"High School to Flight School"
The "HS to FS program" is only a cute name. I went to WOFT when I was 19 and no college. I had a couple classmates that were 17. At the time there were three prerequisites to the program:
1: US Citizen (we had a naturalized WOC from USSR in 1987)
2: High School Diploma
3: 17 years old
Now, those were (and may still be) the minimums to go to the WOFT program. However, there is a phenomenom called "Supply and Demand" that is at work here in this country that is artificially inflating the minimum requirements to get in.
During Viet Nam, there were many, many 17 year old W.O.'s flying Huey's and Huey gunships in Southeast Asia getting shot at and killing "Gooks" on a daily basis before they had a driver's licence here in the U.S. In fact, if you ever get a look at the syllabus for the WOFT program, you will see that it is specifically written and certified for the 17 year old recruit fresh out of high school.
So.. . . let's fast forward to today's environment. The economy is bad, military retention across the board is at an all time high, flying jobs are very scarce - ergo, now the US Army can "up" the mins to go to WOFT. However, don't think for a second that if the classes at Mother Rucker were in danger of going unfilled that the college credit "requirement" would quickly go away. Also, when you get to Rucker, you will see a couple 17 year old WOC's with no college. Just ask them what rank their father is. . . .
The Guard. . . several posters have already talked about the advantages of joining a Guard unit. The true requirements for a Guard unit are the same as for Active duty. However, the same forces act there but are more acute - basically the commander's drawer is overflowing with applications. Therefore, he can be very selective with who he asks to join his unit, and what hoops he can make them jump through before going to WOFT. The one year enlistment is not an Army requirement, it is a local unit requirement and serves a couple purposes.
First, it is there because they can get away with it. If they were hurting for pilots, that would go away fast. Another purpose (and this may not be all bad), is that they get a year to look at you and make sure you're not a POS before investing the big bucks in you and wasting a pilot slot. Remember that a Guard unit is stuck (more or less) with you for life. Active duty can make you "go away" or at least tolerate you until you PCS (transfer).
Good luck, and keep applying!!
