Letters of Recomendation and other stuff

[chawbein]

I'm looking hard at going Guard.

What sort of people should I ask for letters of recommendation? I'm not in the military and I have been out in the working world for about 2 years. My uncle was a Petty Officer in the Navy for 20-some-odd years, would that be a good source? Would I get one from my boss?

I assume that I would re-work my resume, I'm sure that the guard will not be interested in what information I have on Natural Gas Transmission Lines, or how well I know Visual Basic. Any advice would be much appreciated.

 

[airgator]

# 1 you are looking for an LOR from the highest ranking officer, retired or active, that can attest to your officer potential. Stay away from family memebers. After that, people such as your boss that can say you were a great worker, etc. Also, you need someone to say what a good stick you are, an old instructor, a friend at an airline, just try to get 3 solid letters. As far as your resume, your objective is to become a commissioned officer and pilot at unit xyz. Don't worry about work experience, just put down whatever you have. I told them at my interview I bartend at night and the response was, "cool, sounds like fun" Tell them your full time job right now is getting a UPT slot. The important thing is to call the chief pilot before you send your packet, ask him/her if there is a special unit application for UPT applicants, ask them if there is any requirements (prior service), and when their next selection board is. Usually they'll ask you to tell them about yourself so this is a good chance to make a good impression. Send your packet and give them a week or 2, then call back verifying they received it and make sure there is nothing else they require. For your packet, presentation is everything. Mine went: 1 Cover letter, 2 resume, 3 LOR's, 4 test scores, 5 transcriptes, 6 a paper that had a passport photo of me, a copy of my medical, copy of pilots license and driver license. Bind it in one of the military style folders that has 4 partitions and clips on the top. Every email or phone response I got had mentioned to me how good my packet looked. Whatever you do don't just throw it in a manilla envelope like some guys say because 1 chief pilot told me he wouldn'd even look at something like that because "your packet is a representaion of yourself". Good luck, I hope this helps.

 

[chawbein]

Thanks for the info.