Training timeline for OTS/UPT?

[skyward80]

Since this is THE place to start and end any aviation rumor, I thought I would post the following information and ask whether or not it is true.

A colleague who just finished Air Force OTS and is scheduled to start UPT later this year, told me that the class sizes for OTS are decreasing in size. The reason for this? Too many new officers are being produced, and there is not enough room for them in the training pipeline. The result of this is that many new officers are having to wait a long time before continuing the rest of their training after being commissioned.

That statement in itself seems to make sense. However, given current global "tensions", I would think that any branch of the military service would want to take on as many capable, qualified individuals as possible. The logical thing to do would be to increase training capacity after OTS and not decrease the output of OTS.

Does anybody know whether or not any of this is true. If it is true, how much of a delay can those of us awaiting OTS and UPT training dates expect?

Thanks for the help!
Skyward80

 

[Vandal]

The guys in my squadron who already have their orders have maximum 6 months between OCT and UPT. But the guys with the 6 month waits are the ones who need to do the IFT and get their private licenses. The guys who are already pilots are only looking at 1-2 months max. These are orders cut in december 02. Will probably be getting mine next month or so so I will let you know.

 

[airgator]

Skyward:
I personally think that the decrease in OTS class sizes willl affect the AD board hopefuls, and not so much AFRES. From what I've read and heard, AFRC has been giving out 80-100 OTS/UPT slots per year for the last 5 or so years. Roughly 40-50 per board. As long as UPT bases can handle the studs coming in at the same rate, why would we be affected. Every time I see someone's OTS journal online or on a message board, they always remark on how few pilots there are in their class. The majority of people in those classes are engineering, computer science, space & missile, communications, intel, etc. FY 2002 commissioned 1,946 OTS/BOT (basic officer training: us) second liutenants. So if at the most 100 of those slots were given to AFRC, I doubt that if the AF needed to cut the class size down they would take away slots allotted from AFRC; they'll cut back on AD non-tech slots they award. I've been reading a book "Air Force Officer's Guide" here and there. It says OTS/BOT commisioned nearly 3,200 2 Lt's in 1985, but only 350 in 1991. I don't think we'll see a cutback like that, but even if we did, AFRC still needs pilots to fly after guys retire or leave the reserves for whatever reasons. Sending 80 or 100 guys a year isn't really that much in the scope of things. If you and I are affected by any of this, it might mean at worst we have to wait an additional 2-4 months to start OTS. At least that's what I'm hoping. Yor thought's? Check out this article:
http://www.af.mil/news/Jan2003/10303503.shtml

Airgator

 

[Vandal]

yeah forgot to mention about OTS dates. I was in the september board (sat end of september), and was given a may date. But the first two guys from my unit (there were 4 of us), got january dates. So they had to wait 3 months to start.

 

[skyward80]

Vandal & Airgator:

Thank you for your replies. As always, both of you are very informed. I appreciate you two allowing me to use you as information resources. Hopefully, I can return the favor at some point.

I think my colleague was misinformed. He is a good person, but he often listens with only half an ear. That's why I wanted to run the story past you guys for a reality check.

Happy landings (or at least ones you can walk away from),
Skyward80

 

[Sonic Cruzer]

A colleague who just finished Air Force OTS and is scheduled to start UPT later this year, told me that the class sizes for OTS are decreasing in size. The reason for this? Too many new officers are being produced, and there is not enough room for them in the training pipeline. The result of this is that many new officers are having to wait a long time before continuing the rest of their training after being commissioned.

OK Here' the deal. I'm a reservist at OTS right now. The class that just graduated was the largest OTS class in history - something like 270 new 2nd Lts. My class is of a similar size. if not slightly bigger. The class that's coming in today is (at current prediction) 186 people strong. The next class will be even smaller. Eventually the predicted OTS class size by the end of the year will be about 80 people per class.

What happened is this. The number of officers that can commission is dictated by Congress. A few years back, the AF couldn't meet the demand for new Officers. The solution was to increase accessions through the ROTC pipeline (with stuff like 1-yr scholarships, etc). The caveat, however, is that commissioning through ROTC takes a few years. OTS stepped up to the plate and hence the large class sizes I mentioned above. Now that ROTC is meeting the demand, OTS is backing off.

Part of this process also means that for OTS, the Air Force is not accepting applications for non-Tech jobs. So while the OTS classes are smaller, the numbers of pilots in them shouldn't be affected. Those future 80-person OTS classes will be comprised LARGELY of pilots, navs, engineers, scientists and Space/Missile folks. Many people joke here that the demographics of OTS will be very Nerdy by year's end.

Reservists shouldn't be affected by these changes. As the other posters mentioned, the number of Reservists heading to OTS/UPT is set by AFRC not the active duty.

Reservists are classified at OTS into a different administrative category than the Prior Service and Non-Prior Service active duty OTs. Things like orders, pay and benefits issues are handled by our respective reserve units rather than OTS administration. For example, a LOT of the non-priors here didn't start getting paid until 6-weeks into the course. I, on the otherhand got all my pay issues squared away with my reserve unit before coming here, and started getting paid 1 week into OTS.

Lastly, I got all my class dates withing a month of selection. I graduate OTS on 4 April, go to Brooks 15 April and report to Columbus (Class 04-09) for UPT on 21 April. Most of the other reservists I know here (including 2 of Vandal's squadronmates)have a similar timeline. None of the active duty pilot-selects here have their UPT class dates yet, although an (unlucky) few have gotten ASBC dates.

OT 2LT Sonic Cruzer

 

[turt1e]

Hey Sonic,

Glad to hear you're still alive. Good luck with the rest of OTS, and enjoy UPT.

turtle