Saturday, January 30, 2010

2 Days of briefings...2 days of snow....

Tuesday was the official start of our pilot training. After two days of briefings from several commanders and other base and training officials, we were all looking forward to start Aerospace Physiology on Thursday and actually do something. However, as you will see in the pictures below, we had a little snow storm on Thursday and Friday that kept us in our dorms and out of the classroom. The total snowfall was about 10 inches in some areas of Oklahoma. My friend said he measaured 9 inches on some of the cars, and with the wind the way it was, we probably had at least 10 or 11 inches on base.

Just a quick note...after losing all three of my buttons on my Service Dress during the two days of briefings, my advice to anyone going to pilot training would be to have your Service Dress looked at by the tailor shop.....!! Several of us who got their Service Dress Coats from the Academy had the same problem. After each brief, we'd all huddle around a container of paper clips and try to rig up a quick fix to keep our jackets intact. Needless to say, the tailor shop will be getting a lot of business from us over the next several weeks!

This coming week's schedule only has Physiology on the board, so it shouldn't be too bad. It's supposed to be one of the easiest blocks of training in Academics. I've been doing a little studying beyond what is required because I know once we start studying systems and aero, time won't be as abundant as it is now!

Enjoy the pictures below...we'll see ya next week!!

-Chris



View of our Dorms



My car under 9 inhces of snow...I guess I have some shoveling in my future!!


All of our pubs...black binder on the left is our flying manual for the T-6...the rest are books on basic flying fundamentals, weather, systems, etc.






The stack of pubs I brought home...about 20 or so pounds of paper.


















Monday, January 25, 2010

PUBS issue, tomorrow is day 1

After over 6 months of waiting, my journey finally begins tomorrow morning!! I'm both excited and terrified at the same time! A friend of mine shared a verse with me on Sunday that serves as a good reminder for me and even all of us. Isaiah 41:10: "So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand." This will be a tough year, maybe the toughest of my life. But I will hold to that promise that no matter what, God is with me and everything that happens to me will be according to his plan. I'm excited for UPT, because I know I will grow closer to Him. My biggest challenges in life have always proven to also be the most fruitful experiences and biggest learning opportunities too; I'm sure this will be no different.

During the last few days, we have been undergoing "Mental Performance Training." It is designed to help us better perform under pressure situations by allowing us to multi-task more efficiently. The theory is that if we can move some of our conscious efforts into our sub-conscious, we have a higher capacity to do more mentally. To make this happen, we have reverted back to a Kindergarden type of learning style by playing with bricks and arrows and learn about shape recognition, color recognition, classification, categorization, etc. They have a vast amount of different exercises for us to do on a daily basis, and for most of us including an instructor pilot who has sat in on it with us, the day usually ends with a massive headache. I don't have time to get into details on what the exercises themselves are, but it is a very unique method of training. We are the first class to go through this training, and depending on our performance in UPT, they may decide to include this training with other classes.

Today was publications issue (pubs for short). It was epic as expected...... We walked into a classroom with 29 chairs, in front of each was a 2.5 foot tall stack of paper which is to be our reading assignment for the next 6 months. Most of it will be read in the next 6 weeks during the Academic phase (phase I). This stack of pubs was about 20 or 30 pounds of pure paper, kind of like what you would expect from a 21 credit hour semester in college. It's definitely not anything we can't handle, but it will certainly keep us busy!! I have pictures I took of the pubs in my room...I'll do what I can to post those on my blog this weekend!

Tomorrow is day 1...my prayer is that whatever comes of this phase of my life, I would be content with its result and let God show me the path he wants me to walk. Even if it was not what I had anticipated, I pray that I will be able to align my will with His will and be joyful for the blessing of even being able to fly airplanes for a living. God's been very good to me to let me do this...it is certainly a dream come true; I couldn't be any more excited for it to start. Thanks again for all your support...let the journey begin!!

-Chris

Tuesday, January 19, 2010

10-12 Track Select

For those who are interested in recent Track Select trends, Vance had a Track Select night for class 10-12 tonight. Track select is when student pilots find out whether they will track to fighter/bomber (T-38), tanker/cargo (T-1), Helicopter (H-1), or Turbo Shaft (T-44). Tonight there were (out of a class of 28ish students) roughly 5 T-38s, 1 or 2 helicopters, about 3 T-44s, the rest being T-1s. T-38s are not unheard of anymore, so if you're interested in the fighter/bomber track, hope is still there. However, I will tell you that because there are so few fighters available, T-38s are now universably assignable, meaning you could still get a C-17 or KC-135, etc. out of T-38s. So it's not really the "fighter/bomber" track anymore-you can still track heavies or predators, etc. But at least you get the experience of flying the T-38, which could help if you apply for a Non-Standard Assignment like U-28s or AT-6s, or if you want to go to Test Pilot School. But anyways, that's the latest from the Air Force Track Selects.

My UPT class met together as a whole for the first time this morning. We just discussed class job options (I am assigned as the "class photographer") and also discussed having to go through the clinic on Thursday for our flight physicals and other check-ups. I think I should also be getting the H1N1 shot on Thursday, so I will be especially looking forward to that (insert sarcastic smile here). Today I purchased a close to life size print-out of the T-6 cockpit so I can "chairfly" my maneuvers in my apartment. Chair-flying is a mental practice students have to go through before each of their flights so they are prepared when they actually step into the real jet. Having a poster of the cockpit with all the switches and gauges in the right positions kind of helps the learning process. Monday we get all our pubs issued (all of our "textbooks" for how to fly in the Air Force and also specifically how to fly the T-6, etc.). I'll be sure to get pictures of the mountain of paperwork I get on Monday and pass that along to y'all!! And last but not least, I now have purchased my very own coffee pot, so when I have to wake up at 4 in the morning when I start flying, I will have a fresh cup of jo ready for me :-)...ahhh, gotta love the Air Force! I think you get promoted faster the more cups of coffee you drink a day....not sure, but I'll get back to you on that!....

Seeing all the students track select tonight made me think of my track select night which should be at the end of July. My hope is that I would have no regrets about my efforts when flying the T-6 and that I can just hand it over to God when it's over. He's in control of my life and in control of my future. My hope is that I will be able to accept whatever His will is and be content in all circumstances. I have a lot of hopes and dreams for the future, but I need to give those over to Him. That's what I will have to work on these next 6 months....

~Chris

Monday, January 11, 2010

My UPT journal

Welcome to my UPT journal! My hope for this journal is that family and friends can track one student's experience through UPT at Vance AFB in Oklahoma so as to get a better idea of what it's like as a pilot trainee. I'll do my best to update as often as I can, but usually these things take a back seat to studying, so we'll see how it goes!!!

Well, I'm only 2 weeks away from starting down that year long road everyone around me has been talking about for the last 6 months!! A good majority of my friends here at Vance either have started, finished, or will finish UPT very soon. I have to say I'm really excited to be starting on the 26th of this month. I was afraid I'd be burned out after only 4 weeks of Initial Flight Screening in Colorado, but that didn't turn out to be the case. Right now, I have a copy of the Boldface/Ops limits we have to memorize for the T-6. Those are the emergency procedures you have to have memorized and down cold. Other than studying those procedures, I'm just going to relax these last couple weeks until it starts and my "vacation" is over. Casual life was nice, but it'll feel good to do what I came here to do. I have some last minute issue items I have to pick up from Life Support (Helmet, oxygen mask), but otherwise I have all the other equipment I'll need. Gotta do an oil change and tire rotation on the car this week...probably won't have too much time to do that when I'm at UPT.

There are two different squadrons that fly T-6s here at Vance in the 71st Flying Training Wing. I will be in the 8th which really doesn't mean anything to you unless you anticipate on coming here as a student in the near future. I also have a list of all my classmates, but other than that, they've kept us in the dark as to what to expect in the next couple weeks. We've watched others in the class ahead of us; for now, that's our only guide. I'm sure I'll learn more in the days to come about what to expect. It's gonna be quite the journey!! I can always use a few prayers!!!