Flying

[MPC]

I'm in high school and next year I will be getting my private helicopter pilots license. After that I will put in the hours to get my commercial. I will get my commercial in college. After college would I be able to start flight training with the guard? I am very interested in flying helos. thanks

[2ndglance]

Warrant Officers pilot helos. But since your getting your comm in college odds are you will have enough credits to apply to become a WO. You must pass a flight physical, the AFAST test, and also be eligible for a SECRET clearence. If you wear any sort of corrective lenses (glasses, contacts), color blind, or cannot meet the Army weight or fitness standards then you wont be eligable.

Speak to your state's Officer Strength Manager

http://www.1800goguard.com/warrantofficer/warrant_candidate.html

[MPC]

bumer, I wear contacts for a slight astigmatism. Their corrected to 20/20. Am I out of luck then?

[matthew.ritchie]

bumer, I wear contacts for a slight astigmatism. Their corrected to 20/20. Am I out of luck then?

I encourage you to do two things:
Speak with your state's OSM, as the previous post mentioned. On these finer points and complicated situations, you just can't get a definitive response in this message forum.
Have a Plan B. Rotary wing pilot is only one of hundreds of jobs available in the Guard. Consider serving as a helo mechanic, or mission planner -- something to complement your civilian career.

[MPC]

I will get my rotary wing pilots license regardless. I am jus wondering if I can just start flight school after.

[ShadowFaux]

i wear contacts too, my vision is correctable to 20/20 with the lenses, my recruiter told me i would be fine for flight school (i want to fly helos as well) as long as my eyes were correctable to 20/20. is this true? is lasec acceptable? i sign in about a week, go to basic in march and college in the fall. going through rotc and then hoping to go to flight school to get my wings. should i be looking for a different mos???

[cavhero]

I joined this forum just in the nick of time!! I want to help some of you young studs avoid the mistake I made before finally becoming an Army Aviator...
To the guy above that is (for whatever reason) throwing away a gazillion dollars to get his Civvie Rotary Wing License....first of all, you could join the Army, and had been to the MOON before, and it doesnt mean a thing! Its only after having gone thru Rotary Wing Training at Rucker will you be awarded the designator "Aviator". Remember, its all the civvie/part time Pilots out there boring holes in the sky that are clogging up Air Traffic, and turing into smoking holes in the ground later...ONLY ex Military guys are up there getting it done (Medevac, flying for Police Depts, New Crews, etc)...if you spend all that dough for civvie Flight school, and graduate as a 90 hour wonder, NO employer in the face of the Earth will touch you!

Also...if you are a civilian, and are considering becoming "part timee help" (National Guard) or want to go all the way and be a real Pilot a'la Active Duty, then DO NOT, and I repeat DO NOT sign on to be an enlisted guy first, and then expect to be snatched up for the WOEC course!! Let me tell you, and write this down...whatever the recruiter tells you, that even resembles what I just told you, is a bold faced lie!

If you want Flight SChool, you make that lazy SOB do all the paperwork for you! Its more work, and he will ***** and moan about it (cause its soooooo much easier to get you signed up as a 11-Bulletstopper, and ship your young ***** off to Iraq to get blow up in a HUMV)
Tell him/her to do her job, get you ASVAB'd, you pass a FAST test, pass a Physical, do a background check, you have to do a **** dance in front of a Field Gread officer, and you are in- simple as that!
Things have gotten WAY easier to get into Flight SChool compared to when I was in. I too was bamboozled into believing the "apply from within" strategy. I do not regret my former EM time, and it made me a better Officer, BUT...had I gone way back then, instead of being forced to wait may years later (I was an E6 when I finally got to Flight School!) I would have retired loooooooooong ago, instead of having resigned in disgust short of retirement.

Dont want to burst anyones bubble, but thats the way it is. Oh, and for any recruiters who are contemplating jumping in here and trying to shoot my Post down, dont do it! Be fair, help the guys get in from the street instead of just meeting quotas.

Words to the wise. Any of you wanna be Pilts need the real poop, get with me at: cavhero@t-online.de