Air National Guard after college

[CFIIer]

My personal advice to you... don't bother enlisting. If you want to waste a couple of years away, that's the way to do it. It may get your foot in the door and get you to know the guys, but it's very doable without having to go that unncessary route.

As for contacting units, go to baseops.net. Where are you looking to apply to units at?

 

[Canadair RJ]

Any unit that would hire me! I'm young and willing to move. I'm not too familiar with the units out there but my goal is to fly fighters. I'd like Toledo or Springfield. If not fighters I'd look in to heavies such as the C-17. Another good option close to home is Rickenbacker.

 

[hindsight2020]

Springfield F-16 is FTU, doesn't hire off the street last time I checked. I interviewed a couple moons ago with the Toledo unit, seemed like a decent unit, tough to get in though. That's the theme with Guard fighter units, in the century of the UAV, the fighter gig is a dying dinosaur.

Second the comments above regarding enlisting, doesn't hurt but it doesn't help that much either in this hiring environment.

Heavies are more common out there and a better market. If you are a low time dude, making a living on a Guard fighter unit would be tough, since bumming can be tough in the fighter game in general, and having low time would leave you with either going through regional hell or have a straight up non-aviation job, and in my recent experience, regular 9-5 jobs are just ill suited with the kind of schedule one would need at the unit to be an effective part of the squadron, and few pursue them.

On heavy units, depending on the competition with peer co's, you'll have a better chance to survive on a bumming schedule until you can find a AGR/ART gig or build quality time to move up to a major 121 gig. Tanker and Herc units are everywhere so it should be considerably easier to get picked up. I used to feel like you about the fighter deal, but I've gotten over that, it's very tough to get hired nowadays IMO, I held out as long as I could, but eventually one has to find a gig that pays the bills, and after some soul searching I realized it would be a fun thing to do once in a while, awesome flying but it came with a particular culture, which wasn't my cup of tea, but to each their own, it's a unique and priviledged top-notch flying community and a worthy pursuit for those who can swallow the whole package (STS).

The Reserves used to have an unsponsored candidate option for their Bi-yearly boards, which is how I got in the game, unfortunately that has gone away, again proof of how tough hiring really is nowadays. My advice to you is send apps and re-apply if you're unsuccessful. By mere function of time, considering you're flexible with locations (which they'll like in general), you'll get picked up. Best move you'll make career-wise, take one look at regional work and you'll understand.
Good luck brother.

 

[bagasticks]

My personal advice to you... don't bother enlisting. If you want to waste a couple of years away, that's the way to do it. It may get your foot in the door and get you to know the guys, but it's very doable without having to go that unncessary route.

As for contacting units, go to baseops.net. Where are you looking to apply to units at?

Perhaps a poor coice of words? I was a boomer for several years to get my foot in the door and would hardly call it a waste of time. it definately put me at the front of the line for UPT and i got lots of networking done "on the boom" so to speak . .

 

[highsky]

Springfield F-16 is FTU, doesn't hire off the street last time I checked. I interviewed a couple moons ago with the Toledo unit, seemed like a decent unit, tough to get in though. That's the theme with Guard fighter units, in the century of the UAV, the fighter gig is a dying dinosaur.

Second the comments above regarding enlisting, doesn't hurt but it doesn't help that much either in this hiring environment.

Heavies are more common out there and a better market. If you are a low time dude, making a living on a Guard fighter unit would be tough, since bumming can be tough in the fighter game in general, and having low time would leave you with either going through regional hell or have a straight up non-aviation job, and in my recent experience, regular 9-5 jobs are just ill suited with the kind of schedule one would need at the unit to be an effective part of the squadron, and few pursue them.

On heavy units, depending on the competition with peer co's, you'll have a better chance to survive on a bumming schedule until you can find a AGR/ART gig or build quality time to move up to a major 121 gig. Tanker and Herc units are everywhere so it should be considerably easier to get picked up. I used to feel like you about the fighter deal, but I've gotten over that, it's very tough to get hired nowadays IMO, I held out as long as I could, but eventually one has to find a gig that pays the bills, and after some soul searching I realized it would be a fun thing to do once in a while, awesome flying but it came with a particular culture, which wasn't my cup of tea, but to each their own, it's a unique and priviledged top-notch flying community and a worthy pursuit for those who can swallow the whole package (STS).

The Reserves used to have an unsponsored candidate option for their Bi-yearly boards, which is how I got in the game, unfortunately that has gone away, again proof of how tough hiring really is nowadays. My advice to you is send apps and re-apply if you're unsuccessful. By mere function of time, considering you're flexible with locations (which they'll like in general), you'll get picked up. Best move you'll make career-wise, take one look at regional work and you'll understand.
Good luck brother.

Well said. I agree.

If you're a low time dude. Don't try getting into a fighter unit. You won't be able to survive financially, which will way-offset any satisfaction you gain by flying fighters.

Heavies, tankers, and 130s are all very satisfying and rewarding, AND they pay the bills.

 

[NewmanF16]

I disagree about getting hired by a fighter unit, as far as how hard it is. It is the same game it was years ago, nothing has change there. They strive to maintain a rank structure, and not become too top heavy. That means they want to hire someone new every year (maybe two a year). Due to manning, I think your odds are better with a heavy unit, but nothing has changed in the fighter world for a new guy (older guys are a different story).

A new hire will be on active duty for probably three years (OTS, UPT, IFF, SERE, RTU, seasoning). You'll make better money there than any regional, but only log about 500 hours in those three years.

If you go to a regional at that point, you get to control your schedule a bit through MLOA, besides offsetting the income. After a couple years you'd likely have enough hours to get your ATP and get hired by a major. If you are a hard worker with a good attitude, you'll probably be able to get an ART or AGR job at that point.

Due to currency requirements, troughers can do pretty well in a fighter unit, provided they are single and not trying to support a family on it. You should be able to easily work 120 days a year, and probably closer to 180.

It is very attractive to a unit if you have an outside attraction to the geographic area (hometown, homestate, whatever). They don't want to hire someone that decides they don't want to work there after they've invested time and money in them. I don't believe there is any binding commitment for a traditional guard/reserve recruit.

 

[Lipper95]

canadair,

as previously stated on this thread, a guard or reserve gig is very possible. and perseverance is definately the key, along with the right place / right time theory. apply anywhere you think you would like to go. from what i know about the fighter guard units, they are pretty fat on the manning due to bases closing (of which springfield is one, i think) and guys coming off active duty already qualified in that particular airplane. that being said, there are always units hiring for pilot training slots. like pkober said, the more hours you have, the better it looks on your resume. if you are a good dude who keeps in touch with the unit and shows serious interest, then you have a shot at getting a job. and yes, a lot of units prefer hiring from within but there are always jobs for guys off the street. if you are seriously interested, you can go to baseops.net or some other sites that have listings of guard and reserve job openings. one thing i would say is life is a lot easier if you live near your guard job, so take that into consideration when you apply. good luck.