Serving on Active Duty is also the only way to get an overseas flying assignment. I am planning on staying in anyway but that 10 year also looms big if everything sucks and you hate it. Many aviators got tripped up by it in the last few years in the push to get to the airlines. I dont know if there are enough of us to completely change policy, but you need pilots and Im willing to fly for whatever period is demanded of me Im not the only one. Today were going to compare the more common Active Duty career path with the Ultimate one that Ive recommended so heavily. Expand The 10 year ADSO will actually prevent all but the youngest street-to-seaters from making the jump, I graduated flight school right after turning 24 and the AF won't take you after 33 without a waiver. Can you hear the roar of approval erupting from Army doctors across the globe serving out their decade plus commitments? 10 year ADSO started FY21. The. Believe it or not, more than a few fellow senior non rated Army officers are jealous when it comes to flight pay. If the Army rescinds this ADSO and reverts to the original six-year obligation, it will have six years to develop solutions to increase retention. A chief warrant officer 3 with eight years of service earns $5093.70 per month, whereas a captain with eight years of service earns $6435.00 per month, a difference of $1,341.30 in favor of non-Army pilots. . Expect bonuses to disappear as well. Branching Aviation New Commitment | Page 2 | United States of America The severity of the decline in recruiting will be unknown until the recruiting data comes in from the first affected class of cadets and warrant officer candidates. Also if you have any time in the army at all, youll probably stay until 20 at that point. Army Publishing Directorate - Details Page This 10 year commitment will definitely dissuade him from the Army. However, after spending a few more minutes thinking about how these career paths might compare, I decided Stans idea might not be as advantageous after all. I'm about to retire from the Air Force as an engineer, O-4, mostly dest and staff job. arent bad, and patriotism also factors in for most of us. With 21 years as a Soldier and 10 years reviewing cost estimates for all equipment tests, Mr. Ysa Garza said everyone always has to be safety conscience in his role as an additional duty safety . The Department of Defense released a report in July 2019 that laid out the challenges the military faces with pilot retention and included plans of action from each branch. So here I am, considering branching aviation when all of a suddenBAM! Display as a link instead, As a Guard or Reserve pilot, you may need to find a full-time flying job in addition to your military flying (full-time Guard/Reserve pilot jobs are available, but you should join with the expectation of needing civilian employment in addition to your military flying). Serving on Active Duty has plenty of advantages, and even offers some highly-desirable opportunities that you cant get anywhere else. Im a turd for putting 2021. You don't have to have a college degree to apply or be accepted into it, he said. Graduate School Program: Only 20% of the Aviation Branch allocation for ROTC and West Point can receive the Graduate School Option. Posted on . Quote zaurus Members 280 Gender:Male Posted June 6, 2020 Alice's restaurant Back in the 1950s, the Army ask for a waiver in not paying flight pay for its pilots. So now the prior Enlisted must do at least 11.5 years and advance to the grade of W3. Just to end it and walk away.. victorious..? Reading your first paragraph and skimming the rest I couldn't agree more. The increased ADSO only harms this effort further. Army Career Satisfaction Program For the Army, the costs are much cheaper. There are more than enough fully qualified CAREER ENLISTED personnel from the 5 services, waiting in the wings, so to speak, to apply for the WOFT program. This means keeping up with at least two airplanes and dealing with two potentially very demanding bosses. While I continue to assert this is far better than becoming an Active Duty pilot through the. One problem with pilots is that we don't age well (I'm not a military aviator, just a private pilot) so there would be an issue of reaching a physical condition expiration date at some point. I was enlisted for 6 before I moved over. The Army has had pilot shortages off and on ever since I can remember. But Im a guard guy so RTAG is at the end of hooker advanced airframe for me theyll be hiring, all my airline buddies said everything is ramping back up. They think this is going to solve the shortage. I got out because I wanted to fly, but kept getting stuck in staff positions where I either couldn't fly, or had limited opportunities to fly. The US Army recently changed its aviation Active Duty Service Obligation from 8 to 10 years and created an absolute uproar. This doesnt exactly seem legally right. This is anecdotal, of course, but nowadays there is no appreciable down time. The OPTEMPO is higher now than it was at the height of GWOT. I ended up not joining because they increased the ADSO. This eventually allows you to retire a full four years earlier than any other military aviator. I don't know how common my situation is, but I'm sure there are plenty of people like me who barely flew, while there are others flying until they drop. In regards to our flight school length, the AF and Navy actually won't recognize our flight school as a valid flight school for earning wings if we try to branch transfer as part of it which I do find amusing. My formation barely ever conducts social events. Like many personnel issues though, the age limit is probably ripe for a re-look given that people now live healthier, more active, and longer lives. However, on the surface, we see that Stans plan is likely to get a pilot to the airlines a couple of years before his peers. More than likely, the aviations slots will be filled by personnel lower on the OML. That evens the odds even more. is working as an Admission Liaison Officer for the USAF Academy. This means that aviation formations get screwed doubly they have to support everyone's demands, while being vastly outnumbered. Your flight school ADSO is based on when you graduate WOBC and pin on your flight wings. A RAND Corporation studyfound that even $35,000 a year would not be sufficient to stem the flow of Air Force pilotsthe study concluded a bonus cap between $38,500 and $62,500 would be necessary to make a meaningful impact. If he didnt go to AFIT, hed have to move for a second assignment anyway. The root cause cited by those transitioning at various levels has related to toxic climates, mismanagement of professional profiles, quality of life, and unit culture. And yet, theres a certain logic to questioning that 10-year commitment. I spend almost 20 years missing opportunities due to family, deployments, school, and fear to change. Incentives proposed to better retain, progress Army pilots Sometimes that's necessary, but there's got to be some balance. Extra 4 years would NOT make a difference. Deployments are great flying, but terrible on a family. Graduate School Program: Only 20% of the. Although its less common to get more than 6-12 months of your ADSC forgiven under this program, that still gets you off Active Duty sooner than expected. For the next decade of your life, you will deploy a lot and have little or no control over your assignment locations. It is for anyone graduating flight school and should be based on your graduation date. Army Aviation: Alternatives to the 10-year Service Obligation Do that and fix quality of life issues. Hopefully with the new 10 year ADSO aviation will assess more senior NCOs. I was just curious if the numbers are stillsimilar. Though I agree that there is a retention problem, especially within aviation, I'm not sure the Army is focused on the right issue here. But ifonline discussions are any indication, this ADSO will turn away a lot of prospective pilots. The extended ADSO is intended to increase Army pilots' retention in the future. When I got selected it was a 60/40 split between street to seat and prior. Were looking at troops selected for flight training in the fiscal year 2021 and beyond.. Laws and regulations that govern military personnel may After working several years in the corporate sector in various strategic positions, I recently came back on active duty due to the strong desire to serve. This mindset is far from universal, but its prevalent enough that the Academy actually had pilot slots go unfilled a few years ago! One Academy cadet I spoke with (lets call him Stan) has always wanted to be a military pilot. One of the reasons for the increased ADSO was related to demand from the private sector for pilots. The AvB is essential to retain Officers with an Army aeronautical rating, who are critical to the overall success of the Army's mission. The congressional study on pilot retention noted, One of the most important variables in meeting pilot requirements is the retention rate, as this is used to estimate what level of new pilot production is needed.. Full disclosure, I was a street to seat Warrant that served for 24 years. The Army only draws between 300-400 non prior WOFT applcants yearly. Is it only for new guys coming in? This is usually a 1-year assignment, though it might be two. During this time, Stan would at least need to obtain his Private Pilot Certificate. I remember when they tried to get aviators out of the "sack" flight suit and into Nomex BDUs to make them more soldierly. If you want military aviation to be a part of your life for more than 10 years, possibly even 20+ years, you should pursue any path that will get you there! The U-2 and B-2 are both single-location aircraft, and they go through so much trouble getting their pilots that youd have to try to leave. This used to be unheard of. (Read. 10 Year ADSO : Armyaviation First, as we just mentioned, you only have to worry about one job flying one aircraft for Uncle Sam. The, exists specifically for Active Duty pilots willing to make an early commitment to continue their service in the Guard or Reserve. Army Aviation Leaders should. This global pandemic has made unprecedented impacts on the worlds economies and our way of life, Koziol said. ADSO is completed. More career Enlisted apply than street2seat on a yearly basis. Army Career Satisfaction Program There are also a lot of great flying opportunities that you can only do on Active Duty. Then 10 year service obligation put me right at 20 so Im not too worried about that. Glad I retired when I did. Increasing the ADSO, though, does not require datait is guaranteed to increase retention. The Army may producean averageof 1200 Warrant Officers pilots annuallyincluding the Guard and Reserves. What if you transfer from being an officer with 8 years of service (including enlisted time) to being warrant aviation? review for a restaurant or somethingonly those who either #LOVEDIT or #hatedit:( ever write reviews, so it's hard to know what the experience is like for the average man. I'm in better shape today than I was 10 years ago. Especially if they view retention as a big enough problem to justify an additional 4 year commitment from aviators. While a longer ADSO may help from looking solely at the numbers, it won't be effective at retaining quality talent. Armed Forces REGARDLESS of the provisions of this enlistment/ As a Guard or, There are also a lot of great flying opportunities that you can only do on Active Duty. If the civilians don't want to join, not a problem. . Welcome back, fellow aviators! The DoD report to Congress included a description of Air Force efforts to assess the problem: The Air Force gathered data on what drives separations from an October 2015 Fighter Pilot Retention Air Force Smart Operations for the 21st century event, the 2015 Air Force Exit and Retention surveys, the August 2017 Dedicated Aircrew Retention Teaming Summit, and a series of three aircrew retention crowdsourcing surveys sent to 9,000 aircrew members that culminated in March 2018. On the reset year, units focused on team building, socializing, individual skills, and professional development. The earlier you can Palace Chase, the less difference there is between a regular Active Duty pilot and someone following Stans plan. Yes, that is 11 combat stripes. Im would bank on that being the flight school start date officially. In a worst-case scenario, hes looking at: Wow, thats a lot of moving and time away from home! It doesn't matter that theWOFT contract I signed this week states that it is a 6 year ADSO - the Army can do and change what it wants. For example, if there are 100 ROTC Aviation slots, only 20 can . So 6 years from ALE graduation day? The Army will continue to honor all GRADSO contracts for officers from YGs 2006-2013. This is the second part of a series about choosing between military and civilian career options. Another disparity is the pay inequality between the militarys pilots.