Recruiter Lying to Me?

[ActuallyChad]

Hello all.

I’ve been working with a recruiter now for a while who just so happens to be the Reserves guy at my recruiting office. He knows I want to fly. I’ve done most of the paperwork I can do on my own for WOFT. But he says after some battalion recruiter meeting that Reserves OCS is an easier process for all. Apparently I can sign my OCS contract after a battalion level board process/interview and have a guaranteed 15A contract (upon selection, of course). He says according to his people I can do the flight phys after I’ve gotten selected and ready to ship for basic. All I have to have ready is the SF-86, MEPS physical and pass the SIFT. I’m totally willing to do it if I’m guaranteed to fly. It might even be a better option for my family. It just sounds too good to be true.

Any advice or insight into the Reserves side of aviation? Anything helps! 
 

P.S.: I’m aware of some of the differences between WOs and LTs, and I think I’d rather be an LT. Some other opportunities outside of the Army require CO experience instead of WO (looking at Texas for anti-drug operations pilot careers).
 

Thanks in advance!

[Seminole]

I cant speak to any of the reserve process having been through this process on the AD side of the house.

But taking the flight physical after getting selected sounds flat out wrong. They’re not going to select you until they know you’re physically qualified to fly.

Granted, maybe the reserves have some crazy quirks to their process. But that bit sounds dead wrong. 
 

For what its worth, you cant guarantee your branch in active duty OCS. This may actually be different in the reserves, but Im not sure. 

[SBuzzkill]

If you want to be an RLO go be an RLO.  I am not sure what anti-drug position you are talking about that requires Army command time, but it sounds like a misinterpretation to me.

[Crash7051]

You wont be guaranteed to fly if you cant pass a flight physical. And if you already signed before that, there's no going back.  The two main and biggest factors are the sift and flight physical. I would make you can pass both before you sign anything.

[Thedude]

16 hours ago, ActuallyChad said:

P.S.: I’m aware of some of the differences between WOs and LTs, and I think I’d rather be an LT. Some other opportunities outside of the Army require CO experience instead of WO (looking at Texas for anti-drug operations pilot careers).

Do you want to be a pilot or spend most of your time at a desk or in meetings? If you want to be a pilot don’t be a RLO. 

[ActuallyChad]

2 hours ago, Crash7051 said:

You wont be guaranteed to fly if you cant pass a flight physical. And if you already signed before that, there's no going back.  The two main and biggest factors are the sift and flight physical. I would make you can pass both before you sign anything.

That’s what I figured. I don’t know if my recruiter just didn’t understand the process or what, but he was trying to tell me the reserve units would take me with just the SIFT and MEPS phys. I’ll follow up with him and get some clarification.

[Crash7051]

1 hour ago, ActuallyChad said:

That’s what I figured. I don’t know if my recruiter just didn’t understand the process or what, but he was trying to tell me the reserve units would take me with just the SIFT and MEPS phys. I’ll follow up with him and get some clarification.

Also, he's probably not lying, he just doesn't know. Recruiters are dumb. I dumped my first one for reasons like yours. In fact, they told me I had to enlist in order to even take the flight physical. Which is not true at all.... Its quite common to go through recruiters. Some now what they're doing, some think they know, and some just really don't want to help because its a lot of work. Find someone that's willing to do the work.

[SBuzzkill]

The first recruiter I talked to was telling some other dude about the Army’s A-10s.  I found a new guy, LoL

[amp]

I will say this was pretty much the process for me in the guard. Granted, I was already in the Guard. I went to the board with the intent to go to wocs, at the board the SAO saw that I already had a bachelor's degree and said they could guarantee me a flight slot either way, but they'd prefer me to choose the commissioned route. Took them up on the OCS offer. Had my flight physical completed after the board (which was the process for warrants as well.) Not sure if the Reserves actually works that way or if it's just a recruiter tactic.

[amp]

On 3/15/2020 at 2:02 PM, Thedude said:

Do you want to be a pilot or spend most of your time at a desk or in meetings? If you want to be a pilot don’t be a RLO. 

I fly more than most of the warrants on our ATP so, this is not always the case. Especially in the Guard and Reserve when both are flying on their own time anyway. One of the IPs on our ATP is a major that has more time than the CW4 IP.

[Thedude]

55 minutes ago, amp said:

I fly more than most of the warrants on our ATP so, this is not always the case. Especially in the Guard and Reserve when both are flying on their own time anyway. One of the IPs on our ATP is a major that has more time than the CW4 IP.

Good point, I was referring to AD. 

[Mrhoodhimself07]

On 3/15/2020 at 5:18 PM, Crash7051 said:

Also, he's probably not lying, he just doesn't know. Recruiters are dumb. I dumped my first one for reasons like yours. In fact, they told me I had to enlist in order to even take the flight physical. Which is not true at all.... Its quite common to go through recruiters. Some now what they're doing, some think they know, and some just really don't want to help because its a lot of work. Find someone that's willing to do the work.

Interesting perspective 

[Crash7051]

1 hour ago, Mrhoodhimself07 said:

Interesting perspective 

There are good ones and bad ones, like in anything else 

[ByteFlighter]

On 3/14/2020 at 10:00 PM, ActuallyChad said:

P.S.: I’m aware of some of the differences between WOs and LTs, and I think I’d rather be an LT. Some other opportunities outside of the Army require CO experience instead of WO (looking at Texas for anti-drug operations pilot careers).

Thanks in advance!

 

LOL. You are probably reading "Pilot-In-Command" in the requirements or something to come up with that nonsense. If you think post-Army flying gigs would rather have CO "experience" in place of a former Warrant then by all means go "CO". (RLO is a better term considering CW2-CW5 are COs but I know what you mean!)

95% of the time, only one of those options is progressing the other on how to Pilot-In-Command. 

 

Annnnd no Chad, your recruiter is just an honest idiot.

[mike0331]

Do you mean guard or reserves? Most people don't know the difference. Guard has a lot of leeway in how they run their programs, reserves is probably uniform across the country and I doubt you can do the flight phys AFTER boarding. For guard its conceivable of that what you describe is how the state opts to run their program. I spent the last 9 months working for the WOSM in my state's recruiting and retention battalion, primarily dealing with applicants for aviation.