Application and Selection for WOFT

In June 2012 I started the process of becoming an Army Aviator.  I'm going to break it down a little bit here in case anyone is just getting started and needs some help.  But first, I'd like to say that without the help of the Vertical Reference Forum and the great people that post there, I would not have been able to get through the process.  Specifically if you are just getting started, one of the members has a guide with tons of info on getting through the process.  The guide is here, and the thread is here.

I first visited the recruiter's office and told them that I wanted to pursue the WOFT (Warrant Officer Flight Training) program, and they did a mini-interview with me to see if I was worth their time.  Putting in a warrant officer packet is no easy task for a recruiter, and from what I hear they don't get any extra points for it.  It's the same as putting through a regular recruit, but it takes a lot more work on their part.  If you are going to pursue this, make sure that you are well educated about the process before you see a recruiter.  Not only because it will make them more likely to work with you, but you're going to have to do a lot of the work on your own.


So after they determined I was a "worthy" applicant (mostly because I had previous flight time), I was sent home with a paper SF-86 form.  This is the background check/security clearance form.  This took me a few days to fill out because it asks about everybody in your family, all of your previous addresses and when you moved in and out, and a bunch of other very specific questions that I had to track down the answer to.  I think the hardest part was that I needed a reference that could verify every piece of information I put down.



Once I got that done, they scheduled me for the ASVAB, AFAST (which is now the SIFT), the MEPS physical, and my security interview all at once.  It's a 2 day process where you stay overnight at a hotel in the area.  The first afternoon, I took the tests and went to the hotel.  The next day, I woke up early to get to the MEPS physical.  It was my first experience with the Army's "hurry up and wait" process.  It's basically a medical exam with blood draw, urinalysis, eye exam, hearing test and a meeting with a doctor.  After that, I spoke with the security interviewer for about 15 minutes and that was it for the day.

I started getting my letters of recommendation (minimum 3, maximum 6), resume, and "Why I Want to be an Army Aviator" essay together.  After awhile, I finally got my recruiter to schedule my Class 1A Flight Physical.  Get this done as soon as you can because it CAN take up to 6 weeks to get approved.  It gets sent to Ft Rucker to get approved after your in person flight physical.

The other big thing I had to work on was the APFT (Army Physical Fitness Test).  The general consensus is that you should score at least 270 to be considered competitive.  I was nowhere near that when I started, but I made sure to work out at least 5 days a week (running was the hardest part), and I scored a 260 before my battalion board interview.

The battalion board is the last real step of the process.  My board interview was with 4 officers (none of them were aviation), and they asked questions about why I wanted to be in the Army, why I wanted to be an aviator, and some other questions.  Afterward they gave the the "thumbs up" and sent my packet to USAREC to be reviewed on the next national board, which was in November 2012.  The only feedback I got was to continue working on my PT.

I was able to do a record APFT before the national board and score a 282 and resubmit it before the board convened.  This was a little hard, because my recruiter told me that there was no way to update my packet.  I ended up going over his head to battalion to get it updated (which I would only recommend as a LAST resort).  I got selected on the November 2012 board on my first time around, 5 months after I started the process.  3 days later, I went down to the MEPS and signed my contract.  I had to wait 6 months for basic, but everything was all set and ready to go.  I was actually going to be an aviator in the US Army. 

The Decision

Mountain Landing During my PPL

In 2008, I moved from Spokane, WA to Beaverton, OR to go to flight school at Hillsboro Aviation.  I had experienced my first helicopter flight months before at Inland Helicopters in Spokane, and I was hooked.  The thrill of flying helicopters was addicting.  I started training in September 2008 and got my Private Pilot Certificate in March of 2009.  Exactly one year later, to the day I got my Commercial Pilot Certificate.  I was having a lot of fun, learning a lot and ready to start my CFI certificate so I could get my career started.  I started my CFI Certificate, and made it within about 5 hours of my checkride and I ran out of money.

Flying Simulated IFR "Under the Hood" During My CPL

If you have any experience with the civilian helicopter industry and training, you know that it costs way too much money to get certified.  I had taken out loans to finance my training, and at this point I was out of money so I took a short break.  During this break, I got the biggest news of my life.  My wife was pregnant with our first child!  This was exciting and life changing news.  But, I couldn't continue with my plan of becoming a CFI.  CFI's don't make very much money, they don't make steady money, and they don't have any sort of healthcare or other benefits.  Also, at this time the CFI market was super saturated with competent CFI's without jobs.  The collapse of Silver State Helicopters had a lot to due with that.  Anyway, I decided to wait on my CFI certificate.

Taking my wife for her first helicopter flight.

Fast forward 2 years and I started looking into joining the military.  I have 2 really good friends that are in the military (Marines and Navy), and they really inspired me to look into it.  I was pursuing a degree in software engineering at the time, racking up more debt, and so I looked into joining the Air Force as a Computer Programmer.  However, after 3 trips to the recruiting station, and them being closed every time, one of my friends told me about the WOFT (Warrant Officer Flight Training) program.  I researched it and it sounded perfect.  I already wanted to serve my country, and I loved flying helicopters.  And if I wasn't selected, there was no obligation to join (and I could look into the Air Force again).


The WOFT program is a US Army program that allows civilians to apply and if selected become Aviation branched Warrant Officers (AKA Army Pilot).  I'm going to talk more about the application and selection process in my next post. 

Introduction

I am currently in flight school for the US Army.  I wanted to start to blog to document my journey, so that others that are interested in the process, or somewhere in the process, have a reference.  I was selected to go to flight school as a civilian.  This process is called either "Street to Seat" or sometimes "High School to Flight School".  Basically, a civilian goes to a recruiting office, takes a bunch of tests, gathers paperwork, resumes, letters of recommendation, and goes to a board interview to be selected.  After that, you go straight from BCT (Basic Combat Training) to WOCS (Warrant Officer Candidate School) and are appointed as a Warrant Officer in the United States Army.  I'll get into the details in a later post.

Flight school is pretty demanding and grueling time wise, so I'm going to try and update as much as I can.  We'll see how that goes.  I'm about to be on Christmas Exodus, so I'm going to start of by posting what I've done so far and where I'm at in the process of becoming an Army Aviator.  I'll get to that sometime this week.

If you have any comments, suggestions, or questions, feel free to leave a comment or email me.




*I went through and re-dated all my posts so that the post date is around the actual time I went through that portion of the course.  However, dated this post the earliest so that it would stay at the beginning*