Need some avice from any AF guys here

[Russian]

AF doesn't care what degree you have for a rated position.  Higher GPA and more activities the better. Also, keep in mind OTS route.

[Yenny]

AF doesn't care what degree you have for a rated position.  Higher GPA and more activities the better. Also, keep in mind OTS route.

=P I hit that point when I made my post about the more safe route to be a pilot.

[Grayeagle]

Do not enlist 'and get a degree later' .. any career field you are in will be tough to get the time available to do degree work.

Get degree first ..then go into OCS an such.

If not single seat jet pilot, there are all kinda air crew slots ..friend of mine was boomer for decades .. loved it.

(cant do it without 20-20 eyes tho ..so I didn't)

As far as 'tip of the spear' thing goes .. all kinda stuff to do 'in harms way' ..anything on the flightline, f'rinstance.

-GE (there are no 'easy' days on the line)

[Serenity]

Serenity, like Diablo says, no matter which college you go to, you will always have distractions.  My old Lt. in Iraq went to A & M and she yes she, was in the Corps of Cadets and loved it.  That's all she would talk about and actually a bunch of the officers on our base in Iraq were A & M alumni.  I suggest flooding the AF Academy, Naval Academy, West Point, A & M (even though I'm a die hard UT fan), VMI, The Citadel, etc.with your application, they can only say no.  Get a head start on all of this too, as it takes some time.  Check this link out http://www.military.com/Education/Content?file=ROTC.htm it gives you all sorts of nifty info on ROTC programs.  Also, like many others have said, don't count on flying once you become an officer.  The other thing to do is find something else you like in whatever branch you want to go in and prepare for that as well.  I do know that one of the wonderful things about USMC officers is that no matter what their MOS is, except for a couple, you can wind up doing a multitude of things with one MOS, case in point my Lt. was a Logistics Officer, and we were doing S-2 (Intel) work while in country.  Neither of us started out doing that, but learned how to.  I for one would push for the Naval Academy with the Marine option upon graduation, but I'm a little biased.  Myself, I'm currently working on finishing my degree, then I'll jump back into the active reserves as an officer.

So A&M is sounding like my first choice (AFTER the Academies). 

I havn't started work on any scholarships, all the information ive seen shows most scholarships that arent available until youre a senior.

For the record though, Im going to school first, no matter what. Oh, and ive got 20/20 vision, so thats a plus

[nirvana]

Go enlisted, make E-5 and transfer to the Marines for their warrant/chopper program.  Don't give up on your dreams man, they like to see that you're tenacious and resilient.  Some commands are more responsive than others but from what I've seen resiliency has almost always been rewarded if the person deserves it.

[Yenny]

Go enlisted, make E-5 and transfer to the Marines for their warrant/chopper program.  Don't give up on your dreams man, they like to see that you're tenacious and resilient.  Some commands are more responsive than others but from what I've seen resiliency has almost always been rewarded if the person deserves it.

Dood lol if he wants chopper there are  lto more option then that. Granted if he got the physical and brain power.

[nirvana]

There are A LOT of options in the military, although sometimes it feels like you don't have very many.  It's all about what you want, how bad you want it, and a little bit of who you know.

[lowZX14]

Go enlisted, make E-5 and transfer to the Marines for their warrant/chopper program.  Don't give up on your dreams man, they like to see that you're tenacious and resilient.  Some commands are more responsive than others but from what I've seen resiliency has almost always been rewarded if the person deserves it.

The Marine Corps does not allow Warrant Officers to fly helos, the Army does, but not the Marine Corps.  The only people that can be pilots of any sorts in the good ole Uncle Sam's Motorcycle Club are Commissioned Officers. 

So A&M is sounding like my first choice (AFTER the Academies). 

I havn't started work on any scholarships, all the information ive seen shows most scholarships that arent available until youre a senior.

For the record though, Im going to school first, no matter what. Oh, and ive got 20/20 vision, so thats a plus

Very well thought out young man.  I cannot agree with you more, I wish I would have done the same but hindsight is 20/20.

[eagl]

If you don't get accepted into the Academy on the first application, keep applying every year.  It shows you really want to go and whatever you do during that first (or second or third) year in college will help boost your application scores if you do well at whatever it is you do.

Also, go for sports.  Any sport.  And run.  A lot.  You might *think* you're a good runner, but when you get a mile up in altitude you'll feel like you weigh 60 lbs more for the first couple of months.  So run a lot, starting today.

Texas A&M produces a lot of military officers.  I'd say that the ratio of academy grads to aggies in my squadron is about 3-1, not bad odds considering aggies are "merely" ROTC grads and don't get much (if any) extra consideration for pilot training beyond their records and instructor recommendations.

There are lots of ways to boost an academy application.  Join clubs, and become part of the club's leadership.  Having a pilots license helps a little and if you are accepted, it can help pave the way to becoming a cadet glider instructor if you want to do that as a cadet.  As I said before, athletics helps even if you have to find a community team to join.  Test scores...  I think you can keep re-taking the SATs and ACTs every year, so keep taking them until you're not allowed to anymore.  Advanced placement courses are good, not sure if getting an A in a regular class is better or worse than a B in an AP class though.

If you go to college, make sure you get all passing grades and get A's if at all possible.  And join a freaking college sports team.  Intercollegiate sports is a good thing.  Become a class or club leader.

Regarding a major, I don't know what ROTC or OCS requires right now.  The Academy couldn't care less what your major is, because all cadets take enough engineering classes that they *should* be given a minor in engineering, even the "basic sciences" guys who can't complete any of the specialized majors programs.  You will need a good background in math or you'll get stuck in remedial courses.  Almost everyone who goes to the Academy has had at least a year of calculus before showing up, so you'll be a bit behind if you have to start calculus from scratch.  This isn't a deciding factor though, and they'll catch you up if you don't have any calculus when you show up.

And don't forget, you don't even get your application in the door if you don't get a nomination.  That means you have to convince your congressional representative that you are 1 of the 10 people he submits that year from his/her district.  There is usually an application process including an interview with congressional staffers, and the secretary (or administrative assistant) who handles the applications can be your best friend or your worst enemy, so convince that person FIRST that you are serious but not some jerkwad.

[Buzzard7]

If your vision is 20/10 or 20/13 you may have some priority for flyboy. When I was younger I had 20/13. Now it's closer to 20/20. I hate getting old.

[eagl]

If your vision is 20/10 or 20/13 you may have some priority for flyboy. When I was younger I had 20/13. Now it's closer to 20/20. I hate getting old.

I think they either say an applicant is pilot qualified or not pilot qualified.  Waivers fall in the middle and are granted to otherwise highly qualified people.

Eye surgery (only one kind is allowed) can help...  A guy here who was 20/150ish is now 20/10 in one eye and 20/15 in the other after laser eye surgery.  But I don't know if they allow that *before* getting the medical qualification or not.  Gotta check with whoever handles the application medical process about that.

[eagl]

and a little bit of who you know.

So it's not "all" about those other things then?   

[Russian]

(cant do it without 20-20 eyes tho ..)

This has changed. Pilots no longer need to have 20x20.

[iTunes]

Alright, its getting to that point where I NEED to decide what college im going to and what courses to take. My first choice is of course, the Air Force Academy, but I dont expect I will be accepted. So, I am looking for some good alternate colleges. The first two I looked at were in Colorado, but I would also like to look at some Colleges in Texas. Basically my only requirement is that they have a USAF ROTC detatchment. While I have a list of all AFROTC colleges in TX, I figured it would be good to hear from people who went to some of these schools, and im sure there are a lot of you.

Also, Im really not too sure what to take. Ive tried talking to recruiters out here, but Officers coming from Hawaii schools seems to be almost unheard of, so all the recruiting offices say is "Enlist! You can go to college later." I know a hard science is required, and again, I have a list of what hard sciences are accepted at each school, but I would like to hear first hand what people who have gone through it would recommend.

So, basically, in order to go into the Air Force as an officer and a pilot, is there anyone here who has gone through that process or who has kids that have, who could reccomend a school or course? Thank you! I have my own oppinions of course, but its always great to hear from a third-party.

Simple- forget the AF, get into Airborne, I might be biased here, but what the heck 

[1pLUs44]

Yea, a lot of these cadet got their private, instrument, multi engine etc. It still doesn't mean much though. ^^ I'm army and I got my Pvt Lis.

Flying in the armed services would help if you were in the Air Force though

Are you wondering why they wont let you take up an F-15 still?


to the Arent Ready for Marines Yet.