propanelord
New Member
Hey everybody.
My dream is to be an officer and pilot in our great military. I am an enlisted reservist, non-aviation role, no aviation experience.
I have had an absolutely wild rollercoaster the past 18 months trying to make that happen. I am 25 years old.
I am realizing that the Marine Corps recruiters may not be the path of least resistance. Well, I should say, I am realizing they may be the path of greatest resistance. With all the drama, a CWO5 recommended I submit an IG complaint against MEPS (or at least, a specific MEPS or MEPS employee). I'm not sure if I can do that complaint in good conscience, not to mention acquiring adequate evidence to have it go anywhere, and have people get interviewed about it). I never made it to NAMI; I got hung up earlier in the pathway, at MEPS. I'm stating in the past tense because the recruiters are burnt out, and they were already super generous with their time. I suspect nobody is doing anything heinously wrong. Just good people trying to do their jobs.
I have been told that if I ever want to get an Air National Guard or Air Force Reserve pilot contract, and/or if I want to be even slightly more competitive for Navy/Marine-Corps SNA, I need/could-benefit-from earning a PPL. I don't know if I NEED a PPL at minimum, or if some sport pilot hours would do the same.
Anyway, to harken back to what I said earlier, I think it would be a real mistake if I didn't include that I am having trouble with accession/applying to the military for three primary reasons:
I apologize for the unpolished nature of this post; please bear with me.
To be abundantly clear, I have zero military aviation and zero civilian aviation experience. I have no FAA rating, not even student pilot. I have never applied for an FAA medical certificate, and have never even spoken to an AME until just recently. I haven't done any MedXpress forms so no clock has begun ticking.
If I want to get an FAA Class 1 or Class 2 medical right now, I need to do the HIMS program, because when I was a child, I had civil violations, most of which were dismissed, for possession of alcohol by a minor, and possession of marijuana by a minor. Granted, these were not crimes. This was nine and ten years ago, but the FAA does not care. The HIMS program would allegedly entail having to do months of AA and rehab to get the FAA to grant me a class 1 or 2. If that sounds crazy, please, I am not concealing any serious information from you. That is how strict the FAA is.
Allegedly, an AME could get me a class 3 medical certificate quite a bit easier. How much easier? I am trying to confirm. A civilian can get a PPL with only a class 3. That would still leave me the door open to upgrade to class 1 or 2 FAA medical certificate later. And of course, all of this would be thousands of dollars of my money, which I am potentially willing to spend
Okay, getting closer here:
Let's say hypothetically, I did not attempt this FAA medical process, and I, at least temporarily, went no further with FAA Medical Certification, and then subsequently I somehow can convince DAM (Army), and/or ACS (USAF), and/or NAMI (USN/USMC/USCG) to medically clear me to train to fly as a uniformed military aviator:
Following that, if I then subsequently, as a hypothetical successful military pilot, attempted to convert my military aviation experience to FAA ratings, would the FAA still make me jump through all those HIMS hoops before I could ever hope to lawfully touch a civilian aircraft during leave and liberty and/or fly as a civilian following a military aviation career? Or do they just assume that if the DOD/DOW has determined a military pilot is currently medically cleared to fly in the military, that said military pilot must meet FAA standards too? (I know it likely may oftentimes pay dividends for military pilots to start to convert their ratings before they leave active service). If you do not know, and/or it is arbitrary and different every time, I understand. If I took a guess, I would guess your job description does not include an expectation to have expertise in the present-day policies regarding how the FAA grants medical certificates and ratings to military pilots. If it is silly for me to ask, I apologize, please feel free to ignore. And I am not trying to be rude at all. I am grateful for your help.
Regardless of your answer(s), if any, I think I do want to move forward with at minimum, third class, I just need to know more. I talked about bypassing any medical certification by flying in the military. Flying in the military will never be a certainty. I want to get flying as a civilian in some way, shape, or form now, and hope and pray for the military option to open up for me soon or later.
If an FAA Third Class were much easier to obtain, I would consider just a class 3 for now, leaving the door open to upgrade to a higher class at a later date. If I can get a civilian FAA PPL on my own time and dime, it may be more realistic for me to somehow subsequently get an Air Force Reserve and/or Air National Guard pilot contract, or Navy/Marine Corps pilot contract. Not only would military training be serendipitous in regard to being a cheaper path to flying-in-general, but I can always attempt to become a Class 3 PPL, then a military pilot second, then finally try to get a civilian FAA Class 1 certificate finally last. And if I suceed with class 3 FAA, but then fail with the military, and can never become a military pilot, but still luckily am FAA third class, I can always embark on the ~12-month HIMS program to upgrade later, assuming the Feds don't tighten the rules even further.
For the record, just in case someone is getting the impression, No, I am not looking at the military as some cash-cow path to the airlines. I am really passionate about service to the country AND aviation in general. I want to be a military pilot even more than I want to be a pilot of any kind. I also really want to be an active duty officer in the naval services. But at some point, you have to consider throwing a bunch of effort at a lot of different stuff and seeing what sticks. If a Navy recruiter could make me an SNA quick but a Marine Corps recruiter would take 3 years for SNA, well... I'm 25 years old... I'm limited on time. I might have to get serious about, doing some BAMCIS, and tactfully and politely reaching out to a variety of different people in a way that makes it clear I am exploring my options.
I will try to edit this post for clarity, but I'm running out of time. I do apologize for the length. I am expecting I may have a lot of misconceptions and I am hoping some of you can shoot down some big issues with my thinking and planning. Thank you very much!
My dream is to be an officer and pilot in our great military. I am an enlisted reservist, non-aviation role, no aviation experience.
I have had an absolutely wild rollercoaster the past 18 months trying to make that happen. I am 25 years old.
I am realizing that the Marine Corps recruiters may not be the path of least resistance. Well, I should say, I am realizing they may be the path of greatest resistance. With all the drama, a CWO5 recommended I submit an IG complaint against MEPS (or at least, a specific MEPS or MEPS employee). I'm not sure if I can do that complaint in good conscience, not to mention acquiring adequate evidence to have it go anywhere, and have people get interviewed about it). I never made it to NAMI; I got hung up earlier in the pathway, at MEPS. I'm stating in the past tense because the recruiters are burnt out, and they were already super generous with their time. I suspect nobody is doing anything heinously wrong. Just good people trying to do their jobs.
I have been told that if I ever want to get an Air National Guard or Air Force Reserve pilot contract, and/or if I want to be even slightly more competitive for Navy/Marine-Corps SNA, I need/could-benefit-from earning a PPL. I don't know if I NEED a PPL at minimum, or if some sport pilot hours would do the same.
Anyway, to harken back to what I said earlier, I think it would be a real mistake if I didn't include that I am having trouble with accession/applying to the military for three primary reasons:
- A lack of medical waivers for things that should've gotten a medical waiver from my branch of service when I initially enlisted, way back when.
- Alleged civilian medical malpractice
- Back before digitization, some civilian provider mistakenly inserted someone else's medical record into my medical record, allegedly, and there is stuff that shouldn't be there.
I apologize for the unpolished nature of this post; please bear with me.
To be abundantly clear, I have zero military aviation and zero civilian aviation experience. I have no FAA rating, not even student pilot. I have never applied for an FAA medical certificate, and have never even spoken to an AME until just recently. I haven't done any MedXpress forms so no clock has begun ticking.
If I want to get an FAA Class 1 or Class 2 medical right now, I need to do the HIMS program, because when I was a child, I had civil violations, most of which were dismissed, for possession of alcohol by a minor, and possession of marijuana by a minor. Granted, these were not crimes. This was nine and ten years ago, but the FAA does not care. The HIMS program would allegedly entail having to do months of AA and rehab to get the FAA to grant me a class 1 or 2. If that sounds crazy, please, I am not concealing any serious information from you. That is how strict the FAA is.
Allegedly, an AME could get me a class 3 medical certificate quite a bit easier. How much easier? I am trying to confirm. A civilian can get a PPL with only a class 3. That would still leave me the door open to upgrade to class 1 or 2 FAA medical certificate later. And of course, all of this would be thousands of dollars of my money, which I am potentially willing to spend
Okay, getting closer here:
Let's say hypothetically, I did not attempt this FAA medical process, and I, at least temporarily, went no further with FAA Medical Certification, and then subsequently I somehow can convince DAM (Army), and/or ACS (USAF), and/or NAMI (USN/USMC/USCG) to medically clear me to train to fly as a uniformed military aviator:
Following that, if I then subsequently, as a hypothetical successful military pilot, attempted to convert my military aviation experience to FAA ratings, would the FAA still make me jump through all those HIMS hoops before I could ever hope to lawfully touch a civilian aircraft during leave and liberty and/or fly as a civilian following a military aviation career? Or do they just assume that if the DOD/DOW has determined a military pilot is currently medically cleared to fly in the military, that said military pilot must meet FAA standards too? (I know it likely may oftentimes pay dividends for military pilots to start to convert their ratings before they leave active service). If you do not know, and/or it is arbitrary and different every time, I understand. If I took a guess, I would guess your job description does not include an expectation to have expertise in the present-day policies regarding how the FAA grants medical certificates and ratings to military pilots. If it is silly for me to ask, I apologize, please feel free to ignore. And I am not trying to be rude at all. I am grateful for your help.
Regardless of your answer(s), if any, I think I do want to move forward with at minimum, third class, I just need to know more. I talked about bypassing any medical certification by flying in the military. Flying in the military will never be a certainty. I want to get flying as a civilian in some way, shape, or form now, and hope and pray for the military option to open up for me soon or later.
If an FAA Third Class were much easier to obtain, I would consider just a class 3 for now, leaving the door open to upgrade to a higher class at a later date. If I can get a civilian FAA PPL on my own time and dime, it may be more realistic for me to somehow subsequently get an Air Force Reserve and/or Air National Guard pilot contract, or Navy/Marine Corps pilot contract. Not only would military training be serendipitous in regard to being a cheaper path to flying-in-general, but I can always attempt to become a Class 3 PPL, then a military pilot second, then finally try to get a civilian FAA Class 1 certificate finally last. And if I suceed with class 3 FAA, but then fail with the military, and can never become a military pilot, but still luckily am FAA third class, I can always embark on the ~12-month HIMS program to upgrade later, assuming the Feds don't tighten the rules even further.
For the record, just in case someone is getting the impression, No, I am not looking at the military as some cash-cow path to the airlines. I am really passionate about service to the country AND aviation in general. I want to be a military pilot even more than I want to be a pilot of any kind. I also really want to be an active duty officer in the naval services. But at some point, you have to consider throwing a bunch of effort at a lot of different stuff and seeing what sticks. If a Navy recruiter could make me an SNA quick but a Marine Corps recruiter would take 3 years for SNA, well... I'm 25 years old... I'm limited on time. I might have to get serious about, doing some BAMCIS, and tactfully and politely reaching out to a variety of different people in a way that makes it clear I am exploring my options.
I will try to edit this post for clarity, but I'm running out of time. I do apologize for the length. I am expecting I may have a lot of misconceptions and I am hoping some of you can shoot down some big issues with my thinking and planning. Thank you very much!
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