Army ROTC v.s. Air Force ROTC

mjones61 said:
Correction, I am technically a sophomore. I must of had a typo of some sort. I'm guessing that the Army does not use fixed winged airplanes, correct me if I'm wrong. I know the Army also has the core of engineers. Would this also be a good attribute for being an astronaut, or let alone getting into NASA or Lockheed Martin ?
Click to expand...

The Army has a limited number of fixed wing aircraft.

Through ROTC you could branch Engineer but you wouldn't be going to the Corps of Engineers, or at least the chance would be very slim as a 2LT.

The majority of the Army Corps of Engineers is staffed by civilians.

You really need to look past what branch or specific job will get you NASA.

If you would like to work for NASA or Lockheed you may want to consider staying with your current major and looking to the civilian side of either of these organizations.
 
mjones,

I think you mean Corps not Core of Engineers.

I will leave the Army mission for Corps of Engineers to Army posters.

As far as fixed wing airframes goes, they use them less than the AF uses helos...which is saying NOT alot. You won't get a fighter out of the Army. Who gives the 82nd AB a lift for jumping into combat? It isn't the Army. It is the AF.
~ DS's UPT class had 0 helos drop. I would think Scout and Jcleppe can tell you how often a fixed wing drops out of their UPT programs.

This goes back to missions, and more importantly to the fact that you would be wise to investigate more regarding life, even rated, in each service.

No offense, but it is a little scary to me that after a year in AROTC you have yet to understand that the Army doesn't have many fixed wing opportunities.

I am also going to be honest, if you will only be transferring this Dec., and I assume college is starting this week, you are behind the 8 ball for AFROTC. AFROTC SFT board meets in Feb. and if you are not a 250 now, than there is a HUGE problem. Transferring into AFROTC come JAN is not the route you want to go as a sophomore.
~ You must be a POC for at least 18 months or 3 semesters. That means because you will be too late for SFT 15, you would have to wait until summer 2016 to attend, and commission no earlier than Dec. 2017
~~ What is your graduation date currently?

Honestly, you need to go back and listen to other posters. Do you want to fly fixed or rotor? Do you want to be AF or Army. Not this astronaut idea, or even Lockheed.
~ The fact is for AF. You will be in the AF, especially as an AFROTC cadet until you are 33 on a good day as a pilot.
~~ DS commissioned May 2012 at the ripe old age of 22 via AFROTC. Casual Status starting Sept 2012. IFS Feb 2013. UPT April 2013. Winged April 2014.

He will be 34 when he can say goodbye to the AF.
~ That is before we even discuss the 6 figure carrot stick they dangle at the 9 year marker to stay. 50% paid up front.
~~ I don't know if the Army offers $125-250K bonuses, but the AF does. They currently offer 225K to fighter pilots to stay until 19 years. They offer 125K to heavies until 16 yrs (?) and 2K every year after. Equaling the same amount.
~~~ Hard to leave that kind of money, while you also get 10K a year on top of typical pay (Base and BAH) for flying.

You need to do more research. You need to look at how soon you can leave the Army as a rated officer compared to any AF rated officer.
~ Remember when you apply rated for AFROTC, it is pilot, Nav, ABM and RPA. The commitment owed is different. Pilot owes more than Navs, and I don't know how long ABM or RPAs owed.
~~ You can want pilot, but the AF can say....welcome to ABM.
~~~AFOQT and flight hours will come into the equation for the AF decision regarding where you rack and stack...aka OML.

Finally, again, have this dream, but don't have tunnel vision.
 
Last edited:
Unless things have changed, they only count math and verbal SAT scores, not writing. My guess is you scored somewhere in the 1100's on your SATs which is pretty low.
 
interesting thread.

mjones61, just remember that what makes this country great is that you can pursue your dream and there are plenty of examples of people getting what they want. But what often we don't hear about is people that failed or consequences of failure

What comes down to is would rather pursue your dream and accept likely adverse consequences if you fail or not try and have an easier life?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top