dream big

Actually there is a disadvantaged American group these days : "White American Male"...

It's 'Mercian !

Sarah Palin!

You will do phase 1 and 2, as well as single ship ops on the flight line. The only thing you won't really do is formation. You will get most formation training at Kirtland.

3. As a LT, these forums have been invaluable pieces of information through my first few years in the AF. I take the negative with a grain of salt, focus on the positive; focus on what I can change, and not worry about what I cannot change.

I would highly recommend living in Pensacola and just dealing with the commute. Governors gate apartments is where a ton of student pilots (and hot, spoiled college girls if that's your thing) live. Or, room up with some friends closer to the beach. Governors gate is about 35 mins to Whiting, 30 to NAS Pensacola and only 15 minutes from downtown. While you're AF counterparts are enjoying the wonders of Columbus, Enid, Del Rio and Wichita falls, often being stuck in the dorms- you get to go to pilot training in an awesome beach town and all the spoils that go with it. Live it up!

For slick aircraft commanders who cross flow into the gunship, do they upgrade faster to an AC once in the gunship? Or do they spend significant time as a copilot learning the new mission?

A buddy of mine who was going to go to the MC-130W but got his assignment changed to a papa model since apparently the whiskey is going to become an AC-130W. Is the whiskey really going to become strictly an AC-130 now?

Yepp, don't every rely on a shoe to have your back. Keep copies of everything, including emails, know the regs, be right, and plan ahead.

Here is how a typical timeline works : (For reference, I graduated/commissioned in May 09' and was PCSing to Vance by September 10', however I was the first guy from my graduating class from the zoo to finish Whiting and finished the T-34 syllabus unusually early due to the fact that they were rushing us through to make room for the new T-6B studs. The last guy in my graduating class to finish Whiting just started T-1s this past month.. ) -Report into VT-3 at NAS Whiting as a brand new AF LT. Get assigned a stash job (I grilled burgers on the flight line in flip flops and shorts.) This may last anywhere from a few weeks to a few months. Expect multiple trips between NAS Whiting and NAS Pensacola to in process. -When VT-3 tells you, you go and complete IFS and/or ASBC. You may luck out and evade ASBC. -Come back to VT-3 and resume your stash job until it is time to start API. VT-3 sends two AF guys per week to API. Once you start API you are going to NAS Pensacola 5 days a week 8 hours a day for about 2 months playing Navy games. It is their washout program, none of it is necessarily instructional, nor difficult for that matter, but consider it your payment for weekends on the beach in Florida! We met some cool dudes though and had a good time. -Upon completion of API, you will come back to NAS whiting but this time report to Training Wing 5 (VT-3's parent command,) and get a stash job there. Don't expect that stash job to be as cool as your one at VT-3. Expect multiple musters (the Navy's version of roll call, in uniform, in the morning.) However, most people aren't there for long, just a few weeks. If you are there for a while, try to get your hands on bold face/ ops limits sheets and maybe even start looking at systems. -Then, finally, you will start T-6B ground school. Ground school lasts a few weeks; after which you head to VT-3's flight line and start your flights. I waited 2 months between the completion of ground school and my first flight. Others flew the day after ground school ended. Be patient, and stay in the books. -Track selects, like anywhere in the Air Force vary by time. There was a period where they were handing out T-38s like candy and T-44s were impossible to come by. A few months later, they only gave 7 T-38s over an 8 month period (I'd imagine about 50 Air Force studs had gone through.) It really depends. They were giving out gouge at the academy that UH-1s are very easy to get out of Whiting. NOT TRUE at all. Have fun there, it is a great experience.

I found having prior time (100 hours) helped me tremendously in IFS and Whiting T-34s. It didn't make any difference by the time I got to T-38s Many speculate that there is no difference between 100 hours in a Cessna and 1000 hours. T-38s/ phase 3 was a complete different ball game. That being said, if you want it that bad, fork out some money and get SOME prior time. Don't waste your money getting an instrument rating. Just come in with the attitude of eyes and ears open, mouth shut; get ready to unlearn stuff, and study/chair fly your ass off while being a bro and helping your classmates. Oh and don't be that guy that goes off on his own to eat lunch, does not hang out on weekends etc. Hang out with your classmates. That BOND will get your class through UPT!

I had an absolute blast at IFS. Granted I had prior experience, but I never once went into a flight thinking "man these guys are here to wash me out." Rather, I was just thrilled to be able to fly airplanes for free and get one step closer to UPT! I studied hard, played volleyball everyday, and learned as much as I could about the UPT environment.

Get your masters....

Dude I thought I recognized the name! I remember during our basic he tried calling out an 0-4 AOC type in front of us. Needless to say, the 0-4 won that battle. That was leadership 101.

For sub 700 I'd recommend Foothills. It is off McCain road (I.e tons of restraints and a mall) and halfway between base and downtown. Pretty sure they allow pets but might want to call and ask. Would not recommend an apartment in Jacksonville (the town where the base is located) unless you enjoy the thrill of being mugged. Might as well stay on base if you want to live near base.

2! Gotta love the herc; landing on a 3000 foot dirt LZ surrounded by mountains and hajis shooting at you, to support the guys on the ground is pretty thrilling and rewarding.

2...was going to say the same thing.

Nope, our CINC is going to continue to push the budget cuts yet ask us to fight Cold War 2.0 as well as 6-9 "oversea contingency operations." It's ok, we have TIB "warriors" to save the day.

Question for a soon to be LT in my first operational flying squadron, since this issue is constantly changing with RIFs, etc: I understand that a masters degree is essentially unmasked when going up for your majors' board. However, my peers and I keep hearing the advise to get your masters done ASAP. At what point does pursuing your masters degree come into play in terms of your senior raters? Obviously, I would like to be spending most of my time learning the aircraft to the best of my ability, studying the 3-3, helping out the squadron; but we would also rather not shoot ourselves in the foot by waiting to start our masters until after we pin on captain if it is true that a masters degree starts becoming a discriminator as early as we pin on captain.

Any word of cross flowing 38 track guys who went heavies, like back in the day?

Don't they get a c-17 all to themselves or something ?

This professor is part of a small minority, even my most left wing friends had something patriotic to say on veterans day. This guy is a douche, and an insignificant one at that.

Not even the CSAF could tell you that. No one will know. My class tried to figure out what drop we would get and who would get what; until we realized we were wasting our own time so we resorted to drinking more beers instead.

That has got to be a joke right? Please tell me so. In this day and age I wouldn't be surprised.

Haha that fat chick is skinny for a girl in Enid America..