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I forgot that the AF used to be the ARMY Air Corps. Navy is not so excruciatingly choreographed.
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Yeah, we've been trying hard to do it our way ever since! But unfortunately, old habits die hard (such as our obsessive need to sometimes plan everything to the Nth detail like our Army brothers)!
But when you graduate nearly 1000 or so new perspective pilots every June (Academy and ROTC) , can you really blame us if we don't want all 1000 to just show up at their UPT bases on Jul 1 and say: "Here I am! Which way to the flight line, Eisenhower?"
Usually the Academy guys are sent to the first available classes (July through Sept / Oct time frame) with a few ROTC / OTS candidates slipped in as well. The ROTC guys usually go in larger numbers after that. (another advantage for going the Academy route. Being a ROTC guy, I had to wait 10 months from the time I graduated / commisioned to the time I reported to Nav School. Spent the time dating Pima and working as a bartender, but that's a different story!
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To keep things running smooth (and to keep the class sizes managable), the AF keeps starting new training classes throughout the year. So, yeah. A guy starting June 15th will get his wings 6 months prior to a guy starting Dec 15th.
Year groups for Promotion boards in the AF are also based on the time you begin ACTIVE DUTY, not the time you are commissioned, so there really is no advantage in this case (same for Command slots: based on Date of Rank to O-5, NOT commissioning time). Boards for special duty assignments such as Weapons School and Test Pilot / Nav are based on EXPERIENCE level (Instructor , 4-ship flt lead, etc), so you are somewhat correct, this can give a slight advantage to the guy graduating at the same time but starting flight school first. More importantly, selection is based on PERFORMANCE. Either you're the Top Gun in your unit or your not, the extra 6 months don't make a heck of beans towards the inate qualities looked for like leadershsip ability and drive to succeed.
I guess it just another example of how the two services do things differently. Different strokes for different folks (or services in this case!
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