Guard/Reserve Aerial Gunner

[Sickbay Commando]

Does anyone know how often Guard/Reservist gunners fly other than their nomal drill weekends?

[Rotor Strike please]

We do 6 to make 4, plus the weekend. So, we bid out 6 days that we are available to fly a month, then the schedulers set us up to fly 4 of those days. Also have to do the weekend UTA. That's the 301st Rescue Squadron, AF Reserves policy. Others may vary as needed. It can be negotiated if you have a REAL good reason. If you don't have the availability to do this plus a bunch of time up front to get qual'd, then you don't need to be doing this job. It's not for you.

Per your location, I'd suggest asking FireGunner about his time. He's from out your way. I would guess that as a cop, you'd be capable of doing the time. Our guys that are LEO's seem to make it happen.

[Fire-Gunner]

After mission qual, you can probably expect to fly twice a week, depending on airframe availability. Moffett requires 120 days of active duty following completion of mission qual for seasoning purposes, so you would be on active duty for an extra 4 months whether you're flying or not.

As you get more experience under your belt, there's less time that you're required to be there. There are minimum currencies to maintain, but the more you fly, the better gunner you'll be.

There were quite a few of us when I was there that were either firemen, cops, or feds. That seems to be a large part of the demographic of the career field in Guard/Reserve rescue units.