How to Become a Fighter Pilot
Have you seen Top Gun or any of the (objectively terrible) Iron Eagle movies more times than you’re willing to admit? Do you daydream of…
Tag: Air Force Reserve
Surviving Wright Patterson and Your FC1 Physical
First of all, congratulations, you did it! Whether it was through ROTC, Active Duty, or the Guard/Reserves to fly fighters, heavies, or helos, you won…
Air Force Career Progression – Officer
We’re going to discuss career progression today. As a former Active Duty pilot, I’ll admit I don’t love this topic. You have to understand: I’m…
Understanding the Reserve Retirement System
The potential of receiving a pension is one of the many benefits of a career in the Air National Guard and Air Force Reserve. Understanding…
Deployed Fighter Pilot Diaries
This article is intended as a follow-up to my previous discussion of deployments for Guard/Reserve pilots. While not every pilot has the same experience deployed,…
Military Leave on Probation
Feliz Cinco de Mayo, BogiDope readers! The following is reposted from the members-only TPN Community website with minor revisions. It addresses USERRA. If you have…
After UPT: Journey to an F-16
With 17 different F-16 units in 13 states, chances are that if you want to fly fighters in the Air Reserve Component (ARC–the Guard and…
Inter-Service Transfer
by Eddie, future USAFR pilot and always Marine “This is Major Smith, I’m calling to inform you that we would like to have you in…
Coronavirus – How Pilots Can Make the Most of a Bad Situation
I’m not the sort of person to panic about the sky falling, but I will admit that I’m not sure what to make of the…
Air Reserve Technician (ART) Explained
The Guard and Reserve offer a myriad of job choices for the military aviator. Of the full-time positions available, one of the options is the…
AF Squadron Organization – And Why You Care
Now that we’ve covered your career progression, both as an officer and as a pilot, we have some context for looking at how an Air…
Ideal Military Pilot Career Path – Making it Happen – Part 3
Welcome back TPN [and BogiDope readers.] If you’re just joining us, we’re talking about the ideal career path for military pilots. Go ahead and catch…
Ideal Military Pilot Career Path – Making it Happen – Part 2
Welcome back. This is the second part of a discussion on what I consider to be the ideal career path for a military pilot. If…
Health Insurance Basics for Pilots
Welcome back to BogiDope! We’ve taken a couple weeks off to enjoy the holidays with our families. We hope you got to do the same,…
Military vs Civilian Career Path, Part 1
I can’t imagine a better career than that of a professional pilot. I’ve been places and experienced things while flying that I have trouble even…
UPT Requirements
If you are considering being a pilot in the Air National Guard or Air Force Reserve and you aren’t coming from within the active duty…
Understanding the Commuting Lifestyle – Part 2
Part 1 of Understanding the Commuting Lifestyle generated some great questions and commentary for the BogiDope staff. We focused on the how to commute and…