Originally Posted By: RickF

What's up with a cargo pilot wrenching for the Air Guard anyway? I thought most often those folks were pilots straight across the board.


This guy was a C-130 crew chief on active duty but got out before making it to retirement. After becoming a civilian pilot he decided it was worthwhile to come in the guard to finish out his military retirement but was too old to become a military pilot. So he came back as a KC-135 crew chief because his prior experience meant he could OJT instead of going to a formal school.

We also have two crew chiefs in situations similar to the friends you mentioned. However, in their cases they joined the guard as mechanics to help pay for their collage degrees and flight school. They are flying as civilians to build up their hours and get guard pilot jobs. One of them is based in Chicago IL. And the other is in Newark NJ. But they actually live where they are based and commute back here to Phoenix once a month for their guard drills. They keep their guard jobs or they would have to pay back their education benefits and also being in the unit gives them an inside track to getting a slot as a guard pilot.

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