brabus

My old boss (pilot) was hit by a car last year at some point and did not lose conciousness, but suffered a concusion and lost his sense of taste/smell (apparnetly it was coming back, just slowly). Either way, according to him, any head injury (and I assume ESPECIALLY one that required surgery) is an auto 5 yr DNIF. He said that after 2 yrs they would be willing to give him an exam at Brooks and then return to flying status if all that checked out good. So, basically it sounds like 2 yrs in the min the AF will let you off DNIF after a serious head injury. I know the docs here can give better info, but at least based on what happened to this dude, sounds like you're SOL for 2 yrs until you can get to Brooks for a check.

My point of view comes from a class who had 2 dudes SIE 2 weeks into Phase II. UPT sucks much more than anyone can realize until they actually get there. So, from my personal experience, if you don't want it, you'll probably end up SIEing. The shittiness of it all just isn't going to be worth it if you didn't really want it that bad in the first place...that's what the 2 guys said who SIE'd. From what you said, sounds like you fall into that category. Personally, I don't think "Don't be a bitch" applies in this case. B/c if you go that route, you'll suck it up for a bit, and then say fvck it, b/c you didn't like flying in the first place....UPT is not the place to go if you already don't like flying.

Totally agree, but unfortunately that time has passed. CSU...talk to your CC and get out of UPT NOW! If you're not sure now, I GUARANTEE you will not make it through UPT. This is not meant to be an insult to you as a person or your capabilities...UPT is practically impossible to make it through if you don't want to be there/want it enough to put in the required effort. Sure some people can "skate by" with doing less work than they should, but tackling something like this w/o your heart 110% on fire for it is 99.9% of the time going to lead to SIE. I think you probably have a better chance of avoiding forceshaping being honest now rather than SIEing out of UPT and then hoping for the best. Save yourself and others the immense asspain and a shitty time of starting UPT and not finishing. Again, there's absolutely nothing wrong w/ your feelings about flying or your decision to opt out of UPT...nothing says you can't go be a great officer in another career field. But, I personally think it's going to look better on you now rather than later. Good luck.

Big 2 on that one. That was one of the best nights of my life...I think...well at least it looked like it from the pictures. Nothing like being in the middle of a city you've never been to and have no clue where your hotel is....and you can't walk. I can't wait to go again.

Rumble...what's the obsession with VBF? When I was a casual, that was always one of the options for every guy. And this wasn't a viper unit, so it seems VBF is CAF wide. Any story or do dude's just put it up for nomination just b/c it's funny/always is done?

More true words have never been spoken. OK can burn.

Having a broken bone or even surgery won't DQ you. Countless people have had broken bones and still gone to UPT (after the fact obviously). Countless people have had reconstructive surgery and gone to UPT. However, the biggest problem is range of motion. If you can't satisfy an AF doc at Brooks that your wrist's range of motion is ok, then you're sunk. I'm not a doc or anything close, but this is just what I've gathered from other's situations, hearsay, etc. I would check with an AF doc (contact the right person thru your recruiter??) and see what the AF's position on the particular procedure is. And I would also check w/ the AF to determine if you can go to any doc/hospital, or if they want you to do something specific. Don't just go to a random doc w/o asking, it could bite you in the ass down the road. Good luck man.

So why exactly would they do this interim f-16 training? Doesn't it seem like a waste of time/resources to teach them all the shit-ton of stuff they need to know for flying the viper, only to just turn around in 5 months and go to another airframe? I understand wanting some type of "fighter" experience, but is all that really worth it? But, that might make too much sense.

Good advice all around...just try to be as independent as possible. The average weekday, I spend maybe 15 min of time w/ my wife during the day (not all days are like this, but probably 95% are)...and that's when I'm shoveling food into my mouth at dinner so I can hurry up and get in the office to study. Luckily for me, she's a very independent person, works 40 hrs a week, etc, so I think she has dealt w/ it pretty well. Are you planning on working? No offense to wives who don't work, but at least from my perspective, it'll be much easier for you if you have a big thing (like a job) to keep you busy during the day. It will be much worse on you guys if you just sit at home/bake cookies all day and just wait for him to come home from work. I'm sure that works for some people, but sitting at home most of the day is probably going to eat at you, thus leading to you being very needy and what not. You'll have all weekend to do things together (or at least Fri night thru Sun morning/early afternoon). You just have to be willing to deal w/ him not having much time at all for you during the week. I think this is harder during your first year of marriage, but as long as you fully understand that he will not have time for you during the week, then both of your lives will be much better. Sometimes you may have to let things slide that maybe at other times you normally wouldn't, but he'll need you to just support him, not nag him about things and don't take it personally when he comes home all stressed out and needs to get shit done and doesn't have time to ask you about your day. Those nights will happen, so the more you can just let that roll off your back, the better support you will give him.

Man that one always annoyed the shit out of me.

Yep. Then she'll be devastated by the huge blow (sts) to her pride. She'll be needing comfort...and that's where HD comes in...or Bender if you really wish that much anguish on her!

Flying experience helps, but it also depends on the person. I've seen guys with 20 hrs of IFS do pretty well considering while guys with over a 1000 hrs struggled. A lot of it is attitude...prior flight experience can work for you or against you. The reason I think the 1000+ guys are having trouble is b/c they are having a difficult time letting go of civilian habits, realizing that just b/c they have a bunch of hours doesn't mean their superman in the plane and thus don't have to work as hard/listen to people, etc. Kinda weird, but my personal glimpse on this situation so far is that the guys with 100-200 hrs are doing the best while the guys with 500+ are doing average at best. Sort of like a bell curve with 100-200 being the peak. Maybe it's just pure coincidence, but that's what I've seen in my little corner of UPT. An interesting thing at the least. Best advice I can give is let your experience work for you, but ALWAYS remember that just b/c you have some time doesn't mean you're going to be T-6 god (maybe it will help you do very well, maybe it won't). Stay humble and remember you don't know everything and regardless of how many hours you have, you're still going to have to work your ass off. Be willing to accept/ask for help and you'll do just fine.

In reality, you could have a stress fracture. If I were you, I'd stop lifting (just do lower body) or doing any kind of activity that causes pain in your wrist for at least a week, probably 2. If after that time it still hurts equally when doing those activities, I would go get an xray. I've had similar situations where 1-2 weeks off helped it go away. But, common sense tells me if it doesn't go away in 2 weeks w/o activity, then an xray is the next logical step.

Just wait till UPT, I guarantee you'll "work out" for "180 min" per week. Of course you'll have the time to do that, why wouldn't you?

Definitely a gun. To be honest, I could care less about an "aviation" watch or something similar. I have a very nice citizen eco-drive and have no desire for anything further. Some guys do, to each their own. Now getting a Browning lever action to add to my collection, that would be sweet!

Skydive Arizona doesn't do static, so my guess is no. Also, you need to have minimum of 100 freefall jumps for this boogie...and it's over water, so you probably need a B license, but that's just a guess. Get your A so you can start doing boogies...tons of fun!

Ain't that truth! Of course by local DZ I mean back home and not in craptown here. Shit at this point, I'd take a jump on a Navigator 280 or some crap...at least my ass would be under some nylon. But, can't complain too much now that I'm actually flying. Kind of a random note here...anyone know anybody who'd be interested in a Tri 190 w/ about 85 jumps on it? That was my 1st one that's now been sitting in the closet for 1.5 yrs or so. Probably a long shot, but just thought I'd ask.

I wish...thanks to this shithole place called Enid, the nearest turbine DZ is in Texas. That and the chance of hurting myself during UPT isn't worth it. Oh well, at least in a year or so when I can start up again, I'll have an excuse to get a new toy (cypress expired). Have fun man, I'm sure it'll be a blast.

True to an extent...I know you guys work your asses off (and I don't know much), but I wouldn't lump jounros into the pile w/ celebs and shoe clerks. They have a good purpose to be there...it's their job. It's not like when a celeb does it just to do it. If it wasn't for journos in the cockpit at all, we wouldn't have all the sweet shots we do, and fvck that!

I'm at Vance. Tell me about it...in fact, there's several recent classes (07-xx time frame) with blatant alcohol related patches (like Vance Select instead of Bud Select, etc.) All ours showed was a dude doing a keg stand on a fire hydrant...there's was no blatant alcohol symbols at all...but since it resembled a keg stand, it wouldn't fly. In fact, we had far "worse" designs, but submitted this one b/c it was our least "offensive" patch idea. And it got shot down...un-fvcking-believable. Now our next idea is pretty good...but I have a feeling it won't fly due to "some people might take that as a sexual offense" or some shit like that. I just want go to the OG building and start kicking those fvcks in the junk...if they've even got any balls left that is. Thank god I'm getting paid to fly, otherwise this AF can shove it up their ass. Edit: Here's some examples just from this last year or so AT VANCE... But no, ours isn't going to cut it b/c someone might mistake it for having to do with alcohol. But good thing no one would ever mistake these for being related to alcohol. Fvcking morons.

Enough of this PC bullshit. One of our class patch ideas got shot down because, "someone could mistake that for having to do w/ alcohol." Umm...ok, then why does the comm squadron's little shield thing say "No one cumms close!" I guess it's ok for the shoeclerks to have "references" in their shit, but not us. WTFO?

Bergman - It's not that mustache march isn't an awesome tradition, it's that some ROTC kids thinking they're bad ass for doing mustache march during "big week" is super cool! It's like some ROTC kid walking around w/ the mach tuck in their cap. Just because it's AF tradition doesn't mean everyone somewhat linked to the AF should be doing it, or at the very least think they win points for doing it. But whathever, that's just my opinion.

Weird...b/c one of our IPs (who's a 135 guy) made fun of one of the guys in our class who still had his on. Something to the effect of, "You look like an idiot. Cut that shit off." Seems to support bergman's theory.

I heard of one dude recently who parked his car in a parking lot near the end of the T-6s and left his keys in the ignition. Then on his way back after leaving the plane, he asked one buddy to carry his g-suit and then apparently the other one was looking at something. The guy took off, ran to his car, got in and hauled ass back to the squadron. Of course his two friends had no chance on foot and apparently most of the class was busy simming, flying, etc. so he got back. But I agree w/ Fozzy, it seems lame to be the one guy who didn't get dunked at UPT. I don't know about Vance, or even specific squadron/flight, but maybe *'s situation is replicated here. No idea.