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Well, the man has decided that it would be best if I not continue in pilot training. My new assignment, however, will be airfield operations which, from what i've read, doesn't sound too bad. It sucks that I won't be able to be a military pilot anymore, but I did try my hardest and gave it my best shot, and it just wasn't in the cards for me. I thank everyone who has been reading this and supporting me along the way. I'll still be around on Baseops about as much as I normally am, but probably won't continue this blog anymore...unless yall are interested in the Airfield Ops field. Actually, now that I mention it, I just might blog about that! That school is supposed to be 2 years long, training with the Guard. Sounds pretty cool since I can't be a pilot. I'm keeping a positive attitude about everything and am certain that everything will work out for the best. Oh, big congratulations goes out to Riddller on graduation from UPT! Doesn't seem all that long ago that he started his blog at IFS and now he's done. Congratulations! Feel free to leave messages on here or PM me if you want. Take care!

Just letting everyone know that i'm still waiting on the word from the man. I've had to make up a dream sheet just in case he says no, and I know I would enjoy just about anything that I put down: there just wasn't all that much that I qualified for (no tech degree or anything like that). Have a great LONG weekend and maybe i'll have news on tuesday or wednesday.

So, the waiting continues. Just wanted to let everyone know that i'm doing ok, just waiting on the word. Have a great weekend!

So, there I was, sitting around the table, studying when one of our guys calls the flight room and says that he's sick in quarters (or whatever the AF calls it). Well, our scheduler and flight commander are scrambling around trying to fill the slot (see where this is going?) and they come up with me. Fantastic! Fortunately I had about 30 minutes to get my data card ready so that was sweet. I get to the brief and I had forgotten to put winds, fuels, and weather on the card. That didn't go over so well; but that was pretty indicative of the whole flight. Not to mention my IP was cussing at me and generally pissed the whole flight. I only got a couple maneuvers accomplished in the area, then came back to do some pattern work. It was a no grade overall (an 86 ride), but I think he wanted to hook me! Oh well...lesson learned: getting in the books more: got it. I also had an instruments review today. Since i'm so far behind the rest of the class in academics, i'm doing these reviews on my own. Everyone else is taking the test on friday, I think, but i'll be taking it sometime next week. I'm really going to have to study hard for this one...it's pretty confusing right now. Fortunately, the guys/gal in my flight are smart and more than willing to help out. Enough writing, gonna go to bed soon.

Well, took the instruments 2 test this morning and, due to carelessness (bad math, marking the wrong answer, etc) I hooked it. That sends me to commander's review. So i'll be in limbo while the wing commander decides my fate. I'm expecting the worst and hoping for the best. All I really know right now is that i've done my best.

Ok, sorry i've been absent for the last few days...my head's been elsewhere. Had my 88 ground eval on thursday: didn't pass. Had 89 ground eval yesterday: passed. I have been having my doubts about this lately, but thanks to some dedicated family and friends and at least one reader on here, i'm back in the game. I get in a funk sometimes (like everyone else in pilot training at some point, I would suspect) and it takes a lot of poking and prodding to get me out of it. But my attitude is much better now, and i've got a renewed energy for this struggle called UPT. Thanks for everyone's support! Had an EP sim this afternoon. It was very evident that I hadn't been in the books as much as I should. I got a good on it, but I know which parts I really need to focus on (all of it!). Oh yeah, got to do part of the standup today...sweet Didn't do great, but didn't get sat down, so that was pretty cool. Another day!

So the commander's review process begins and I am what they refer to as a "free agent". I'm not actively in pilot training, but i'm not out yet either, so I just hang out everyday like the guys on casual, but I have to stay up at work all day to study and stuff like that. Not too bad, I guess. I'm staying positive and hoping for the best.

Well, my flight last friday didn't go as well as it could have, and I got a fair on it. Oh well, I know what to work on. Besides that, I had a study day today with an hour of extra instruction thrown in there with one of the sim IPs. I've got the instruments 2 test tomorrow morning. I'm pretty confident about it, but I know there's going to be a couple obscure questions thrown in there that will attempt to trip me up. I'll let ya know how it goes. Have a good night!

So I flew this morning and it didn't go great, but I don't think it was all THAT bad. I haven't checked the grade, but the IP said I was going to get a fair or a unsat. Not good. I think I would learn stuff a lot better with a different IP...granted, I don't know as much as I should know, but don't get all pissed off and cuss when I do stuff wrong. Nuff said. It's friday and the super bowl is on sunday!! I have a weekend full of studying for instruments 2 test and the EPQ that the rest of the flight took this past week. They just got done with the test so i'll have to hit them up for some tips. Have a great weekend!

Had a great 3 day weekend, but it didn't last nearly long enough...no kiddin, huh?! Came back and flew tuesday morning. The flight went fairly decent; ya know, for my 4th flight. I was supposed to have an EP sim in the afternoon, but I was having some personal issues, so that got cancelled. Took the next EPQ this morning, and unfortunately, it was more of the same. I busted it, again. I take solace in the fact that about half our flight didn't pass it, but it still sucks. So that's my 5th EPQ bust which sends me to a ground progress check (PC). That is supposed to go tomorrow...we'll see. I'm seriously considering calling it a day and chalking this up to experience. I've wanted to fly since I can remember, but I'm obviously not doing well, and it's not getting any better. I'm studying my ass off, but i'm just not cutting the mustard. Maybe I can solicit some advice from those of you reading this: should I drag this out to the very end or know when I am beat and stop the madness? I'd love some advice from some of you.

So today was our flight commander's last day as a UPT IP. He had his fini flight, which was pretty cool...those of us not doing anything in the flight room went out to say hey. His family and some friends and some of the other IPs went out there...pretty neat! He's going to a much better place than Del Rio: he's going to England! He is a great guy and will be missed. Safe travels to you and your family, sir! One of the guys' birthday was today (or yesterday) so we had some pizza before we had our instruments review this evening. Knocked that out and went home for a 3 day weekend; sweet!

Again, not a whole lot to talk about. Did a whole lot of studying and that's about it. Seriously, that's it.

Retook the EPQ last night and passed! So I flew today, and I felt I did much better. I probably didn't actually do any better, but I thought I did and that's what counts! Anyway, I was having an "A" day all day, so i'm hoping that flows into tomorrow and friday. Not flying tomorrow (as of now) so i'll be studying all day. Oh yeah, some U-2 guys came down to give a brief on their capabilities. I hear it was pretty neat. I have a sneaking suspicion one of those guys was HuggyU2. I didn't go, so I really don't know. I will say their black T-38s with the red markings look pretty sweet!

Not a whole lot going on today. Some people flew and the rest of us studied. I retook the EPQ right before I left and I think I passed, but I won't find out till tomorrow. Until then!

So, did I mention that I really dislike EPQs? Well, I do...why? I busted another one; this time by one question. But I guess that's all it takes. These things are killing me! I understand the material, but i'm just not recalling all the info that we have to read. Ugh, I'll make it...it's going to be tough, but i'll get it! Other than that, not much going on today. It's night week so we don't go in until 9ish (am for those who didn't catch that). We don't have many flights this week because maintenance can't keep up with us...or something along those lines. I don't really know. Wish me luck and good fortune on the EPQ tomorrow!

So none of us flew this morning because of fog. Spent some of the day studying for the next EPQ and manning the snacko. Well, I had been in there for about an hour or so and my flight commander came in there wondering what I was doing. Needless to say, I was supposed to fly with him a few minutes earlier. Well, I had mission data cards, but I didn't really have anything on them, and was totally unprepared for the entire flight. Ugh, the whole flight was horrible. I was off altitude when I did fly, I couldn't get any checklists right, and i'm sure my radio calls were sub par. We get back and debrief and hands my ass to me (he wasn't mad, just telling me I need to improve in just about every aspect), but he gave me a good. I think he was being super generous, but he said a lot of my flying was about average for my second flight in the T-6. I took it like a champ and learned my lesson: be prepared for anything. Everyone who asks for some advice on this forum always get the "be flexible" and "be prepared for any flight you're opted for". THIS CANNOT BE EMPHASIZED ENOUGH!! Oh well, got through it, and next time will hopefully be better. Went to drop night a little bit ago. Didn't sound like too bad of a drop...the place was packed, hot, and I could barely see what was going on. There was a couple C-17s to Charleston and one to McGuire, Some KC-135s, some T-6 and T-38 FAIPs, a couple UAVs, an AWACS, and a C-21 to Rammstein. I didn't get them all, but not too shabby if you ask me. Enough for now; I'm tired and going to bed soon. Have a good weekend!

Another uneventful day for me. All I did was study all day for the instruments 1 test. Most others flew, but some of us didn't. Then had our instruments test this evening. I was feeling confident about it ever since we had our review of it the other day. Well, I made a 91! Only missed 4...would've only missed 2, but I couldn't resist the urge to change my answers to 2 of the questions...dummy! Never change your answers unless you're 1000% sure that you're changing it to the right answer. Get to fly tomorrow morning, so i'll finally get my second flight!

Pretty uneventful day overall. Me and the other guy that busted the EPQ retake retook it again and we both passed...finally! Now I get to move on to the next obstacle: instruments test. I'm feeling pretty confident about it, so I guess we'll see tomorrow evening.

Well, some people flew today, but the winds were crazy and were gusting up to 20 and 30 knots, so most of our flight didn't get to fly. For me, it was another day of studying. I did some chairflying of the radios and more studying. The end of the day consisted of a 3 hour review of instruments for our test thursday. I was clueless before, but our instructor made it fairly easy to understand. Plus, I got some help from a buddy of mine in the class behind me that flew Learjets and a few of the guys in my flight...great guys! Since i'm on academic CAP, I "get" a 24 hour block before academic tests to study and I don't do sims or flights or anything. Our instruments test is thursday so I "get" an extra period of instruction tomorrow afternoon to try and understand this stuff. After the review this evening, I understand it way better than when I was doing the CAIs. I'm pretty confident about it now.

Back to the grind! Hope everyone had a great Christmas and New Years! Well, had EPQ 2 today...not so bueno. So, academics aren't going so well overall and now I'm on procedural and academic CAP. I'm understanding the material, I guess i'm just not retaining all of it that I need to. We didn't do anything today besides the EPQ. Supposed to go to the OG/CC call this morning, but I guess there were too many people and all the studs were told to go back to the flight rooms. So we took the EPQ and then had about 6 hours to study. I gotta tell ya, for me, it's tough to sit there for hours on end and get any kind of productive studying done. I'm sure others have this problem too, but that's how the program is designed (I guess) so I just have to grin and bear it. At the end of the day, we had standup covering the last set of notes, warnings, and cautions. That went pretty well, so we got let go after about 20 minutes because our flight commander wanted to go home. Tomorrow we get an IP demo for the EP standup. We'll see how this fiasco will go once we start it on Wednesday!

Back to the grind! Hope everyone had a great Christmas and New Years! Well, had EPQ 2 today...not so bueno. So, academics aren't going so well overall and now I'm on procedural and academic CAP. I'm understanding the material, I guess i'm just not retaining all of it that I need to. We didn't do anything today besides the EPQ. Supposed to go to the OG/CC call this morning, but I guess there were too many people and all the studs were told to go back to the flight rooms. So we took the EPQ and then had about 6 hours to study. I gotta tell ya, for me, it's tough to sit there for hours on end and get any kind of productive studying done. I'm sure others have this problem too, but that's how the program is designed (I guess) so I just have to grin and bear it. At the end of the day, we had standup covering the last set of notes, warnings, and cautions. That went pretty well, so we got let go after about 20 minutes because our flight commander wanted to go home. Tomorrow we get an IP demo for the EP standup. We'll see how this fiasco will go once we start it on Wednesday!

So those of us who failed the EPQ took it again this morning and we all passed. So, we were opted to fly, but the weather tanked again! A few people briefed it up for practice, but nothing came of it. We had some shotgun question time for about an hour and our flight commander basically called it a day around 11 or 12. I was glad to leave early but disappointed that I didn't get to fly...oh well, we'll probably start double turning when we get back so I guess I'll just enjoy the down time before the storm. Everyone have a great Christmas or whatever holiday you may or may not celebrate and have fun and be careful!

Was supposed to fly this morning after our EPQ (emergency procedures quiz) but more than half our class busted! The ones that I saw only missed it by one or two questions, but since there's only 20 questions, each one is worth 5 points. That caused 8 of us not to fly so we got to sit in the flight room and study all day...all 12 hours of it. We retake it in the morning and, assuming I pass it, I'm set to fly at 9 in the morning. It was a brutal morning. No fault of his own, but the guy giving the formal brief got railed on for some of that, then we busted the EPQ. Oh well, we'll take our beatings and come back tomorrow and knock it out and make for a good one going into the break.

Weather cleared up around noonish today and got to do my dollar ride this afternoon! Pretty cool, but I need to put my nose in the books that much more now. That was my only free ride in T-6s and we just went out to the aux field and then to the area to tool around some. Came back after an hour flight and called it a day. End of week 1 in phase II and so far so good! We get paid to do this stuff?!?!?! What a deal! Have a great weekend!

Weather tanked all day, which means no flights for us! Oh joy. Got to do some instrument CAIs and write out some boldface/ops limits. So apparently some of us (9 exactly) got some stuff wrong on the boldface/ops limits yesterday, so we each have 9 due tomorrow. My hand is killing me! It's the price you pay for screwing up, I guess! Hopefully the weather will clear up tomorrow for my dollar ride (seems like i've said this before...).