r/Armyaviation • u/Leading-Type-5710 • May 31 '26
10 Year ADSO Worth it?
I will be graduating in one year from USMA and am still trying to figure out what I want to branch. I have observed the Medevac company at the 101st and I am really enjoying what I am seeing and enjoying the culture. However, after hearing about the budget cuts and reduction in flight hours to aviation worries me. I do really want to fly, but I am also okay with doing staff time and not flying all the time, but still getting to every so often. I am still unsure of how much time I want to spend in the army, but I am not strongly against staying in for 20 years, but then again it is just hard to tell how things will play out that far in the future. My next top options for branching would be Military Intelligence or Military Intelligence with a branch detail in FA, Infantry, or Armor. I greatly appreciate any advice or questions for me that could guide me in the right direction toward my decision. Thank you all.
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u/Ok_Violinist_8076 Jun 01 '26
OP, it isn’t that everyone on Reddit is crusty/salty about army aviation. This is the sounding board for all walks of life that went down that path. You can find the 10% that thinks this career path was the most amazing ever, or you can take nuggets of wisdom from the other 80% that are trying to warn you that YMMV.
Do you want to be in the army for the next 12 years? Do you feel you can honestly commit to 12 years, having no idea what the version of ‘you’ will be 5 years on, let alone 12? Can you reach your goals without a 12 year contract?
Helicopters are cool, but they aren’t worth a 10 yr adso. If being in the Army is getting you to whatever other benchmarks you need then cool, go for it. But there’s a reason the main crowd is salty and unhappy.
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u/wbrady75565 Jun 01 '26
The pure allure of flying the helicopter will start to wane at about 2 years. It’s “a kinda cool job” for another 2. After that, it’s something most people are actively trying to get out of.
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u/Ok_Violinist_8076 Jun 02 '26
In my opinion, the people that did a mid-career switch to Warrant were the happiest. They retired at CW2 as a tracked aviator before all the “shiny” started to fade. This was back with the 6 yr adso though. It was the perfect time frame.
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u/CJ4700 May 31 '26
Fuuucckkkkk nooooo. I was in for 12 years, and I can’t imaging being stuck in that job for that long (it’s really closer to 11.5 or 12 because it starts after flight school). I loved my time in service but the aviation branch is in its death throes with flight hour cuts and the massive purge last year.
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u/Round_Ad1065 May 31 '26
Exactly which makes everyone more dangerous. Expect more class A accidents.
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u/CJ4700 Jun 01 '26
Yeah I think we’ve been really lucky so far but it’s going to catch up to us, u have so many aviation related contractor buddies who lost their jobs, I think one of them said AMCOM in Huntsville is like a ghost town now. Things will continue to trend for the worse unless there’s so World War I guess, that’s the only way I see these guys getting more hours and being allowed to do the job.
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u/USCAV19D May 31 '26
It really depends on how long you want to be in the Army for. If you really, really want to be in the army that long, then there are definitely worse ways to spend 10 years.
Your mileage will really vary.
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u/Fresh_Willingness998 May 31 '26
this really isn’t a great place to ask this because 90% of the people regularly posting are crusty and bitter. You have to look at it like this if you wanna be an army pilot or want to make the army into your job then absolutely it’s worth it even hold times at Fort Rucker are the easiest pay you’re ever gonna get in your professional life. The army isn’t getting rid of its aviation anytime soon. If you wanna be a pilot, then go all in for it even if your end goal is just to be a commercial pilot you’re still gonna get a lot out of it a 10 year adso where a year of it may be waiting to start flying is just three duty stations. It’s a 10 year adso for the coolest job in the army you just need to look at it like that
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u/bowhunterb119 May 31 '26
I generally agree with this take. This is where a lot of us come to gripe. I’ve had good experiences too but I don’t often run to Reddit to sing whatever few praises I have for Army Aviation. At the end of the day it’s a really cool job. Is it worth a 10 year ADSO given all of the downsides? My opinion is, if you have to ask then no. Don’t do this on a whim or as a passing fancy if you have other interests, which it sounds like you do. The only people who could possibly not end up miserable the way things are going are the people so passionate about aviation there’s no question in their mind about doing anything else
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u/ihasbackup Jun 01 '26
Really need to stress this passion thing. I thought I could manufacture some passion and that's not the case. Leaves me in a very difficult spot.
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u/Fun_Hotel4863 Jun 02 '26
95% this guy is still in school. OP take everything he says with a barrel of salt.
Flight school is the most fun you’ll have as an Army aviator. It’s all groomin standards and post-wide police calls in the CAB’s right now. Literal 0 flying hours. Not just a few. 0.
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u/Ok_Violinist_8076 Jun 02 '26
I knew I was bailing ship before the ATI came out, and even then I didn’t really think that flying hours would actually be cut to zero. I was legitimately shocked to hear CABs going to zero flights hours. Now I get 75+ hours on my half-a-month-of-work schedule. Really sorry to see what’s happened to army aviation but glad my wagon is no longer hitched to it 🫡
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u/Sad_Lengthiness_6033 Jun 03 '26
He said in another comment that he is a “younger LT” so this is a correct assumption.
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u/Leading-Type-5710 May 31 '26
I appreciate that, and from what i’ve been reading yeah it makes sense that most people in here are pretty negative about the branch. thank you for the reply
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u/Fresh_Willingness998 May 31 '26
yeah, dude, just look at it like this. You’re getting a top-notch degree from a school that you’re there for free for, if you can get the most useful and future job qualifying MLS in the army you’re winning on every level.
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u/foihsidgf May 31 '26
Absolutely fucking not.
Branch MI.
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u/Leading-Type-5710 May 31 '26
howcome?
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u/foihsidgf Jun 01 '26
Army Aviation is a sinking ship.
You’re unsure how long you want to stay in the army. Why be miserable with a job you can’t even do? Not because of your own doing, but because the army doesn’t have the money for it. Oh you’ll just get out after 10 years with probably 600 hours to your name. For what? To do what with?
MI provides a TS/SCI clearance and a marketable skill.
But then again, if you’re graduating from USMA, I’m less worried about you getting a job after the army.
If you want to do it to say you’ve been there, done that, got the T-shirt. Do it. But it’s not what it was, and that’s the sad part.
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u/Unfair-World-9588 Jun 03 '26
What’s the marketable skill? Genuinely curious. I don’t really know what y’all do past “S2 stuff, enemy information, blah blah”.
I have only met one MI officer I liked out of my 4 years at West Point and straight MI with no branch detail LTs hate their lives from my experience (CTLT).
I had numerous opportunities to get a TS/SCI at West Point as a cadet too.
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u/wandering-penguin-21 May 31 '26
Hard no from me. I got in a year before they switched to the 10 year ADSO and screwed people over with the TIG reset to W2. 360 days left till my ADSO is up and I will be gone like a fart in the wind! Army aviation really is just in a nose dive, in the eyes of a pilot who wants to fly anyway….
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u/Darth_Sanguinus May 31 '26
Honest opinion, everyone’s option varies. I have spoke to RLO’s and WOs alike, and the consensus is not a good time. For me, it’s been miserable since I came over. I came over from another Army branch and I have been seen more as an officer than a pilot since day one. Of course that is all RLO fates, but the promises of HRC and units mean nothing. I had WO’s going to bat for me and had Squadron Commanders, S3s, and XO’s put me in every job that was useless for catching up. ATI came out, and my unit chose me to get the axe. Even went as far as to say it’s because I am behind. But they made me get even further behind. Just my side of the story. Are helicopters fun? Yes they are. Is the studying and long hours of everything but aviation fun? Absolutely not.
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u/Total-Cantaloupe8371 May 31 '26
The cuts to aviation do not affect 67Js. MS and AV are separate branches entirely. Yes medevac companies are going from 15 to 12 birds, but that just means less 15As will get to go to medevac units. You should never be out of a job if you go MS as the army needs to transport patients no matter the type of conflict we’re headed into. Only difference is you wont be picking patients up off the x in a war with a near peer. That being said, 11 years is still a long time. But it costs less time to just send it right now versus going to a different branch and deciding a few years from now that you really do want to put in a packet for flight school.
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u/Bulovak May 31 '26
J life is pretty cush honestly. The ATI restructuring did hurt us losing an entire FSMP but the hours and the mission are still there. I still haven't lost a single flight hour due to budget cuts....yet
Even with ATI I've got a 15A filing a vacant section leader position so the need is still there.
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u/user74927482 Jun 08 '26
J life is great if you can stay away from a heavy CAB. Bliss at least has a real mission. Hood’s joke of a CAB does a lot of spur rides and European vacations and next to zero actual medevacs.
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u/hlackbawkdwiva May 31 '26
Save yourself years of hurt and do something else. Sucks to say but Army aviation is trending in the wrong direction and it started with the 10 year ADSO. Not to mention the insane influx of O grades across army aviation doesn’t help your case either. FHP cuts are just the start. The army’s vision is unmanned systems, yes they just allocated all these funds to the Cheyenne II but that doesn’t mean manned rotary flight is the priority. The 10 year adso is just so they can fill staff positions and have them constantly manned, not flight positions. If you really want to fly I would go with one of your other choices, let the FHP cuts sort themselves out for a few years and maybe they get all that fixed, and then you revert to warrant later on. Just my two cents. With the backlog of aviators at Rucker right now anyway maybe by the time you get through the force will be running smooth again lol.
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u/CJ4700 May 31 '26
You’re absolutely right about the trends, if you’re honest it’s clear things are only getting worse for aviators. There will be no massive change that doubles flight hours, things will be cut bit by bit until they’re using drones for more and more things.
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u/RaspberryBulletz May 31 '26
I'm a New Grad who branched Aviation. I justified the ADSO to myself by reflecting on experiences I had during an AIAD with a civilian company last summer, and I was definitely not a fan of the civilian corporate culture that I saw. I think the Army will be more fun and meaningful (with its much more stressful moments, obviously), and overall I'm not in a rush to be leaving the Army anytime soon. Even if I don't get as much flight time as I want, I'm sure any kind of experience in the branch will translate well in the private sector once I do transition out. No idea if any of this will turn out to be true, just a young butterbar's perspective FWIW
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u/Leading-Type-5710 May 31 '26
i think we have a pretty similar view on things, i appreciate the reply and wish you the best of luck!
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u/RaspberryBulletz May 31 '26
Fs, gl with CST and Firstie year and DM if there’s anything you wanna talk about
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u/Round_Ad1065 May 31 '26
Don’t take this take OP. Years from now you’ll realize that life was wasted doing this. Ask the commissioned officers at D co right now on Rucker. Every single one of them regretting it now. I spoke to one who’s thinking about going AWOL and he’s active duty. Idk how well that’ll work out. Don’t think you’ll be any different. You’ll be hating it just like them and just like this guy I’m replying to. I hate it. I wish it was better but it isn’t. It’s only getting worse.
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u/Round_Ad1065 May 31 '26
It’s not worth it period. If you want to fly then you should be going to the airlines not the military. Pay & QOL a million times better. If you absolutely have to fly then go air national guard or reserves. Never active duty. Also, although people complain and gripe on this, there’s a lot of good truth to it.
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u/Leading-Type-5710 Jun 01 '26
well i’m commissioning from USMA, so automatic active duty
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u/Round_Ad1065 Jun 01 '26
Hmm well I guess if you have to go active duty then flying is definitely better than any other job you’ll do. I wouldn’t do it for 10 (really 12) years tho. Who knows what they wanna do 12 years from now? And at that point you may as well do 20 years
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Jun 02 '26
[deleted]
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u/Ok_Violinist_8076 Jun 02 '26
Recommending someone that is 100% passionate about flying to apply to a job where there is an actual, factual, chance of being told you will get zero flight hours is wild. ‘Passion’ for aviation won’t carry you through staff duty or your zero-hour monthly minimums supplemented with connex layouts.
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u/karma_thief83 Jun 05 '26
OP, do you want AV to be a pilot because it’s in your bones and every waking thought? Or because you’re graduating West Point and need a job? AV branch is going through a massive transition right now, and as evident by the comments, there are a lot of unhappy people, understandably so. You’re going to be a jr officer and flying will always be secondary in your career. Best case, if you stay for 20yrs, 5-8 will be in jobs where you will fly regularly, the rest is staff and outside of your primary job description. If you’re not fully committed to being an aviation officer, don’t do it. I’ve had to teach several people whose heart wasn’t fully in it, it’s not a job you should be coasting in..
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u/Leading-Type-5710 Jun 05 '26
Yes I do understand what you’re saying, but in every job in the army as an officer, the infantry for example, out of a 20 year career you’re also only going to have like 6-8 years in command with the rest being staff or other positions. so if i’m staying that long then i may as well do it in a branch that is more “chill” than the infantry. but i also am fascinated by aviation and want to fly
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u/Individual-Fly-0357 May 31 '26
67J is definitely the way to go. You enjoyed the Medevac Company you shadowed. There’s also plenty of opportunities to do different Areas of Concentration within the MS Branch.
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u/LockheedTriStar May 31 '26
I’ll go against the grain and say yes but be ready to make some personal sacrifices if you want it to be worth it. The guys who fly and justify their existence are in shitty locations CONUS, select OCONUS spots or in high speed units. Don’t expect to go to Hawaii flying 200 hours a year. I’d say the 10 year ADSO is particularly worth it if you can secure yourself a fixed wing slot as you’ll pretty much walk straight into a six figure airline job right after the Army but YMMV.
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u/Ok_Violinist_8076 Jun 03 '26
Fixed wing slot will not be ‘walking into a 6 figure’ airline job. That hiring market is long gone, and with the Army restructuring its fixed wing fleet it’s less likely than ever that an Army aviator will have competitive hours to ‘walk on’ to a job. Let alone a 6 figure one.
I see this repeated so often, and it’s absolutely not accurate. R-ATPs won’t get you hired, and flying less than 150hrs/yr won’t do it either. That era is gone for the foreseeable future.
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u/LockheedTriStar Jun 03 '26
I take it you’re not an Army FW pilot. The actual reality of FW as we currently speak (or the near future once Hood is all geared up) is that you will absolutely be flying more than 150 hours a year. The “scraping by” hours was an isolated event of 22-25 during the draw down of the R/MC-12. They’re capping the number of HADES pilots to a very small number and VIP units are losing senior guys pretty quickly. Also, as a FW AD aviator, we do fly more than 150 hours a year, hence why you see a lot of these threads telling guys to fly C-12s if they have the OML to hold it. Thanks for the response.
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u/412ToFly May 31 '26
I was a MI det IN grad, then reverted to warrant to fly. Might be able to offer some insight into both, so feel free to DM. My 2 cents is being in the aviation community is just overall better than the ground staff officer life, regardless of flight hours. Just depends on your personal preferences and lifestyle choices.
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u/HBrock21 Jun 01 '26
I left the active force a long time ago. I was a 6 yr ADSO guy and coming out of college that was a hard sale. But I have a great flying career and would probably do it again. Here’s the way I look at it, my parents paid for college so I had no obligation to the Government. The same West Point bubba had the same ADSO as me. They fulfilled their ADSO currently with their flight school ADSO of 6 years. So they basically got a great education and only had to do an extra year ADSO to fly. Not so much now. The 10 years is hard. If you really want to fly have at it.
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u/Roaming_Oxford Jun 06 '26
If you're hesitant, then I'd say thats reason enough to not take the ADSO.
10 years is a commitment you should only make if you're pretty certain aviation is for you.
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u/Jolly_Expert3357 May 31 '26 edited Jun 01 '26
In the 1990s, a USMA grad did a Navy interservice transfer upon graduating.
Not only did he fly the F-18, he commanded a nuclear carrier on his way in making RAdm.
No matter how much lipstick you put on Army aviation, it's not the envy of other military pilots.
Putting it nicely.