Guard/Reserve Questions

If you're given 48 UTA and 48 AFTP that breaks down to 8 doubles a month which is equal to 16 days of AD pay a month correct? Doesn't sound that difficult to make it as a bum.
 
For those that want to bum sure, that said in this fiscal environment, with drawdown, and BRAC it would behoove one to aggressively work on their civilian career as well, lest they be left without a seat in the DOD.
 
Seems like certain units will never be slow. And the only job that works with the Guard/Reserve is the airlines.

Is it possible to do 4 days of UTA a month?
 
Well I'm not in one of those units sooo. Anyway, ya that was kinda my point earlier to @Dan208B about being an engineer at Boeing and flying for the guard, there literally aren't enough hours in the month. I feel bad for the guys in the unit that are engineers, bankers, whatever, they really can't win because their civilian job is so demanding as well. The job really only works with people that are airline pilots, cops and other state/federal LEOs, ATCers and other flexible schedule government type work. Even being a nurse who can work shifts 24/7 would be better than any 9-5 high level private sector, for getting it to work out schedulewise.

You can do 4 days of UTA in a month if you have days available. For ex I'm on an airline trip over UTA (I personally try to avoid this now with the way ancillary training is set up), then I have those 2 days to make up, and can do a RUTA, or a make up UTA.

Are you active duty looking to get into the guard?
 
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That's unfortunate for you. Hercs and fighters seem like they're constantly on the chopping block. Is bumming even possible in your unit? The tanker unit in my hometown isn't very active so bumming is impossible. You get drill weekend and 4 flights for currency. No way to get 8 doubles or money from trips.

As far as me, I'm on the fence. Baseops and other forums scared me away from AD and I'm not sure about the Guard/Reserve. The job market is limited with the schedule and I'm not set on flying for a career.
 
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Wall of text;

I personally do what I do because of the freedom it provides me. I'm in the guard because I don't want to worry about how many days of leave I have if I want to go camping. I fly for the airlines because I'll need 121 time for a major, and I like the airline flying, the regional legs are perfect for me, I love being busy and flying turns in out and of CLT all day. I also love being 26 years old and being able to fly anywhere in the world for free, you can't argue with the travel benefits if you use them. There's people that make 200k that don't have as much freedom of time and travel as I do. I love the freedom that being able to drop mil leave at the airline provides me. I had a carry in day (a day trip at the end of my 4 day), and it was 4 legs of good flying, well I got displaced for IOE and they gave me a double deadhead to pick up a plane to ferry for mx that got me to base at 10:30 pm, thus home at ~ 2 am (I live a three hour drive from base), instead of the original day trip that had me done at 2 pm. It instantly became not worth the time or money, so instead of having to take it, went on mil leave for Monday and off the schedule it disappears.

As for not being a C-17, C-5 or Tanker guy where the bumming is 3 or 4 times better than Herc land. I did not get into the military to do exactly what I do at the airline. Quite frankly my friends flying C-17s make more money in the guard than I do and will likely have better careers than I do. I have a friend who has been flying C-17s just as long as I've been in Herks and he's just about ready to upgrade to AC. Y'know what though, I love the Herk, I love the tactics, I love formation, airdrop and being down in the dirt on NVGs, you don't get that kinda stuff in the-17. It's basically airline flying which I already do at my airline, so why do it in the military too? I have no idea about fighter world be it AF, Navy or guard/reserve. It's a completely different animal.

Active duty can be a tough pill to swallow, with a really really good paycheck. That said, I have friends that are non-vold' flyin Preds, flying MC-12s on a 4/4 to the sandbox, ready for their staff tour, etc etc, and y'know what, they can't say no. They're owned. When my unit got BRAC'd for Preds, I interviewed and got hired somewhere that had Herks, the money flying Preds would've have been amazing, but life is really too short to not do what you want to do, and that's the downside to AD. Also the queep and general ridiculousness/silliness that AF active duty would be a bit much to handle 20+ days a month. I for one an glad to be a part timer.

Like you I too am not convinced that I want to fly airplanes for the rest of my life, but if I do I might as well be as diverse as possible, even when there are full time jobs open at the unit I'd rather keep my feet in civilian work too. I'm keeping my mind open towards other careers and opportunities, but flying is fine for now.

For you I would say don't count your chickens before they hatch, get hired first then make the tough decisions.

Edit @scoobs ; as for your hometown unit not being busy well the guard was never intended to allow one an income to live, this is why I have civilian employment. Also it ebbs and flows, it really does, some months there's not enough pilots to fly the trips, other months you'll be in the squadron and everyone will just be staring at each other because there's nothing to do. There are also opportunities to deploy with other units as well as "interfly" with other units. Interflys are basically letters of agreement between OGs, and while possible they're kinda a pain to put together, but say the chief pilot wants a new guy to get experience while the unit is slow. It's not unheard of for an LT to go interfly with another, busier unit to gain experience faster.

Everything I mentioned in this thread is merely the opinion of a 1 Lt who has been flying Herks around for a whole 18 months, has no kids, no wife, no debt, no house, so take everything with a grain of salt, and as always your mileage may vary.
 
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Soku39 said:
TDY pay is based on status. Generally speaking for generic guard lift or TACC lift the orders will title 32 or title 10. Per Diem pay is based on location, it's the same rate as any other DOD or Federal entity.
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I didn't realize you got additional pay for trips besides per diem.
 
OP, tell her to also look at Army Guard and Air Guard RW units. It is often easier to work in flights as you're day to day missions are shorter.
Initially as others have said you need to look into about 2 years of trainIng. After that you are probably looking at about 4-8 days a month (depending on how many AFTPs you are allotted), and two weeks for AT each year. If you deploy.. Well, be aware of that possibility.
 
Soku39 said:
48 UTA periods per year. UTA is not a TDY, you do not get paid mileage outside the commuting distance for UTA, you are however entitled to government rate lodging Friday and Saturday night of drill weekend.

For AFTPs you are either ground OR fly. For example if I have a 1300 local that's a 2.5 I will show at 0800-1200 for the mission planning and briefing, for this I will use one AFTP ground, which is only one pay period. For 1200-1600 I will use an AFTP fly to over the flight as you must be in some kind of flight status to be on the flight orders. Those two combined are roughly equal to one active duty day paywise, but not for entitlements.

It is kinda confusing aft first. I screwed some things up in my first few months at a traditional, which is to be expected, but you learn over time.
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This is no longer true in the ANG. AFTP's have been increased to 72 per year, and there is no differentiation between Fly and Ground days.

Slight sidebar- you used to only be able to log a Fly AFTP if you actually left the ground. Bad weather, broke, etc? No Fly AFTP. BUT- you also were not allowed to log 2 back to back Ground days. So it created a situation where guys would push to fly unnecessarily; after all, they drove up from out of town to get paid. I'm glad that system is gone.
 
NewYorkophile said:
This is no longer true in the ANG. AFTP's have been increased to 72 per year, and there is no differentiation between Fly and Ground days.

Slight sidebar- you used to only be able to log a Fly AFTP if you actually left the ground. Bad weather, broke, etc? No Fly AFTP. BUT- you also were not allowed to log 2 back to back Ground days. So it created a situation where guys would push to fly unnecessarily; after all, they drove up from out of town to get paid. I'm glad that system is gone.
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Well that's idiotic on the part of your state, I've always been able to log two grounds in a row in the case of breaks, wx, etc. We're still standing by for guidance on the increase in AFTPs in my unit...
 
Soku39 said:
Well that's idiotic on the part of your state, I've always been able to log two grounds in a row in the case of breaks, wx, etc. We're still standing by for guidance on the increase in AFTPs in my unit...
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We recently got an email that said "You can do 72 AFTP's...but the payroll system doesn't know how to do it yet." Great.
 
Soku39 said:
For those that want to bum sure, that said in this fiscal environment, with drawdown, and BRAC it would behoove one to aggressively work on their civilian career as well, lest they be left without a seat in the DOD.
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The golden rule of bumming: you are a BUM. That is why they call it bumming. You can expect the be paid like one, live like one, eat like one, and sometimes even smell like one.
 
JPilot9 said:
The golden rule of bumming: you are a BUM. That is why they call it bumming. You can expect the be paid like one, live like one, eat like one, and sometimes even smell like one.
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Things that I've thought to myself before trips. I've had "Eh, might as well throw some more underwear in the car, ya never know". "Don't you dare forget to steal a towel from the hotel, or no shower for you tomorrow when you're couch surfing". Oh the life.
 
As long as you aren't trying to live the life of a $30k millionaire, frugality and resourcefulness go a long way in aviation! One set of Ex Officios is worth a pack of Hanes.
 
JPilot9 said:
As long as you aren't trying to live the life of a $30k millionaire, frugality and resourcefulness go a long way in aviation! One set of Ex Officios is worth a pack of Hanes.
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Correction sir, last year I was the 35k millionaire, this year I pin on 0-3 and make it to second year pay at the regional, the sky is the limit my friend. ; )

Ps what's it like to have J models, be relevant and relatively safe, god I can only imagine.
 
am I missing something? I was under the impression a TP and UTA pay period paid the exact same
 
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