Right now I am finishing my second tour to Iraq, and in April I'll be finishing up my four year enlistment in the Marine Corps. I am planning on going to flight school after I get out. From reading many posts, I have figured out that pilots have a hard time making ends meet at the beginnings of their careers. I am thinking about joining the Air Force Reserve to help with the bills, and was wondering if anyone else thinks this is a good idea or has any experience in the Air Force Reserves.
Reserves to augment my income?
- Thread starter mattdc
- Start date
GirlInTraining
New Member
matt -
I'm currently in the AF reserves (was enlisted, now officer/pilot) and can give you a quick good/bad/ugly take...
Good: continuing with your service, especially on the AF side
and the pay/benefits are nice to have as a "supplemental" income. Plus, you can usually pick up some man-days to help out your squadron if times are lean when you're first starting out as a civilian pilot.
Bad: assuming you're coming in enlisted, you'll most likely have to go to an AF tech school, which may or may not come at an opportune time in your flight training. If you're planning on applying for a pilot slot, that's a whole other ball of wax (and PM me if you need more info than what is already posted on this board)
Ugly: you're still going to have the "opportunity" to deploy. Again, this may throw a wrench in your flight school plans, or has the potential to (temporarily!!) mess up your civilian flying schedule.
I'm currently in the AF reserves (was enlisted, now officer/pilot) and can give you a quick good/bad/ugly take...
Good: continuing with your service, especially on the AF side
and the pay/benefits are nice to have as a "supplemental" income. Plus, you can usually pick up some man-days to help out your squadron if times are lean when you're first starting out as a civilian pilot.Bad: assuming you're coming in enlisted, you'll most likely have to go to an AF tech school, which may or may not come at an opportune time in your flight training. If you're planning on applying for a pilot slot, that's a whole other ball of wax (and PM me if you need more info than what is already posted on this board)
Ugly: you're still going to have the "opportunity" to deploy. Again, this may throw a wrench in your flight school plans, or has the potential to (temporarily!!) mess up your civilian flying schedule.
GirlInTraining said:
Yeah, another deployment is one of those things that is making me skeptical about the reserves. If I do join it wont be until after I complete flight school, I am planning on finishing up my bachelors after that and am thinking that it might be beneficial to join at that point. I guess I'll really just have too see when the time comes.
Callous
New Member
Go back to Iraq as a 'contractor.' The reserves would likely send you back anyway. You can make at least 100k in one year, and if you have combat experience probably double that. Then you can come home and choose whatever flight path you want, including the one where you just buy/rent a plane and fly until you hit mins.
I have already looked into the contractor gig, and I am not counting it out. But It is my understanding that contractor jobs have less consistancey than aviiation jobs. I have worked with a # of contractors here. The only applicable skills that I have are currently in low demand. If things were to escalate I would be worth alot more, but I'd rather see that we haven't spent the past 3 years working for nothing. In other words, I'd like too see a continued progress towards peace, but it's not good for someone in my current line of work.