Air National Guard after college

[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.