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Old 11-10-2020, 20:30   #9
Astronomy
Quiet Professional
 
Join Date: Feb 2012
Posts: 492
Across 35 years in Army SOF (32 of them in SF), I never encountered a former military aviator in SF Operational ranks. Plenty of folks with private pilot licenses, but no former military aviators assigned. Only current Army Aviators back when we had SF Flight Detachments assigned to Groups. Something that went permanently away back in the 1980s.

Conversely, I've known more than a few former SF enlisted who successfully went the Aviation Warrant route from SF. Both fixed wing and rotary wing.

Frankly, the level of aviation & space experience you'd bring to an ODA/ODB (both as a flyer and an operational planner) wouldn't really matter. Not as a former Aviation Warrant/Captain newly minted SF from the SFQC. Because nobody would be asking you for that kind of contribution.

We have tons of very experienced Logisticians, Planners, Technicians, & Operations officers who Jointly support SOF operations. Senior Warrants & Field Grades. At everything from Task Force to Theater levels. Organic, Attached, or in Direct Support. Supported by scads of experienced NCOs.

If we need anyone from SPACECOM to deliver 500 tons from orbit to outfit a proxy indig force... we already have access to that kind of enabling support. At tactical, operational, and strategic levels.

Nothing you bring to the table as a prior company grade aviation officer is really going to matter much down at ODA level. Outside of some professionally nuanced appreciation for CAS, weather conditions, trivia about a specific platform you flew, or DZ/LZ/HLZ considerations. Most of which is already understood (in terms of practical application) by non-aviator folks on an ODA.

Aviation isn't really rocket science down at Team Level. We coordinate for air support and the airplane/s or cargo arrive. Some Junior 18E or JTAC runs out and yells "Boss, Boss... de Plane, de Plane!". Then we either board, unload, un-ass, enslave their ISR feed, or drop munitions de jour.

You either want an 18A job... or you don't. If you want to fly (or enter the ground floor of an ever widening Space Force career)... do that instead. Do it well.

Regardless of your degree program, what's best suited for the SF Officer job is a solid background in Combat Arms. Preferably Infantry. Alternatively an SF Support Branch MOS billet while you await your Year Group turn-at-bat for SFAS. Extra Credit for seeking a commissioned tour at 75th Rangers, 160th SOAR, etc.

While team members will certainly respect a highly technical background, few such backgrounds translate well on an ODA. Not in terms of useful practicality on the ground. Notable exceptions being degreed linguistic or cross-cultural skills. A degree in physics means you're certifiably intelligent. But a degree in French or Chinese language studies makes you valuable in a more practical sense.

Sorry, just the way it is.

Peregrino already spelled things out for you. Giving you the perspective of an experienced Senior SF Officer.

My perspective is that of mere SF Enlisted Swine, but I've been involved in the care & feeding of more than a few SF Captains.

Were I entertaining ROTC commissioning and a theoretical path to 18A... I'd also be calculating a viable road to assignment at 75th Rangers. As an Infantry Platoon Leader. A truly excellent proving ground for a future 18A.

Let me see if I've got the correct read on your situation...

1. You're currently in college
2. You're possibly IRR (fulfilling remainder of prior enlistment reserve obligation)
3. You are going to join a Guard Aviation unit (SMP)
4. You are not yet in a contracted ROTC program
5. You haven't completed your undergraduate degree
6. You plan on a PhD program in the future
7. You have technical space-centric experience/employment (outside of school)
8. You imagine you'd like to go back to the military as an officer
9. You want to do the Aviation WOC thing and become a pilot
10. You think you'd like to eventually be an SF 18A

Numbers 6 & 7 (if true) will contribute little to your commissioned accession into Special Forces, but might open key assignment doors somewhere down the road.

Number 9 (if pursued to fruition) will likely close your door to Number 10. For a whole host of reasons, but basically boiling down to 1) By that time, you won't want to and 2) the Army won't want you to.

Right now, I don't think you really know what you truly want. But you've proposed a highly ambitious list of goals. You might want to plan on staying single for awhile.

Good Luck.

Last edited by Astronomy; 11-10-2020 at 20:48.
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