Posted on May 11, 2017
What advice would you have for someone frustrated with an officer recruiter?
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I have been trying to go up for an Air Force officer board to become a pilot for the past year and a half. But I've been more and more worried that my recruiter just isn't allowed to tell me no. My PCSM is competitive, my grades are ok, I'm prior service (active Marine, aviation MOS) with HQ USMC permission to separate via interservice transfer, I have good letters of -continued in comments-
Recruiting
Career Advice
Advice
Edited 7 y ago
Posted 7 y ago
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If you aren't getting anywhere withthe recruiter then ask him to let you speak to the flight chief. If he says no, look up the squadron he is assigned to online and get the number to the commander. Call him directly and tell him you don't feel that this recruiter is helping you in any way. That should light a fire. AF Recruiters are good but they are seekers mostly of enlisted. You have to get real pushy about your way ahead if you wan't them to respond. Good luck
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...recommendation,
From O-6 aviators as well as my state congressman. But I'm concerned my recruiter just doesn't want to send me to a board for some reason. I was supposed to go up for a board this past January. I had everything I needed beforehand submitted. All that was left was for my recruiter to set a MEPS date for medical. I already had a class 1 flight physical from the Naval Hospital. But then I got a call from him saying saying that paperwork deadline had been moved to a week earlier and that I was basically SOL until the next board. Now this setback made me extremely motivated to make sure I was good to go on time. I applied to re-take the AFOQT and got a more competitive score (which took until this month even though I started the process to re-take it 4 months ago) I would call my recruiter with increasing frequency to update him on my status and so he didn't forget about me, asked about medical and MEPS, now to the point where the point where I have to refrain from calling once every two days because I'm afraid he's getting annoyed of me (squeaky wheel gets the grease?)
Now here I am, one week and two days before the paperwork deadline AGAIN and I still haven't gotten any information from him about if I'll be able to get a MEPS date in time. I'm wondering if I did something wrong? If there is some disconnect I'm just not seeing, if he's not allowed to flat out tell me no until I give up? I've asked a few friends of mine that are officers in the Air Force and they've described this as extremely weird and irregular. I can't go to a different officer recruiter because they're not allowed to steal from other districts, and my DD-Form 368, request for conditional release, expires in a few months, so if I can't go up for this board, that will have been an extremely long year of jumping through hoops getting my hopes up for absolute nothing.
The frustration is very real as I'm about to turn 26 as well as go on a deployment in a few months(which wouldn't have been a problem because even if I am/was selected, my recruiter said I probably wouldn't get orders to OTS for another 7-8 months to a year anyway, which would leave me available to deploy).
My Army SIFT is 71 so I could always pursue that if this ends up not panning out, but I've really put s lot of hard work and dedication into doing this and belief in the Air Force's mission of breaking barriers in air and space fields. (I'm a bit of an idealist that probably drinks more of the kool aid than I should but still)
Any advice would be extremely appreciated. This community is always very helpful and not afraid to be brutally honest when the situation calls for it.
From O-6 aviators as well as my state congressman. But I'm concerned my recruiter just doesn't want to send me to a board for some reason. I was supposed to go up for a board this past January. I had everything I needed beforehand submitted. All that was left was for my recruiter to set a MEPS date for medical. I already had a class 1 flight physical from the Naval Hospital. But then I got a call from him saying saying that paperwork deadline had been moved to a week earlier and that I was basically SOL until the next board. Now this setback made me extremely motivated to make sure I was good to go on time. I applied to re-take the AFOQT and got a more competitive score (which took until this month even though I started the process to re-take it 4 months ago) I would call my recruiter with increasing frequency to update him on my status and so he didn't forget about me, asked about medical and MEPS, now to the point where the point where I have to refrain from calling once every two days because I'm afraid he's getting annoyed of me (squeaky wheel gets the grease?)
Now here I am, one week and two days before the paperwork deadline AGAIN and I still haven't gotten any information from him about if I'll be able to get a MEPS date in time. I'm wondering if I did something wrong? If there is some disconnect I'm just not seeing, if he's not allowed to flat out tell me no until I give up? I've asked a few friends of mine that are officers in the Air Force and they've described this as extremely weird and irregular. I can't go to a different officer recruiter because they're not allowed to steal from other districts, and my DD-Form 368, request for conditional release, expires in a few months, so if I can't go up for this board, that will have been an extremely long year of jumping through hoops getting my hopes up for absolute nothing.
The frustration is very real as I'm about to turn 26 as well as go on a deployment in a few months(which wouldn't have been a problem because even if I am/was selected, my recruiter said I probably wouldn't get orders to OTS for another 7-8 months to a year anyway, which would leave me available to deploy).
My Army SIFT is 71 so I could always pursue that if this ends up not panning out, but I've really put s lot of hard work and dedication into doing this and belief in the Air Force's mission of breaking barriers in air and space fields. (I'm a bit of an idealist that probably drinks more of the kool aid than I should but still)
Any advice would be extremely appreciated. This community is always very helpful and not afraid to be brutally honest when the situation calls for it.
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LCpl Shane Couch
I would talk to your recruiters SNCOIC/OIC. Advise them on the lack of motivation in your recruiter to fulfill your request of becoming an aviation officer. To me it sounds like your recruiter might be overwhelmed or simply just lazy.
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Threaten to go Navy pilot, see if that lights a fire under his/her ass. I had another friend that was also having trouble with his Air Force officer recruiter, until he threatened to withdraw and go Navy instead. Speaking of, why Air Force over Navy? I would think the transfer from Marine to Navy might be easier. But then again, what the hell do I know. Good luck brother on getting what you want to do, no matter which branch.
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LTJG (Join to see)
For me it is...I guess you could say life preference. I want to settle down, relatively speaking. I grew up In upper Michigan and I miss snowy winters and skiing. I want to live in the Pacific Northwest or Rockies and the Air Force is the only real service that has bases up there and ship life does not appeal to me at all. I don't want to commit 10 more years of my life to something I don't absolutely want. I know you don't have any real choice but there are at least more chances. I'd go to Alaska if I could haha. I'm just really tired of the East coast.
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Lt Col (Join to see)
I would suggest pushing packets through both services. I can say for the AF its hit or miss with officer ascensions recruiters. You need to be a pest, and if you have to, go through their chain. If you meet all metrics for the board and have no waiver issues, your packet should be going to the board. Its not the recruiters job to tell you can or can not go to the board. Their job is to ensure that you have the minimum qualifications and a complete packet to send.
That is the thing with some of them. You have to really stay on top of it until they so sick and tired of hearing from you. It sounds this guy is being lazy. He is probably biding his time to get out of that job. It should be a fairly straight forward process. You submit all the required material. He validates its all good and he should be routing it to AETC. He should have been very clear of when the boards meet. The fact that it has been over a year, means you probably missed a few boards. I think they do them every six months.
That is the thing with some of them. You have to really stay on top of it until they so sick and tired of hearing from you. It sounds this guy is being lazy. He is probably biding his time to get out of that job. It should be a fairly straight forward process. You submit all the required material. He validates its all good and he should be routing it to AETC. He should have been very clear of when the boards meet. The fact that it has been over a year, means you probably missed a few boards. I think they do them every six months.
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PO1 William "Chip" Nagel
LTJG (Join to see) - Ever Hear of Whidbey Island, Pacific Northwest, North of Seattle, Plenty of Navy Aviators up there. Go Hassle the NAVY.
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