Chances of getting a Pilot Slot: Resume

mc.mcpherson91

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Jul 19, 2017
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Hi All,

I'm looking for a little guidance. I'm 26 years old (6-5-91) and I have 6 years prior service as a fire support specialist in the Army National Guard. I deployed in 2012 with an infantry battalion. I just finished my undergraduate degree from UofSC in Finance and I'm 2 classes short of a second degree in Economics. My cumulative GPA is a 2.65. I know its low, but thats because I was in college for a year before joining the guard and bombed it. After returning to school a few years later I did better, but my bad grades from freshman year are pulling me down. After my deployment I played soccer at Francis Marion University (NCAA Div 2) for a short stint before transferring to UofSC. I've been out the guard for a little over a year and was an E5 at ETS. I can't remember what my actual ASVAB score was when I took it 6 years ago, but I remember my GT being 130 and I scored in the 90th percentile or something close to that. I have 5 consecutive years of community service with some other little projects here and there. I was initially spending my time after graduation with a financial advising firm, but I've decided that the military career is my calling. My desire is to fly fix wing but being selected for anything would be a blessing. I've been doing most of my research on the AF and I believe that is the branch I would like to go for. However, I've been seeing different post saying that most slots go to AFA grads or ROTC. Assuming I score well on AFOQT then what are my chances of actually being competitive? Also, I have 0 flight hours on civilian side. Been skydiving 3 times though! Highly recommend haha. Thanks for the help guys/gals! PS: Meeting with recruiter on 8-1-17
 
Moderator Note:
I am going to move this post to the ROTC forum for more exposure and where it will likely get better responses.
 
Given you already have a bachelor's degree you should be contacting an Officer Selection Officer. Frankly, since you have no current commitment to any branch of the military you might consider them all. I know the Marine Corps is short of pilots but it would clearly require sea duty from time to time, so that might be an issue for you. Don't know where Navy is regarding pilots right now but that might be worth a shot as well.
 
It just occurred to me.... if you're still at the University of South Carolina it might be worth it to head on down to the ROTC building. All three services are there and I'm sure they can answer many questions. I know there is a Marine Corps recruiting station on Assembly Street which sort of focuses on recruiting officers. I think the other services also have recruiting offices in that same block on Assembly Street.
 
You should look into Navy OCS. You can apply for and be selected for a pilot or nfo spot before you sign the contract.
However, you need to commission before your 27th birthday, so it's getting close for you. It's possible to get a waiver of that based on prior service, something like an additional 2 years.
I went to AOCS back when it was in Pensacola, and there were always a few prior enlisted in each class. All OCS programs are located in Newport now.
https://www.navycs.com/officer/aviationofficer.html

lots of great info at this site, much more focused on OCS and Aviation in the fleet
https://www.airwarriors.com/community/index.php?forums/navy-ocs.44/

then again, if you'd rather land on a 10K foot runway and not on a boat, then air force is for you :)

good luck
 
then again, if you'd rather land on a 10K foot runway and not on a boat, then air force is for you

Runways?, Helicopters don't need no stinkin runways.

Sorry, couldn't resist.

Edit: AROTC-dad, we think too much alike.
 
Thank you everyone! I've thought about Navy and Marine Corp. I'm trying to think on which branch gives me the biggest opportunity for successful vertical movement. Fox example: I don't wanna go WOFT, not pass a pre-flight physical then end up as an 11B again haha. I'll look into what you said about Navy pre-selecting before signing. I think the AF has more technical career paths that could set me up long term. As far as GPA is concerned, is my application going to get automatically trashed because its low? I'm trying to see how I compare to other applicants. Thanks!
 
I don't wanna go WOFT, not pass a pre-flight physical then end up as an 11B again haha.

That would not happen.

You would apply to WOFT as a civilian, your flight physical would be done as part of your application packet. They won't ship you to WOCS and WOFT unless you pass. There is no requirement to enlist first so there would be no chance you would end up in any MOS if you did not pass the physical, you would simply not ship out. If by some chance you failed a future flight physical you would not be re assigned to an enlisted MOS, you would either wait until you're able to pass, be assigned other duties within Aviation, or released. This would be the same for any of the service branches.
 
I don't wanna go WOFT, not pass a pre-flight physical then end up as an 11B again haha.

That would not happen.

You would apply to WOFT as a civilian, your flight physical would be done as part of your application packet. They won't ship you to WOCS and WOFT unless you pass. There is no requirement to enlist first so there would be no chance you would end up in any MOS if you did not pass the physical, you would simply not ship out. If by some chance you failed a future flight physical you would not be re assigned to an enlisted MOS, you would either wait until you're able to pass, be assigned other duties within Aviation, or released. This would be the same for any of the service branches.
Awesome, I appreciate the information. I remember getting back from Iraq and they did away with my 13F platoon. They wouldn't let anyone discharge, but instead they forced me into the Cav Scout platoon. Good times.
 
If you were in AF ROTC, your GPA would probably be too low. I dont know if you they look at mitigating circumstances or would understand if you got a 1.0 GPA freshman year but got 3.5 every year after that. I think your best bet is either Navy OCS or possibly the Marines as I think you will never before you join if you get a pilot spot. I think with AF OTS, there is no guarantee of what you get. As for flight time, i think you are better off with a license and 50-100 hours of flight time, at least in terms of the Air Force
 
If you were in AF ROTC, your GPA would probably be too low. I dont know if you they look at mitigating circumstances or would understand if you got a 1.0 GPA freshman year but got 3.5 every year after that. . I think with AF OTS, there is no guarantee of what you get. As for flight time, i think you are better off with a license and 50-100 hours of flight time, at least in terms of the Air Force
sorry, it should read "think your best bet is either Navy OCS or possibly the Marines as I think you will know before you join if you get a pilot spot"
 
If you were in AF ROTC, your GPA would probably be too low. I dont know if you they look at mitigating circumstances or would understand if you got a 1.0 GPA freshman year but got 3.5 every year after that. . I think with AF OTS, there is no guarantee of what you get. As for flight time, i think you are better off with a license and 50-100 hours of flight time, at least in terms of the Air Force
sorry, it should read "think your best bet is either Navy OCS or possibly the Marines as I think you will know before you join if you get a pilot spot"
Thank you for the info!
 
The way the OCS boards work for the AF is that you must apply for ALL 4 rated slots. IOWS they can tell you that you got RPA or ABM and not pilot. If you decline that slot you will not be allowed to reapply the next rated OCS board.
~ AF OCS/OTS holds 4 boards a year. 2 rated, and 2 non-rated. They are held separately, typically in July and January with results being released @ 6 weeks later.

I am with Humey, sorry, but the low cgpa and no flight hours are going to hurt you for the AF. The avg cgpa for a non-tech AFROTC (finance is considered a non-tech major) hovers around 3.3/3.4, plus many of them will have at least 20 flight hours, some will have 100-200 flight hours.

I am not sure about the OCS/OTS world, but for AFROTC cadets their PCSM (OML score) is made up of different components, which includes your cgpa and PFT. One of them is an exam called TBAS. Just putting it out there that they may have you take that exam on top of the AFOQT
 
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