Military Aviation

chensler

chensler

Well-Known Member
Hey JC Family I am a current CFII and very interested in the military. Currently I am a college grad and looking to join the military as a officer and hopefully be able to fly as well. My questions are what kind of questions should I ask the military recruiter about becoming an officer and some general questions about the military? Any help would be very appreciative. Thanks.

-Chris
 
Really open ended dude. You got to narrow it down to some specific questions. Questions on commitment, training, pay, benefits, deployments,...etc. Cause we don't know anything about you or your situation. Just trying to save you some hardship that is probably on its way.

And to answer at least one of your future questions, the best pilots are in Navy.:D
 
My perspective each branch is awesome in its own part. I have no particular favoritism, I am just wanting to serve me country and get a great career started.

-Chris
 
Hey, looks like he has the right motivation. One of the better OP's I've seen on this subject in awhile... Are there any questions that you have at this time? Maybe that'll give you a starting point on what questions to ask the recruter.
 
I have many college friends who are in the military and I am just looking for a great career. Almost all of my past instructors are in the military and are flying as well. One instructor is in the Marines, and two other are currently training for tha Air National Guard. I have a few perspectives right now and I am looking toward to the JC community for your input. Not trying to take sides and neither thinking I deserve anything, I am just exploring the opportunities. Thanks for any help.

-Chris
 
germb747 said:
Hey, looks like he has the right motivation. One of the better OP's I've seen on this subject in awhile.
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Defintely have been a lot worse, but he might have different concerns or a different situation than lets say me when I started the process. As a college sophmore who had wanted to join the military my entire life my only concerns were if I could fly in the Navy and what were the swim requirements. To me it just seemed too open ended, need a little more specific information too get good discussion going.
 
///AMG said:
Granted we all go through the same training together, so I guess you could just say Naval Aviators and sum up the group ;)
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Is that why training takes you guys so long? Guys are darn near O-3 before they get their wings in some cases. :D
 
MikeD said:
Is that why training takes you guys so long? Guys are darn near O-3 before they get their wings in some cases. :D
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The pool periods from my experience...I spent 7 waiting in A-pool right after commissioning. Heard tailhook kingsville is about a 3-4 month wait. Navy Primary is just a it gets done when we can get it done no set graduation date. Plus the T-34C is older than anyone flying it, so alot of Mx/ACNA issues. That is what has slowed me down.
 
MikeD said:
Is that why training takes you guys so long? Guys are darn near O-3 before they get their wings in some cases. :D
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Don't forget that the Marines spend 6 months carrying a rifle, then they go to P-cola.

Also the hassel factor of needing to schedule a boat to do the final carrier quals.
 
Yeah there were actually a couple guys who winged here recently that were new O-3's when they finally pinned.......LTJG is the norm however. Most of the LT's were guys who got stuck in the Hurricane Ivan slowdown in fall '05 and went to grad school while they were waiting around to start the syllabus. But yeah, its generally a solid 2 years from start to finish for most pipelines, jets being maybe a couple months more than that.
 
MikeD said:
Is that why training takes you guys so long?
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That reminds me of an exchange between a Marine pilot and an Air Force operations officer. The Air Force type was going into great detail about a whole host of things. The Marine stopped him and said he really only had one question. The Air Force type asked what that was. The Marine said "is this airport going to be in the same place in a couple hours that it is now?" Then he added, "if so, I don't think it will be much of a challenge."



....... and I certainly can't end this post without saying Happy Birthday!
 
Well after more deliberation with fellow friends and what not, I am debating between the Marines, Navy, and Air National Guard. I currently am researching recruiter phone numbers along with other military websites right now. Can anyone give me some good questions to ask the recruiters? I appreciate all the help.
 
Do not overlook the Reserve.

AFRC - Air Force Reserve Command

I'll give you some advice: You shouldn't have to ask your recruiter anything about what you're getting in to. You should have all that stuff figured out via baseops/airwarriors whatever. Chances are, your recruiter will be a retarded MSgt that wears assless leather chaps on top of his ABUs. Your recruiter won't know the answers to the important questions: QOL, what to expect in training, all that stuff. Get that from the dudes who have been there and done that on the forums. (That is, unless your friends are pilots in the USMC, USN, ANG, etc and you get all the gouge from them.)

Seriously, do your homework on baseops or airwarriors (there's good stuff here too), so you that when you call up the recruiter he knows:
1.) You're serious
2.) You've taken the initiative and have done some research
3.) You know what's going on.

Finally, calling up an ANG recruiter will get you nowhere. You need to call up units (the flying squadrons) individually and ask around until you find someone who can tell you about UPT hiring.

Good luck.
 
On a related note, don't post on BaseOps, just search and read. If you post a thread and your thread's topic been mentioned in passing in any unrelated thread in the past 20 years, the members there will call you unkind names until the moderators arrive to lock your thread and issue you a stern warning for being so silly as to think that forums are for discussion. :rotfl:
 
frog_flyer said:
Do not overlook the Reserve.

AFRC - Air Force Reserve Command

I'll give you some advice: You shouldn't have to ask your recruiter anything about what you're getting in to. You should have all that stuff figured out via baseops/airwarriors whatever. Chances are, your recruiter will be a retarded MSgt that wears assless leather chaps on top of his ABUs. Your recruiter won't know the answers to the important questions: QOL, what to expect in training, all that stuff. Get that from the dudes who have been there and done that on the forums. (That is, unless your friends are pilots in the USMC, USN, ANG, etc and you get all the gouge from them.)

Seriously, do your homework on baseops or airwarriors (there's good stuff here too), so you that when you call up the recruiter he knows:
1.) You're serious
2.) You've taken the initiative and have done some research
3.) You know what's going on.

Finally, calling up an ANG recruiter will get you nowhere. You need to call up units (the flying squadrons) individually and ask around until you find someone who can tell you about UPT hiring.

Good luck.
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What he said. Also, Frogflyer and I had the same recruiter, and the description is accurate.

sog said:
On a related note, don't post on BaseOps, just search and read. If you post a thread and your thread's topic been mentioned in passing in any unrelated thread in the past 20 years, the members there will call you unkind names until the moderators arrive to lock your thread and issue you a stern warning for being so silly as to think that forums are for discussion. :rotfl:
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The attitude over there used to piss me off, but seriously, pretty much everything has been answered. I spent literally like two weeks just reading through everything in the guard/"my chances"/pilot selection forums and had zero questions. Reading up ahead of time worked for Frog and me (knock on wood).
 
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