brabus

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.

One flightsuit, swimsuit, PT gear if you don't want to change back into your flightsuit after the water (I just changed back into the flightsuit...no big deal), shower sandals and clothes to go get hammered in every night. That's all you need.

Out of the 38 track you're not going to get a tanker/transport (unless you wash out of IFF, then maybe). SocialD brings up a good point...ENJJPT may not be the best choice if you think you might end up wanting to fly C-17s, -10s, etc. I think "38 pilots have way more options" is kind of a skewed point. If you think you may want to fly tankers, but just want the option of a fighter crossflow if it ever happened again (which it probably won't), that's not really a good reason to go 38s. Only go 38s because you know you want to fly fighters/bombers...anything else can be had from one of the other tracks.

Don't bullshit us Osh! You know it makes you gray out a shitload! All I can say is, ouch.

Define instant. There's obviously a max g-onset rate, but my pure guess is that it's close enough to "instant" to not matter from a pilot's perspective.

I've heard all the -22 roll calls are super lame, but I guess they sort of have to be considering their high vis.

Also, rooms at the casino are a little over $100/night...it's worth it to get a room, split it, and be able to hang out all night at the casino/resort gambling/boozing and then drive to El Paso the next day to leave. Just get a flight out that doesn't leave before 1 or so.

LJ, I could probably record a real stand-up session. One of my buds has a nice HD camera and probably wouldn't mind showing up for one of the flight's morning briefs/stand up. Do you have preference on who the cameras looking at, or just a shot from the corner of the room while it goes on?

Must be thinking of a different casino...this one's definitely far from shady: https://www.innofthemountaingods.com/

Look up Inn of the Mountain Gods casino/resort. It's about 45 min up the road (opposite direction of El Paso from Holloman) and is a great time. Great place to drink, gamble and have a good time in general. El Paso seems to be one of those places that sucks unless you know the "good spots." Unless you have really good intel on El Paso, fuck that and go to the casino. It's a great time even if you don't gamble; I've been twice. And also, whatever you do, fuck the stupid shuttle and get a rental car, regardless of what your orders say.

Got it...I guess I just read your original post wrong. I definitely agree with the above.

What's wrong with that? You should have that attitude towards anything you really want to do. Now, I completely agree that being the guy who has a shitty attitude because he doesn't get #1 is a BAD idea and usually does land him a worse assignment in the end (due to said shitty attitude). However, it's good to focus on a goal, and if you don't get 38s, then realize it's not the end of the world and move on. But to sit here and say the attitude should be: "Man I really want to fly fighters, but I probably won't make it based on statistics...oh well, lets look at option 2"...even before starting UPT. That's just stupid.

Guard is separate and in no way affect AD drops. The Guard pays the AF for the 38 slot in a basic sense, so it really is just an "extra" 38 slot owned by the Guard. Now if the Guard guy doesn't make the 50% cut, I'm not entirely sure, but I swear I've read of an AD guy possibly being able to take that slot. Don't quote me on that though.

I saw cadets who thought they were the shit as soon as they got a pilot slot/could wear a bag. I also saw plenty of cadets not act like that. Point is, there's always a few douches...don't let their crap affect a policy that also affects good dudes. If a couple cadets think they own the place b/c they wear a bag, fuck 'em...I'm sure there's more that wear a bag and don't have a shit attitude.

I wish we lived off base now, but am still really glad I lived on base during UPT. Kayla is spot on about the 5am shows and 12 hr days. That 3 min walk to/from work vs a 15 min drive really will make the difference, especially for the first few months of UPT. I have a few friends who moved into a house together during Phase III and it worked out fine/wasn't too big of an asspain (just a weekend of moving). I say get into the dorms and during Phase III when you're used to the UPT thing and the BS nut crunching is to a minimum, think about moving off.

Don't fly. I flew once even when I could just barely clear my ears and the sinus pain was really bad. No flight is worth that. Just suck it up and don't fly for a few days.

1. Don't go bitch about not being allotted "PT Time." UPT takes a lot of time, and if you don't have time to go to the gym b/c you know you have to study for your checkride, too bad...suck it up and press. 2. Even on formal release you should still be able to go to the gym. Don't you guys have a sign-out board or something? Yes formal release means you can't go home, but they should still allow you to go to the gym, get some lunch from the club if you have to, etc...AS LONG AS it's not going to interfere with a sim, flight or academics. They don't have to give you a specific PT time slot, but they should allow you to go when able. If this hasn't been brought up at all, talk to an IP and just confirm if it's OK to go to the gym if you're not going to be flying/simming. But, don't try quote some reg that they're obligated to give you 3, 90-min blocks for PT. That's just going to be bring unwanted attention.

Same here, except it's officially the SQ/CC who sent out the email. I'm glad some leadership have some sense.