My story. Always interested in flying. Started taking lessons in high school. Went through an aviation program in college with the intent of going airlines. Realized I needed flight time to get hired. Most of my friends went the civilian-flight-instructing-for-an-FBO route. I decided the Air Force was the way to go. Viet Nam was ending and the Air Farce was rifting people right and left (friend of mine had gone ROTC, graduated, commissioned, and was discharged within the same day). You needed to have been academy or straight A's in college to get a pilot slot. I definitely didn't fit the mold. Got turned down. My recruiter said to wait a year and maybe things would open up. Another friend was prior-enlisted in the Navy and couldn't wait that long age-wise, so he and I went and talked to the Navy recruiter. I took the tests and filled out the paper work but never signed anything, deciding to wait the year and take my chances with the guys in blue. One year later I submitted another app with them and promptly got turned down again. Recruiter tried to get me to go navigator or bombardier. I declined, called up the Navy recruiters and asked them to activate my application. Six months later I had a slot in AOCS Class 04-76. I am soooooo glad the Air Farce turned me down twice. I ended up enjoying the Nav so much I made it a career. I went the TAR route after my first obligation was up and managed to stay in the cockpit my entire time in. Not very career-enhancing, but I had a blast. Spent my last ten years flying A-4's as an adversary guy. Doesn't get much better than that.
