Degradation of SUPT

[dream big]

11 hours ago, Walkerdubs said:

As a future stud who’s going to Vance in Sept of next year, any advice from you all on preparation or things I could bring to the table to help my class get over the seemingly condensed syllabus?


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Study study study.  Study alone and study together.  Attitude is everything, walk into the flight room with a smile on your face eager to learn.  You will be criticized, a lot, learn to take it and make yourself better.  You’ll be good at something your classmate is not, help him out.  Don’t be a BF.   Unwind on the weekends, grill out and drink at someone’s house.  

UPT was tough but hands down one of the most fun times of my life because my job 100% was to fly and help my bros out.  Also, realize that you’ll love whatever aircraft you end up getting.  Best of luck, you’ll all do fine. 

[Stoker]

11 hours ago, Walkerdubs said:

As a future stud who’s going to Vance in Sept of next year, any advice from you all on preparation or things I could bring to the table to help my class get over the seemingly condensed syllabus?


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Chair fly every flight ahead of time. Know that even though ELPs aren't in the syllabus anymore, you still need to know how to do an ELP. 

[isshinwhat]

Wait til people find out they let guys straight out of UPT instruct in T-38s. Minds will be blown. 🤯

[Danger41]

Put a ton of effort into learning instruments correctly from the start. Don’t get through the phase and dump the knowledge. That solid foundation will pay off whether you’re flying an Eagle back into Lakenheath or a tanker landing in a sandstorm. 

[Bode]

Chair fly every flight ahead of time. Know that even though ELPs aren't in the syllabus anymore, you still need to know how to do an ELP. 

What’s old is new again. ELPs are back in the syllabus.


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[jazzdude]

As a future stud who’s going to Vance in Sept of next year, any advice from you all on preparation or things I could bring to the table to help my class get over the seemingly condensed syllabus?


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You can't control the syllabus, so I wouldn't worry about what's missing from it as a stud; you've got so much else to work about.

I'll echo what was said, study hard! You'll have long days on formal release, so maximize that time. A compressed syllabus to you means less time to learn a task, so don't waste opportunities (flights/sims).

Study with your flightmates, don't be afraid to ask IPs questions (but do know the book answer before asking). Don't waste time on formal release playing in your phone, your IPs will notice and be less forgiving on GK and procedural items.

Attitude is very important. Most IPs want you to succeed, but you've got to put in the effort. If you're struggling but putting in the effort to read, ask your flightmates for help, and ask IPs for clarification, we'll do what we can to help you understand the material better.

Even if you are doing well, you can always be better. So stay in the books. We are laying the foundation of how to be a professional military aviator, and those lessons (stay in the books, strive for improvement, realize your weaknesses and find ways to improve them) become so much more important after you get your wings, as now it's not just flying, but tactics, aircraft employment, and threats.

As a student, the advice I got was to hit the books hard from Sunday afternoon until Friday's end of schedule, then take Friday night and Saturday to take care of yourself (or your family). As a UPT IP, I recommended the same for my studs.

Work hard, play hard. Best of luck to you!

[Walkerdubs]

You can't control the syllabus, so I wouldn't worry about what's missing from it as a stud; you've got so much else to work about.

I'll echo what was said, study hard! You'll have long days on formal release, so maximize that time. A compressed syllabus to you means less time to learn a task, so don't waste opportunities (flights/sims).

Study with your flightmates, don't be afraid to ask IPs questions (but do know the book answer before asking). Don't waste time on formal release playing in your phone, your IPs will notice and be less forgiving on GK and procedural items.

Attitude is very important. Most IPs want you to succeed, but you've got to put in the effort. If you're struggling but putting in the effort to read, ask your flightmates for help, and ask IPs for clarification, we'll do what we can to help you understand the material better.

Even if you are doing well, you can always be better. So stay in the books. We are laying the foundation of how to be a professional military aviator, and those lessons (stay in the books, strive for improvement, realize your weaknesses and find ways to improve them) become so much more important after you get your wings, as now it's not just flying, but tactics, aircraft employment, and threats.

As a student, the advice I got was to hit the books hard from Sunday afternoon until Friday's end of schedule, then take Friday night and Saturday to take care of yourself (or your family). As a UPT IP, I recommended the same for my studs.

Work hard, play hard. Best of luck to you!

Roger that, thank you! Good luck to you as well


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[12xu2a3x3]

On 8/17/2019 at 12:40 PM, Bode said:

 

What’s old is new again. ELPs are back in the syllabus.


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some Sandhill Crane at Dogface just felt a feather on it's neck stand up, uncommanded no less

[Vito]

This was UPT in 1986, and those numbers are skewed since some of the graduates were wash-backs from other classes.

Edited August 21, 2019 by Vito

[Hacker]

As I've frequently posted, this is the annual total UPT attrition per FY (from the AF's circa 2001 study of effectiveness of UPT student selection methods).

There are plenty of individual class at individual base snapshots that show extremely high attrition, but given these overall numbers there were obviously classes with substantially higher graduation percentages that offset the high numbers.

 

[Standby]

Makes sense that attrition was higher when everybody flew the T-38.

[TreeA10]

I was a Columbus T-38 IP through 85-88. There was the initial wave of a pilot exodus during this time so there was a push to retain students in training. We had a class  come from T-37s that had loss students to medical or self-initiated causes but that was it.  It became a bloody mess and we ended up washing out half the class. 

[Ricofromdetroit]

For what it’s worth we had 3/22 not make it in 2018 from my class. Right around the same percentages of early 90s/ late 70s. 

[Hacker]

18 hours ago, Standby said:

Makes sense that attrition was higher when everybody flew the T-38.

...and when a UPT Wing Commander's job effectiveness wasn't measured using graduation rate.

[MooseAg03]

It’s a shame we don’t document our history like that anymore. My last AD squadron had a bunch of old photo albums in the bar, but now we post everything to a Facebook page.


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[magnetfreezer]

15 hours ago, MooseAg03 said:

It’s a shame we don’t document our history like that anymore. My last AD squadron had a bunch of old photo albums in the bar, but now we post everything to a Facebook page.


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Talk to the wing historians - you'd be surprised at what they compile.

[MCO]

21 hours ago, magnetfreezer said:

Talk to the wing historians - you'd be surprised at what they compile.

My wing hasn’t had a historian for close to 2 years

[MooseAg03]

My wing hasn’t had a historian for close to 2 years

Same.


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[Walkerdubs]

Same.


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Why is that? I get they aren’t mission critical per se but the history of a wing or squadron would be the center of its morale wouldn’t it?


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[gearhog]

45 minutes ago, Walkerdubs said:

Why is that? I get they aren’t mission critical per se but the history of a wing or squadron would be the center of its morale wouldn’t it?


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Not if the current AF policies stand in direct contradiction to the history, traditions, and culture of the past.

Reference: the PC witch hunt a few years back/removal of anything deemed offensive.

[MooseAg03]

I remember flipping through the history book they kept at the AFE flight at Laughlin during our training there. It had all of the class patches going back decades and the meaning behind their designs. It was 1994, and the patch has “LCWF” on it. You can fill in the blanks. Too much of our history doesn’t fit with today’s PC culture.


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[Lord Ratner]

I was a Columbus T-38 IP through 85-88... 

I don't remember it happening that way, but I was also zero-years-old...

[TreeA10]

4 hours ago, Lord Ratner said:

 

I don't remember it happening that way, but I was also zero-years-old...

It was a hoot, walk in the door and see I'm flying 3 times with 3 students on busts and give them another attempt at killing me.  Claimed an Art 15 kill on a Captain class SRO for cheating on one of my tests.  And....oh yeah, get off my lawn!

[MechGov]

Not if the current AF policies stand in direct contradiction to the history, traditions, and culture of the past.
Reference: the PC witch hunt a few years back/removal of anything deemed offensive.

And the various civilian hiring freezes, sequester and overall “do more with less”

[gearhog]

3 hours ago, TreeA10 said:

Claimed an Art 15 kill on a Captain class SRO for cheating on one of my tests. 

Back in my day, IPs used to give test answers to the hot female students to claim a kill.