Making Decision for BDCP Application

[Töadlove]

Good morning, gents. I'm a 27 year old prior-service Marine working on my BDCP application for NFO right now. I'm in my sophomore year of electrical engineering. Naval Aviation has been my passion since I was a kid. Top Gun and all. Did 5 years active in the HMLA community, got my CDI, came back to the Reserves for 2 years pretty much for fun because I liked avionics that much. I've been pretty set on doing NFO for awhile now, my dream is to wind up in the VAQ community. I intend to retire from the Navy, regardless of what platform or community I wind up in though.

I know this question has been asked ad-nauseam but I'm having a tough time deciding between SNA and SNFO. I want to be an NFO for all the "right" reasons- I'm really into the idea of being a systems operator or "mission specialist" if you will on fixed-wing. I've never really been dead-set on the stick-and-throttle side of things (not that I don't think it'd be fkn cool). This is my biggest dilemma- and I know I'm placing the cart miles before the horse here but I'm very turned on to the idea of potentially winding up full-time in the Reserves (FTS??) or switching over to Guard/AFRC at some point near the end of my time in the service. It's my understanding from reading up around here that flying Reserve NFO billets are few and far between, meanwhile a pilot can go fly C-40s in a VR at some point if they want. Another factor influencing my decision here is that straight-up, I don't want to end up with helos. Been in a helo community for 7 years, I would really like to wind up in fixed wing and with NFO I don't need to worry about that. Unfortunately as a BDCP applicant, I can only apply to one designator- I can't do the tried and true "apply to both, take whatever they give you" approach like a standard OCS or NROTC applicant.

My TLDR here is I'm curious as to how much flexibility there is for NFOs to transition over to Reserves vs that of a pilot at say, post-1st Shore Tour. Thanks, y'all.

 

[ea6bflyr]

Good morning, gents. I'm a 27 year old prior-service Marine working on my BDCP application for NFO right now. I'm in my sophomore year of electrical engineering. Naval Aviation has been my passion since I was a kid. Top Gun and all. Did 5 years active in the HMLA community, got my CDI, came back to the Reserves for 2 years pretty much for fun because I liked avionics that much. I've been pretty set on doing NFO for awhile now, my dream is to wind up in the VAQ community. I intend to retire from the Navy, regardless of what platform or community I wind up in though.

I know this question has been asked ad-nauseam but I'm having a tough time deciding between SNA and SNFO. I want to be an NFO for all the "right" reasons- I'm really into the idea of being a systems operator or "mission specialist" if you will on fixed-wing. I've never really been dead-set on the stick-and-throttle side of things (not that I don't think it'd be fkn cool). This is my biggest dilemma- and I know I'm placing the cart miles before the horse here but I'm very turned on to the idea of potentially winding up full-time in the Reserves (FTS??) or switching over to Guard/AFRC at some point near the end of my time in the service. It's my understanding from reading up around here that flying Reserve NFO billets are few and far between, meanwhile a pilot can go fly C-40s in a VR at some point if they want. Another factor influencing my decision here is that straight-up, I don't want to end up with helos. Been in a helo community for 7 years, I would really like to wind up in fixed wing and with NFO I don't need to worry about that. Unfortunately as a BDCP applicant, I can only apply to one designator- I can't do the tried and true "apply to both, take whatever they give you" approach like a standard OCS or NROTC applicant.

My TLDR here is I'm curious as to how much flexibility there is for NFOs to transition over to Reserves vs that of a pilot at say, post-1st Shore Tour. Thanks, y'all.

Two things you are a bit confused on:

1. Full Time Support/Training for Active Reservist. While it is part of the Reserve Component, FTS/TAR is almost like you are active duty.

2. In order to go FTS/TAR, you need to resign your commission and hope you get picked up for FTS/TAR after you’ve completed your Minimum Service Requirement (MSR) for winging [6 years for NFO; 8 years for Naval Aviator]. Depending on timing, both MSRs will most likely take you into your 2nd Sea Tour.

 

[Swanee]

switching over to Guard/AFRC

Just a heads up on this, there is a major push within the ANG/AFRC to recruit more people without a lot of time in service.

By the time you're shopping around for ANG units you'll have about 21 years of service (I'm still assuming BDCP counts towards good years of service for points) of which 17 years are active. That's 7 active prior service years, 4 reserve years in BDCP, and 10ish active years for your ADSC depending on how long it takes you to get through flight school- take two off if you stay an NFO) You'll already be eligible to retire the moment you swear in. It will be very tough to find a unit willing to send you to training and put you on orders in hopes of MAYBE getting one mobilization out of you before you have enough points to retire with an AD pension.

If you want to go Guard/Reserve you need to do it now.