I'll let others chime in on how it works, but unless something has changed HQAFROTC must agree to release you 1st.
The problem I see for you is that we all know the ADAF is going to be short 700 pilots in the next few years. I don't see them wanting to release you for you to go fly Reserve especially after how much they have invested in you already. Plus, let's be real ADAF is throwing money hand over fist to pilots and they are bolting at an extreme rate. Airline pay is notoriously low and many ADAF members will go Res or Guard to supplement those 1st few years. That means if ADAF can't keep them than many of them are going to do Palace Chase, and the units might be full.
~ ROTC training including SFT, stipend, TS clearance, and the FAA FC1 physical is not cheap. An FAA FC1 physical is done at WPAFB the summer of your rising 400 yr. It is a 3 day TDY. They will check everything from cranium to toes, including giving you an EKG. A TS clearance costs thousands of dollars which last for 5 yrs. You leave within those 5 yrs you get to take it with you for employment purposes. In essence, that means ADAF paid for it out of their budget and now AFRES/ANG gets the bennie before you serve 1 day...bad investment for ADAF. ADAF has their budget. AFRES/ANG has theirs. It all comes out of the AF budget in the end, but they don't mix and match it up. Just like if Dover AFB runs through their budget by Sept. 15th, but Hill has a ton of money left over, they don't say we will take it from Hill these last 2 weeks and give it to Dover. Dover will basically limit flying to just keep C status for the last 2 weeks. That is how it works.
Yes, I get that they are allowing students to walk, but I am making an assumption those are usually not rated, especially pilot or RPA.
You are also making an assumption that if AFROTC releases you that the Reserve unit you want to apply to will have an opening for your rank. Res are like ADAF. They have a budget and they have a ratio of not only officers to enlisted, but rank wise too. I.E. They may have enough O1s, and not enough o4s. In that case then the unit may have multiple applicants for that 1 spot, no guarantee they will have a pilot slot available.
~If you look at UPT assignment drops, the numbers will vary regarding how many are Guard or Reserves. DS had 2 Guard, but no Reserves in his class. The last drops I have seen typically have about 6-9% Res. winging. If you look at real numbers, UPT wings about 1K pilots a year. That means maybe 100 are RES. at tops. I believe there are about 50 AFRES units across the nation. Now mathematically, that avgs out to 2 per unit annually.
Why is that important to see how little comes out of UPT? See above.
I am guessing you want to try to jump to the airlines faster by going Reserves, but look at it from a different way. Sooner or later airlines will slow down their hiring pace. The reason they are facing a shortage right now is because by FAA regs. commercial pilots must stop flying at a certain age. I am almost positive it is 62. Well, the last time they really hired pilots was back in 2000. The ones hired in 2001 basically all got furloughed along the way. Now many of those pilots that managed not to get furloughed, were retired military, thus what that means is most of them are about to hit the sit down age. Airlines know that and they need to hire on right seaters now so they will have the experience to be a left seater when they lose the majority of them. Thus, sooner or later the airlines will have fulfilled their positions.
Additionally, if you come along at the time that they are slowing down the new hires, than you will also be going up against a pilot with a lot more flight time than you because ADAF pilots have 9 yrs they owe after UPT. Let's say you only owe 6 yrs, plus 2 yrs IRR. Which one would you chose if you could only chose one pilot? The pilot with 3000 hrs or the pilot with under 2000 hrs?
~ I also have friends that are part of the hiring team at different airlines. This is where impo ADAF networking is better. Airlines will want recs. too. When you are a weekend warrior it is different regarding creating relationship compared to when you are AD. Yes, in the beginning you will be FT, but the pilots that are now with the airlines are weekend warriors and may not get to know you as well as the ADAF pilots get to know everyone.
~ Remember these guys will most likely be deployed together 4 mos out of every year on avg. They know them professionally and personally on a different level.
~ The ADAF flying world is small. My DS is a C130J pilot, there are only 4 bases that they can rotate around. Chances are high you will see each other a lot because you usually don't go Dyess to Ramstein to Little Rock to Yokota. More likely you go Dyess to Little Rock and back to Dyess. Bullet flew F15Es. There are only 3 bases. Many will do the school house at Seymour, hop over to the operational side there, throw in Lakenheath and back to Seymour. You can see you will be seeing each other along the way alot. Not hard to call them up and say Bud, can you write me a rec.? That rec is going to be hopefully stronger than you just calling someone up that is in your unit and flies 1x a month with you.
Just my 0.017367 cents and with 2 bucks you can get a small coffee. Just giving you food for thought about why you may have a harder time obtaining your goal, be it Res or eventually going airlines. My best hopes and wishes for your dreams and goals.
