Ah...the Army days!
I flew for the Army Guard for right about 4 years. Prior to that I was an enlisted engineer, so I spent about 8 years in the Army. I loved flying helicopters. It was quite a bit of fun....NOE, landing in remote LZs. I was like juris, very motivated...not at all interested in flying anything but Hueys and Hawks. But it did wear off quickly. Within a couple of years, I was recommended for PIC, but shot down by the commander because 'we are PIC-heavy'. I saw friends who were promised the IP course get the shaft (and of course, to keep them in, they kept dangling the IP course carrot in front of them).
Probably the straw that broke the camel's back was all the 15,000 hour pilots (who flew offshore for PHI and co.) got the 'primary' slots in our unit. Primary slots were allocated more flying hours. All the new guys were put in 'overstrength' slots, and were automatically designated FAC 2 aviators, which gave us about 60 hours a year. A few of us new CW2s and WO1s politely proposed to our SIP that more of us newbies get primary slots so we could get more training. Our SIP agreed, but the commander didn't. Finally, those of us in UH-60 units but not MOS qualified (ie still flying Hueys because the state couldn't fund the AQC slots) were going to become FAC 3 aviators with no flight pay. Fortunately, I was able to get tranferred into the UH-1V-equipped medevac unit, but some guys weren't able to do that. Most of them quit altogether.
In late 1998, I looked into flying HH-60s for the AFRC, but I was notified by the AF recruiter that the program had be terminated for warrant officers. He encouraged me to apply for fixed-wing pilot training, but at the time I was still in love with flying helicopters and didn't want to give it up. Finally, the lure of flying full time, getting more hours and not having to deal with the Army's idiotic management of it's aviation assets lead me to apply. After two years in the AF, I'm now flying Learjets. Sometimes I watch the Hueys from Ft Rucker fly into our field here at Maxwell and wish I could get a ride, but overall, I'm happier because even though I'm not flying NOE, I'm flying.
This month is a slow month due to the holidays, but I'm still going to log about 35 hours. It would have taken me 7 months to log that with the Army Guard. As a side note, once I got accepted to the AF, there were a few changes that took place in my unit. Most, if not all, of the older veteran pilots were retiring. They dangled the IP course/PIC thing in front of me to get me to stay, and I turned 'em down. They did the same for another friend trying to fly C-130s for the Reserves, and he stayed. I called back a few months ago to see how everyone was doing, and to this day (2 years later), my friend has yet to see the IP school at Rucker. He reapplied to get out of his committment and the Army turned him down, so he's stuck. He should have bolted while he had the chance.
Look, if you like flying helicopters, the Army CAN be a great place, however over the past decade, the Army hasn't done so great. Back 'in the day', my dad flew AH-1s and logged 200-300 hours a year. Now you're lucky to get 100. Hopefully the Army will get better, I can only hope that it's at the bottom of the hole right now and things can only get better, but who knows. As a 4th Generation Army aviator, I'm ashamed at what the Army brass has done to Army aviation...they've gutted it.