Greetings - long time lurker, first time poster!

I did a search and didn't come up with anything, so excuse me if this has been covered and I just didn't see it.

I am a Navy Reserve officer interested in joining/entering the Air Force Reserve. I was told that the age limit for officers is not a "constructed" age, with prior military time being subtracted from your actual age like it is for enlisted.

My question is: has anyone ever received a waiver for this and become an officer, anyway? I am 41 with 2 and a half years as an officer, 4 as enlisted. I would even be willing to resign my commission and enlist if there were a possibility of a shot at getting the waiver that way, since I know some things get easier if you're already in a certain service branch. Would the ANG be any different from the Air Force Reserve (haven't looked into that one yet)?

In truth, I may end up enlisting anyway, for various reasons - one being that the job I was commissioned to do in the Navy is going away and another being that my first military "exposure" was as a young CAP cadet and I ended up taking another path; I'd like to get back to the atmosphere I've been missing for...oh...25 years or so .

However, before I cut my drill pay nearly in half (no, it's not "about the money", but that's a big cut, especially if I get deployed and have to try and match my civvie pay), I'd like to research all options.

I was initially interested in OSI (I am a civilian federal agent), but it looks like you guys have many interesting things to choose from, so I'm flexible in that respect.

Any and all opinions on this - both the age waiver possibility and my tentative "plan" would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

Age waivers are possible but it is usually up to the unit that you will be assigned to. I would go talk with an AFR recruiter and see what all of your options are.

If you don't like the job you have been trained to do then it is a possibility that the AFR will retrain you to another career field, even as an officer.

Thanks - I appreciate the reply.

I figured they were *possible* and assumed they'd be of a command-discretionary nature, but wanted to make sure it wasn't some known impossibility before I started asking recruiters.

Of course, I spoke with the AFR officer recruiter this morning, and that person simply said I was too old - no mention of any waiver possibility at all. It was kind of a hurried conversation (they were on a cell/driving) and I got the sense that something else was going on and didn't have a chance to push the waiver thing. In fairness, I don't fault them for not wanting to bring it up, though: they have a tough job to do and probably have to spend a lot more time with a "waiver person" than with someone who doesn't need one.

So then I went to the ANG website and chatted with a person there who took my info and said they'd have a recruiter call me. They didn't bat an eye at my age, so maybe the ANG has different standards...or maybe it's just easier to get a waiver there. I don't know.

As of right now, I'm researching an Operations Intelligence position in my area, which seems very close to Navy intel.

Thanks again for the info, Msgt.!

The hinge here is that if you're over the age limit for appointment (O-1=35, O-2=34, O-3=40 O-4=46, All with service credit criteria as well) there really are no waivers available. It would be elevated to an exception to policy - which are very rare. The other aggravating part about this, is even before you got to that point, you'd have to find a unit that would be willing to hire you, and they would have to have a vacant position to block you into.

It's a pretty tough nut to crack.

Hopefully the guard will be able to help you out.

Good Luck!

quote:

Hopefully the guard will be able to help you out.

Thanks MSGT. That's the tree I'm trying to bark up right now. Frustrating thing is that I think I *may* have gotten a message from a ANG recruiter, but he or she must have been on a cell phone and was breaking up - or it's the fault of my crappy answering service - so there was not enough message to decipher

So now I've found the office phone number and I'm just going to call them directly.

Thanks again, everyone, for all for the replies.

First, if you resign your commission it creates a lot more problems. I think the Guard might be best to get in the door as you are a 02 at most, there should be lieutenant slots open in a lot of areas, pick a unit close to your home to make it easier for commuting purposes. Good luck!

quote:

Originally posted by Finnegan99:

quote:

Hopefully the guard will be able to help you out.

Thanks MSGT. That's the tree I'm trying to bark up right now. Frustrating thing is that I think I *may* have gotten a message from a ANG recruiter, but he or she must have been on a cell phone and was breaking up - or it's the fault of my crappy answering service - so there was not enough message to decipher

So now I've found the office phone number and I'm just going to call them directly.

Thanks again, everyone, for all for the replies.

Thanks Rockriver (and everyone else),

That's kind of what I did. I found that one of the things I'm qualified to do happens to be one of the posted "Hot Jobs" on the ANG website for many different units around the country, including one in my state.

So I e-mailed my resume to one of the ANG recruiters and got a call back. She's going to send it to the CO and XO of the unit and says the next step will be getting a call from them about meeting for an interview. I'm pretty excited at the possibility.

I'd be interested to hear from anyone else who's entered the ANG via this process - it seems very "civilianized," but also seems like it would be a very proactive/effective way of getting the people they need. And thanks again for the advice, everyone!