debt looking at ATR jobs with Eagle @ KSJU. Sounds like a dream at 24. At 30? It gets old, quick. Same kid, same work ethic.

In the days of 3-4 days a month, sure, you could swing the niche. 6-10 days? Forget it. Like a buddy of mine told me @ KHST last year when I asked him about opportunities flying -16s in sun laden Cuba *er* Miami: "pulling 6-9Gs is overrated..dude". Bummer, dude. Life's a moving target and all that jazz. To each their own of course.

I wouldn't recommend anybody try to become a Guard/Reserve baby in the new AFRC/ANGB, the social contract broke a while ago for these types. If I knew then what I know now, the most sensible way would have been to go AD (again, at the time there was no UAV threat, so maybe the point is moot), separate with all those nice little IP quals that make you tasty (sts) to ARC units bleeding all these entitled and indignant O-5s, looking to replace them with unsuspecting blood, and go do the ARC thing as a TR with all the quals and hero medals under your belt after the 12 year stint. Guard babies are getting left in cold these days. I know I had to pull major networking and hoofing it all over kingdom come to effectively get me into a de facto active duty status so I could recover from attempting to do the guard baby deal right off college. Lockheed doesn't care you've been out of the labor market for 4 years because you were flying for the Guard, they're still not gonna give you O-3 compensation to work for them. You're doing that STRICTLY because the idea of pulling Gs in your 20s falls in whatever life story you dreamt up for yourself while you were trying to stay awake and stay inside the grading curve in Physics II. Which is great I guess, but let's not get carried away, it's not the answer to all the life questions. "Have a plan" is right. And in my opinion, the former is not a plan if you intend to not struggle financially in your 30s. I'm not being normative btw, just offering some POV from a different angle is all :)

break break---

holy shit scoobs, you still around? Brother did ya ever get hired by anybody, how old are you these days, 35? In the words of 40 yo virgin : 'good GOD man, u gotta get on that...'

yeah, I'm aware of it :) I'm not planning on having the Guard be a primary source of income. Thanks for the perspective though, I'm always one for keeping it real. Always best to get as many facts as you can before getting yourself into something I say.

Question: Say one is hired fresh out of college as a fighter pilot in the ANG. What is the best way to get all the upgrade training?

[Guest 12XU2A3X3]

Sounds like a dream at 24. At 30? It gets old, quick. Same kid, same work ethic.

looking down that barrel right now. looking at a 28 y/o hire if i'm lucky.

You're doing that STRICTLY because the idea of pulling Gs in your 20s falls in whatever life story you dreamt up for yourself while you were trying to stay awake and stay inside the grading curve in Physics II.

this is a great reading break while i'm trying to spout some bullshit about hegel's dialectic. good info all around

[EvilEagle]

where you going guard at?

Nola

[scoobs]

So Evil hows your experience been in the Guard compared to AD?

Edited October 13, 2011 by scoobs