The USAF needs pilots? And the navy does too?

[TBRaysluv]

So I saw this article today. [http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-fighter-pilot-wanted-20130722,0,2152468.story]. My question is does that mean the Air Force is going to start giving pilot slots to people not from the academy or ROTC i.e. OTS? If so would it be beneficial for someone to apply to both? I know the majority opinion of this site towards USAF pilots but if it would mean me being able to become a pilot v. not becoming one I don't care!
Additionally, I have found mixed opinions on the needs of the navy for the coming year on this site. Does anyone really know if the navy will increase its acceptance of pilot applicants in 2014?

I know most answers will likely be speculative but I don't care I am procrastinating on studying so anything to get me away from that would be a help.

 

[BusyBee604]

I know most answers will likely be speculative but I don't care I am procrastinating on studying so anything to get me away from that would be a help.

Agree that becoming a USAF pilot is better than nothing at all; however, procrastinating study for too long could affect your GPA, perhaps reducing chances for being accepted in either program!

I have no inside official info on future pilot slots, but it appears the pilot requirements are increasing this year. So it's looking better for pilot slots in the near term.
BzB

 

[ProsNest1]

Aviation accession requirements for FY14 are, currently, on par with FY13. However, authorizations may or may not come in at 100% of requirement.

 

[zippy]

So I saw this article today. [http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-fighter-pilot-wanted-20130722,0,2152468.story]. My question is does that mean the Air Force is going to start giving pilot slots to people not from the academy or ROTC i.e. OTS? If so would it be beneficial for someone to apply to both? I know the majority opinion of this site towards USAF pilots but if it would mean me being able to become a pilot v. not becoming one I don't care!
Additionally, I have found mixed opinions on the needs of the navy for the coming year on this site. Does anyone really know if the navy will increase its acceptance of pilot applicants in 2014?

I know most answers will likely be speculative but I don't care I am procrastinating on studying so anything to get me away from that would be a help.

See the post above for the most official gouge.

If your school has an NROTC or AFROTC program, its worth you looking to join as a non-scholarship student and competing for a partial scholarship, or advanced standing, in order to gain a commission and aviation slot that way.

If you are at a school without AFROTC/NROTC then look at the Marine Corps PLC program. You can get an air contract (contingent upon successful completion of PLC, TBS, Medically qualified etc). Actually looking at your profile, you've completed your Bachelors perhaps. In that case you can apply for PLC as well as OCC with the Marine Corps, Navy OCS and Air Force OTS. Navy and Marine Corps OCS programs allow you to get picked up specifically for an aviation contract (NA/NFO). I do have a couple friends who commissioned through AF OTS, but I don't recall if they had flight contracts prior to showing up or if they competed for one there.


My advice- If you have a Degree already, take the ASTB and the AF equivalent and apply. Apply early, apply often until you get accepted to a program that you want to be in and take the first, best deal offered to you. There are some people who believe that one must want to serve as an Officer in a specific Service first before wanting to be pilot, I personally believe that wanting to serve in any service is grounds enough to apply.

 

[LFCFan]

I do have a couple friends who commissioned through AF OTS, but I don't recall if they had flight contracts prior to showing up or if they competed for one there.

The AF OTS application process is pretty much the same as the navy. There are different boards for different types of jobs. Someone looking at OTS to be a pilot would apply for a rated board and list their job preferences: Pilot, Combat Systems Officer (NFO pretty much), drone pilot, or air battle manager (Like an NFO, but just in AWACS). A non-rated board would cover other stuff like intel, logistics, etc. As I recall they take only a handful of people in non-rated positions through OTS every year.

One bit of advice if you talk to an AF recruiter: Being an ABM is not a great job, and they are desperate for people to do it, so you might hear some sweet talk about it. My dad encouraged my sister to turn down or not apply for an AFROTC ABM scholarship that she'd have had a good shot at. They tried to convince me to put it on my OTS application during my interview as well.

 

[helolumpy]

So I saw this article today. [http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-fighter-pilot-wanted-20130722,0,2152468.story]. My question is does that mean the Air Force is going to start giving pilot slots to people not from the academy or ROTC i.e. OTS? If so would it be beneficial for someone to apply to both? I know the majority opinion of this site towards USAF pilots but if it would mean me being able to become a pilot v. not becoming one I don't care!
Additionally, I have found mixed opinions on the needs of the navy for the coming year on this site. Does anyone really know if the navy will increase its acceptance of pilot applicants in 2014?

I know most answers will likely be speculative but I don't care I am procrastinating on studying so anything to get me away from that would be a help.

This article does not address recruitment, it addresses retention. The Air Force is offering bonuses to keep their pilots in the service, much like the Navy has done previously.

 

[exNavyOffRec]

The title of the article is misleading, helohumpy is correct, this article is addressing retention.

 

[magnetfreezer]

This article does not address recruitment, it addresses retention. The Air Force is offering bonuses to keep their pilots in the service, much like the Navy has done previously.

Exactly. In addition, the specific "fighter pilot shortage" that a lot of the articles mention isn't a shortage of line fighter pilots per se - it's a shortage of IPs and experienced pilots to fill all the other jobs that require that background (Weapons School/COCOM/AOC/UAV/ALO(FAC(A))/etc). Production is also limited by the fighter drawdown - no matter how many people you push through pilot training, you can only make as many new wingmen as the RAG capacity allows. Then, you have to have enough cockpits and hours in the operational squadrons to season/upgrade the new guys to the point they can go to the other jobs (and hope they don't get out after the 3rd IA tour).

 

[TBRaysluv]

Thank you guys so much for the responses! What I posted was a question... With that I hope the question was not a misleading question? I was asking if there is a correlation between needing to retain personnel and hiring new personnel. Additionally, for the Navy pilot hiring aspect of the question I was asking the board for its (speculative) knowledge on the matter.

 

[ProsNest1]

There is a correlation between accession and retention. For the Navy, this is (roughly) a ten-year long rope. If we access low and force strucutre remains about the same (or increases) then we have retention challenges at MSR expiration for our mid-career officers. I'm speaking in generalities, because there are many factors here - strength of the economy (esp. commercial air), T/M/S specifics, OPTEMPO - to name a few. There are also anomolies where, if accessions are drastically low, you may see a retention bump due to increased milestone opportunity. We saw this with the T-Notch aviators (YGs 93-95).

 

[Renegade One]

Agree that becoming a USAF pilot is better than nothing at all...
BzB

Well played...

In all seriousness, the Army, the Air Force, the Navy, the Marine Corps and the Coast Guard will ALL be looking to gain new pilots/NFOs/WSOs (fill in your favorite descriptor) every year until we are all pushing up daisies. Some "fat" years…some "lean" years…but EVERY year.

Keep swinging at the ball…you can never hit what you don't swing at.

So I saw this article today...I know most answers will likely be speculative but I don't care [since] I am procrastinating on studying so anything to get me away from that would be a help.

I never met anyone…ever…who lamented "I wish I hadn't studied so much".

 

[Brett327]

I would caveat that with the fact that the Marines won't be looking for too many NFOs in the future.

 

[Fog]

Likely, but as a non-insider I would wager that the USMC never replaces all its AV-8s & Legacy F-18s w/ F-35Bs. If they do, it will be a fraction of the current inventory numbers. My bet is that they get a certain numbe of Super Hornets to replace the Legacy F-18s that are literally falling apart on them. There just isn't enough $$ around the DOD these days to buy the 300+ airframes they say they need. JMHO.

 

[Brett327]

If that comes to pass, they'll just be smaller - that's already happening to the force writ large. Marines getting into Rhinos at this point in the game would be extraordinary.

 

[ea6bflyr]

Marines getting into Rhinos at this point in the game would be extraordinary.

Had a Marine LtCol tell me that Marines in Rhinos would NEVER happen. I say never say never. I foresee it in the future...maybe even Growlers. Mark my words.