Need some input from Military

[lowprofile]

Originally Posted by 65STANGChase

Well I think I have decided to join the Air Force. Scored a 91 on the ASVAB (sp) and found out I can finish my degree in Technical Training and then I can go to OTS. Trying to be a pilot. Also with my credits I'll start as an E3. Well thats all I can think of at the moment. Just looking for some advise possibly. Pro and Cons if there are any? Thanks guys

I just made this transition last year. It took 12 years. Anyone who tells you to enlist and you have a good shot at OTS is full of shit.

You need to make some decisions. Is your ultimate goal to be an AF pilot? Are you ok with being a non - rated officer? Are you ok with being enlisted your whole career?

Here's how commissioning works. Three sources, in order: AF academy, ROTC then OTS. OTS is literally a faucet that is opened or closed based on the quotas of the first two. They nearly shut OTS down after I graduated last year.

If you enlist, your correct they give you college credit. But in order to apply for OTS you need to be done with your 5 level. This can take a long time depending on your afsc. Then you will need tons of recommendations (like from full bird colonels and general officers and a conditional release from your commander. If you are hot shit do you think your commander wants to release you? The answer could be no (ask me how I know). You will also need flying hours to be competitive if you are allowed to apply to OTS. How do you plan on getting that done while getting your 5 level, TDYs and deployments? Better have no negative comments in a performance report and have some major awards/recognition to be competitive as well. I'll stop but I can go on. Enlisting is a nail in the coffin if you want to commission. I can go on but the odds of E to O on active duty are slim. My OTS class only had a few prior service pilot selects. Not all of them made it through UPT and had no option to re train. Sad.

Your best bet is to enroll in an ROTC program. Even applying for OTS as a straight civilian has better odds of getting a slot. Way more of those in my class than priors.

I'm tired of typing on my phone. If you are serious give me a call. PM me I'll give you my number. I'm a reservist so I have connections if you want to go that route. The absolute best resource for commissioning is AFots. Google it. Keep in mind OTS instructors and OTS board members are on there even though it's a private website so be careful what you post.

*edit- I didn't make it on active duty. I left after 10 years for a shot at comissioning with the reserve which is more and more the norm. Guard/reserve promote within...but then you need a full time civilian job.

[Irishone]

Originally Posted by lowprofile

I just made this transition last year. It took 12 years. Anyone who tells you to enlist and you have a good shot at OTS is full of shit.

You need to make some decisions. Is your ultimate goal to be an AF pilot? Are you ok with being a non - rated officer? Are you ok with being enlisted your whole career?

Here's how commissioning works. Three sources, in order: AF academy, ROTC then OTS. OTS is literally a faucet that is opened or closed based on the quotas of the first two. They nearly shut OTS down after I graduated last year.

If you enlist, your correct they give you college credit. But in order to apply for OTS you need to be done with your 5 level. This can take a long time depending on your afsc. Then you will need tons of recommendations (like from full bird colonels and general officers and a conditional release from your commander. If you are hot shit do you think your commander wants to release you? The answer could be no (ask me how I know). You will also need flying hours to be competitive if you are allowed to apply to OTS. How do you plan on getting that done while getting your 5 level, TDYs and deployments? Better have no negative comments in a performance report and have some major awards/recognition to be competitive as well. I'll stop but I can go on. Enlisting is a nail in the coffin if you want to commission. I can go on but the odds of E to O on active duty are slim. My OTS class only had a few prior service pilot selects. Not all of them made it through UPT and had no option to re train. Sad.

Your best bet is to enroll in an ROTC program. Even applying for OTS as a straight civilian has better odds of getting a slot. Way more of those in my class than priors.

I'm tired of typing on my phone. If you are serious give me a call. PM me I'll give you my number. I'm a reservist so I have connections if you want to go that route. The absolute best resource for commissioning is AFots. Google it. Keep in mind OTS instructors and OTS board members are on there even though it's a private website so be careful what you post.

*edit- I didn't make it on active duty. I left after 10 years for a shot at comissioning with the reserve which is more and more the norm. Guard/reserve promote within...but then you need a full time civilian job.

Yeah read this a couple times man. What he said here is truth. Enlisting and going OTS is hard for any afsc. Especially the high deploying ones. If officer is what you want to do then go speak to an officer recruiter or check out that website. Anyway good luck bro.

[Pig-STI]

Originally Posted by silentshot

If you are close your bachelors I would wait and join as a officer! Trying to go from Enlistment to OTS isn't easy!

+10000000000000000000000000000 000000000000000000000000
If you still want to come in enlisted i highly recomend inteligence. Or a job with top secret clearance

[Coalicion]

get everything on paper.
dont go in open anything : ie, open general, open mechanical
AFSC= Airforce Specialty Code for instance mine back in tech school was 2a712. Which was nondestructive testing/Inspections. 2a713 would be the sheet metal guys, thats also a good AFSC.

what mica said, pt is important at FIRST...but once you get in shape and get the cardio up youll be fine..6 weeks....or 8 weeks whichever it is now, isnt shit. Push ups, shit ups, cardio is all you need to work on...and pull ups as well for the final pt exam. Marching plays a big role, so make sure when youre in basic you listen carefully to the commands etc. If youre going to raise you hand for anything (volunteers) i suggest Chow Runner... thats if ofcourse youre mentally strong and dont break down under pressure. fuck man,i had a blast in the service ) miss it. anyhow, sorry i rambled on about random shit, things just started coming back haha

[65STANGChase]

Originally Posted by lowprofile

I just made this transition last year. It took 12 years. Anyone who tells you to enlist and you have a good shot at OTS is full of shit.

You need to make some decisions. Is your ultimate goal to be an AF pilot? Are you ok with being a non - rated officer? Are you ok with being enlisted your whole career?

Here's how commissioning works. Three sources, in order: AF academy, ROTC then OTS. OTS is literally a faucet that is opened or closed based on the quotas of the first two. They nearly shut OTS down after I graduated last year.

If you enlist, your correct they give you college credit. But in order to apply for OTS you need to be done with your 5 level. This can take a long time depending on your afsc. Then you will need tons of recommendations (like from full bird colonels and general officers and a conditional release from your commander. If you are hot shit do you think your commander wants to release you? The answer could be no (ask me how I know). You will also need flying hours to be competitive if you are allowed to apply to OTS. How do you plan on getting that done while getting your 5 level, TDYs and deployments? Better have no negative comments in a performance report and have some major awards/recognition to be competitive as well. I'll stop but I can go on. Enlisting is a nail in the coffin if you want to commission. I can go on but the odds of E to O on active duty are slim. My OTS class only had a few prior service pilot selects. Not all of them made it through UPT and had no option to re train. Sad.

Your best bet is to enroll in an ROTC program. Even applying for OTS as a straight civilian has better odds of getting a slot. Way more of those in my class than priors.

I'm tired of typing on my phone. If you are serious give me a call. PM me I'll give you my number. I'm a reservist so I have connections if you want to go that route. The absolute best resource for commissioning is AFots. Google it. Keep in mind OTS instructors and OTS board members are on there even though it's a private website so be careful what you post.

*edit- I didn't make it on active duty. I left after 10 years for a shot at comissioning with the reserve which is more and more the norm. Guard/reserve promote within...but then you need a full time civilian job.

This seems like alot of good info. I'll pm you and give you a call tomorrow. I definitely want to be a pilot. So I need to figure out the best way to do that BUT I know how hard it is to get into

[rabbit05]

Originally Posted by Coalicion

get everything on paper.
dont go in open anything : ie, open general, open mechanical
AFSC= Airforce Specialty Code for instance mine back in tech school was 2a712. Which was nondestructive testing/Inspections. 2a713 would be the sheet metal guys, thats also a good AFSC.

what mica said, pt is important at FIRST...but once you get in shape and get the cardio up youll be fine..6 weeks....or 8 weeks whichever it is now, isnt shit. Push ups, shit ups, cardio is all you need to work on...and pull ups as well for the final pt exam. Marching plays a big role, so make sure when youre in basic you listen carefully to the commands etc. If youre going to raise you hand for anything (volunteers) i suggest Chow Runner... thats if ofcourse youre mentally strong and dont break down under pressure. fuck man,i had a blast in the service ) miss it. anyhow, sorry i rambled on about random shit, things just started coming back haha

I'm a 2A713 went open mechanical. If I could do it again I would of pick a specific job.

[lowprofile]

Originally Posted by 65STANGChase

This seems like alot of good info. I'll pm you and give you a call tomorrow. I definitely want to be a pilot. So I need to figure out the best way to do that BUT I know how hard it is to get into

First, sorry my last post was from my phone. Should have waited till I was at my laptop.

Second, I'm not a pilot, but the process is 90% the same. Pilot selects have extra tests/flight time/physicals and must be younger (than me)

From my personal experience, if you want to be a pilot and will be happy with nothing less, do NOT enlist. I know it does not make sense, but for the reasons I've already described (and many more) your odds are like winning the lotto to make that switch to pilot. Best case is 4-5 years in before you have really have a shot at just applying competitively. By then you will have more EPRs and awards. You won't make it on your first application. More like 3-4 tries. The years add up, then you might start approaching the age cutoff. You could very well make it, but my personal opinion is like 4-5% chance. Only 20% of the AF are officers. Way less than that for pilots.

There is something to be said for being enlisted, though. I was an aircraft maintainer for 12 years. It was awesome. And it sucked. But I wouldn't trade it for anything. What can happen if you enlist but you want to be a pilot in your heart is that if it does not happen, your attitude and work performance can go to shit. You don’t want to change tires. You want to fly. You might come to resent your job. Trust me. Also, if you do enlist (which is great also), don't go around saying you're gonna be a pilot and enlisting is temporary. Your peers don’t want to hear it. Tons of people say the same thing, yet only a small percentage of the AF flies. If you enlist, enlist, and be happy with it. It’s a great life.

I’m not discouraging your dream, just the opposite. Enlisting will just make it harder (but it's not impossible).

Whether you enlist or not, the path to pilot is getting commissioned. You become an officer first and you will need the resources found on AFOTS, an officer as a mentor/to vouch for you, and your package must be extremely strong and put together meticulously in accordance with instructions and reviewed by others.

First step, frequent that website. Gather the info, gain the lingo, and don’t make any posts until you’re more educated.

Good luck, and feel free to PM, but I suggest checking that site out first. You already know my opinion from both these long ass posts

[6speeder]

Well, you've been given a lot of good advice here. While you CAN go from enlisted to officer, it ain't easy. I'm a retread, so's my wife.

Talk to the UNM ROTC officers, tell them your goals, they'll steer you straight. Do it before you enlist.

[505OUTLAWZ]

Greg lowprofile has given you the best info you need. He has done it recently and knows what he is talking about. Go in officer, don't go enlisted is my advice.

[Grant]

start running, drink lots of water, pushups sit ups, lots of leg workouts!

also swim! swim as much as you can doing laps etc etc....

thats what me and my group of guys has been doing. i'm here another 8-10 months then i ship out to lackland!

you are going to want to be in tip top shape so you wont feel lethargic while your in basic and stuff.

also the drill instructors in basic dont hate you, its just there job to yell at you and see if you can take it. just do as they say and you will be fine

[65STANGChase]

My ONLY problem with finishing school is I have NO money left.

[65STANGChase]

Originally Posted by lowprofile

First, sorry my last post was from my phone. Should have waited till I was at my laptop.

Second, I'm not a pilot, but the process is 90% the same. Pilot selects have extra tests/flight time/physicals and must be younger (than me)

From my personal experience, if you want to be a pilot and will be happy with nothing less, do NOT enlist. I know it does not make sense, but for the reasons I've already described (and many more) your odds are like winning the lotto to make that switch to pilot. Best case is 4-5 years in before you have really have a shot at just applying competitively. By then you will have more EPRs and awards. You won't make it on your first application. More like 3-4 tries. The years add up, then you might start approaching the age cutoff. You could very well make it, but my personal opinion is like 4-5% chance. Only 20% of the AF are officers. Way less than that for pilots.

There is something to be said for being enlisted, though. I was an aircraft maintainer for 12 years. It was awesome. And it sucked. But I wouldn't trade it for anything. What can happen if you enlist but you want to be a pilot in your heart is that if it does not happen, your attitude and work performance can go to shit. You don’t want to change tires. You want to fly. You might come to resent your job. Trust me. Also, if you do enlist (which is great also), don't go around saying you're gonna be a pilot and enlisting is temporary. Your peers don’t want to hear it. Tons of people say the same thing, yet only a small percentage of the AF flies. If you enlist, enlist, and be happy with it. It’s a great life.

I’m not discouraging your dream, just the opposite. Enlisting will just make it harder (but it's not impossible).

Whether you enlist or not, the path to pilot is getting commissioned. You become an officer first and you will need the resources found on AFOTS, an officer as a mentor/to vouch for you, and your package must be extremely strong and put together meticulously in accordance with instructions and reviewed by others.

First step, frequent that website. Gather the info, gain the lingo, and don’t make any posts until you’re more educated.

Good luck, and feel free to PM, but I suggest checking that site out first. You already know my opinion from both these long ass posts

Thanks again man. This is really helpful

[lowprofile]

Here are some numbers

Active Duty:

64,959 Officers, 13,246 pilots

Source of commission (all officers)
•42.4% commissioned through Reserve Officer Training Corps
•22.8% commissioned through the Air Force Academy
•17.4% commissioned through Officer Training School (civilian and prior service)
•17.3% commissioned through other sources (direct appointment, medical/legal)

There are no numbers for OTS demographics, but the number of prior service (enlisted) is extremely low. Prior enlisted pilot selects even lower.

By enlisting, you are literally putting yourself in the smallest and most competitive commissioning group (assuming you get commanders permission and convince the OTS board of Colonels that you should be an officer and the enlisted force is better without you) and creating more obstacles (upgrade training/TDY/deployments) than you would otherwise.

You want to go to a commissioning source. They are designed to get you the gold bar. Enlisting is not a commissioning source. It is designed for you to progress through the enlisted ranks. If you commission this way, it is DESPITE being enlisted.

Just to give you an idea, it took me nearly 2 years from completing my package to stepping foot on OTS, and that's normal. You'll have over a year of pilot training after that.

Check out ROTC and OTS as a non-prior.

Being a prior enlisted pilot is like being a successful white rap artist. It's pretty rare and not a reasonable goal IMO.

*edit- the money issue...talk to ROTC. They have ways of helping with funds. Also, guard/reserve can help and you can be a full time student with GI bill. There are ways. What you have to do is take initiative and seek it, and stay after it. You can make it happen but it's up to you. People will give advice but no one will carry you. Officers make up a small percentage of the military. It's hard to get in. It's supposed to be. OTS will be hard. UPT will be hard. Right now is your test to yourself to see how bad you want it.

[Ni-Trox]

Also depending on what you fly or might be for all pilots there's an 8 year commitment after you grad.

[TopGearDetail]

Originally Posted by 65STANGChase

Well I think I have decided to join the Air Force. Scored a 91 on the ASVAB (sp) and found out I can finish my degree in Technical Training and then I can go to OTS. Trying to be a pilot. Also with my credits I'll start as an E3. Well thats all I can think of at the moment. Just looking for some advise possibly. Pro and Cons if there are any? Thanks guys

That sounds like the dream they promise everyone. Join the Air Force they said, fly planes they said. The likeliness of you going OTS is slim, as they are cutting people from the Air Force right now, they will want people with engineering degrees. What were all of your ASVAB scores? You won't be able to finish your degree until you become a 5 level (skill level) at your job, and that takes a minimum of 1 year of JOT to become. I have been in the Air Force for 6.5 yrs. I got the job I wanted because I scored high in electronics and mechanical, C-130 Avionics, in the hopes of one day going OTS. I am 6 classes away from my Bachelors, and a Staff Sergeant.

Admin and General will pretty mean you will be a office clown or cop or services (food, gym).