I am exploring my options to become a fighter pilot. I looked into Air Force Reserves but could not find the f-18 in any of there units so i began to look at air national guard. What does a typical air national guard deployment look like? How often do they deploy? And do they see any action? Also is the schedule in the ANG similar to the AFRC?

The USAF does not fly the F-18.

As far as deployment, it really depends on what type of aircraft the unit has. If it's a fighter unit, depending on what "crisis" is going on, you could find your self deployed for 60-80 days at a time or even up to 179 days. Things get complicated if you go beyond 179 days. How often they deploy depends on what they have done in the past and to a large extent what type of aircraft they fly.

"Do they see any action?".... spoken like a true neophyte. It's no fun having people taking pock shots at you. And depending the ROE, you might not be able to do much about it. But, the role of the ANG/AFRES is exactly the same as the active-duty Air Force. So, you can connect the dots.

The ANG and AFRES schedules are pretty much the same.

There is one US Naval Reserve EA-18G squadron at NAS Whidbey Island (WA).

A F/A-1C squadron at JRB New Orleans.

VFC-12 based at NAS Oceana (VA) is a USNR adversary squadron flying. I'm close to 28 years after Navy retirement, but I highly doubt any pilots in such a squadron would not have years of experience in the aircraft.

The US Navy is not going to train anyone to be a pilot without a five year active duty commitment. And I don't care how many hours on which type of aircraft a person has, you enter the Navy pilot training program, you start at "This is an airplane, there things are called wings" level.

Prior training / flight experience will help a person advance faster in some stages of training. Back in the 70's and 80's no one received their pilot wings in the Navy until they had mastered the T-2 aircraft including carrier landings (some large aircraft types might have not had to meet that requirement)..

In the late 80's, early 90's I worked occasionally with the USNR F-14 squadron at Naval Air Station Dallas (Old NAS Dallas in Grand Prairie, not the current location at Carswell). While the core of the squadron were TAR Naval Reservists most of the pilots were former USN pilots ages 35 to 50, and worked for commercial airlines. They usually arranged their 'weekends' to be a four or six day period. First day was normal administrative stuff, and maybe a simulator session. Second and third day were often FCLP at NAS Dallas, followed by a cross country to a base on the east or west coast. Then they requalified on their carrier landings, day and night.

In late 1990, the squadron was recalled (along with many other USN/ USAF squadrons), and some commercial airlines had to juggle schedules for their remaining pilots. After a five day training session, the squadron pilots deployed with all but one of the squadron aircraft to the east coast. I think it was NAS Cecil Field near Jacksonville, Florida. Another five days intensive carrier training program. Maybe 20% of their ground element went to Cecil. The rest of the ground element was flown to NAS Sigonella in Sicily/ Italy.

After that, the squadron flew as a unit to NAS Sigonella. Later they flew to bases at friendly nations in the Gulf region and joined an aircraft carrier as a supplementary squadron. The total deployment/ activation lasted from mid-November until mid-April.

Now, that was the first large scale activation of Reserve/ National Guard units since the Korean War. Some of it was what is called a "Learning Opportunity".

The 2002 activations went even better.

There is apparently one USMC Reserve F/A-18+ squadron based at NAS JRB Fort Worth Texas.

I do not believe that USMC F/A-18 pilots are currently required to be/ maintain carrier qualifications. Could be wrong about that though.

Do you have to have active duty time to join the marine reserves or can you do it of the streets?

Also is there a way after a certain period of time where you could transfer from the AFRC to navy reserves or is navy only men who have been previously active duty

I doubt very much any Naval Reserve pilots went thru USN pilot training from their reserve unit like one can from either the ANG or AFRC. Same for USMCR, all were prior-AD. I’ve never of a transfer from AFRC or ANG to USNR flying billets. I’ve seen many go the other direction. USNR flying is a pretty small community.

The only way to fly an F18 in the US is to join the Navy or USMC as active duty. I looked in to this to fly in the Navy and you can't be a Navy Reserve pilot without being prior active duty.

TWA772LR wrote:

The only way to fly an F18 in the US is to join the Navy or USMC as active duty. I looked in to this to fly in the Navy and you can't be a Navy Reserve pilot without being prior active duty.

The interesting question that hasn't been asked yet is why the F-18 and not any of the USAF fighters? I love the Hornet and that is where my fast jet time is but plenty of other great aircraft in the USAF you could fly and they include both active and reserve units.

rfields5421 wrote:

There is apparently one USMC Reserve F/A-18+ squadron based at NAS JRB Fort Worth Texas.

I do not believe that USMC F/A-18 pilots are currently required to be/ maintain carrier qualifications. Could be wrong about that though.

I believe the USMCR at Carswell flies the KC-135J and the F/A-18C/Ds are flown by the Navy Reserve.

Carswell also hosts a USAFR F-16C/D squadron, the 301st FW and a TXANG squadron flying the C-130H.

In the USMCR, it’d have to be the KC-130J, as the USAF(R) and ANG are the only US operators of 135s.

I was surprised it was not USNR. I knew there is a F-18 squadron at Carswell - at least was last October when I was last on the base.

The USMC-R squadron has been passed in Dallas/Fort Worth since 1946. They flew the F-4 during my time in Dallas, transition to the F-18 just after I retired.

https://www.marforres.marines.mil/Major-Subordinate-Commands/4th-Marine-Aircraft-Wing/Marine-Aircraft-Group-41/Marine-Fighter-Attack-Squadron-112/

Squadron address is listed as:
1403 BOYINGTON RD
NAS JRB FORT WORTH, TX 76127

More information https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VMFA-112

I responded in the other thread but airliners.net is not the greatest place to get the answers you're looking for. Go to airwarriors.com, it'll give you a much better starting point, at least for the USN and USMC. Maybe USAF but there are probably better sites for that branch.

If you want a fighter guarantee, as far as I know (I know a lot but I don't know everything) your best and probably ONLY bet is an Air Force Reserve or Guard squadron since you apply to the squadron directly

I'm 99.99% sure there is NO way to GUARANTEE a jet spot in the USN/USNR, 99% sure there is no guarantee for jets in the USMC or reserves, 90% sure no guarantee for active duty USAF, and 100% sure for the Army and Coast Guard (since they don't have jets)

I don't want to trample your dreams, but even if you prepare now and bust your ass for years and do excellently at flight school, there is a large chance you won't get jets. I'm not saying give up on your dream, just go in with that in mind. Be happy to fly no matter what you get.

Lastly, not sure what you mean about "getting to see any action," but make sure your priorities are straight. If you want to go in to kill people or be a war hero, you really need to rethink life. I know a lot of pilots that have killed people, they don't go around bragging about it. They hardly ever mention it. Go jets because you want to be the best, to challenge yourself, to make a difference, not to live a video game

Maybe that's not what you meant, just wanted to address it, just in case

DeltaMD90 wrote:

If you want a fighter guarantee, as far as I know (I know a lot but I don't know everything) your best and probably ONLY bet is an Air Force Reserve or Guard squadron since you apply to the squadron directly

In the past, obtaining an undergraduate pilot training slot from a USAF Guard or Reserve unit that flies fighters doesn't guarantee that you will be qualified to fly fighters. There are many instances of those ANG types, after completing primary phase in the T-6 or T-37, weren't fighter qualified. Then they had some options to include, finding a guard/reserve transport unit and try for acceptance or just going active duty to fly transports. I don't think that policy has changed much.

To second what RetiredWeasel stated, I was a T-38 IP at REE in the late '70s and early '80s and also a Flight Commander there. I can remember several cases of Guard guys going who were supposed to go to a fighter and couldn't get FAR (fighter, attack and recce) qualified. We had one student who came real close to being asked to leave because he couldn't get a heavy slot. Finally, there were some strings pulled and he got a C-130 to CRW The Maryland Guard (BWI) got involved as he was supposed to go to an A-10. Of course, it could work the other way, but I never had that happen. To be honest, he shouldn't have gotten through Tweets. But that is another story. Although it was fairly uncommon, we did have students washout who were Guard/AFRES pilots. It can really happen to anyone.

I took in several non-FAR qual’d guys to fly the C-5. A guy in the class ahead of me at UPT was non-FAR qual’d, State AG got him thru and assigned to a C-130 unit.

GalaxyFlyer wrote:

I’ve never of a transfer from AFRC or ANG to USNR flying billets. I’ve seen many go the other direction. USNR flying is a pretty small community.

Watch this vid. He went from AFRC F-16s to USNR F-18s, and back to AFRC T-38s. https://youtu.be/jXxnocjj3gk

rfields5421 wrote:

I was surprised it was not USNR. I knew there is a F-18 squadron at Carswell - at least was last October when I was last on the base.

The F-18s at Carswell belong to VMFA-112, a USMCR squadron. The USNR Hornet squadron was the longtime reserve squadron VFA-201, but they were deactivated in 2007. Some of their aircraft went to the other reserve Hornet squadron VFA-204 in New Orleans. I remember reading that some folks felt -201 was going away and not -204 because it would of given the appearance the navy was abandoning New Orleans in the post-Katrina years.

I didn’t say it was impossible, just I hadn’t heard of it. The USN has trained exchange pilots for USAF and foreign militaries. Thanks for the link. I had an enlisted engineer who’d been in the Army, Navy and AF, but I wouldn’t plan my career that way.

There’s a whole four fighter squadrons in the USNR and 1 in the USMCR, compared to 7 times that between the ANG and AFRC.