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I've been thinking about it for a year and today i started my WOFT package. I'm 30 years old, Prior service (Navy Enlisted, corpsman assigned to the USMC) I have my Bachelors degree from Upenn and my private pilots license. I'm also a full time flight medic in the philadelphia area.

 

My question to everyone here is what is the warrant officer and army aviation quality of life like. I'm not gonna lie being enlisted and serving with the marines was not a walk in the park. But i met my best friends and brothers on the deployments. I miss that the most and want to get back into that type of brotherhood.

 

Are the aviation warrant officers consumed with the endless barracks inspections and 24 hr duty days at the barracks and all the f... f... games that the enlisted had to deal with in the Marines.

 

I'm getting older, i own my own home, i have a career but i want more i want to be back. Is it worth it ??? Looking to hear from the guys who have done it, is it worth ??? is it a young man's only game ???

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As of right now I am still in flight school getting ready to class up for advanced. So I cant talk much on how the real Army is but as a warrant officer you are still an officer. So during WOCS, there is plenty of the shenanigans. You live in the barracks for 5 weeks they come in and smoke you, you do push ups, you have to keep everything nice and tidy and all that fun dumb stuff. However after that you move off base and are kinda left to your own devices and treated kinda like an adult. We are still officers in training so the hold the reins a little tighter.

 

However the main thing I wanted to touch on is that I dont think this is only a young mans game. We had at least a quarter of my flight class who was in their late 20s. If not more. It all depends on how much you want it.

 

Also, if you want to keep up with you current career and life that you have built for yourself perhaps it may be worth looking into an National Guard spot? Those may be fewer and farther between but we have a lot of NG folks in flight school currently.

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That's a tough question to answer. If you do some digging around here you should be able to turn up plenty on what life as a warrant officer is like.

 

You will have 24 hour staff duty. You will have courtesy patrol. You will have post police call.

 

At home you will live wherever you want. On, off post, own a home, whatever. Show up for duty and go home at the end. It's like any other job.

 

On TDY, overnights, rotation and deployment I've slept in the following:

  • Hotel room
  • Dorm style barracks
  • Sleep room with bunks
  • Open bay barracks
  • B hut
  • Tent
  • Hangar floor
  • Humvee
  • Dirt

Varying levels of austerity depending on who's paying, who's in command, what the mission is, who's looking, etc.

 

You can expect to stand in change of command formations and march around parade fields. You can expect to do unit PT every day. You'll get handed out details. You'll pack and unpack containers. You'll be a range safety. You'll be at the motor pool PMCSing your vehicles. You'll have your blues inspected during payday activities. You'll repaint the building.

 

You can also expect to be an OIC. You'll be assigned FLIPLs. You'll do inspections. You'll run your additional duties. You'll sit in meetings. You'll account for equipment. You'll prepare briefings. You'll perform those briefings. You'll manage your own paperwork. You'll hold accounts.

 

As a warrant officer you'll have a foot in both enlisted and officer worlds. You won't have to deal with the worst aspects of them, but you'll get a lot of the middle ground. Somedays it's convenient for your leadership to use you as manpower. Other days the commander needs an officer. "Brigade needs 3 people. Schmo, Smith, Pyle, maintenance is busy so you're going."

 

Anyways, I've had some bad times and I've had some really great times. I would do it all over again in a heart beat.

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Ow and i looked at the guard/reserve but the gaurd says they require you to go to MOS school and then apply it doesn't sound like a gaurentee in the contract. And my recruiter straight out said there is no WOFT progam for the reservse. Still doing som research on that.

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Ow and i looked at the guard/reserve but the gaurd says they require you to go to MOS school and then apply it doesn't sound like a gaurentee in the contract. And my recruiter straight out said there is no WOFT progam for the reservse. Still doing som research on that.

 

Guard guy here. Have you talked directly to a Warrant Officer Strength Manager (WOSM) for your state about Street-to-Seat? I know the program is alive and well in CA. Your run of the mill recruiter might not have all the facts straight.

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Guard guy here. Have you talked directly to a Warrant Officer Strength Manager (WOSM) for your state about Street-to-Seat? I know the program is alive and well in CA. Your run of the mill recruiter might not have all the facts straight.

It seems to vary by state. My primary stick buddy was Alabama guard and they were in the beginning stages of a street-to-seat program. But still would be worth looking in to for sure.
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It varies state by state... and some states will still bend policies even if not having a formal street to seat program. The benefit to the Guard is there is more localized control than the "big army." Just be forewarned the Guard doesn't move as fast as the active side in selection and getting you to school. I am looking at a little over a year between being selected and heading to Rucker, and I didn't need to go to boot camp. It also took me longer to get my packet together since my state didn't have a formal street to seat program.

 

I think you have as strong a resume as anyone. The only thing not in your corner is you'd have to re-attend boot camp. The PPL, prior service, current job, and Ivy League degree are all huge pluses. I don't believe there is any exception for FMF Corpsmen with the basic training requirement, though that may be worth looking into

 

Mike

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Each state does vary...I am a street to seat guy for my state and I still haven't gotten any dates other than a Flight School date. I have been speaking to guys and they are saying the street to seat for guard isn't the greatest, because you are dealing with the NGB (can be a pain in the ass)....A route I am considering is enlisting, OSUT, BLC, then to WOCS.....But nothing is guaranteed....so it really depends.

 

The Guard makes it very tough....but one guys who went the alternate route, said if you have a family....wait....I will wait for my slot and the NGB to get back to me!

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Each state does vary...I am a street to seat guy for my state and I still haven't gotten any dates other than a Flight School date. I have been speaking to guys and they are saying the street to seat for guard isn't the greatest, because you are dealing with the NGB (can be a pain in the ass)....A route I am considering is enlisting, OSUT, BLC, then to WOCS.....But nothing is guaranteed....so it really depends.

 

The Guard makes it very tough....but one guys who went the alternate route, said if you have a family....wait....I will wait for my slot and the NGB to get back to me!

Youve been selected and received a date and considering enlisting instead?

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So does everyone who isnt active duty army go to bct then docs then flight school am I missing anything in between? Anyone know what the hold periods between eqxh phase is? Im sure no one should go in with an aircraft in mind that they want to fly but is there one that is lacking in pilots right now ?

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So does everyone who isnt active duty army go to bct then docs then flight school am I missing anything in between? Anyone know what the hold periods between eqxh phase is? Im sure no one should go in with an aircraft in mind that they want to fly but is there one that is lacking in pilots right now ?

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So does everyone who isnt active duty army go to bct then docs then flight school am I missing anything in between? Anyone know what the hold periods between eqxh phase is? Im sure no one should go in with an aircraft in mind that they want to fly but is there one that is lacking in pilots right now ?

Anyone doing a street-to-seat program will go Basic Training, WOCS, then flight school. Prior service folks have it a little different depending on the branch.

 

Odds are your BCT to WOCS date will be lined up with minimal time between, maybe a week or two. However depending on security clearance holds some people have been held up there or after WOCS. From then on you run into holds between WOCS and AWOBC Part A then roll into SERE almost immediately. Some folks start the following day for WOBC some had to wait a month or so. Now I think some even do SERE prior to WOBC due to holds... Then another month or two from SERE to Primary. 2 weeks or so between Primary and Advanced and Advanced to WOBC part B. Results may vary but thats how it has turned out for me so far.

 

As far as aircraft trends go if you are National Guard you will know before you leave what you will most likely fly. There is a chance it will change still. However for Active folks it's a toss up. If you want a specific aircraft be sure to place high in your class to have a better chance. It's generally a lot of Blackhawks, some Apaches, then a handful of Chinooks and C12s.

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Youve been selected and received a date and considering enlisting instead?

 

So each State (For Guard Route) from my understanding has been given a certain amount of slots per year for Flight School. While I have gone through my Board Review (July) and FEDRECd (August), I have been given a starting flight school date. Even though I have a flight school date, I do not have dates for BCT and WOCS....This is where NG WOFT can be a pain in the ass! Ask mike0031....

 

As a NG WOFT Street to Seat....you belong to the NGB in Washington, until you finish flight school, you aren't released to your State.

 

One way around that is this.....you enlist, bct, ait(or OSUT), BLC, then WOCS ----->>>Flight School.... Now this way adds time onto your timeline, but if your state is in high need of pilots (SC is in desperate need of 64 pilots right now). It is a quick transition....a guy in my state had to take this route because he didn't want to wait.....5 days after OSUT, he was transferred to the aviation unit and went to BLC then to WOCS. Now THIS guy belongs in his entirety to the SC Guard....so any question he has, he gets in touch with the WOSM and gets those questions/issues answered.

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For me it hasn't been too painful (my wife disagrees), but for others I know it has.

I didn't "exactly" do street to seat, but I sort of did... I was selected for aviation under the condition I signed a 3 year 15T contract that I was only to fulfill if I failed out of WOCS/Flight school or anywhere in between. I did some paperwork, started drilling almost immediately in an aviation unit as an untrained 15T (with a secondary MOS of 11B in the system) as a Sergeant given I was prior service USMC. I then was FedRecd as a "WOC," which is the rank I've been wearing since last summer. I head to WOCS in April with a few other people from my state. Our flight school dates have not yet been nailed down, but we've been told 10 days to a couple months in between WOCS and that whole package.

Since I came into the Guard as prior service, NGB doesn't own me in the same sense I guess they own street to seaters. NGB still has to work with my state on flight school slots, but my state could theoretically pull my slot and send me to AIT to be a 15T for the duration of my contract.

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