For anyone thinking of being a helicopter pilot, I would say go Air
Force, and if youre high speed AFSOC. I got out as a UH60 Pilot
in 2004 and now work in the industry and I got to say, its night and
day versus AF and Army/NG, with the army/NG still in the dark
ages. The
army has 4000+ helicopters it can't afford, whereas the AF has 200 and
has more funding. Even though the AF treats its helicopter pilots
like 2rd class citizens, they still wear the same wings so they get
some support, the army treats its helicopter pilots like 3rd class
citizens and make it hard as hell to get parts. An HH-60G is an older
airframe than most Lima model hawks, but the readiness rates are far
better, their engines are better maintained and they are more
complicated with AR probes, avionics, etc. Go to any line unit in
the army and you'll have a bunch of aircraft circle red x'd, with some
only allowed to fly in VMC conditions only due to lack of parts.
A commissioned
officer in the air force will have a 10 year career progression of
Ops/Staff/Ops and will outfly an Army Warrant who does a 10 year
Ops/Ops/Ops by about 500 hours, and on top of it, will get paid
better. The AF gives its pilots the pubs/maps-JOGAirs they need,
the army will give you a website to download the .pdf file (if
available) and may supply the paper and toner to print it out. If
you get your hands on any paper pubs as an army pilot, hide it like
gold. The Airforce does a better job with Life support equipment
and has dedicated locker rooms/space for your equipment, and you know
the stuff will work. In an army line unit, you may get a beat up
locker in your orderly room or hallway. The airforce does a
better job weeding out the ones who can't hack it with a far more
stressful testing/training regimen, and does a flight screening prior
to UPT, the army will nurse a weak student until he/she graduates
and who might possibly end up on the last page of Flightfax as a Class
A writeup. An AF helicopter pilot hits his first squadron with
about 240 flight hours under his belt. An army helicopter pilot
arrives at his unit, even under Flight school 21 with about 120-140
hours, and from past experience, about 50% are seriously deficient in
flying, not from lack of effort on their part but from lack of effort
on the army's. Believe it or not, I'm not bitter, I was proud to
be 'Hawk pilot, but I wanted to give whoever
wants to be a helicopter pilot a side by side comparison, if you
can.