Seeking some professional Advice

texmex11x · January 13, 2020

Okay, so I have a bit of a dilemma. I was informed during the November Board that my waiver request was denied and I would have to wait a year reapply (I'm the cormorant guy). I learned today that I could have a good opportunity to fly for the TX NG. The process for waivers is different and that I could possibly make this coming board in March. Here is my dilemma.

I am a believer that nothing is guaranteed and during my current civilian flight training, my idea was to apply for Active Army as a civilian and use my VA Benefits to reinforce a civilian flight career while obtaining my Bachelor's Degree, as a civilian. Since I got my denial I have been focused on being a Flight Instructor the issue is that I am not complete and again nothing is guaranteed. I still need to find employment. I very passionately want to fly Army but do not want to compromise introductory flight employment as a civilian. My questions are:

To anyone who has juggled a civilian flight job with Army National Guard Flight, how did that situation treat yall?

A lot of civilian helicopter flight jobs are 2 weeks on 2 weeks off. I feel like I could do that and incorporate National Guard Flight the issue is those jobs require 1000hrs minimum. Flight instructing could set me up better professionally but man I want to fly Army so badly. There is no civilian flight school that would hire a National Guard Pilot so I think I would have to find something else till I hit that 750-1000hr mark. What do yall think, try again go for gold and compromise some civilian flight gigs (again Im a low hr pilot) or pass and try again at a later date?

Axesteel · January 13, 2020

honestly this is a question you need to ask yourself, what do you want to do in your life.

texmex11x · January 13, 2020

Bro why you gotta be going full deep like that for!

Axesteel · January 13, 2020

lmao this is your life, honestly i dont personally know you so i dont know whats best for you

jenn · January 14, 2020

I can’t really provide any professional advice, but I am going through a similar situation. When I met with the NG, my recruiter and I had a heart-to-heart about my situation. He was super supportive in whichever route I wanted to take, but the route I wanted they weren’t offering. What planted my decision was when he asked me (and I did take a minute to actually process the question), “at the end of the day, do you want to be a Soldier or not?” Because if the answer isn’t a yes with no strings attached, then I shouldn’t join.

So I feel like that’s a good question for you too - do you want to be a Soldier? The flight stuff will all fall in place some way or another if you keep fighting for it. But it’s going to be a long 8 years if you join the Army when you don’t truly want to be there.

I’m sure you already know about the guard paying for in-state colleges? At least in my state you can double major for your bachelor’s degree (like having aviation as your minor) and get some flight time in before you finish your bachelor's program.

SBuzzkill · January 25, 2020

Stop paying for helicopter lessons and work on airplane ratings. You can be eligible for a restricted ATP at 750 hours total time. It's the quickest way to a flying career on the civilian side. It's going to take you years to even be qualified for a helicopter job that will be flexible enough for you to work in a national guard schedule. Eventually you'll have enough helicopter time through the Army to go after a civilian helicopter career if that's what you want.

If you just want helicopters, stop paying for ratings. Let the Army train you and do the military competency exam for your commercial/instrument rating, and then you just have to worry about paying for CFI/CFII. Snag a job on the flight line at a busy FBO near you and network your way into a CFI job.

Edited January 25, 2020 by SBuzzkill

texmex11x · January 27, 2020

On 1/25/2020 at 1:02 PM, SBuzzkill said:

Stop paying for helicopter lessons and work on airplane ratings. You can be eligible for a restricted ATP at 750 hours total time. It's the quickest way to a flying career on the civilian side. It's going to take you years to even be qualified for a helicopter job that will be flexible enough for you to work in a national guard schedule. Eventually you'll have enough helicopter time through the Army to go after a civilian helicopter career if that's what you want.

If you just want helicopters, stop paying for ratings. Let the Army train you and do the military competency exam for your commercial/instrument rating, and then you just have to worry about paying for CFI/CFII. Snag a job on the flight line at a busy FBO near you and network your way into a CFI job.

Thanks for the perspective on the first portion of your comment. As far as the second one, I got out a couple years ago and figured a degree program with helicopter training was the way I wanted to go and about to finish. I figured if Imma be in school might as well do what I want to be doing. Little did I know my continued wanting to be in military service and coupling that with flying. I just had no clue how difficult it would be getting back in. Thanks for the insight! Im going to wait out my waiver denial and reapply this fall.