Scooter14

I ended up in Abilene on a T-1 XC last week. From what little I saw in my 18 hours on the ground, they had an Outback Steakhouse and a Buffalo Wild Wings, so how bad can it be? Enid pales in comparison...

Yeah, whatever, Whack-y, close trail every f***ing time. Let's see, there's the sun, there it is again, and there it is again. Let's clarify "partner" to differentiate me from the rest of your "life partners"...You were lucky enough to fly formation against me in Tweets. [ 06 February 2004, 19:21: Message edited by: PAB ]

Drelyn8, You brought up a good point in the fact that a lot of us throw around terms like Formal Release and people not yet in the military or at UPT/UNT may have no clue as to what they mean. Here's a few terms off the top of my head... FORMAL RELEASE - This is an Air Force thing. You don't leave until you flight commander releases you. Usually at the 11 hour and 59 minute mark, unless that doesn't give you 12 hours till the next days events, then it may be earlier. This usually ends at the end of final contact, about 6-8 weeks into Phase 2. It happens again in T-38's and T-1's. It sucks. FORMAL BRIEF - Usually happens first thing in the morning in Tweets. The IP's walk in, the room comes to attention, the SRO reports the flight in, the weather is briefed, and then it's time for Stand-up and Shotgun questions. SHOTGUN - The IP will go around the room and ask a smorgasboard of questions. When he gets to you, you will stand at attention and answer it. If you get it right, you sit down. If you get it wrong, you remain standing until someone gets it right. When someone gets it right, they'll go back to the first person to get it wrong and ask a new question. So, if you keep getting them wrong, you'll be standing there like an idiot for a long time. STAND-UP - The IP will present an emergency situation, and then call on a student. That student will stand at a desk facing the podium with his/her checklist and inflight guide and work through the EP as if he/she was the pilot in command. If he/she messes up, he sits down and a new student gets called on. This also sucks. BOLDFACE - Critical action emergency procedure checklists that must be memorized. These are also written verbatim by the students for grading. DOR or SIE - Drop on Request or Self-Induced Elimination. Basically resigning or quitting pilot training. HOOK or TACO - An unsatisfactory overall grade on a ride. Happens to everyone eventually. The terms ar based on the fact that a U shows on your gradesheet, resembling a taco. "I Hooked the ride/test/standup." or "He gave me the Taco." or "I made a run for the border on that flight." Sometimes, this will be presented silently by merely making your hand into a U like you are eating a taco. TRACK SELECT - Happens at the end of Tweets/Texans. This is where you see your fate decided (actually, you decided it based on performance and merit). You buy beer and pizza for everyone, then you stand before the crowd while your IP's basically roast you for a few minutes, then you turn around and see if you are going T-38's, T-1's, T-44's or H-1's. There's tons more, but I hope this helps.

I remember we had that at PSAB a couple years ago...till the Comm guys shut it down. They gave a weeks notice, and I don't think Southern Watch happened that week, since everyone was in Opstown downloading songs...

Ryan, Well put. Beav, Agreed somewhat on the FAIP comment, although we had some pretty stand-up guys for FAIPS, they weren't your typical "does your mom know you're in the Air Force" looking kids and they were pretty senior as well, but my main point was that the climate at least in MY flight was to get solid dudes who did well and put forth the effort what they wanted, and most of our solid dudes wanted T-38's. There was no steering of the flight, only individual coaching. I spoke the RC/KC side, the F-16 guy spoke the fighter side, our USMC guy spoke what he could about wht he'd seen, our reservist spoke the bomber side, and so on. We had a pretty good mix. I don't doubt that heavy cheerleading doesn't happen due to the lack of fighter guys in Tweetland, but I never really saw it. Toro, thanks for the clarification on the tan bags. I guess a lot happened during my 12 hours of Formal Release today... [ 12 January 2004, 21:06: Message edited by: PAB ]

Beav, From what I've seen in my class, we kind of had the standard perceptions and views. Out of the 21 of us that finished Tweets, 2 of our 4 Marines wanted jets, 1 of our 2 Navy guys wanted jets, and most of the Air Force assignables wanted T-38's. Of course this changed for various reasons. A couple discovered the C-130 mission and others became frustrated with the maneuvers, the formation phase, etc. We knew we were only getting 4 T-38's for our 13 assignables, so guys were exploring a lot of options knowing that their first choice might be out of reach. The staff at the 8th, although not fighter MWS heavy, is very T-38 FAIP heavy. We had 4 T-38 FAIPS and a former Viper driver join us to balance two Cobra guys and our C-5 guest help, so nobody was there trying to talk anyone OUT of a fighter, if that's your concern. Also, our flight IP's made sure we were sending the right guys to the T-38 track based on ability and aptitude. We had a night just prior to track select where MWS guys from all walks came and spoke to us about the lifestyles, and that helped a lot of guys finalize their decision. Bottom line from that night was no matter who you are or where you go, you're probably going to be wearing a tan flight suit sooner than later. I am guilty of trying to talk a couple of guys into joining me on the T-1 side, not because I think fighters are bad, but because they were good dudes, and they were good to have around. They're in T-44's and T-38's right now...they never listen to me anyway [ 12 January 2004, 07:14: Message edited by: PAB ]

We were just told today by our T-1 flight commander that we'll all be on Formal Release indefinitely until all the IP's get their dollars or at least get something. That's a little incentive, dontcha think?

A lot has to do with commander's ranking, too. Don't be a jackass and be a good officer and teammate to your compadres, and you'll be fine here. Take it from a class SRO... Jackassery (like buffoonery, but on a much grander scale) will get you to the basement faster than anything. Like Ryan was saying, the top guys will be evident and the bottom dwellers will be as well. Where you stand should become self-evident. If it doesn't, you might be at the bottom. In slight disagreement with Ryan, there will be a large group in the middle of the pack with mere tenths of percentage points between them. The difference between what you do want and what you don't want may be the difference between a Stan Test or an academic test pass or bust. I've seen it happen. Happened to me at nav school. Twice. Everything worked out and I have had nothing but positives come out my career thus far (which is another topic altogether...be happy wherever you go). At the time, however, it really kind of sucked. The best you can do is the best that youcan do. If you don't do the best you can, you can only blame yourself. [ 11 January 2004, 20:54: Message edited by: PAB ]

Same team, fellas. Same team. Maybe we can get a MOAB drop out of a C-17. Would that settle it? We're all fiercely proud of what we do and how we do it. We all know that, without our aircraft, the war would be lost. If we didn't have that mindset, then no community would keep striving to be the best. However, lots of people still forming their opinions about the military and flying read these posts, but do not post themselves (this was pointed out to me a few weeks ago, made me think before I type). I wonder what they think when they read this stuff. I'm all for friendly ribbing. I'm guilty of it many times over. I think we've gone beyond the "friendly ribbing" stage here, though. Just my $0.02

I've been told my T-1 "dollar ride" (direct quote) will be right after Christmas break, so I'm thinkin' the T-1's do it, too.

I went pretty conservative, being that it's AETC and a "one mistake air force" and all. Being a guardsman, I put KC-135's all over it, the old man in the mountain (state symbol) over G.W., I put the ANG patch on one side and my home squadron patch on the other and put NKAWTG over the "One Dollar" at the bottom. I've seen people put their IP's MWS platform on there, their dream MWS platform on there, we had one guy tape his dollar to a bottle of Jagermeister for his IP. I saw another one that had a little die-cast F-16 jammed through it. As for the naked woman, I've seen 'em out there, usually taped to the back. Your call.

I first heard Track #2 "Two's Blind" while halfway through Tweet formation phase. Laughed my a$$ off. Every time my form partner took me through the sun "like he does every ****ING TIME" I'd think of the song and smile. It's definitely worth a listen, and any flyer will appreciate the humor.

The Vance policy still stands. If you know you are gonna be going into the AF, get your butt out there and start PTing. I'm one of those "always on the edge" kind of guys, and if I slack on the PT, I pack on the fat. I usually manage to avoid the tape, but I think the Body Fat is based on age. I wanna say it was like 20%, but goes up to 24% when you hit 30. The AF is always changing, looking at Body Mass Index, etc, etc. I've found the best way to avoid hassle is to be underweight. BTW, the new Air Force fitness test is on the way. Push ups and sit ups and a 1.5 mile run. Also, the AF has this fun little test called the FACT (Fighter Air Crew) test. EVERYONE has to take it at UPT, even ANG/AFRES guys going to fly heavies. Navs, if you go Strike at P-Cola, gotta do it there too. If you fail it, it's not a big deal, just that your classmates all get to see how little you can lift...

The dude at Randolph that used to run the pilot selection process once told me that anything above a 90 is good, since it's my understanding that it's a probability that you will complete the program matrix. I got my slot with a 96, dunno what the other guys had https://www.aetc.randolph.af.mil/sas/pcsm has a FAQ's page Good luck! Jeff

Fair enough, this is an excellent example of why you might need to transfer your slot. PAB, Open mouth, insert keyboard You unit would be more than willing to work with you if something like this arose. Typically, a unit likes you to live within a certain radius of the base. However, there are folks in my unit that live considerably farther away than the typical 150-200 mi radius. For airline pilots, it's easy, they jumpseat in. Others do 2 drills a month (as opposed to 1 weekend) and stay longer. Some drive in and spend a week or two on some of the different types of orders they can put you on, so it's not optimal, but still very possible to be with a unit and live quite a ways away. Will you get the hours that the guy who lives across town gets? No, but it can still work. If you still need to transfer, that can be done as well.

Here's the deal... Typically, a Guard unit is going to hire you because they need a pilot, but it's not like Active Duty. Since people in ANG units typically do not move around, they are looking for someone who will be there for the long haul. When you interview, you will find this out. You'll get questions like "why do you want to fly here? what interests you about our unit?" Unless they are so short manned that they will hire ANYBODY, they try to hire those who will be beneficial to the guard "family." Some of the guys in my unit have been around for 30+ years. For me, there is no active duty flying opportunities in the region I grew up in and want to live (New England), which is why I got out of AD. I found a mission I enjoy, a region I want to live, and a unit willing to hire me and send me to UPT, so I can't really ask for a whole lot more. I would hate to have gotten denied the slot, so someone could come in and take it and then work a transfer midway through UPT to go fly for another unit. So, forgive me for being presumptuous, but if you are thinking about trying to get on with a unit and then use them as a stepping stone to get to another location, you won't win friends and influence people in the reserve components. If you have a more noble intention in mind, then you would need to talk to the unit directly, but I don't think a unit's gonna use their slot to hire a guy who's going to go somewhere else. Check out AirGuardian's post under to apply...or to wait, that is the question PAB [ 26 November 2003, 18:45: Message edited by: PAB ]

Fellas and spouses, Can't add too much more to C-21's post, he hit the nail on the head. I'm walking in C-21's footsteps now with a wife and 1 kid and one in the oven. My wife is one of five spouses and the only one with kids, so ditto the whole MOPS thing. There is enough out there offered through the base. Tweets is tough when you are on Formal Release, but once you can control your schedule a little, it gets better. Jarhead, when you phrased it like that, it definitely makes it better, especially if the spouse has this whole military experience thing going on like yours and mine do. A lot of times, after a long week that's not over yet, I'd be sitting there studying in my living room with the kiddo in bed and my flightmates scattered about and I'd look at my wife and say "Well, it could be worse, I could be back in my tent in Oman/Saudi/pick-a-stan, any-stan..." and you both realize that you are home every night and can catch the occasional soccer game, it makes it better. Sure beats a 6 month MEU, eh? From my wife to yours..."Go to the gym every day, and keep busy so you don't go stir-crzy on your husband." E-mail us with questions or concerns, we're all here to help. PAB