OCONUS ISR Jobseeker

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Woody998

Filing Flight Plan
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Feb 21, 2023
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Woody
Long-time reader, first time poster. Spank me if I did something wrong.

I'm interested in doing OCONUS ISR work. I've applied to a couple of jobs. I'm a newbie so I can't post the links but one was a UN Mali Cessna 208 position on MAG's website and the other was SIC on a Dash-8 that DynamicAviation posted. Haven't heard anything back yet.

I'm a previous USAF fighter guy (F-35s), Honorable Conditions discharge, TS/SCI Full-up, with about 750 hours of mostly single engine. Last job used a lot of ELINT, E/O IR, airborne sensors and such. I had spoken with AFSOC PC-12 guys when I was in and the ISR mission-set seems like something I would be good at and enjoy.

Does anyone know how I can be successful in entering this career? I don't know anyone in this business but I'm motivated to get a foot in the door.

Thanks fellas.
 
Check private messages.
 
Woody998 said:
Long-time reader, first time poster. Spank me if I did something wrong.

I'm interested in doing OCONUS ISR work. I've applied to a couple of jobs. I'm a newbie so I can't post the links but one was a UN Mali Cessna 208 position on MAG's website and the other was SIC on a Dash-8 that DynamicAviation posted. Haven't heard anything back yet.

I'm a previous USAF fighter guy (F-35s), Honorable Conditions discharge, TS/SCI Full-up, with about 750 hours of mostly single engine. Last job used a lot of ELINT, E/O IR, airborne sensors and such. I had spoken with AFSOC PC-12 guys when I was in and the ISR mission-set seems like something I would be good at and enjoy.

Does anyone know how I can be successful in entering this career? I don't know anyone in this business but I'm motivated to get a foot in the door.

Thanks fellas.
Click to expand...

You've pretty much got all the ingredients for any of the ISR jobs already. I'm awaiting an interview for a Reaper pilot position and it took 4 tries, and throwing literally everything at the application with cover letter, pilot certs, medical cert, and DD214 before I got a call back. Check any of the job boards (indeed, clearancejobs, jsfirm, etc.) and search OCONUS. There are always a few listings on there. Also check the company websites, Matrea, Bighorn Airways, Berry Aviation, MAG, etc.
 
Overseas intel, surveillance, and reconnaissance collection.
 
Did that job market pick back up? It took a good thumping from the Afghan withdrawal.
 
Woody998 said:
…I don't know anyone in this business but I'm motivated to get a foot in the door...
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Interesting move. Why go from fat amy to crewed ops?
 
Todd82 said:
Did that job market pick back up? It took a good thumping from the Afghan withdrawal.
Click to expand...

Not really but there are still some positions available out there
 
Probably gonna have to have significant multi time unless you can get a PC12 spot. I work with a guy who flew ISR with MAG and he flys C-12s in the NG. Another friend flew 350s for L3 and he also flew RC-12s active. Most of those positions are former RC guys and special ops guys who know one another.
 
What’s the end game goal? Airlines? AGR?

You have a great resume just not a lot of time. Have you looked into Guard/Reserve jobs while your quals are still hot, even other fighter units?

I know of Reaper units hiring with those skills, but if the end game is the airlines then you definitely don’t want RPA’s since the time doesn’t count towards flight time for airline quals.
 
TCABM said:
Interesting move. Why go from fat amy to crewed ops?
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That's THE question, from here in lurker section. There's a backstory, OP might not be interested in diving publicly on it which is fine. But inside baseball, this pivot isn't career standard in the least, especially with presumed recency in 5th gen 11F. There's a backstory, and the only one that I've seen in recent past is medical (ejection seat DQ). The others are not as charitable, good bad or indifferent.

As to ISR OCONUS, that market dried up significantly with the upticjk in airline hiring but most importantly, the AFG make-work fraud waste and abuse campaign ended.
 
hindsight2020 said:
… There's a backstory, and the only one that I've seen in recent past is medical (ejection seat DQ). The others are not as charitable, good bad or indifferent.
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Yeah, and I’m not judging the OP. We got some real good ALOs the were seat DQ’d or had admin issues and we got some with no med/phys baggage who were deadweight.

Were I him, I’d be rushing the 28th IS.
 
Had a Norwegian student who was an F-16 DQ for his neck. Rockstar. Stick buddy was a T-38 washout and was solid as well.
 
Call Metrea in Oklahoma City. Used to be called Meta Special Airspace (MSA) until Mark Zuckerberg took issue. Before that Commuter Air Technologies (CAT). They operate King Airs set up like PC-12s.
 
Since nobody mentioned it, Berry Aviation. I think you have to know somebody though.
 
TCABM said:
Since nobody mentioned it, Berry Aviation. I think you have to know somebody though.
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I did, but that would also explain why I never heard back from them.
 
Ed Haywood said:
Call Metrea in Oklahoma City. Used to be called Meta Special Airspace (MSA) until Mark Zuckerberg took issue. Before that Commuter Air Technologies (CAT). They operate King Airs set up like PC-12s.
Click to expand...

I missed out on applying with them by a day for a King Air SIC position they had listed. They were doing OPS out of Gulfport for a while as part of a joint exercise somewhere along the coast, got to talk to a couple of the guys a few times. Saw a listing on their website but it was gone the next day when I had everything together for the application :mad: Have everything saved where it's accessible now.
 
Sierra_Hotel said:
I missed out on applying with them by a day for a King Air SIC position they had listed. They were doing OPS out of Gulfport for a while as part of a joint exercise somewhere along the coast, got to talk to a couple of the guys a few times. Saw a listing on their website but it was gone the next day when I had everything together for the application :mad: Have everything saved where it's accessible now.
Click to expand...
My company was the prime for that exercise for 4 years. They were a subk to us. Great outfit. Exercise is still going on twice a year. AFAIK they are still flying it. They are the vendor of choice for several SOF components. Their pay is crazy high for flying in circles.

That being said, current war fighting priorities are focused on more hostile airspace, where that kind of ISR is not survivable.

It's all about UAVs, loitering munitions, and precision standoff munitions now. Ukraine is changing the face of warfare as we speak. Why fly CAS when you can hover a toy drone over a tactical target and feed coordinates to a GPS guided artillery round with a CEP of 5 feet? I watched video yesterday of a Russian soldier in a trench getting hit IN THE CHEST by a 155 round. Insane precision. The Ukes are rigging up SDBs and JDAMs to ground launched rockets for deeper strikes.

But all that has to get integrated into much more complex strike and air defense environments. If I were the OP I would start hitting the big and small contractors in that space. Try to get on a product development team.
 
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I lied, I apparently assumed it was a Reaper pilot position I applied for, but went back and looked and airframe was never listed anywhere, I guess I picked it up off another listing. Interview was for an MQ-1C Grey Eagle pilot position. Despite maxing out the PCSM score for Air Force Reserve no one wants to give age waivers anymore for UPT slots, so looks like this is my best opportunity to potentially get back into uniform. Let's see where this path leads.
 
Looks like Matrea finally added a Pilot Vacancies button on their careers page. Nothing helpful to OP at the moment, though.
 
Ed Haywood said:
…Why fly CAS when you can hover a toy drone over a tactical target and feed coordinates to a GPS guided artillery round with a CEP of 5 feet? I watched video yesterday of a Russian soldier in a trench getting hit IN THE CHEST by a 155 round. Insane precision. The Ukes are rigging up SDBs and JDAMs to ground launched rockets for deeper strikes.

But all that has to get integrated into much more complex strike and air defense environments...
Click to expand...
X2. Huge reason why the AF TACP space is evolving for second time in 3 years. Possibilities are mind blowing.
 
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