Expert: James Bell - 3/19/2009

Question
Hey James,

My name is Jim Wykoff and I am currently enrolled in college and AFROTC. I
wasn't able to get a scholarship through the Air Force and I really need a way
to pay for school. I have been exploring the option of the reserves. I think it
would be a good way to help pay for school and be able to serve simultaneously. I love to fly and think that being a loadmaster would be
extremely fun and a great experience. I do have a few questions for you that
I hope you can answer. I have talked to a recruiter, and he tells me that as a
loadmaster you will just have your one weekend a month, and I will be able
to go to school full time still and still participate in ROTC and ultimately
become an officer on Active Duty. My dad is a retired Lt. Col and was a pilot.
Hearing from him, loadmasters are TDY a good deal of the time. He is also a
little hesitant on enlisting vs officer. So my questions to you are:
1. How often will a reserve loadmaster be deployed or TDY, and do you think
I will still be able to go to school full time, minus a couple weeks out of the
year for duty. I don't mind being deployed at all, it's part of the job, and
taking time out of school is not a major concern for me. My only concern
with a long time away from school would be with ROTC. I want to be
competitive in ROTC to get a pilot slot and too much time away from school
could affect that.
2. I don't know if you have information about this, but how does transferring
from the reserves to active duty work? I know in the Guard it's not
guaranteed, but in most cases they allow you to leave the Guard early and
move to active duty.
3. The unit I would be joining would be at Wright-Patterson AFB where they
have C-5's. What kind of missions would I be going on while flying on C-5's?

I hope you can help me, and thank you for your time.

Jim Wykoff

Answer
Jim -

Although I could tell you volumes about the loadmaster career field on a day-to-day basis, how they are utilized in the Reserves and Guard is not something I am well versed in, as I was only active duty.  I can tell you that I hear of units being activated for 12-18 months, so there is always the likelihood of a long activation and multiple deployments, especially if you are flying on C-17's or C-130's.

I'm not really sure about you saying your Dad is hesitant on the enlisted vs. officer thing.  Obviously you can't get a commission as an officer and hold an enlisted job, but I think he may be referring more to YOU being enlisted in a world where HE was an officer.  My dad was a bomb/nav on SAC bombers in the 50's and 60's, then I enlisted in the 80's.  There definitely is a huge difference between the two, how they are utilized, treated and -- of course -- pay.

I flew C-5's on active duty.  I will admit they are a problematic airframe with a very high maintenance requirement.  To my knowledge, they fly in-theater a lot, but are not deployed to a region for long periods of time.  They are too expensive a resource to leave in the desert.  Their purpose is large, heavy outsized airlift intra-theater and usually strike out on missions from home station but return in a few weeks, versus the months you would see on a deployment.  C-130's are better for inter-theater work as they carry smaller payloads for shorter distances and are best utilized to move things within a combat zone.

I do know that folks move over to active duty from the Guard and Reserves all the time.  There are formulas they use to calculate how much time you are required to give, but this is a fairly commonplace practice.

I hope this helps you out a little on finding an answer to your questions.  I think you would be best to pose your questions to someone who has actually served in the Reserve or Guard.

Sincerely,
James Bell