Hawker

Anyone have any info on the timeline for the all the aircraft to be updated with the modernization upgrades? Has the FTU seen any of them yet?

What's the likelihood of getting your base preference? I hear they try and send base assignments out prior to starting the FTU to help in deciding on whether or not to buy/rent while in Abilene. My wife and I decided to try and stay at Dyess mainly because she has her own photography business and it'd be a royal pain to move it again after only 6-9 months.

Can anyone compare the flying differences between Dyess and Ellsworth post FTU? Sorties per month/duration/low-levels/etc...?

Just got selected for the B-1 out of UPT and have a few questions about Dyess if anyone has any insight. I'll be getting married a week after graduation and my wife and I are trying to learn about the best places to live either on-base or off-base so my question is where are some good places to look in the area while at training? Also, how long does it take usually to get through the schoolhouse and if anyone has any info on what the syllabus is like that'd be appreciated as well.

Thanks for the advice guys, yeah it seems like its all different and there is no way to know for sure. It'd definitely be nice to have her move paid for though. Hopefully by doing it on a weekend it wont be a problem. We'll see though.

Did a search and only found a couple posts from 5 years back or so regarding the time between UPT graduation and follow on training. I'll be graduating UPT here in June of 2013 and am planning on getting married shortly after (like the weekend after). I'm just wondering what the current average amount of time is between graduation and follow on training, i.e. SERE/Water Survival/MWS training/etc...? Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks for the info guys, so to make sure I'm understanding this correctly as long as they meet AF standards as far as dress and apperance is concerned (AFI 36-2903) it's OK to wear personal glasses or contacts at IFS and not those "BCGs"? Just need to make sure the glasses/contacts are conservative in nature.

So I was reading up on this forum and I'm pretty sure I understand the glasses policy at IFS but wanted to make sure. Since doss is an FAA run program that is contracted out through the military it is still held to FAA standards medically wise. So can we bring our own personal glasses to IFS or even contacts at that matter that we use while flying civilian (i.e. the ones I wore getting my PPL a few years ago) and not the ones the Air Force has us issued?

Went in to flight med this morning for in-process at Columbus to ask about getting on the contact lens program for pilots and was told to come back in next week for an appt. I've been wearing contacts since about 2004 and was using Acuvue 2 and now Biofinity contacts. Is this mostly going to be filling out paperwork to get me in the program or do I have to do multiple appointments like was said earlier in this forum? My civilian prescription by my Optometrist is this: Sph Cyl Axis OD -1.00 OS -1.00 -.075 076 Am I good to go for the the contact lens program? The SSgt at the front desk said I might need a waiver for the difference in my eyes but she wasn't really sure and didnt ask the flight doc but now I'm curious as to if I do or not? Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Does anybody know the policy for Columbus AFB regarding how far we are allowed to travel on weekends while training at UPT? A friend of mine is getting married in another state and asked me to be in his wedding and I was curious as to what the process is like on leaving on friday after training and getting back that sunday. Any would would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks for the advice guys, I've just read Riddlers IFS & UPT blog and it gave me the idea of writing one myself. Mostly for family and friends as a lot of them have shown interest in keeping up to date with my experiences while training to be a pilot in the Air Force. I guess my next question is...in terms of like SERE stuff as well as getting captured by the real enemy at war (hopefully that will never happen!) what would they be able to get from a blog about flight training that they wouldn't be able to get from say a facebook or myspace or other social media site since most people have them these days including a lot military members? *Absolutely NOT trying to prove anyone wrong or anything of that sort, I'm just trying to decide on whether or not my family would be at risk anymore than they would from my facebook* Any and all advice or criticisms are appreciated.

Thread revival.... What about Riddlers IFS/UPT blog on here, is that ok or safe to do? He, to the best of my knowledge, kept his name as well as others names anonymous. The only thing he mentioned of that sort was his class #s and UPT base. He didn't post any pictures or anything that would give him or his family away. Would starting a journal like that be ok so long as you kept everything anonymous and used false names if any?

Searched most of the threads on here and had no luck with this one either but I may have missed it so if I did I apologize ahead of time. 19 pages is tough to read through in one sitting. Anyways, heres my situation. Graduated and Commissioned on 11 June 2011 and my EAD was delayed till 17 Feb of this year. Since my lease was up at my house back in the state of Washington at the end of June I moved out to Missouri which is where my family is. I put most of my household goods in a storage unit back in WA and it has been there ever since. I've been working with the Whiteman AFB TMO and filling out the paperwork for a partial DITY to have them move my stuff from my storage unit in WA down to Columbus AFB and me to move my higher priced things on my own from Missouri. All was going well until they said that my address in Washington is not a valid one to ship from. My orders state that I will depart for Active duty from here in Missouri (which is where I'm at now so that makes sense), as well as that is my Home of Record (where my parents live). The temporary address on my orders is listed as my storage unit back in WA. My NCOs at my det told me that this wouldnt be a problem but now TMO is saying I could end up paying the difference for them to ship my stuff from WA and not Missouri. Does anyone know if this is true? I called AFPC and they said it was fine and it would be covered but TMO is still saying no. Any help would be appreciated!

It was mentioned earlier about getting a few hours in a DA-20 before arriving at IFS, I believe all civilian DA-20's have the instruments in front of the left seat whereas, if I'm not mistaken, IFS has us sit in the right seat as the instruments are on the right side for Doss' aircraft. Would you recommend sitting in the right seat while picking up a few hours prior to get used to the sight picture and just not have the instruments in front of you? Or just sit in the left seat? The company I'm going to be flying with offered either seat for me so I'm just wondering what would be better.

Correct, you will have 1 minute to perform each exercise. Keep in mind you're allowed to rest if needed; however, you can only rest in certain positions though (i.e. up position with arms locked for pushups) UPTgoal