Sharky
AFRC Pilot
USAF Pilot
Forum Replies Created
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Elodie–
What an awesome story, best of luck on crushing your upcoming PPL challenges!
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Hi Nick, thanks for sharing your story. Since this post, have you moved a bit closer to your goals? Any particular questions we can help answer?
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IHC Nole–
I have a few book recommendations…
“Over the Hump” by Lt. Gen William Tunner. Considered a classic of the Air Mobility world, Tunner led the US efforts in China aerial resupply over the Himalayas in WWII as well as the Berlin Airlift. Lots of foundational stuff that formed the air mobility culture of the modern AMC.
“Seventy-Five Years of Inflight Refueling” Richard K. Smith. An approachable USAF-commissioned summary of the development of the USAF tanker fleet from the “Question Mark” to the KC-135/KC-10. It’s available online here: https://www.amc.af.mil/Portals/12/documents/AFD-141230-027.pdf
Cheers, Sharky
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Beavis—Are you currently on Active Duty? If so, typically, AFPC issues the UPT board announcement 3-4 months ahead of the board convening via MyPers (held annually, I believe). The board announcement will have all the pertinent details about the application package, min qualifications, AFOQT, PCSM scores, etc. If memory serves, usually there’s a senior rater endorsement required (first O-6 in your chain of command) as well. Your complete Record of Performance would be included in the package. As always, a great record of performance in as many areas as possible leads to best chances of a pickup.
Other Considerations:
– You’re competing against a HUGE pool of applicants across the AF…but with an established record of performance, which could be advantageous if you’re a rockstar in your non rated AFSC.
– Unlike ANG/AFRes, you’ll be assigned an airframe based on needs of the Air Force (though your UPT performance has a huge influence on this)
– 10-year active duty service commitment upon completion of pilot training versus a 10-year *reserve* commitment when attending UPT sponsored by ANG/AFRes unit.
Hope this helps!
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Welcome, Jimmy! We’d all benefit from your insights, especially for the non-traditional mobility aircraft like the C-40. Where were you stationed?
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Hi Cole! You’ve certainly come to the right place! There are a ton of AFOQT prep resources here. All the best to you!
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Hi Ryan, great background, best of luck on your upcoming checkrides! C-17s are an awesome choice being a SoCal native. Do you have any contacts at the unit? Never too early to start getting your name out there! Please let me know if you have any specific C-17 questions! Best of luck!
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That’s great!
Yes, flying is expensive, no way around it—but that PPL is a prerequisite for most (but not all) guard/reserve flying units. Fighters—most definitely, heavies/other—it depends.
And as you’ve read on here, flight hours only increase your PCSM score up to a certain amount, currently 60 hours. Finally, though there is a qualitative advantage to further ratings for a hiring board (instrument, commercial), I think most units understand how cost-prohibitive those additional ratings are, and may not weigh them as much as the rest of your application package (AFOQT Pilot, PCSM, Resume, work experience, GPA, etc). Hope this helps, best of luck on the rest of the journey!
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Hi Ryan—great work on those testing scores! You have a lot of options out there in the heavy world, including several military units that specialize in aerial fire fighting (CO, CA). Please feel free to reach out with any questions you have about the application/interview process!
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Nigel—Welcome! What an interesting background! Please feel free to reach out with any questions!
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Great question…it varies considerably by unit. For the boards I chaired, we made an effort to provide a response to each candidate who submitted a package, both interview-selects and non-selects. This could come in the form of a generic email, or a personal phone call from the hiring POC. The process each unit uses depends on several factors: how many packages were submitted, available manning in the hiring office to make phone calls, etc. We tried to maximize the “personal touch” as much as possible, knowing the effort applicants made to submit an application. We always wanted to honor that.
As far as the timeline for making that decision goes, this is also heavily dependent on similar factors: the overall number of packages, screening process (what criteria are used to score packages—manual scoring, MilRecruiter sorting tools, or more-likely a hybrid of both), availability for part-time hiring offices to make these determinations (over drill/UTA weekend), etc. Think of boards happening in monthly Drill/UTA cycles…we’d want to give at least one month to process applications/make cut-lines/develop interview lists, and another month for interviewees to prepare. You *should* have at least one month from invitation to interview, under normal circumstances.
Bottom line: you’re not out of line to politely ask the unit’s hiring POC when you could expect a decision. 1) it’s their job….2) even in a small way, you’re demonstrating enthusiasm for that particular unit, which even if “non-select” is your outcome, building name-recognition for yourself may lead to better success at a later board attempt with that unit.
Hope this helps!
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I agree–I was a former hiring board chair, we definitely made sure our applicants received timely response, one way or the other. You’re totally ok with emailing your POC for a response.
Sharky
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Correct for heavy units. Typically 120-180 days of seasoning following the return to the squadron. Following the end of orders, similar pathways exist: revert to part-time status, be a Guard/Reserve “bum”, i.e. string along various duty statuses/orders to get a steady paycheck, or transition to full-time status, if that option exists (many Reserve units may offer a Temporary Developmental technician position for junior pilots). I have the same recommendations for choice of residence as well—minimize the number of days commuting between residence-mil job-civilian job. Having a *rough* idea of these realities going into an interview is helpful too. When we conducted UPT and Rated interviews, “what’s your plan following UPT?” was always a question. Though there’s no such thing as a perfect answer to this question, it did give us some insight into the candidate’s knowledge and expectations about the job long-term. Hope this helps!