brabus

I know whoever came up with this was thinking, "hmm, what was a 'cool' mascot we used back in ROTC...I know, the Foxtrot Flamingos!...wait, I'll make it even more 'combat'...Fighting Flamingos!...O-6, here I come!" UFB

Maybe some days towards the end of UPT, but I think it's foolish to not be prepared. He's going to be incredibly busy and no, he won't have time to webcam/chat on line most days during the week. Hell, I lived w/ my wife during UPT and most nights all she got was 15 min of watching me shovel food in my mouth. I'm not saying you'll have no contact with each other, but you will come 2nd to UPT much of the time. Don't be offended when he doesn't call you for a few days at a time or tells you he can't talk tonight because he has to study. That's the way it's going to be...accept it. If you guys really do well together, you can and will get through this, but it's very important to realize just how busy he will be and how little time he will have for you.

We pay about 130/mo for 2 iPhones on the family plan. Before this we had tmobile and were paying 100/mo. The extra 30/mo is SO worth it.

You're wasting your money if you're looking to get a smartphone and don't get the Iphone. The thing is the pinnacle of phones/personal organizer/whatever you need. And if you jailbreak it, the thing is even 100x better. ATT also offers a 15% mil discount FYI. At this point, I can't even comprehend how phones could get better...besides obvious memory/CPU increases. Geez, I sound like I work for ATT!

Looks sweet Vetter. What company made the AR-15? I'm glad I got mine before another gun ban happens.

The boots, the boots....I feel I'm entitled to millions now.

4? And to add to that, don't be a little bitch, get the garbage burger with your Irish Wake, or 2 or 3. Don't get me wrong, I like Gary and his bar, but that subject is certainly not a false "urban legend." I've heard it with my own ears several times. However, to each his own and it's not like it gets out of control or anything. The hat story probably is true, because I don't really see otherwise why he was placed on the "blacklist." Just b/c he makes a few comments doesn't make it a "dangerous" bar.

DG used to matter (usually was accompanied by Blue Chip, at the time ROTC was commissioned as Reserve, which put them "under" AFA guys (sts) which I heard in some cases affected career development, getting certain jobs, etc). However, with Blue Chip gone and ROTC being commissioned straight to AD, it matters worth shit now.

It wasn't. Robots fucking wives, shit!

I didn't hook a check, but I did hook 2 rides in 38s...both for Over-Gs. Don't worry about your hook...it's really not a big deal unless you really start racking them up. Learn from your mistake and move on.

Dizzy, one of the good dudes there for sure. On the other note, I definitely agree you should go sit in the UTDs and practice your start-up flow. A buddy and I went to the UTDs every night after academics and spent an hour doing the start-up. You should be able to reserve one just about every day, so take advantage. It's nice when you hit the flightline and you're asses and elbows, but at least you don't take 30 min on ground ops...you'll only take 26.9!

Glad to see them do that for Alec. Here's another one for you buddy...

Haha. Priceless.

I was being 100% sarcastic. Hard on the internet I guess.

The guy's obviously an idiot and doesn't know what he's talking about...hopefully Congress won't listen to him! I wonder how many we'll get...if any.

The brass is ejected far enough away from you. I can unload 30 rds as fast as I can pull the trigger and not one casing will touch me. I can see how it seems that would be an issue, but in reality it's a 100% non-issue.

I don't really see a reason to get a "lefty" AR. I shoot all my guns left-handed and the only one I'm glad I got "lefty" is my 30-06 bolt action. It's nice having the bolt on the left side...for those "wish they weren't necessary" follow-up shots while hunting. Every other gun I own is a "normal" model and I really don't notice the difference or any problems. Besides habit patterns, you have to think of parts availability...could be a problem.

Definitely agree w/ going over the basics of gun handling/shooting prior to going out to shoot. My wife has been around guns her entire life (dad's a big hunter), but had never shot a gun until a few years ago when I convinced her to do it. I took her out w/ a .38, but think I did a pretty crappy job of explaining how everything works. Therefore, she seemed afraid of the gun as if it was a time bomb ticking in her hands. She shot a few rounds and just hated it. I got her to try again later after actually taking time to explain how the gun truly works and how it's not going to just explode in your hands or something. She'll now trap shoot w/ my 12GA no problem. I consider her a very strong, "non-frail" woman. At least w/ her, the fear of actually holding/firing a gun was only overcome w/ me taking the time to explain everything. It's just not the same as taking a guy to the range for the first time, and after explaining safety, say "have at it." Hell, most guys have been "practicing" shooting guns their entire childhoods!

What about the fact the T-6 has an ejection seat? How can they send you through UPT in an ejection seat aircraft, but then say you can't fly ejection seat aircraft for an assignment. That doesn't add up. Anyways, sorry I have nothing really to contribute. I've also heard of the hanging from a bar, stretching, etc. Try all that and find a good chiro; that's probably all you can do right now. Good luck man.

I absolutely think getting a PPL and somewhere around 80-200 hrs is very helpful...any more and you're wasting your money/possibly hurting yourself (i.e. negative transfer at UPT).

I think hours definitely help to a certain point. I had 3 guys in my class...950 hrs, 1500 hrs, 2500 hrs. The first guy did well and went 38s with me (I had 160 hrs) and the last two guys struggled and were in the bottom 1/3 of the class by track select. The reason this happened is because of their attitude. They thought they knew a shitload about flying and thus didn't have to put as much effort in. They also had an extremely difficult time getting rid of their civilian habits/way of doing things, unlearning civilian rules for mil ones, etc. I'm not saying you can't have a lot of hours and still go into UPT w/ a good attitude and have no problems (like the dude w/ 950 hrs did), but many of the high time guys struggle for the reasons mentioned above. Just in my opinion, I say anything more than 200 hrs is really not going to help you at all.

Donkey, you're correct. However, PFT will most likely affect your CC ranking. I thought this might be a bit confusing, so just to clarify, I think it's more clearly read as, "An engineering 4.0 major does not weigh higher than a 4.0 English major." The usual assumption I see regarding this question is that an engineering degree will help your chances at a slot...NO, engineering degrees will not help you get a slot and in most cases will actually hurt you (considering the majority of us would probably have a lower GPA in engineering than we would in Business, Poli Sci, etc). Bottom line: Major in a field/topic you enjoy and find interesting...you'll naturally do better since you like the topic. Unless you want to go to TPS or be an engineer in the Air Force/on the outside, I see no reason to go for an E major if you want to be a pilot.

Academics are the smallest part of your MASS (including stan tests), but realize that doing well on these things looks good on you. So in the end, while they may be only 10%, they also might impact your flt/cc ranking (positively or negatively). Academics is something you can control...so don't be the guy who barely passes test and/or keeps failing stan tests. There's no excuse...especially w/ all the "help" out there.

That kind of stuff depends purely on leadership, regardless of the base. So whenever you go, it will be up to someone in the OSS how long you wear blues in academics.

Hours will only help you in UPT UNLESS you let hours go to your nugget and thus have a bad attitude...then you're fucked. It's true no one cares about how many hours you have or what ratings you have, but guys with flight time definitely have at least somewhat of a leg up.