Lindsey Posted January 17, 2013 Posted January 17, 2013 USAREC MSG 13-053 111600 January 2013 (EST) USAREC MESSAGE 13-053 From: Headquarters USARECTo: All Recruiting Personnel SUBJECT: Age Policy Changes to include OCS/WOFT (Updated) 1. This is an immediate message and requires dissemination to all recruiting personnel. 2. Reference: a. Army Regulation 601-210, Active and Reserve Component Enlistment Program, dated 8 Feb 2011 with Rapid Action Revision (RAR) dated 4 August 2011. b. Army Regulation 611-110, Selection and Training of Army Aviation Officers, dated 15 June 2005. c. Deputy Chief of Staff, G-1, Memorandum, 6 June 2006, Maximum entry Age Increase for enlistments- Active and Reserve Components of the Army. d. Deputy Chief of Staff, G-1, Memorandum, 17 January 2006, Enlistment Policy and Incentive Changes- National Defense Authorization Act 2006. e. Deputy Chief of Staff, G-1, Memorandum, 28 September 2005, Authority to Grant Exceptions for Active and Army Reserve Accessions. f. MILPER Message 12-380, Regular Army Federal Officer candidate School Program Supplemental Board and Requirements for FY 13, dated 30 November 2012. g. USAREC Message 12-241, Age Policy Changes to include OCS/WOFT (Updated), dated 21 September 2012. (Rescinded) h. USAREC Message 11-176, Operational changes to AR 601-210, dated 14 June 2011. 3. The purpose of this message is to clarify the below listed policy changes. This message applies to all components of the Army. a. Age. The maximum enlistment age is 35 for qualified personnel (Non-prior Service (NPS)) who enlist into the Regular Army (RA), Army Reserve (AR) or Army National Guard (ARNG). The maximum enlistment age of prior service personnel (PS) entering the Regular Army is 35 and will be based on their prior active service computation as explained in the criteria below. Enlistment of PS personnel into the Reserve Components (RC-AR/ARNG) will be determined by their ability to qualify for non-regular retired pay by age 60 as described below. 1. NPS personnel enlisting into the RA must enter active duty or ship to training on or before their 35th birthday. 2. NPS personnel enlisting into the AR must be accessed on or before their 35th birthday. 3. PS personnel enlisting into the RA, AR, or ARNG under this policy may enter active duty after age 35, if otherwise eligible based on prior Active or Reserve service computation. See below: (a) PS members processing for the RA: After member's total prior active service is subtracted from their current age, their age for enlistment must not exceed 35 and the member must qualify for regular retirement with 20 or more years of active Federal Service by age 62. ( PS members processing for the RC: After member is given credit for total prior service (Active and Reserve) the member must be able to qualify for non-regular retired pay by age 60. For members processing for entry into an RC age is not a factor as long as the member qualifies for non-regular retired pay by age 60. 4. RA enlistees must be eligible for regular retirement by age 62. AR enlistees must be eligible for non-regular retirement by age 60. NOTE: As an exception to the above policy, the maximum age for MOS 09L (Dari, Farsi and Pashto) remains at 42 for both RA and AR. b. Term of service (TOS). Minimum RA term of enlistment for all specialties is a 3-year Variable Enlistment Length (VEL), unless the individual is MOS qualified. c. Applicants applying for OCS: Regular Army 1. RA NPS personnel entering OCS are fully eligible for enlistment if they ship to training on or before their 30th birthday. Age waivers will be considered only for applicants who are 30 years old provided they graduate from OCS and accept commission prior to age 32. 2. RA PS personnel entering OCS must not have more than nine years of Active Federal Service and must enter Active Duty or ship to training on or before their 30th birthday. Age waivers will be considered only for applicants who are 30 years old provided they graduate from OCS and accept commission prior to age 32. Army Reserve AR NPS and PS personnel entering into OCS must enter Active duty or ship to training prior to their 33rd birthday. RC OCS candidates must graduate and accept commission prior to age 34. d. Applicants applying for WOFT/WOCS: 1. RA and AR NPS applicants must be older than 18 and not have reached their 33rd birth date at time of board approval. Age waivers will be considered for applicants with exceptional meritorious qualifications on a case by case basis. 2. PS must not have more than twelve (12) years of Active Federal Service. 4. These changes will remain in effect until incorporated into the next update of AR 601-210, or rescinded. Figured some might be interested in this. Clearly identifies the latest age requirements for WOFT (which hasn't changed in awhile), but mainly it states that age waivers are being considered, which is more than we've heard lately. Sorry for the super long post, but I kept the whole length of it in case people were wondering about OCS or regular enlistment as alternate paths to WOFT. 3 Quote
Hellfire Posted January 17, 2013 Posted January 17, 2013 Yes make it a sticky! This is the latest of the latest! This is going to be good news for a lot of people Quote
DC8488 Posted January 17, 2013 Posted January 17, 2013 Doesn't it seem odd they would raise the age limit right now? Considering we are in a draw down... When I saw the post I figured they were going to lower it, rather surprised it went up. Quote
akscott60 Posted January 17, 2013 Posted January 17, 2013 There isnt a 58 pilot in my troop that is in his 20s except my two LTs. Quote
Velocity173 Posted January 17, 2013 Posted January 17, 2013 Oldest WO1 student I had was 40. Go Guard! 1 Quote
electron_si Posted January 18, 2013 Posted January 18, 2013 Oldest WO1 student I had was 40. Go Guard! How the hell did that happen. I thought you had to be in flight school by like age 33? Quote
Velocity173 Posted January 18, 2013 Posted January 18, 2013 How the hell did that happen. I thought you had to be in flight school by like age 33? I suppose this: Age waivers will be considered for applicants with exceptional meritorious qualifications on a case by case basis. "Exceptional" would be the last word I'd use to describe his performance though. During the height of OIF and OEF, a lot of NG units (active too) were scrambling to plus up their numbers for deployment. We peaked out in about 2007 when we had three students per instructor (3 on 1). I remember the oldest active student I had was like 35-36. He was a solid student. Although the first and only time I got into VRS was with him one night at a high hover. Never give a student the controls at a 1,000 ft hover on a dark night over little contrast. 1 Quote
Lindsey Posted January 18, 2013 Author Posted January 18, 2013 Although the first and only time I got into VRS was with him one night at a high hover. Never give a student the controls at a 1,000 ft hover on a dark night over little contrast. That sounds like a good day at the office... Quote
t.o.n.y Posted January 19, 2013 Posted January 19, 2013 It's been that way for a while, know of a few people over the past year to get selected with age waivers. Quote
Lindsey Posted January 19, 2013 Author Posted January 19, 2013 Now it is confirmed that it continues to be the case. Quote
akscott60 Posted January 19, 2013 Posted January 19, 2013 1000ft hover? Why? I get nosebleeds higher than 300 AGL. Quote
Velocity173 Posted January 19, 2013 Posted January 19, 2013 1000ft hover? Why? I get nosebleeds higher than 300 AGL. Student missed his RP inbound during pilotage DR. I pulled up to a high hover to get oriented. I snatched his maps and transferred the controls (bad idea). He had the controls for maybe 5 secs when I hear "Sir, I'm disoriented! I'm disoriented!" I look up and the nose is pointing up and we are sliding backwards at maybe 500-600 fpm. I grabbed the controls and pulled in a bunch of collective. The aircraft shuddered and I could feel the bottom drop out. I immediately dropped the collective and locked out my right arm with full forward cyclic. The nose oscillated up and down twice until it finally stayed down and we flew out of it. We started at 1000 agl and I think RAD ALT showed 200 on recovery. Didn't even debrief when we got back. I sent them home and I went home. I had the safety tip the next night at the IP table. One of the old Vietnam guys looked over and asked "you know why it wouldn't recover right?" Well, kinda. "Because in VRS you're getting very little thrust and you're trying to get a nose down in an aircraft that has a natural slightly aft CG (especially a Rucker 60)." He then said back in the day they used to demo it but they had too many close calls so they dropped it from the syllabus. A friend of mine had it happpen maybe a year earlier during day BCS while also at a high hover and also a nose up attitude. He kicked right pedal out of it and turned a nose up attitude into a nose down one...wish I would have thought of that. Read a story in Approach mag once on a Navy SH-60 that got into it over water (spotting artillery) at a high hover and also barely recovered. I thought, no way that's gonna happen to me. You'd think with all the excess power in the Hawk VRS wouldn't be a factor but if you're not paying attention to what you're doing it'll sneak up and bite you on the a$$. 2 Quote
akscott60 Posted January 19, 2013 Posted January 19, 2013 sh*t dude that gave me the Willys. Glad you are ok. We never have power to get ourselves out of anything so we always have to fly ourselves our of a VRS. 1 Quote
Helipilot PTK Posted January 20, 2013 Posted January 20, 2013 Doesn't it seem odd they would raise the age limit right now? Considering we are in a draw down... When I saw the post I figured they were going to lower it, rather surprised it went up. "Certain circumstances" may change that in the next 1-1.5 years. So they may just be preparing. Quote
Velocity173 Posted January 20, 2013 Posted January 20, 2013 sh*t dude that gave me the Willys. Glad you are ok. We never have power to get ourselves out of anything so we always have to fly ourselves our of a VRS. Yeah I talked to a test pilot in Afghanistan a couple years ago who said I probably didn't get into VRS. He said it would require over 2,500 fpm and that most likely I didn't pull in enough collective to arrest the descent. I'm fairly certain we weren't anywhere near that descent rate and when I pulled collective and it didn't arrest the rate. Possibly the 20 degree nose up and winds aggravated the situation. In my last unit our only non-combat related accident was a suspected VRS scenario going into a confined area. Crushed the landind gear and wrinkled the belly. It was cold out and had plenty of power for their weight, it was just the right conditions for VRS. I'm fairly certain they didn't have a 2,500 fpm descent rate either. Either VRS, SWP or me not pulling in enough power I learned don't let a student do a 1,000 ft hover at night with low illum! Quote
DC8488 Posted January 20, 2013 Posted January 20, 2013 Please excuse my ignorance, could you elaborate what a "VRS" is? It would really help me understand this discussion. Quote
movingtarget21 Posted January 20, 2013 Posted January 20, 2013 http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vortex_ring_state Quote
Velocity173 Posted January 20, 2013 Posted January 20, 2013 Please excuse my ignorance, could you elaborate what a "VRS" is? It would really help me understand this discussion. Sorry. It's called Vortex Ring State. Once you get to Rucker they'll cover it indepth. Basically what is happening is the aircraft is descending and air is flowing up through the rotor, overcoming the downwash. This forms two vortices. One in the middle and one at the tip of the blades. This situation greatly reduces the thrust of the rotor and any increase (if not caught early) in collective will increase the descent rate. Generally vertical descents greater than 300 FPM and some power applied (>20 %) will get you into it. As I said, I estimated I was doing at least 500-600 FPM but I never looked at my VSI so I don't know. The SH-60 flight manual states: The effect is measurable at descent rates greater than 700 fpm and airspeeds between 0 and 20 KIAS and is the worst at descent rates of approximately 1,500 fpm with airspeeds of 5 to 10 KIAS. Fully developed vortex ring state is characterized by an unstable condition where the helicopter experiences uncommanded pitch and roll oscillations, has little or no cyclic authority, and achieves a descent rate that may approach 6,000 fpm. It is accompanied by increased levels of vibration. Flight conditions causing vortex ring state should be avoided at low altitudes because of the attendant loss of altitude necessary for recovery. Quote
akscott60 Posted January 20, 2013 Posted January 20, 2013 At least with those Rucker birds you arent power limited. Quote
WaterRooster Posted January 20, 2013 Posted January 20, 2013 "Certain circumstances" may change that in the next 1-1.5 years. So they may just be preparing. What circumstances are you thinking of that they would need to raise an age limit? Is it just a chance for all the older people that come into the army over the last 5-7 years to get into the WO Corps before they draw down? Quote
Helipilot PTK Posted January 20, 2013 Posted January 20, 2013 I was talking more about the "possibility" of another war that would put WOFT in full throttle. Hopefully i'm wrong. Quote
Velocity173 Posted January 21, 2013 Posted January 21, 2013 Hasn't the age limit been 33 for awhile now? Quote
Yamer Posted January 21, 2013 Posted January 21, 2013 Its been 33 since i started this whole thing Quote
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