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And he is 100% correct. “It …… ** could ** make some situations more difficult” and as Pima has stated, some things are out of your control.</p>
<p>War stories and anecdotal examples aside, one has to apply both human nature and common sense to the situation. Being an aviator is much much more than being a good “stick”. At each level of your flying career, there will be multiple milestones, all based either directly or indirectly on hours in the cockpit. Aircraft commander, mission commander, section lead, division lead, standardization, instructor, etc etc. Not sure how the AF evaluation system works but probably it involves a favorable comparison to your peers in order to rise to the top and that flight aptitude is part of the evaluation. How can you compare favorably when you are only able to fly wing to your peer’s section lead, or even division, lead; copilot to your peer’s aircraft commander. Some evaluators may see your alternate path as noble and disregard the difference in experience levels, some may ignore it and do an apples-to-apples evaluation, and some may actually see it as misplaced priorities. Human nature. You have no way of controlling it. My guess would be that if there were enough to form a statistical sample, promotions to O-4 and especially O-5 might be more difficult, but by O-6, it may actually prove beneficial. I will acknowledge that an alternate career path will bring more maturity to both flight training and the initial operational tour. But also, with it, more is expected.</p>
<p>My anecdotal experience, while a different service and different reasons, bear somewhat on my opinions and are somewhat relevant. Being young and dumb and not wanting to miss Vietnam, I spent a year with SpecWarfare on the Cambodian border prior to completing flight training. O-3 was 36 months from commissioning. I played catchup all the way to O-5. Difficult but not impossible. My chest full of medals and ribbons was the equivalent of the sheepskin you will have hanging on your office wall and, I am sure, bode me well. And then I got to go back to Vietnam again as an aviator.</p>
<p>The Navy is somewhat different with, among other things, apparently, if Pima is correct, flying billets. The Navy has three mandatory sea duty billets crammed into the career path prior to screening for command at the early O-5 level. It is not unusual to be a senior O-5 or even an O-6 prior to stepping out of the cockpit. Grad school acomplished part time in the evening while on shore duty. Warfare specialty has to be the primary focus to meet these milestones. I have been involved in the Admissions process for over 15 years and have told innumerable candidates that if their flight dreams came to fruitation that it was extremely important that they take the first available class to P’cola and push to get their wings as rapidly as possible. One was the youngest fighter pilot in the Navy two years running. Others looked around at graduation and realized that all the other Academy grads there that day had graduated from the Academy a year prior to them. Many have thanked me. None have told me I was full of baloney.</p>
<p>Different service, different priorities. Many things unique but some things common.</p>
<p>Good luck. I am sure you will succeed, no matter what your goals. Your Academy background has prepared you for this.</p>