#175 National Guard vs Civilian route for Helicopter Pilot

Hey, it's day 175. Coffee with Kenny. Hot day. But I'm still drinking coffee. I know it seems kind of crazy. People say it all the time. And I say, well, you know, I've also heard people say that a good hot cup of coffee can actually cool you off on a hot day. I don't know. I'm drinking it regardless. It's afternoon, so this video is coming out later than normal with us because we met our detail guy today. Come in, put one more shiny coat on the beautiful instrument. God, that thing is sexy for 1983. He makes it look so good. And I got an old boat here that I've been messing with as my hobby in my part time. He just put a spit shine on that thing. Brought an old 1991 Bayliner back to life. Live within your means, right? It was pretty cheap. I didn't pay a lot for it. So. Welcome to day 175. Copy with Kenny. And I'm going to get to a question from a HOGS member and I'm going to read it right to you. And this is about helicopter pilot career and using the National Guard as a way to further her career. I believe it's from Eva and let's just get right to it. Well, first I did, a few weeks ago or a month or two ago, I did one about going into the military in general. Right. So we have covered that. But this being National Guard, it's just a little bit different. And there's a different area of this question that wasn't covered in that first video. So. Hello, Kenny. I'm a HOG subscriber and I love watching coffee with Kenny. Thank you very much. We do it every day. This is day 175. If I may, I'd like to ask you for advice. I'm currently working on my commercial license and I know it will take a decent amount of time due to financial struggles. Everybody does. Most everybody. Anyway, I started looking into joining the National Guard. However, I'm not getting very objective advice. Recruiters say, absolutely do it. Of course they do. And that's the same thing we hear with military. I will restate what I said in the earlier video. Over the years, I've heard many people come back after going into the military where they're upset later because they didn't get to fly. They were promised and then it never happened. And I'm just calling it like I see it now. I know there's a lot of military pilots out there in the industry flying and especially in ems I flew with a lot of military pilots. So the military can be a great route. Right. Don't get me wrong, I'm not bashing our military. We love our military. Right. And our country wouldn't be great without our military. But we hear of people that go into the military and don't get the training and a personal friend of mine who I don't think would tell me a lie, went into the army to fly helicopters and he came out six years later and he got to work in the parts department and he's the one that first told me that he was very disappointed. So you hear that question a lot, Right. So I'm sure we're going to get some of that, some of that same feedback on this. So back to the question. However, I'm not getting objective advice. Recruiters say absolutely, do it. Sure. Civilians or retired friends say no way, don't do it. The six year commitment is okay by me. Okay. So there are people that come out and say it was a good thing. Right. So you're going to get that, you're going to get that from both sides. Right. Any of these things that we talk about, we're just trying to give you our advice. It does always boil down to any one individual what's right for them. But just to try to give some insight and because this is a National Guard question, I think that is a little bit different than just going into the military. Right. And you can all put your comments down below and tell me if I'm not right. I'm just guessing from this part of it. I am not prior military, so I can only repeat the things that I've heard. So I'm not trying to be an expert on that subject. We are looking to your input and your advice. Again, I'm not bashing the military in any way. Right. I would never ever do that. The six year commitment is okay by me. I understand it's a very hard and strenuous training. That's okay as well. But do you have any experience on how much time you have to spend away from your family? That's what I wanted to touch on. I'm not military, but I think regardless of when you're going to become a helicopter pilot, that's part of it is being away from your family. That's going to be a hard choice and that's something that you're going to have to deal with whether it's civilian or military. I think most of you can agree with me there. Becoming a helicopter pilot is not an easy road and the civilian road, you're probably going to be traveling and being away from home and the same thing with military. And to get my career going, I worked out of state for quite a few years and I had even had a new baby, my daughter. Now I spent a lot of time with her because of the time I missed when she was younger, but I did it for my career and was it selfish for me at the time, I don't know. I can now provide a decent life for us now that she's older. But I was gone a lot when she was little and that was hard and that really sucked. So any one individual, you got to take that part into consideration. Right? I usually get it depends kind of what I just said. However, considering the fact that my fiance and I are planning a baby soon, I'm seeking a bit more precise answer. I'd be happy for any advice or insight you could share with me on this subject, Bess. And thank you for all your work, Eva. So I know you want a concrete answer and I wish I could give it to you, but I can't. And I wish I could give you a more precise answer. It does kind of go back to the it depends. It really has to be in your heart, in your soul, what you want to do. And I know what I do want to add to this video versus the first one is it seems like I've sure I've ran into plenty of military pilots that that was their route and it's great and they get out in the industry and they're working. No real complaint there. I've heard complaints about trying to get going to the military and then coming out and never getting to be a helicopter pilot, but I don't really hear that as far as the National Guard. And I know from my experience there are a lot of guys and girls that are out there flying in the helicopter industry that are National Guard pilots. So I know there are a lot of them out there. So people do make that choice. And just saying I haven't heard the negativity against the National Guard like I've heard against the military. Okay, again, don't bash me. I'm not bashing the military. I'm repeating what I hear. So it seems to me from what I've heard In the last 20 years, I really don't hear them complaining about the National Guard helping them with their career or not giving them what they promised could be just oddball thing that you know for me in just my area or is it more prevalent? This is a video where we Want your feedback? We want to help EVA out this helicopter land ground school member. And we're looking to those of you who have flown in the National Guard or have or currently flying in the National Guard. Has it helped you? Has it helped you? And you know, going back to the family part of it, man, it's a tough one. But what do you want to do with your life? Right? And I would never encourage somebody to be away from their family. I did it early in my career and I almost want to say I had to, I didn't have to, right. I could have stayed home and done something else, but the job that I had was good for my career. It gave me the experience I needed to keep moving my career forward. And you know, this beautiful helicopter right here, one of my close friends, Dr. Nick, we got it all shined up for him because getting ready to go back home. You know, he was one of my very first students 20 years ago and to this day, one of my closest personal friends. I met him from that out of state job and a lot of my really close personal friends are from that out of state job. I don't get to see him much anymore, but I made so many connections out there that helped my, not only my career long, but on a personal level, so many of my good friends are from that first job. So I think for this individual, the being away part, that's going to happen either way. I would think that maybe there might be an advantage to the National Guard depending on how that works for you. God, I just, I wish I could give you more insight on that. Again, put your comments down below and let us what you think, those of you that have experienced that, been there, done that, this is where we need your help with this video. I can pose the question and I can give an answer to the best of my ability, but that's all I can really do. So not bash the military. Thank you to our military and for those of you that's had great careers coming out of the military, that is awesome. Like I said, I know a lot of people that have just been disappointed because it didn't turn out the way that they would, the way it was planned or they were promised. So kind of a choppy there video, choppy video today. But I'm just trying to spit this out and try to give good advice without knowing exactly what to say. So like subscribe. Put your comments down below. Let's help Eva kind of figure out which direction she wants to take with this career path and we wish the best of luck to her and so put your feedback down below so like and subscribe to the channel so you can be notified of our daily video when you subscribe. Click that little little bell down below. It's hot in here. It's a Saturday. It wouldn't normally be here, but came in to meet our detail guy and instruments getting ready to go home for the summer. But Dr. Nick needs his baby back, right? Love that machine. She'll be back. Alright. Thanks for tuning in. Day 175 like subscribe and we will see you in day 176. Put your comments down below and give us your thoughts on the National Guard question.