Ok folks lets see if you wonderful people can help a brotha out? I am just curious I have started the ball on a few squadrons that I have my eye on and I have just a few questions that I hope someone can answer for me. I am putting my package into the following squadrons:

104th FW ANG (F-15's), 169th FW ANG (F-16's), 107th FS ANG (A-10's), 115th FW ANG (F-16's), 122FW ANG (F-16's).

My questions are these. I have learned from other F-15 squadrons that most F-15 units do not except UPT candidates and only want previous F-15 drivers. Is this 100% true or do some squadrons take F-15 UPT candidates? My next question is for the remaining squadrons and this really goes out to the men and women that have been or are going through the application process for such airframes. What do I need to do to make myself competitive to recieve a slot in these squadrons? Is there really a chance for me to get on off the street slot with these guys or what? Please give me any feed back that you can on these questions!

These are some of my credits that can go in my package: Graduate from Western Kentucky University 2.86 gpa in General Business and management. Former air force rotc cadet, private pilots license, president on my fraternity, Arnold Air Society member, Captain of the WKU cheerleding squad (keep the laughter down to a dull roar). Have letters of rec from the president of Western, congressman, ROTC commander also several other Air Force officers.

Like I said just give me your opinion and info I would really appreciate it.

Thanks again,

Keith

F-15 ANG units do send guys to UPT. There was two in my AMS class alone, one in my UPT class. They need young blood just like every other squadron. No major wants to be the snack-o.

If you're civilian, off the street, you can have good scores. It would help if you "know somebody" who could at least open a few doors for you. It's not impossible to get a slot w/o knowing somebody, it just helps. If you're enlisted, you already have that door open to you. If able, you can go visit a unit (ask before hand) on a drill weekend and hang out with the dudes. This will show them that you're a (hopefully) good guy and easy to get along with. They want to know if you can chill with them on TDYs and you're not a dick.

I'll say that you're GPA isn't stellar, especially for general business. This doesn't mean you won't get hired, but be prepared to answer questions on why it's not a 3.0+. Why were you a former ROTC kid? What happened there? Again, no deal breakers (and I don't care), you just need to be ready to answer these questions. I'd probably not offer up that information about being a cheerleader, at least to a fighter unit. [EDIT: Well, maybe you could get away with this at an eagle unit...]

Those letters of rec are fine, but do these people really know you? If they do, great. If they don't, it might as well be garbage.

My advice to any guy trying to get hired off the street with a fighter unit is to shotgun applications to as many units as possible. You have to ask yourself if you want to fly fighters or you want to live in [some city]. The more applications/interviews you can get, obviously the better off you'll be. Most of these units only hire one guy per board and since they've never seen of you or heard of you before, your chances are great. It is very possible, though.

Good luck, read through a lot of these topics in this section, your situation has been discussed before.

Let us know if you need anything else.

If you haven't yet.. Go study for/take the AFOQT and the TBAS.

Do you have any flying time?

These are some of the first few questions that pilots at a base are going to ask you. They're not deal breakers by any means, but they are a necessary (you may not have to have any flight time, but this usually only applies to enlisted...)

Quatro,
I do have some flight time around 80 hours with a ppl getting ready to start my instrument when I get a little more money of course. I am getting myself ready to take the AFOQT and TBAS hopefully I can take it within the next month or just after the new year. What unit are you in right now if you don't mind me asking? I do realize my gpa is low but was just because of my first year of school and having way to much on my plate. But the last 3 years of school my gpa was like a 3.4 which I am pretty pround of. I got out of ROTC because I didn't have a scholarship and could not afford to drive a 3 hour round trip from Bowling Green, Ky to Nashville, Tn. It's really hard to fork out that extra money for gas when all of your other cash is just trying to keep yourself a live and put yourself through school.

 Just to kind of figure out what you did what kind of letters of rec did you have and how many. The only one that doesn't really know me is the congressman but the others do know me pretty well.
Thanks alot for replying to my questions and I am looking forward to hearing back from you and don't worry I will leave out the whole cheerleading thing in my package. More questions to come from me I am sure.

Thanks again,
Keith

Keith,

Ok, good on you for getting your act together with school. If you get an interview, they will ask you about your GPA and from what you've said, you have a good reason for it. It shows a lot of character for you to be able to turn it around like that. Brings up another good point -- when you have "flaws" like this in your packet, find a way to turn it into something good. You realized you took on too much, turned yourself around and made a big improvement in your grades. That's a positive thing and speaks volumes about yourself. I would not hesitate to bring this up if/when they ask why you have below a 3.0 GPA. Figure out what your GPA was over those next 3 years to have some solid numbers to compare it to.

Again, I really didn't care why you didn't finish ROTC, but it will be something they will ask you. You can't ignore things like that, just be prepared to give a short answer when asked. If you honestly did put yourself through school, again, this is something you can work in your favor. "I was working full time while I was going to school full time... There simply weren't enough hours in the day to get everything accomplished."

I was hired by a Guard F-16 unit. I'm still in IFF.

Some units dictate how many letters they want. If they don't specifically say, I wouldn't do more than three. If you're able, I had each of the letters individually addressed to the president of the board (LTC So-and-so). It makes it a little more personal and shows you went to some extra effort. If you're unable to find out who the president will be, you can at least have it addressed to the squadron or wing. This isn't a deal breaker, but it does add some personality. I had letters from family friends, mostly all previous fighter pilots or career officers that could speak on my character and work ethic. The people that wrote letters for me took it as an honor that I asked them and did a wonderful job. They would include specific references (not all the same) to times that showed my character, etc. Try to have your letters dated sometime recently... You don't want to send in a letter of rec that's three years old.

The above is all techniques and tricks/trades I learned while applying for a guard slot. Take it for what it's worth. It may work for you, it may not. The best thing you can do is just get pooped up on wtf is going on. It's basically like rushing a frat. They have to like you to hire you.

Quatro,
Once again I appreciate you helping me out with these responses that you have sent me! Its always good to talk to someone that has gone through the process. I have just one question about the afoqt? I have the arco flight aptitude test book and am doing ok in preparing for the test it is just a work in progress kind of thing. I have heard about this barron's book and am asking is it worth getting as well or is the arco book enough? What did you use to pass the AFOQT? Thanks again and more questions to come in the future!

Keith

Keith,

I used the ARCO book and some other Officer Candidate Exam prep book (didn't focus as heavily on the pilot type stuff). The ARCO is hands down the best. I dont know if they've updated it or not for the new(er) version of the test that came out a year (or more) ago. Check on that to be sure.

There are a few things you can do to make the AFOQT go smoother. Assuming you have the correct edition of the book - read all the instructions in the ARCO prior to taking the real thing. This way you won't have to waste time on that in the exam. You're going to be hyped up and tired and excited and all kinds of different things.. You should understand the instructions now. That isn't to say - if you're confused on a section to skip the instructions. Always be sure wtf is going on.

Take the practice exams in the book with a stop watch. You will be timed on the AFOQT, so you want to get in the rhythm of things. Keep good SA on the clock, if it looks like you're not going to finish, fill in some bubbles. It's like the SAT - you're scored on how many you get right, not how many are wrong. At the same time, if a question is difficult, skip it and come back to it again later.

You can't use a calculator on the test - practice long division and maybe even some practice on taking good WAGs to throw out the obviously not right answers.

Study well in advance for the test, but I suggest not studying for a day or two before the test. If you don't know it by then, you're not going to. A good night's sleep is better than the alternative.

Good luck, keep us posted.

For the future: once you start rushing units, don't be upset and give up if you get rejected a few times. You gotta keep at it, learn from why they didn't hire you. You never know, they may pick you up at the next board.

Also, use this website - there is some good AFOQT gouge you can access from the main page.

Quatro,

I have a few questions about the arco and barron's test prep books. As I said before I have the both the arco flight test book as well as the arco officer candidate test book. Now my question is I have been looking at other resources on the website to see what other good books are out there. Some people have recommended the barron's books. Are they worth wild or should I be ok with the arco books? If I do decide to get the barron's book which one should I get the officer candidate test book or the flight test book?

If you look over at where the afoqt prep gouge is on the website you will see that the barron's officer candidate test book is on there as a resource. Just kinda of give me your opinion on this because I am very nervous about getting ready for this test. I plan on taking it at the end of this month!

Thanks again,
Keith

I have no experience with Barron's books. For the most part, I would imagine that more practice would be a good thing. It's worth a shot. Good luck.

If anyone still has questions on the Arco and Barron's books, my suggestion is try them both.  I used only the Officer Test Prep with Arco, and didn't study the Pilot Test Prep with Arco, and I did pretty good.  I have heard the Barron's is a really good way to go as well.  As was stated before, just use them both, you can't go wrong.