[Boseph]

Hello, everybody. My name is Bo, and I’m a Junior in AFROTC who recently got selected for a pilot slot in the Air Force Reserves. I’m expecting to commission in May of 2025, so right now I’m beginning to focus more on finding a Reserve unit and submitting my applications to them, hopefully before I commission; I have a few units and airframes in mind, already, but I’ll see what my path has in store for me.

I’m a Mechanical Engineering major, and I’ve been involved in AFROTC throughout my whole college career. This last Fall semester, I actually had the opportunity to do a semester exchange at the US Air Force Academy and immerse myself into cadet life there, so it’s been cool to see 2 different commissioning sources and 2 VERY different college experiences firsthand. I made a lot of great connections there and participated in some outstanding training, all of which I hope to bring back to AFROTC in some way.

Aviation-wise, I have a Commercial Pilot’s License and have been flying privately since 2019. I am also active with training and mentoring cadets at my local Civil Air Patrol squadron as a C/Col and have pilot qualifications, as well (Transport Mission Pilot, Mission Scanner/Observer). Aside from flying and doing CAP, some of my other pastimes include shooting and playing guitar.

I look forward to connecting with others here and gaining more insight into this amazing career path of service.

[Boseph]

Thank you very much. For the ROTC Reserves route, you can go either Sponsored or Un-Sponsored, the latter of which I did of course. The only real difference in the application to the AFRC board through ROTC as a Sponsored candidate is some minor paperwork, I believe, essentially saying that you have been conditionally hired by a unit.

ANG is technically an option out of ROTC, but from my understanding you cannot go Rated out of ROTC to an ANG unit; you can only go to AFRC units if you get that pilot slot; my Detachment Cadre helped confirm this with me, based on their understanding as well.

If anyone would be interested, I’d be happy to start a forum discussion about my process for other ROTC-AFRC hopefuls and share how my journey has gone so far.