Best Next Steps
Hey team,
My name is Sam Brumfield, I’m 23, and I’m finishing up my Biochemistry degree (3.6 projected GPA) with plans to graduate in May 2027. My goal is to earn an ANG pilot slot, ideally fighters, and I’m finally at the point where I’m trying to figure out what gives me the best return from here.
A little past and current background info throughout college: I played Division II basketball for three years, have served as Student Body President (Northern State University) and Executive Director of the South Dakota Student Federation (Statewide), built and lead a MEDLIFE chapter, worked as an EMT/cardiac monitor tech/patient care tech, done undergraduate research, and currently work line service around everything from GA aircraft to Gulfstreams, Challengers, King Airs, and military helis.
Aviation-wise, I earned my PPL in 2025, have 130+ hours in a ton of airframes, am working toward my instrument rating, and will be getting my tailwheel endorsement in the next month. Hopefully.
I also just finished the AFOQT/TBAS process and ended up with a 98 Pilot and 96 PCSM.
The 114th in Sioux Falls (my home base) is at the top of my list, as well as the 125th down in Jacksonville, FL, but I’m absolutely looking to apply to other fighter units as well. (Huge thanks to Twinkie and GunBoss for both of their help up to this point, I’ve already learned a ton from them and from reading through this community.)
At this point, I’m mostly wondering what you guys think has the highest ROI over the next year. More flight hours/ratings? Rushing and building relationships with units? Interview prep? Something else?
If any of those, I’d love to hear the most efficient way to go about them
I’ve got a pretty heavy senior year, so I’m trying to be intentional with where I put my time rather than just stacking credentials for the sake of stacking them. I’d really appreciate any thoughts, especially from guys who have sat on hiring boards.
Thanks in advance!
Sam,
Very good question regarding ROI and how to prioritize your time. I tell all of the young people I coach that being an AF pilot, and even more so a fighter pilot, is a mentality. It is a lifestyle, a refusal to accept life at face value. Reference the Robin Olds quote as an example. “Fighter pilot is an attitude. It is cockiness. It is aggressiveness (Sic) and it is competitiveness. There’s a desire to be good. To do well; in the eyes of your peers, and in your own mind.”
I say this because your highest ROI is you. It is your ability to adapt, learn, grow and push yourself beyond what you think is possible. I understand that balancing flying, college, community service and athletics is challenging, but in balancing this lifestyle, who you are becoming in the process is more important than the credentials on the wall or the hours in your logbook. THAT is what the AF is looking for. THAT is what fighter squadrons are looking for. Yes, the AF needs to ensure you have checked off certain prerequisites, but the secret to getting hired is You. It is your strength, perseverance, passion, motivation and ability to lead and adapt.
So, you want a high ROI for your time? Develop these traits that I listed above. Identify weaknesses in your life and attack them head on. When you feel as though you have exhausted your potential in one particular avenue of life, take another lap. You have a 3.6 GPA? Good, go make it 3.9. You have a PPL and 130 hours? Great, go add another license and another 100 hours. You do community service? Excellent, go take on another community project and change someone else’s life for the better. Do BogiDope events, get help with your cover letter, resume, interview prep. Start a free group at BogiDope where you lead a group of your peers in helping them overcome obstacles. Go to conferences, events and fighter squadron bars; meet people and shake their hand firmly. Take stock in the time that you have and the time that you waste. Identify areas of improvement in your life and work relentlessly to eliminate them.
Do these things and you will begin to embody the life of a fighter pilot. Painstaking self assessment and a constant drive to be better than you were yesterday. Others will see these traits in you, including the fighter pilots at the units you apply to. Drive and motivation will resonate in the very people you hope to become.
Do these things because you are in a competition, and rest assured if you don’t, others will.
Fights On!
SIC Thanks for such a quick response! That’s one thing I love about this whole process/community…it’s not about just checking the boxes, it’s about mindset and drive for being better.
Sounds kinda cheesy but I guess that’s the sentiment I keep hearing from guys who are going through this same process AND who have already been there and done it.
So thanks again for sharing your experience on this!
Of course Sam! Keep battling dude!
