Re: to everyone
d.morris said:
since you have already been throught the program, how hard did you find it to be?
When I went through Warrant Officer Candidate School and through flight school, I was 27 and I already had my B.A. from Boston University and had about 5 years experience in the work force. I'll comment more on that later.
I found that WOCS was as hard as you made it. I tend to worry a lot about little things, so I really stressed about inspections and academic exams and stuff like that, whereas others felt it was a breeze. Then again, I had some Army Rangers tell me it was one tough school to complete. I guess it depends on your class and who your TAC Officers are. Regardless they'll get you in great shape and you'll be proud to get your appointment.
As for flight school, I felt that each phase tends to be heavily front loaded. The first couple of weeks of each phase (primary, instruments, basic combat skills, NVGs, etc.) were tough. Once you have a solid grasp of the material and adequately memorize the necessary information, you can slow down a bit and enjoy yourself more. You can never completely back off of studying, though, because there's always a checkride or academic exam coming up in a few days.
Again, it depends on how much you apply yourself. If you take it seriously and study hard, you'll have your pick of aircraft to fly in the end and a better selection of duty assignment. If you just cruise through, your final aircraft assignment will be left up to chance and you may not have a say in it.
d.morris said:
ive had alot of guys emailing me, saying the army is really hurting right now for pilots. they say the time to go woft is now. how do u feel about that?
I agree. Acceptance rates into the program are at an all time high. As long as you meet the prerequisites and can make it through basic training and WOCS, the Army will give you a shot at flight training.
d.morris said:
and what exactly does a wo do besides fly?
Everyone gets "additional duties". The traditional additional duty given to the newest WO1 in the unit is the infamous "fridge bitch". In the Air Force they call it Snack-O. Basically you're responsible for filling the company's snack fridge with soft drinks and goodies.
In my company, at least, additional duties are partially assigned by need and partially assigned by other skills. I used to have 7 additional duties, but as more new guys show up at the unit, I've been able to cut the number down to just the ones that I really like to do. I've been kind of lucky. I'm pretty good at computers and commo equipment so my company commander named me the Company Information Management Officer, the COMSEC custodian, and Commo officer. I basically work with the battalion commo shop to ensure that my company can utilize our radios securely and to their fullest extent.
d.morris said:
and one more thing. does anyone think i will be able to make the january 13th board, i think it's the 13th, if im taking the afast wednesday and the flight physical after that? i dont want to have to stay at this college any more than i have too. anyways please keep the info coming and thanks again.
It took me approximately 4-5 months to completely process my application. I'm not saying that it's impossible, but there's a lot to do and you've got to find a recruiter that knows how to process the application and is willing to work with you. You will make 2 trips to the flight surgeon and each one takes up about a whole day. You also need to complete your secret security clearance and take an official DA photo. You will also need to interview with a board. I don't think you can make it in time for January 13th because it usually takes a couple of weeks to complete each one of these individual items, not to mention the fact that a willing and competent recruiter is difficult to find for this program.
Here's a couple of useful links:
http://www.usarec.army.mil/hq/warrant/
http://www.goarmy.com/job/warrant/
Good luck,
- Juris
