Hey All! This is my first post on here. First of all i wanted to say that this website is great! it has helped me get a lot of answers so far.

Here is a little background information about myself. I am 27 and a half years old. I went to the Florida Institute of Technology and got a B.S. in Aviation Meteorology with flight. I have a commercial multi-engine instrument rating as well as my CFI, CFII and MEI. I have about 770TT flying. For the past 3 years i have been working as a Dispatcher for a private jet company while trying to figure out what i wanted to do with my life. Recently i found out that LASIK is an approved waiver in the Military and I had gotten that about a year and a half ago (its been great by the way....20/15 in both eyes). As soon as i found out about this i got really excited because flying in the military was something i always wanted to do, but i had given up on that dream since my eyesight was terrible before the LASIK and then after I had gotten the LASIK there were no waivers available for it.

Anyways... So i really want to fly Fighters. I would be happy flying anything in the military but fighters would be amazing. I cannot decide however which path i should pursue....Air National guard or Active? What i am worried about is if i shoot for the Air National guard that by the time i finally get an interview i will be too old. Also there doesnt seem to be very many slots at all in the Air national guard for any type of plane, let alone fighters.(does anyone know if the Pilot slot page is accurate on this website?) If i got active there would be a better change of getting a pilot slot, however you cannot "choose" which airplane you want to fly.  This may be a dumb question, but is there such thing as a "full time" pilot in the Air National Guard? if i did decide to go Air National guard, i would love to be able to do that as a full time job, rather than doing it on the side and having a different full time job. I have already talked to a recruiter for the Air Force and he said that with my experience that i have had so far, if i do well on the AFOQT and TBAS that i shouldnt have to much of a problem getting a pilot slot. If i were a couple years younger and had more time i would probably have my answer (Air National Guard) but being as old as i am, i dont know how that will affect my ability to go Guard. Another question i had was are there National Guard Recruiters that can help you out at all or do you just have to go to each individual wing and talk to the people there? is there a list anywhere with all the contact information for all the different wings throughout the U.S.? Any input, comments or answers to this post would be much appreciated!

I'm still working my way through the process of earning a fighter pilot slot myself, so I can't speak from experience. From what I read, it looks like you will be needing some waivers. The maximum age for OTS is supposed to be 27 1/2. However I have heard that is a possible waiver situation if you aren't far from that age. Secondly, I believe PRK is the only waiverable vision correction that the AF accepts. You can find the waiver manual online to get all the information/background that they use for making waiver decisions (its approx 500pgs worth of material). Just because rules seem to be in place to keep you from flying- don't take that as a final answer.

Im pretty sure that the age requirement is that you need to go in front of the board before your 28th birthday. There are age waivers too. Also as of may last year LASIK is a waiverable vision correction as far as what i have heard and what the waiver manual says.

Brandon,
I'm not 100% sure on the age thing for the Guard, but check out the medical section on this website. Also there are links to the Air Force Medical Squadron somewhere. None the less, age is a factor and so is time. My suggestion is to persue all avenues and exhaust all your ability to fly, if you really want to. It sounds like yopu already have the Active Duty thing in the process, that's great. Also start applying to the Guard, Reserves, heck even try the marines and navy. I have a friend who was nearing his age limit, he applied to the navy and was flying 3 months later. Moral of the story is don't limit yourself to just the Air Force.

As far as the Guard, don't talk with recruiters. Nothing against recruiters, they have a hard job and they are good at it; they're just not pilots. In the guard, pilots hire other pilots. You've heard it is the biggest fraternity in the world right? Calll every single guard unit you can and ask for the Pilot in charge of hiring pilots, in the Operations section/group. You'll get a Cap't or Lt. Col. who will give you the details and how to apply.

Oh, and there are Full-time guard pilots. They fly just as much if not more than the Active guys. There are only a few pilots who get the full-time slots though. If you go guard, don't expect to be have a full-time slot for at least 10 years or so. Here's the good and the bad about the Guard, you can keep your civilian job and build hours to fly regionally or with a big airline; and fly with the guard part-time. You will have to fly at least 4-6 times a month to keep current, but the pay isn't all that great. Not liveable anyways. Add some trips and deployments and it is a good part-time gig. You will fly almost as much as AD, but you don't have all the grunt work.
Goood luck.