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First and foremost - I know that each situation varies greatly depending on circumstance and that many questions regarding moral waivers have been asked and answered.

 

I've been working on my packet for a bit now and I plan on submitting for the May board. I'm waiting for my recruiter to get back from leave next week to submit a moral waiver for me. I was arrested in 2011 at 19 years old for DUI (I won't list the lengthy details unless its needed). The DUI was dropped to wreckless operation of a motor vehicle and transportation of alcohol by a minor. I paid court fines and my license was suspended for 60 days. I wrote a strong letter that I believe will show that I'm well past this and I feel pretty good about my chances of getting a waiver.

 

My WOSM just told me yesterday that "your chances are slim" for getting selected and that if I don't get selected I could "reenlist and apply again once they see I'm serious". I know some guys have been saying that this is a bad idea, that getting in as a civilian is easier than enlisted, and that I should just keep at it. I plan to resubmit until the end. My WOSM & recruiter have been awesome so far and I feel great about having them on my side. Him saying this yesterday gave me a sick feeling that it might be going sour.

 

Does anyone have experience making it through this type of pushback? If I don't get selected the first time and my WOSM tells me to enlist and stops helping, can I submit my packet on my own or does a recruiter do that for you?

 

I am wondering the best way to go about it without being rude, acting like I know everything, and losing their guidance. My current worry is that if I don't get selected first round my WOSM is going to stop helping me and tell me to enlist. I know this is all pretty premature but I want to be prepared and you guys have been AWESOME in helping me with previous questions. Thank you in advance.

 

My Stats:

Civilian; No Flight Hours; No Prior-Service

Age: 27

ASVAB: 134 GT // 97 percentile

SIFT: 61

APFT: TBD

Education: Associates Degree in IT - 3.9 GPA

LORs: WOSM has a few interviews with senior warrants lined up for me (another reason I don't want to lose his assistance)

Flight physical: March 15th @ Ft. Irwin

Moral Waivers: 1 TBD

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Hey man just get your packet in and let the board make the decisions. If you are denied the first go around your packet will be automatically boarded into the next board so I don't think you should be to worried about that. The WOSM sounds like he just wants you to know that there are other options if it comes down to that. I was in your shoes and ended up enlisting before I ever put a packet in. Lucky enough for me I was still selected two years later. I also had a moral ETP just not quite to the extent of yours. Hit one target at a time.. get that flight physical done.

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Hey man just get your packet in and let the board make the decisions. If you are denied the first go around your packet will be automatically boarded into the next board so I don't think you should be to worried about that. The WOSM sounds like he just wants you to know that there are other options if it comes down to that. I was in your shoes and ended up enlisting before I ever put a packet in. Lucky enough for me I was still selected two years later. I also had a moral ETP just not quite to the extent of yours. Hit one target at a time.. get that flight physical done.

Thank you for the encouragement. I wasn’t aware your packet was automatically boarded if not selected the first time so that answers that question! The WOSM has been awesome so I don’t think he was feeding me bad info. Also, happy to hear that if enlisted it’s still an option. Thanks for the reply and congrats on making it.

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Are you applying Guard? I assume you are since you mentioned working with a wosm. I think the easier off the street vs prior service rule doesn't play out the same in the guard as it does on the active side. Guard units board people basically whenever the board wants to. That is to say as far as your state is concerned if you are boarding from within the Guard vs as a civilian it doesn't mean you'll have a harder vs easier time. The wosm should be able to get good info from the board members as to what they want to see.

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Are you applying Guard? I assume you are since you mentioned working with a wosm. I think the easier off the street vs prior service rule doesn't play out the same in the guard as it does on the active side. Guard units board people basically whenever the board wants to. That is to say as far as your state is concerned if you are boarding from within the Guard vs as a civilian it doesn't mean you'll have a harder vs easier time. The wosm should be able to get good info from the board members as to what they want to see.

Yes I am going the California National Guard route. Thanks for clearing that up! As you can probably tell I still have a lot to learn about how this all works so I really appreciate your input. I was under the assumption that after I was trained and with a unit it might be more difficult for me to try and go Warrant with the time they already invested into my training. My initial intention was to go 15T and try to make crew chief eventually before I found out going Warrant was an option so if I need to prove myself first I’ll be happy to do so. I’m going to keep putting 110% into building my packet and hope for the best though.

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Each state sort of does their own thing... but basically if the CA ARNG board comes back and says "yea we want him to do a couple years as a crew chief" they are ultimately the decision makers. If you are already in the aviation community there, seeing as the state aviation officer oversees all of that, they wouldn't have any problem boarding you to fly. It isn't the same as active duty where you need to line up a bunch of puzzle pieces, and you are in a different applicant pool. Most of the people my state sends to flight school seem to be from other Aviation MOS's that still have time on their contracts.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Just wanted to say thank you to everyone for the guidance here so far. The wealth of knowledge on this forum is invaluable to anyone going through this process. I may have jumped the gun on my history. The recruiter has pulled my criminal record multiple times at a state and federal level and it is coming back clean. We are working through it and I am excited for what's next. This difficult process, if anything, has only made me more determined to continue. Phase 1 of my flight physical is done and I will be getting phase 2 (EKG & Anthro) done next week!

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Nobody is perfect, except maybe Nearly Retired! I know him so it may or may not be a jab. Let them say no when the time comes, in the meantime just keep dotting the dots and crossing the T's! We have all done foolish things, ok, you learn from it and move on. You didn't drive off of a bridge and left a person to drown and not say anything for 12 hours or so. No ongoing track record of doing such things as you did when you was 19 and you are not hiding it and you are owning up to it. I think you will be fine, I don't know maybe that 3.9 GPA might be a problem- too bright to fly helicopters you know! Good luck to you.

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Nobody is perfect, except maybe Nearly Retired! I know him so it may or may not be a jab. Let them say no when the time comes, in the meantime just keep dotting the dots and crossing the T's! We have all done foolish things, ok, you learn from it and move on. You didn't drive off of a bridge and left a person to drown and not say anything for 12 hours or so. No ongoing track record of doing such things as you did when you was 19 and you are not hiding it and you are owning up to it. I think you will be fine, I don't know maybe that 3.9 GPA might be a problem- too bright to fly helicopters you know! Good luck to you.

Haha! Thanks a lot for the encouragement. I havent dealt with recruiters much and Ive always been told to be a bit skeptical but he and my current recruiter have been nothing but great to me so far so I think I was just slightly worked up over nothing to be honest. My packet is coming together nicely and I think I have a great shot.

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