Guard or Reserve

[CFIIer]

C-17s in california

 

[JungleJett]

Last time I answered a question like this, I got jumped on!

My answer now would be: reach deep down inside and make damn sure you exactly what you are getting yourself into. In my opinion, if you don't feel that deep rooted desire to be in the military, it will not work out. If your looking for the things you mentioned (minus the purpose part), you can find that elsewhere..be a cop!

But to directly answer your question...both serve a great purpose and either would be a privilege to serve in....trust me.

 

[bagasticks]

My unit seems to have a fetish for wayward airline pilots, commuter (welfare cases), and the such. I do know that there are several heavy reserve units that are still hiring. .As for your reasons. . .they sound great just add one more: To enjoy the beauty of the Mk84's reduction of lowlife commies to a fine pink mist. . . .

 

[Otto77]

I was in both the guard and now at upt sponsored by a reserve unit. Both are good. In the end it boils down to what equip you want to fly, your connections, and finding a unit that can provide a great amount of flying opportunity. For me that was key as I'm young and off the street with no airline job to back me up etc.

 

[RedDogC130]

Regarding the prior flying time, I would disagree 100% on whether it helps oor not. I find those who had little to no time prior to UPT tend to be the ones saying that it does not matter. I had about 4000 when I went through and it made it quite easy. Mabye it was just me.

 

[Scrapdog]

Maybe it was just you...I had about 200 hours of general aviation time (multi instrument), and found the T-37 portion to go relatively smooth. One thing that I do agree with about having some civilian time was your instrument skills - that did help excel in the instrument phase of the Tweet. However T-38's were the great equalizer...and most folks were pretty even when we started flying them. T-38's were a blast, but certainly wasn't "easy." And I guess I did OK as I happened to get my first choice - which was the F-15C.

Most of the folks had little to no prior time (maybe 30 hours or so in a 172). All of them turned out to do great and I think every one of them got their first choice of fighter. Our top grad had absolutely no time whatsoever starting UPT.

Of the 2 guys that washed out - one was a comm officer who couldn't stop puking and the other dude was an RJ pilot that had about 2000 hours of civilian jet time but couldn't fly a mil jet to save his life.

 

[RedDogC130]

I guess there is no proof one way or another. If you give it your all you should suceed.

 

[McGillicutty]

I find those who had little to no time prior to UPT tend to be the ones saying that it does not matter.

Absolutely. Just like size, prior time matters; but then again so does attitude. All that talk about bad habits is crap provided the high timer has a willingness to change/learn. Coming out of Corpus, the top 5 NSS's (Navy Standard Score) in the squadron, for the year, went to prior flight timers.

 

[RedDogC130]

I was one of them last year.

 

[BengalsFan]

2 Points

1. To the dude who started this post... check out baseops.net for units who are hiring... most of the advertisements also state whether or not they are looking to send people to UPT, or if they are only seeking current and qualified applicants. Also, most units prefer someone who either currently lives in, or grew up in/has ties to the state in which that unit is in.

2. As a former UPT instructor, I'd say that more students without prior time don't make it, compared to those with prior time... but I was very suprised with how much prior experience pilots struggled, especially with basic instrument flying.... and I'd also say that the guys with lots of prior experience never, ever were even close to the best in the class when all was said and done.