Marine Officer to Air Force Officer?

[phrogpilot73]

I was just curious if anyone has investigated how to transition from the Marine Corps to the Air Force. If you have done it, or have some advice please pass it along. It's not that I don't like being a Marine, but I love flying too much...

 

[Schnugg]

LCDR I worked with was an HS-60F pilot who transitioned to blue. He worked at Lemoore flying station air C-12 and H-1s. Built up his fixed wing hours and transitioned to USAF. He went to them to fly E-6 or AWACS.
USAF had(s) some great programs to help you transition to civilian airline pilot. One was called something like the Phoneix 20 program. Actually paid for you to get an ATP and let you part time with an airline as you got to year 17 or 18 of service. Talk about getting set up right.

r/
G

 

[phrogdriver]

http://www.afpc.randolph.af.mil/specfly/Transfer/interser.htm

Try that. It answers a lot of questions you might have. I looked at it among some other options, but it didn't look promising.

Full-time ANG might be a better bet if you want to keep flying. Try Baseops.net for current openings. There are a fair number of jobs in the ANG where you're a GS employee doing full-time support during the week and play commissioned officer on the weekends.

 

[ChuckMK23]

There is a pretty good precedent for USMC helo pilots doing interservice transfer to USAF.

If I were you, I would get an one on one interview with a USAF operational commander in a coomand that has a lot of USAF helicopter assets - a great example might be the 1st Special Operations Wing down at Hurlburt Field. Get a 45 minute appointment with him, fly down there, get your intentions known, why you want to do an interservice transfer, etc.

Do all your homework first obviously - but once you have your facts dpwn and you know this is something you want to pursue, then make a few phone calls, write a letter, get some face time, and then fiure out how to let USMC release you...

Totally doable in my opinion.

 

[eddie]

Wait... I thought that it turned out that flight time over a career came out about the same with each service, no?

 

[Space Monkey]

Marine Corps to Air Force

I don't want to dash your hopes but the Air Force is dropping officers like flies. They are looking to downsize 20,000. I didn't make it through Air Force pilot training and they didn't feel that they had a need for me and gave me the boot.

You will have to be hot poop to get an interservice transfer to work for you.

In my experience with interservice transfers in the military very few people are willing to help you out because they are doing it out of the kindness of their hearts not for any benefit to themselves.

Best of luck to you.

 

[zab1001]

World of difference between an O-1 who attrites and a winged junior officer (most likely an O-3) with a solid track record, Aircraft Commander Qual, and operational experience. You'll find interservice transfers, while not necessarily 'easier' are much more feasible.

Obviously, phrogpilot73, this post is not aimed at you. Good luck.

 

[Stearmann4]

If you might be interested in flying MH-47E/G Chinooks for the 160th SOAR drop me a line. It's not the Air Force, but it's not the Army either. It's a little known fact that we assess prospective inter-service-transfers on a case by case basis. A 46' guy would think he'd died and gone to tandem-rotor heaven.

 

[Physicx]

Can't you fly just as much in the Marines as the AF?