Back to Active Duty???

[CODs4ever]

Former active-duty Navy C-2A Driver, turned Navy Reservist (non-flying).

One year at American Eagle (during which time I had no other interviews w/ majors) followed by 2.5 years as a Project Manager with a homebuilding company.

Managed to interview (unsuccessfully) with SWA six months ago after not flying professionally for two full years.

Continue to fly for fun and VFR proficiency, but not enough hours/year to be able to walk into another civilian flying gig.

Generally bored with my current job. Although pay is decent at $70-80K/year (gets better over time) and I have a good quality of life, no working weekends, no travel required, etc.

I'm considering going back to active-duty to fly and do another eight years to get the military retirement and the chance to get back to flying full-time while having that "peace-of-mind" retirement money.

Just wanted to hear some thoughts from those who are still active-duty. Am I insane for thinking like this? And oh, by the way I have a wife and kids, so family is also a factor...

 

[LearLove]

try the guard like a c-130/kc-135 unit then look into a full time position if one is open.

 

[Huggyu2]

I came back on active duty. Love it. Don't want to leave, at this point. Great flying, great folks.
Negatives if you come back: you will be ripe for a 1 year to Baghdad, I'll bet.
Your pay will go up, though.

 

[stein429]

Back to Active Duty

Retired from AD AF 1 Feb 2000. Recalled from retirement 22 June 02. Current AD Orders allow me to stay in until 30 Sep 09 (that'll give me 29+ years of active service). Recalled to non-flying staff job. Currently on Mil Leave with my airline. Weaseled my way into an acquisition billet and working to get as many Acquisition Professional certification quals as possible; looking at commercial and government civilian positions. Haven't regretted the recall. Good QoL without the crap going on at my airline; little travel (two deployments) but other than that home every night.

Cheers

 

[yeahguy]

Funny, I'm on the flip side of your position: 12 years AD, thinking about getting out.

Lots of positives to getting back on AD.

The main negative I can think of was mentioned earlier, the Navy is very enthused about sending guys on one year IA tours to hot, dusty places.

My boss sends out an email about every other month soliciting a "volunteer" for 12 months OCONUS. One of these days, I could be "voluntold" I'm going.

If I get out, that will be the main reason. I prefer not to leave for a year, for family reasons.

Any advice to me on why I should stay in? I love flying, just getting a little tired of the politics and the collateral duties. Oh, and the flying could end at year 15!

Good luck with your decision!

 

[CODs4ever]

yeahguy,

I would definitely keep in mind the politics game is everywhere - airlines, corporate office jobs, govt contractor jobs, etc.

However - your quality of life will be much better on the outside in terms of time at home I think (no deployments, etc).

I thought I would continue to fly on the outside and it didn't work out that way. Never thought I'd work at a desk/in an office, but here I am!

I just worry about my marketability in the real estate developer world (with only 2 years experience) should I be laid off in this tough market - gotta have some kind of fallback.

Thanks to everyone for their insights. I definitely don't want an IA to the middle east!

 

[HooverPilot]

CODs4ever-
Are you looking to get back into the COD world? Things are pretty busy there these days but the DH Competition is pretty tight. Good luck!

 

[CODs4ever]

I have heard there is a lot of competition now that so many S-3 guys have moved over; bummer the S-3 is going away/gone. I had a chance to get about 30 minutes of stick time in one many years back and I enjoyed it.

 

[hindsight2020]

I can only go by what you posted originally, but I respectfully submit that going from Navy to American Eagle isn't necessarily a "solid" plan for flying on the outside and making it work. That's almost a foregone conclusion; of course you're going to get burned out at a regional after one year, particularly the first year (I'm not even going to talk about the non-existent upgrade there) coming from AD military, which is why I am also not surprised you ended up doing non-aviation work (you needed a paycheck). I don't know what kind of flight time (particularly TPIC) you had before getting out, but assuming Eagle was the only thing that bit then obviously you were not going to be able to make a living out of flying unless you flew in the Guard/Reserve concurrently. Most mil guys get out having enough time for a major, otherwise they build time up in the Guard. I would know, I'm an off-the-street Reserve bubba, and I can tell you with a reasonable degree of confidence that the regional math just doesn't add up. I know of people who actually lost money in a year trying to hack a regional job (commuter of course). You'd be hard pressed to get anywhere near an AD paycheck on a regional FO scale, which is why I can also tell you you're better off bumming/troughing while accruing that flight time, than wasting your time with a regional (and if you add a commute on top of it, forget it).

I would try to get into a Guard/Reserve unit, I think that would be better on the QOL than going back on AD. Good luck brother.

 

[Mooseflyer]

I'd go back on AD in a heartbeat for the money and security alone. Yeah, theres a lot of BS on active duty, but I could do another 8 years of it for the retirement payoff. I have a decent flying job, at least for today's market, but after seeing so many guys starting over at the bottom for the 4th or 5th time, it makes you wonder. The only places today where you'll come out ahead financially in a reasonable amount of time are probably UPS, Fedex, and possibly SW.

If your wife has a good job which is not really portable, or you have other skills you could count on as a fall back plan in the event of furlough - by all means bail out. I have niether!