Regional to ANG

[PA31Ho]

If you are with an airline, they give you a guarantee per month, if you decide to go into the ANG, from what I hear your seniority doesn't go anywhere. What about pay, do you still get your guarantee while in the ANG or how does that work?

Thanks in advance,
Nick

 

[NTS ALL 4]

No work, no pay. Most places will not freeze your seniority. If they do, you may not want to work there anyway. Take as much mil leave as possible until you can hold captain. Then get real proficent and upgrade. Then go back and do mil leave until you can leave the company for something better.

Cheers!

 

[L'il J.Seinfeld]

No work, no pay. Most places will not freeze your seniority. If they do, you may not want to work there anyway. Take as much mil leave as possible until you can hold captain. Then get real proficent and upgrade. Then go back and do mil leave until you can leave the company for something better.

Cheers!

PLEASE!!!! It's federal law!!! You most certainly do continue to accrue seniority while on mil leave. It is not a leave of absence!!! You don't get paid while you are gone, but Guard/Reserve pay is 4X better than any regional.

For example: Joe is a brand new FO with ASA. He applies for and is accepted into a pilot slot with the USAF Reserves. Joe then spends the next 2 years doing SUPT, MWS training and inprocessing his unit. He can volunteer for deployments which keep him paid on a full time basis. After doing this for 4 and half years he calls ASA up and says "I'd like my job back now." He still is senior to everyone hired after him and would be able to hold Capt if his seniority allows. If not he would be paid as an FO with 4 years of service. The only stipulation is that the company only has to hold the job for 5 years, unless there is some type of extended technical training involved, then it is even longer. The Dept of Labor is very sensitive to and responsive to mil members complaints if their companies ever hassle them or jerk them around over mil leave. The law is the Uniformed Services Employment Rights and Reemployment Rights Act and it has been federal law since 1994.

 

[psysicx]

But if your flying for a company can't you fly as little as you want and still get paid?

 

[PA31Ho]

psysicx:

yes but the way it works - and i think should work - is that if you are mil leave, you won't get paid by that Airline (say Piedmont in this case) the only benefit would be that your seniority holds like Lil J said. I think that still is great. I didn't know you can get full-time pay with an ANG unit - and I"m sure it pays much better than $24.11/hr too.

Thanks for the info!

 

[psysicx]

Right but you still have to maintain currency so you could fly 1 day that month and get paid in full right?

 

[L'il J.Seinfeld]

In the USAFR you have to do a certain number of training periods (TP). There are two types: ground and flight. If you do a local sortie that counts for two flight TPs. Each TP is paid as 1/30 of your basic pay plus 1/30 of your flight pay (no housing is included). So as an O-4 you could make around $350 per day after taxes depending on your state for every flight. You also have man days and annual tour days which pay 1/30 of your basic plus flight pay plus BAH. Each monthly UTA, which is a Sat/Sun drill weekend, counts as 4 TPs. You can easily get paid 25-30 pay days per month as a Reservist.

The best scenario is to work at the Regional and keep your benefits but drop half your regional flying and do mil leave. That way you can make a living wage, keep your benefits, and build valuable mil and 121 experience concurrently.

 

[psysicx]

What if your at a major? Just make the schedule like you want?

 

[hindsight2020]

Seinfeld, that was a great and concise explanation of the Guard/AFR pay system, and a good concrete example. I printed it out and have it on my bulletin board, cause I forget how it works every now and then LOL

The only caveats that need to be highlighted are:

1)how long until you make a rank whose payscale enables you to rake in decent cash on a part-time basis. I believe if you count all your TPs and annual tour periods you'll make like 10K your first year of getting off the active orders...hardly anything to live off..then again I'm not sure what folks actually make while on MQT (de facto full time status) and I'm also assuming O-2 rank or such.

2) What are the real likelihoods of being able to bum nowadays. Even heavy folks are seen on this board asking for advice on how to make due (at least the new guys ..O-2, O-3). So there is a lot to be said about that. And we are talking heavy folks too.(we know fighters are just for the cool factor, fighter bum seems oxymoronic although I've met some full-time fellas at several Guard squadrons, but I digress)

Informative post nonetheless!!!

 

[L'il J.Seinfeld]

All I can say is that I make twice as much as a traditional reservist O-3 than I do at my major airline gig on first year pay. Minimum pay for an O-2 is more like 17K/year, but that's assuming nothing above and beyond TPs and annual tours. As far as I know about tankers and airlifters, there is more work to go around than there are pilots. Extra man days may require deploying, but it's still better than being a slave on AD.