From Active Duty Officer to Reserve Flight Warrant

ryanri · June 30, 2018

Hi All,

I have been stalking this forum for a long time and have absorbed a lot of great information. What I have noticed is a critical shortage of information on Army Reserve Aviation. All the discussions have revolved around Active Duty and National Guard. I just wanted to put some info out there for anybody who might be interested in the process for the Army Reserves.

I was an active duty EOD officer and then went IRR. I was IRR for about a month before joining the Reserves so that I could drop a flight warrant packet. Honestly, this was an amazing decision because Active Duty everyone just said it was impossible and couldn't be done.

Reserve side there is a career counselor(79V) whose actual job is to specifically make this happen. Granted, they mainly deal with enlisted Soldiers but I was added to the pipeline without a great deal of extra effort.

I was boarded on the January Board (technically February because of the shutdown) and, as far as I know, was the only officer in all of the reserves to even apply. I was selected and am currently standing by for my warrant scroll/HRC orders. That has been by far the longest and most tedious part of this whole process. I have gotten some amazing help from several CW5s and there is a Reserve Liaison at Rucker to help with those questions as well.

I have been assigned at Fort Knox for the last few months and have gotten to learn quite a bit about the community.

I can tell you the Reserves right now NEEDS pilots. You also have the advantage of knowing exactly what airframe you will be flying and where your unit will be going into flight school. From what I hear everybody is short and there are some AWESOME reserve duty locations.

I know that whole post came off as a recruiting pitch and I apologize but it is an amazing opportunity that seems to be forgotten about by most people! If you have questions I will be happy to help any way I can.

-Patrick

freebeerforvets · June 30, 2018

Hello!

Thanks for the information. Is this just pertaining to those who are already officers? I'm interested in flying for the Army Reserve as you can select you aircraft/location, but I'm not sure if this is applicable to those not already in the Army. I'm currently in the USAF Reserve but have a Conditional Release.

mike0331 · July 1, 2018

Generally speaking there are more Warrant aviators in the Guard vs reserves. Guard programs tend to vary in their acceptance requirements state to state, and will be more or less flexible in those requirements based on need.

Mike

ryanri · July 1, 2018

Hello!
Thanks for the information. Is this just pertaining to those who are already officers? I'm interested in flying for the Army Reserve as you can select you aircraft/location, but I'm not sure if this is applicable to those not already in the Army. I'm currently in the USAF Reserve but have a Conditional Release.

No the Career Counselors can also help with branch transfers as well. Let me know what state you are in and I can try and get you a contact point.

Dmurray · July 2, 2018

Ryan,

I'm glad you've had great luck with your career counselors. However, I would caution others in thinking it will be this easy. I came from the reserve dude before I went active. I'm here to tell you, not all career counselors have your best interest in mind. Even if they genuinely want to help you, they may be misinformed.