The big gotcha of the Active Duty pilot career path is that on the day you earn your wings, you also get hit with a 10-year Active Duty Service Commitment (ADSC). We’ll also see some advantages of Active Duty and some options for cutting your time there short. We’ll see that the Active Duty option is still a good deal, that the overall difference isn’t so great, and we’ll see why you’re better off pursuing either than trying to fulfill a non-pilot commissioning commitment before trying to pursue the Ultimate career path. Today we’re going to compare the more common Active Duty career path with the Ultimate one that I’ve recommended so heavily. While I continue to assert this is far better than becoming an Active Duty pilot through the USAF Academy, ROTC, or OTS, I worry that I’ve done people a disservice by making the Active Duty pilot career path seem too unattractive. Spending a few years as a part-time crew chief during college can help you get a UPT slot with a Guard or Reserve unit, and get you to retirement four years sooner than everyone else. This eventually allows you to retire a full four years earlier than any other military aviator.

Ideally, you should enlist with one of those units as soon as you’re old enough and serve part-time while you complete college. The Ultimate Military Pilot Career Path is to get hired directly by a Guard or Reserve unit and let them send you to UPT. I don’t hold back when people ask me the best way to become a military pilot.

Ang pilot slot