Falconjet
Well-known member
- Joined
- Mar 28, 2002
- Posts
- 1,586
Both good choices
I'll throw my ring into the hat and say that it depends on what you want to do after your time in the military. If you want to be a commercial airline pilot one day, which I would guess since you are on this website, I would recommend the AF.
The AF has WAY more aircraft, particularly fixed-wing, which are what you need to fly in order to build time that the airlines are interested in. The AF, from my vantage point of only visiting AF bases and meeting AF pilots at various airshows and other events, is that the AF is an aviation service, run by aviators, to project force via aviation around the world. Their mission is to fly aircraft to deliver weapons and troops to where the action is. They have much nicer facilities and are much better funded for their mission than the CG is. The AF is MUCH larger than the CG and you have the opportunity to fly in the reserve or an air guard unit once you have completed your commitment to the AF. These are all good things.
The CG is SMALL, about 40,000 people all together. Perhaps about 600 aviators in the entire service. The number that will boggle your mind is that there are only 17 operational Falcons in the CG, and those will be going away within the next 10 years, to be replaced by a CASA eventually. I believe that is the current plan. There are maybe 40 C-130s, about 100 H-65 helos, and 40 or so H-60 helos. The CG is a SMALL, sea-going service, run by ship drivers and primarily in the business of operating SHIPS. Aviation is a support function in the CG, not a mission itself. The CG is historically underfunded and isn't run by folks who are not particularly gifted at saying no to new initiatives and requirements even when funding for such requirements is lacking.
Your chances of flying a fixed-wing aircraft in the CG is miniscule compared to the AF, and there is a requirement still for CG Academy graduates to go to sea for at least one year before they can apply for flight training. The selection process takes several months so most Academy grads spend about 2 years on the ship before going to flight school. OCS graduates can apply for flight school while at OCS but aren't guaranteed a spot, thus you could find yourself on a ship, at a station, or a district office for a couple of years before you get selected for flight school. MOST folks with aviation experience have no trouble getting into flight school out of OCS, but it is not guaranteed. Since you are getting your degree you would go the OCS route.
What I am getting at is you need to want to be a CG officer first. CG pilots are reminded constantly that they are officers first and pilots second. You need to want to serve your country above all, in whatever way they determine. Flying for the CG is a great way to do that, don't get me wrong, but flying won't ever be your primary duty, no matter what your OER says.
Now I don't want to discourage you from considering the CG, just calling it the way I saw it for my 20 years. I think the CG is a GREAT way to serve your country by saving lives, protecting the environment, enforcing fisheries laws, keeping illegal immigration in check, and trying to keep illegal drugs out of the country. These are real life, real time missions that the CG performs every day of the year. Its a very rewarding career and a pretty close knit community. Being smaller has its advantages (just don't ask my wife!), as you will know almost everybody in aviation, and there is more of a family atmosphere at a small unit than at some huge CG Air Station or AF Base. The locations are nice, the deployments are usually short (weeks instead of months or years, with some exceptions) and the people are top notch. All of the mechanics are also flight crewmembers so they have a vested interest in keeping the aircraft in good shape.
Promotions run a little slower than in the other services but that is cyclical, sometimes they pick up to match the DOD services. Few CG units have housing so you typically draw a housing allowance and live in the community you serve, which is good and bad. The bases tend to be on the coast, often in pretty high cost areas, and those housing allowances never quite add up to the costs, but it helps. You can expect a non-flying tour in there somewhere if you stay past the 10-12 year point, and there are also limited opportunities to switch from rotary wing to fixed wing and vice versa as you go.
Typical JO (junior officer) at an air station will have one or two collateral duties (which will actually be your primary duties), stands a 24 ready period every 4 or 5 days, and flys a couple of missions or training flights per week in additon to the SAR cases they get while on duty. Duty crews usually fly a trainer or a patrol of some sort on their duty days as well. You normally get a slider (day off) for wknd duty, and the duty schedule varies at most units depending on size and mission requirements (some are more busy with SAR or have seasonal requirements). Deployments vary again by unit and aircraft type. You are in your primary mission area all the time, so you don't have to deploy to go do your mission, you just fly out of the local pattern and you are there.
You can read plenty on this board about the AF way of life, I have the utmost respect for all of the DOD services and their missions, and thank God that they go in harms way for my family and me. Make sure you consider the SERVICE aspect of the Armed Forces, that is the primary mission and you will always be subject to the needs of the service no matter which one you join.
Good luck to you and thanks for your service regardless of which way you go.
FJ
I'll throw my ring into the hat and say that it depends on what you want to do after your time in the military. If you want to be a commercial airline pilot one day, which I would guess since you are on this website, I would recommend the AF.
The AF has WAY more aircraft, particularly fixed-wing, which are what you need to fly in order to build time that the airlines are interested in. The AF, from my vantage point of only visiting AF bases and meeting AF pilots at various airshows and other events, is that the AF is an aviation service, run by aviators, to project force via aviation around the world. Their mission is to fly aircraft to deliver weapons and troops to where the action is. They have much nicer facilities and are much better funded for their mission than the CG is. The AF is MUCH larger than the CG and you have the opportunity to fly in the reserve or an air guard unit once you have completed your commitment to the AF. These are all good things.
The CG is SMALL, about 40,000 people all together. Perhaps about 600 aviators in the entire service. The number that will boggle your mind is that there are only 17 operational Falcons in the CG, and those will be going away within the next 10 years, to be replaced by a CASA eventually. I believe that is the current plan. There are maybe 40 C-130s, about 100 H-65 helos, and 40 or so H-60 helos. The CG is a SMALL, sea-going service, run by ship drivers and primarily in the business of operating SHIPS. Aviation is a support function in the CG, not a mission itself. The CG is historically underfunded and isn't run by folks who are not particularly gifted at saying no to new initiatives and requirements even when funding for such requirements is lacking.
Your chances of flying a fixed-wing aircraft in the CG is miniscule compared to the AF, and there is a requirement still for CG Academy graduates to go to sea for at least one year before they can apply for flight training. The selection process takes several months so most Academy grads spend about 2 years on the ship before going to flight school. OCS graduates can apply for flight school while at OCS but aren't guaranteed a spot, thus you could find yourself on a ship, at a station, or a district office for a couple of years before you get selected for flight school. MOST folks with aviation experience have no trouble getting into flight school out of OCS, but it is not guaranteed. Since you are getting your degree you would go the OCS route.
What I am getting at is you need to want to be a CG officer first. CG pilots are reminded constantly that they are officers first and pilots second. You need to want to serve your country above all, in whatever way they determine. Flying for the CG is a great way to do that, don't get me wrong, but flying won't ever be your primary duty, no matter what your OER says.
Now I don't want to discourage you from considering the CG, just calling it the way I saw it for my 20 years. I think the CG is a GREAT way to serve your country by saving lives, protecting the environment, enforcing fisheries laws, keeping illegal immigration in check, and trying to keep illegal drugs out of the country. These are real life, real time missions that the CG performs every day of the year. Its a very rewarding career and a pretty close knit community. Being smaller has its advantages (just don't ask my wife!), as you will know almost everybody in aviation, and there is more of a family atmosphere at a small unit than at some huge CG Air Station or AF Base. The locations are nice, the deployments are usually short (weeks instead of months or years, with some exceptions) and the people are top notch. All of the mechanics are also flight crewmembers so they have a vested interest in keeping the aircraft in good shape.
Promotions run a little slower than in the other services but that is cyclical, sometimes they pick up to match the DOD services. Few CG units have housing so you typically draw a housing allowance and live in the community you serve, which is good and bad. The bases tend to be on the coast, often in pretty high cost areas, and those housing allowances never quite add up to the costs, but it helps. You can expect a non-flying tour in there somewhere if you stay past the 10-12 year point, and there are also limited opportunities to switch from rotary wing to fixed wing and vice versa as you go.
Typical JO (junior officer) at an air station will have one or two collateral duties (which will actually be your primary duties), stands a 24 ready period every 4 or 5 days, and flys a couple of missions or training flights per week in additon to the SAR cases they get while on duty. Duty crews usually fly a trainer or a patrol of some sort on their duty days as well. You normally get a slider (day off) for wknd duty, and the duty schedule varies at most units depending on size and mission requirements (some are more busy with SAR or have seasonal requirements). Deployments vary again by unit and aircraft type. You are in your primary mission area all the time, so you don't have to deploy to go do your mission, you just fly out of the local pattern and you are there.
You can read plenty on this board about the AF way of life, I have the utmost respect for all of the DOD services and their missions, and thank God that they go in harms way for my family and me. Make sure you consider the SERVICE aspect of the Armed Forces, that is the primary mission and you will always be subject to the needs of the service no matter which one you join.
Good luck to you and thanks for your service regardless of which way you go.
FJ
