The Ultimate Guide to Earning a Pilot Slot in Air Force ROTC, Part 2

In part one of this article series, we discussed what Air Force ROTC is and what it is like. This article will detail how you can earn a pilot slot through the program and attend Undergraduate Pilot Training (UPT) upon your commission. As discussed in the previous article, the majority of AFROTC Cadets will commission to Active Duty (AD). This article will explain the AFROTC AD pilot selection process as well as the newer, less known AFROTC to Air Force Reserve program and the possibility of AFROTC to Air National Guard.

Table of Contents

1. Active Duty
2. Air Force Reserve
3. Air National Guard
4. My Experience, Lessons Learned, and Advice

Active Duty

Earning an Active Duty (AD) pilot slot in Air Force ROTC is the most common route. AFROTC cadets will meet a Rated Board in the Spring of their Junior year (AS 300 year) or in the Fiscal Year (FY) preceding the FY they will be commissioning, depending on the length of the individuals AFROTC program. For the Rated Board, cadets will rank their preference of Rated position from None to High. As discussed in the previous article, there are 4 Rated career fields: Pilot, RPA, CSO, and ABM. You must rank all of the Rated career fields when you meet the board. Cadets will simply input their preferences online and the AFROTC detachment Cadre members will route the paperwork up to the Rated Board (i.e. you will not physically meet a board, your paperwork will).

When the board convenes, cadets are selected for their respective Rated position based on an Order of Merit (OM) score. This score is comprised of a given Cadet’s Pilot Candidate Selection Method (PCSM) Score, Relative Standing Score (RSS), GPA, Physical Fitness Assessment (PFA) Score, and Field Training Ranking. The RSS is easily defined as your Commander’s Ranking in your AFROTC detachment relative to all of the Cadets in your detachment.

Some great advice is to focus on the scores you can control. Keep your grades up, study for the AFOQT (specifically the pilot section), stay in shape, be present for AFROTC events, and maybe get some flight hours to help out your PCSM score. While the Rated board does not convene until your AS300 year, your work to earn your pilot slot begins day one of AFROTC.

Following the Rated Board, if you were awarded a pilot slot, you will sign paperwork accepting the slot or not and committing to 10 years of service post UPT graduation. After that, you will go to Wright-Patterson Air Force Base for the Flight Physica. If you pass the Flight Physical, upon commissioning you will await your Enter Active Duty (EAD) date and report to your UPT base.

In your last year of AFROTC you will be able to submit base preferences and you should find out when your EAD will be. Around October of your last year of AFROTC you will have the opportunity to compete for a Euro-NATO Joint Jet Pilot Training (ENJJPT) slot. Earning an ENJJPT slot is very competitive, there are less ENJJPT classes per year than other UPT bases and those who attend ENJJPT will track T-38s (fighter/bomber track), other UPT bases have less T-38 slots. To apply for ENJJPT in AFROTC you simply check a box stating that you would like to volunteer for ENJJPT and then wait for the results.

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Air Force Reserve

In an effort to better incorporate the Total Force Integration concept in the Air Force, AFROTC and Air Force Reserve Command (AFRC) released the Reserve Categorization Process-Rated (RCP-R) program a few years ago. This is a smaller program with somewhere around 15 Cadets being selected each year (this number fluctuates and may increase or decrease at any time).

In the Fall of their AS300/Junior year/the FY before their projected commissioning date AFROTC cadets will have the opportunity to apply for the RCP-R program either sponsored or unsponsored. Sponsored means that you have been hired directly by a specific AFRC squadron and unsponsored means you have not been hired by an AFRC squadron. The majority of AFROTC cadets will apply to the board unsponsored, but as this program gains traction, more cadets have become interested earlier on and have sought sponsorship from Reserve squadrons before the RCP-R board.

The program manager has released a detailed guide to obtaining an AFRC Undergraduate Flying Training (UFT) slot and section 8 of this guidebook describes in detail how the AFROTC program works. If selected, Cadets will sign a commitment to serve 10 years in the AFRC upon UPT graduation and may NOT apply for the AFROTC AD Rated Board the following Spring. The signed commitment to the AFRC will be contingent upon passing the Flying Class I Physical at Wright-Patterson AFB.  If you do not pass, you will be reverted to your AFROTC AD commitment.

After selection, Cadets will be contacted by an AFRC Recruiter who will help usher them through the paperwork process of being gained by the 340^th Flying Training Group (340 FTG) upon commissioning. The 340 FTG will administratively “own” you throughout training; all training will be completed in an AD status. If the Cadet is selected as a sponsored candidate, they will inprocess with the 340 FTG, attend IFT/UPT/SERE/FTU and return to their sponsoring unit. Cadets who apply to the RCP-R sponsored are more likely to be selected.

If the cadet is selected for UFT unsponsored, they will also be processed with the 340 FTG and attend IFT/UPT/SERE/FTU, but it will be very much on the cadet to find and earn sponsorship by a Reserve squadron, NOT an ANG squadron.* It is important to note that if you are selected unsponsored you will automatically track T-1s at UPT, meaning you will go the tanker/cargo route.

Currently, you may seek fighter/bomber sponsorship only up until you inprocess with the 340 FTG following commissioning. If you earn an AFRC UPT slot in the Fall of your Junior year you will have just over a year and a half before you inprocess. This is because they plan your training pipeline based on track selection, so it is not simple (though not completely impossible) to change your training pipeline after you have started UPT.

Creating relationships with squadrons you are interested in flying for is imperative to end up where you want to be. I recommend beginning to make these connections as early as possible. Timing is extremely important when applying to AFRC squadrons. If you do not attain sponsorship by a squadron by the time you arrive to your UPT location, your sponsorship will become a job for the Reserve Liaison Officer (LNO) at your base. He or she will reach out to squadrons and set up interviews for you. As an unsponsored selectee, it is possible to be randomly assigned to a squadron based on the needs of the Air Force at any time between inprocessing and assignment night of UPT. However, you have two and a half years or more to secure a sponsorship from the time you are selected by the RCP-R to track select at UPT.

Note that the RCP-R is currently an option, but this is not guaranteed to remain an option. If you do join AFROTC it is highly recommended that you be prepared to serve on Active Duty. This program is still newer, so do not be alarmed if your Cadre members do not know about it or how it works; it will be a learning experience for everyone.

As an AFROTC Cadet earning squadron sponsorship brings unique challenges. In general, as college students Cadets do not have unlimited funds to travel the country and rush/interview with squadrons. If you are interested in applying to the program, be aware that you will be responsible for the time, effort, and money it takes to earn sponsorship. Additionally, many of the Reserve squadrons still do not know about this program and will have a lot of questions about it.

I may be biased, but I do believe that despite the hard work up front, this program absolutely is worth it. I was selected alongside 12 other Cadets for this program and most of them have already or will be beginning UPT before December of this year, while those that we did AFROTC with and are going the AD route will be waiting until April of next year or later to begin training.

*There have been a select few cadets in the past who have been selected by the RCP-R, found sponsorship with ANG squadrons, and were released from the AFRC to the ANG. These were special circumstances, do not expect the AFRC to release you to the ANG.

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Air National Guard

Commissioning out of AFROTC into the Air National Guard is again not a very common or traditional route. It is certainly NOT guaranteed to be an option, but it is possible and has been done in the past. Essentially, if you are interested in applying directly to ANG squadrons, you will be applying like other candidates off the street.

Coming from AFROTC may be an advantage for you for ANG squadrons as you will get a commission and security clearance in AFROTC (and may get a Flight Physical depending on what you AD job selection is). Some squadrons may find these things beneficial while other squadrons will not really understand what it means to commission from AFROTC and join the Guard. It will likely be a learning process for both you and the squadrons you apply for.

If you decide to go this route and do get hired by an ANG squadron, you will need to work with your AFROTC Cadre and HQ AFROTC to get permission to be released from your AD commitment upon commissioning and transition to an ANG commitment. If you choose to go this route and have received an AFROTC scholarship, your scholarship may be impacted, speak with your Cadre about possible ramifications. HQ AFROTC has allowed Guard hires to commission into the Guard in the past, but again, this is not guaranteed. If HQ AFROTC does release you to the ANG, upon commissioning you will work with your Guard squadron to swear in, get IFT dates (if necessary), and get UPT dates.

So, there you have it: how to become a pilot in the United States Air Force through AFROTC. The process seems long and daunting, but I can assure you nothing is more gratifying than hard work paying off, commissioning, earning a pilot slot, and finding sponsorship with the squadron of your dreams.

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My Experience, Lessons Learned, and Advice

This section of the article will describe my experience with the RCP-R program and earning a sponsorship in excruciating detail, as well as what I have learned and advice for those interested. As mentioned in the previous article, I was a four-year AFROTC Cadet who recently commissioned. When I began AFROTC I just knew that I wanted to serve and was hoping for the opportunity to fly.

After my freshman year I was selected to attend Ops AF where I spent three weeks at an Air Force Base shadowing various career fields with 20 other AFROTC Cadets from different detachments around the country. The base I went to has a fighter wing and after getting the opportunity to shadow some of the pilots, visit their range to see jets in action, and “pet the jet,” I knew that was the job for me and I have been dead set on becoming a fighter pilot ever since. I spent most of my free time after Ops AF trying to figure out how I was going to earn a pilot slot and in turn become a fighter pilot.

My sophomore year of college and AFROTC, one of my AFROTC mentors was applying to a fighter guard unit. I had no idea what that meant, but I was interested. When I learned that he was directly applying to fly fighters, I was hooked. I genuinely did not know that was possible. After that, I began looking into the Guard/Reserve myself and started contacting fighter squadrons. I got an overwhelmingly negative response from most places, telling me that I was too far off from graduating to rush their squadron or that since I was contracted in AFROTC, I would never be allowed to go Guard. It definitely was sad to hear, but I did not stop working at it.