Inter-service transfer, lead wings to wings of gold

[cargoflyer]

Hello all,
Thank you in advance for your patience and help with this, I am new to this forum. I am currently a pilot in the Air National Guard and have recently found a job opportunity with a Naval Reserve flying squadron. Before I start to pursue this new career I figured I'd get on here and have a couple of questions answered, if possible. Thanks again for the help

1. How feasible is transfer from the Air National Guard to the Naval Reserves?
2. If it is not too impossible, are there any prior air force guys on here that know how long of a process the entire thing is? What is the process like?
3. As a 3 year Captain (O3) with 13 years of service (7 of those enlisted) and an already rated mission ready c130 pilot, am I too long in the tooth to be marketable to the Naval Reserves?
3. What is the typical ops tempo for a Naval Reserve cargo flying squadron? I'd rather not leave a high ops tempo unit for another one.

I know this is quite a mess of questions so any help on any of them would be greatly appreciated.

v/r

CargoFlyer

 

[MAKE VAPES]

As a SELRES your chances are okay, depending on manning at whatever squadron you are looking at. As an active duty guy, your chances of transfering aren't nearly zero, they are zero. Active Reserve Navy is all about reserve management, and a little about flying (just enough to keep you sane).

You can plan on one (maybe two) dets per year of 1 or so months, depending on availability and your quals. You probably wouldn't be doing the same rides I do in Afghanistan, from what I've heard, usually two or three day trips are the norm (with a down bird somewhere between).

 

[2sBrownBear]

Couple months old I know, but....
I am an AF Reserve A-10 guy. There is a nasty rumor going around about our squadron losing its airplanes. It is mostly speculation right now, but I had an O-5 type who works at a numbered AF HQ tell me recently "it would be dumb not to have a chair lined up for when the music stops". Gulp. Basically I am trying to find a way to stay in a fighter/attack aircraft should "the music stop" at our squadron, and the Navy Reserve is a new one that I recently discovered.

I've done a little reading, and I know the Navy flys Reserve Hornets (not sure where or how many), and reserve F-5s (aggressor types). Would either of those communities have a use for a newish A-10 guy? Right now I am just a wingman (working on a FAC upgrade) with about 250 hours in the jet. By the time we would theoretically would lose our jets, I would hope to be Element lead and FAC qualed with about 4-500 hours in the jet as a senior O-2/junior O-3 type.

If anyone is in the know on something like this I would appreciate your insight. Thanks.

 

[OnTopTime]

As a former Navy Reserve officer recruiter, I can offer a bit of insight on the process, although my experience is not recent, so you will need to verify what I am telling you.

The first thing that you will have to do is find a squadron that needs your skills and is willing to "sponsor" you through the interservice transfer process, which is much easier said than done. My guess is that pilot seats in the Navy Reserve are shrinking as well, so you will have competition from guys alrealdy wearing a Navy uniform and already qualed in Navy aircraft. If you find a squadron that wants to bring you onboard, you will work with a Navy Reserve officer recruiter to put an interservice transfer package together. The whole process is lengthy with a lot of hoops to jump through. One thing you will need to do is get your Air Force chain of command to sign off on a DD-368, which is a Request for Conditional Release. This tells the prospective gaining service that your current service will let you go if your transfer request is approved. Without the Air Force OK, nothing will happen.

Those are the most important points; there are lots of other details regarding the administrative process. Sorry, but I don't have any current, specific insight on the need for pilots in NAVAIRES squadrons.

 

[2sBrownBear]

OnTopTime,

Thanks. Sounds like my best bet would be to talk to a few squadrons and contact a Navy Reserve officer recruiter to get the ball rolling. Hopefully it never comes to that but I'm prepping for the worst.

Thanks again.

 

[MIDNJAC]

I'm not going to pretend to give you advice, or say that I know anything about what you are asking. That being said, having flown against most of the reserve adversary units that you are referring to, I'd say as a blanket statement that they are staffed by pretty experienced guys....there are a handful of O-3's mixed in with the hordes of O-4/O-5's, but I'd be really surprised if those guys weren't division leads nearing hinge-dom. To add confusion to the matrix, many of the guys are actually active duty, in spite of their units being nominally reserve. Not sure how this works, I just know that a few of the -111 guys I chatted with were. Many of them also have NSAWC/Top Gun backgrounds, and I think the TG Adversary syllabus is required for them....maybe someone here can confirm or deny that one as I'm not positive.

 

[bubblehead]

Can anyone address for the OP the promotion prospects should he decide to transfer over. That is, will he have a reasonable chance at making O5 or -- stretching it -- O6?

 

[zipmartin]

I'm not going to pretend to give you advice, or say that I know anything about what you are asking. That being said, having flown against most of the reserve adversary units that you are referring to, I'd say as a blanket statement that they are staffed by pretty experienced guys....there are a handful of O-3's mixed in with the hordes of O-4/O-5's, but I'd be really surprised if those guys weren't division leads nearing hinge-dom. To add confusion to the matrix, many of the guys are actually active duty, in spite of their units being nominally reserve. Not sure how this works, I just know that a few of the -111 guys I chatted with were. Many of them also have NSAWC/Top Gun backgrounds, and I think the TG Adversary syllabus is required for them....maybe someone here can confirm or deny that one as I'm not positive.

I was a TAR in VC-12/VFC-12, and although that was back in the 80's-90's, one thing that I'm almost positive that hasn't changed, is the statement "they are staffed by pretty experienced guys." It's probably even more competitive to get in now than back then due to the decrease in size of the military. Our SELRES back then were all hand-picked, highly-qualified (many were TOPGUN grads or former instructors), respected by their peers and seniors alike, and had friends already in the unit to vouch for them. One thing that is different is the "division leads nearing hinge-dom" statement. I guess now it takes so long just to get to a fleet squadron, a division lead qual goes pretty senior. Back then, most mid-grade O3's were division leads or more.

 

[MIDNJAC]

That may not be un-true today, as I'm pretty sure every FRS IP needs to be a div lead to get picked up (could be wrong though). Of course most guys are LT's or very close when they hit the fleet now, so if you throw a fleet tour in there, that puts some of them pretty close to LCDR, at least some point on their shore tour.

 

[2sBrownBear]

I'm not going to pretend to give you advice, or say that I know anything about what you are asking. That being said, having flown against most of the reserve adversary units that you are referring to, I'd say as a blanket statement that they are staffed by pretty experienced guys....there are a handful of O-3's mixed in with the hordes of O-4/O-5's, but I'd be really surprised if those guys weren't division leads nearing hinge-dom. To add confusion to the matrix, many of the guys are actually active duty, in spite of their units being nominally reserve. Not sure how this works, I just know that a few of the -111 guys I chatted with were. Many of them also have NSAWC/Top Gun backgrounds, and I think the TG Adversary syllabus is required for them....maybe someone here can confirm or deny that one as I'm not positive.

I was a TAR in VC-12/VFC-12, and although that was back in the 80's-90's, one thing that I'm almost positive that hasn't changed, is the statement "they are staffed by pretty experienced guys." It's probably even more competitive to get in now than back then due to the decrease in size of the military. Our SELRES back then were all hand-picked, highly-qualified (many were TOPGUN grads or former instructors), respected by their peers and seniors alike, and had friends already in the unit to vouch for them. One thing that is different is the "division leads nearing hinge-dom" statement. I guess now it takes so long just to get to a fleet squadron, a division lead qual goes pretty senior. Back then, most mid-grade O3's were division leads or more.

Hey thanks,

What is this Hingedom you speak of (out of curiosity)? I talked to a former Marine type today who has worked closely with a Navy Reserve Hornet squadron in the recent past, and he seemed to think there would be a chance for me to get in on a gig like that.

From what you are saying it seems like an outside chance at best, but hey, desperate times call for desperate measures.

What would be the best way to get in touch with a squadron and get a feel for what they need? I know in AFRC if you want a squadron to pick you up, typically you'd email/call the DO or ADO (ops or assissant ops officer) and basically ask if they'd have any use for you.

Any idea who to talk to about such a thing in a Navy squadron?

 

[cfam]

hingedom= being an O-4 (LCDR/MAJ type). So he's talking about very senior O-3s who are pretty close to picking up O-4

 

[MasterBates]

Some of us dodge that bullet!

 

[Gatordev]

Hey thanks,

What is this Hingedom you speak of (out of curiosity)? I talked to a former Marine type today who has worked closely with a Navy Reserve Hornet squadron in the recent past, and he seemed to think there would be a chance for me to get in on a gig like that.

From what you are saying it seems like an outside chance at best, but hey, desperate times call for desperate measures.

What would be the best way to get in touch with a squadron and get a feel for what they need? I know in AFRC if you want a squadron to pick you up, typically you'd email/call the DO or ADO (ops or assissant ops officer) and basically ask if they'd have any use for you.

Any idea who to talk to about such a thing in a Navy squadron?

For a normal squadron, you'd give the OpsO a call, like you mentioned. However, for a RAG squadron, they generally aren't going to have control over the reservists. I'd see if you can track down the number to the SAU. It looks like VMFAT-101 has a SAU but not sure about the East Coast RAG. When I Google "VFA-101 SAU," I get a bunch of Vietnamese hits, so...yeah. As a helo guy, I'm not plugged in to the pointy-nosed SAUs, otherwise I'd try and connect you with someone.

 

[zipmartin]

I know I jumped in earlier, but I don't feel I can really offer any advice for the current environment. I knew many guys who went from the Navy to the Guard, but only I only knew of two guys who went from an Air Force background to the Navy.....and they went to the Training Command during a time of many bailing for the airlines when they were hiring. And those two came as active duty guys, not reservists.

 

[Uncle Fester]

Generally speaking, the flying Reserves is split between Squadron Augment Units (SAUs) and Reserve Squadrons (RESRONS). SAUs are associated with a FRS ("The RAG") or a typewing (the Commodore, who owns all of a particular type aircraft, or all that type on that coast...e.g., there's LANT and PAC Hornets, but only one E-2 Wing). RESRONS own their own airplanes and have a specific mission. SAUs, as the name suggests, provide bodies to augment squadrons, most typically training squadrons (VTs and RAGs) because those have the most flexibile requirements and can best use Reservsts.

How the flying Navy Reserves works varies widely between communities, and what works to get you in the door at a VR squadron is very different than how you'd do it trying to get in with a FRS SAU, which is also different from a VT SAU. Each community is a law unto itself.

On top of that, the next few years are going to see a lot of flux. There's a push to blur the lines between active, reserve and FTS guys. Most reserve commands will probably get more active/FTS guys, and more active commands will probably get some reservists.

You need to talk to each unit directly, to the OPSO or OIC. If you can't find their contact info, call Tactical Support Wing in Fort Worth. They're the 'operational' wing for much of NAVAIRRES, and they're plugged into the units they don't directly own.

Are you competitive? Again, depends on the community and what they need. In general, "junior most qualified" wins. They don't want senior O-4s if they can avoid it, because once you hit O-5, it becomes hard to justify keeping you in a billet. Maybe a Herk VR squadron would rather have an AF O-3 Herk guy over a Navy O-4 Hornet guy...maybe not. They'll want a guy who can give flight hours to the squadron/SAU, so flexibility counts. And not an asshole is an important consideration, especially if they're going on det with you.