Forum: Careers & Assignments

flanker_hater wrote:

The only guys that got booted out of the class seemed to be life support guys though not sure why.

Probably because they waited too long to go. They went in with their knowledge of a survival kit, and thought that was enough to know it all. People like that really tick me off. I want to tell people like that to just lock it up, and learn something. Chances are, what you thought you knew wasn't right. Thats what the instructors get paid to do...and they've run that same course over and over again. I'm glad I went in as a young troop. Some stuff was repetition for me, but generally I learned a lot, as you should.

Oops! My bad! Dunno why I thought all fighter jocks went through advanced beating. I do believe, however, that the drivers get something a little different than the troops. Then again, that part of it is classified. When I came back, people were asking me "How bad was it?" "Just wait til you go" was all I'd say. Wink

Beers and MiGs were made to be pounded!

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I was wondering if there was anything I should know/do before I enlist with the 180th FW.

First off, welcome to the Fab Flight. If you choose to attend any drills in the upcomming months I'll probably be seeing you.

You want advice...GO SOME PLACE WARMER! Winter up here sucks. But anyway, you picked the right unit. I don't know if you planned to enlist after the whole BRAC thing was over, but either way it was a good move, because I'm sure you know Springfield isn't going to be around a whole lot longer as it's right in your back yard. Same goes for Mansfield too. And yes, I don't know who said it, but we are set to pick up 9 (could be 7 now, not sure) jets from Des Moines.

Just out of curiosity, what other jobs were you offered when you talked to the recruiter?

She didn't really offer me a whole lot...she told me what was available in springfield (fuel systems, egress, and something else...life support wasn't available there) she just kind of asked me what i wanted to do (not that I had a clue... Question

) but after I found out that egress wasn't for me I talked with their life support guys Cool

. She told me I could pretty much do anything w/ my ASVAB scores though

Actually I think the kid was right out of Tech School, he was only a 1 stripper. Not that it really matters.

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You want advice...GO SOME PLACE WARMER! Winter up here sucks.

2! Although for a while it seemed like we were getting some spring weather and then all of a sudden it starts raining and everything freezes over. I was surprised to see snow yesterday! (Although I shouldn't have been!) Three cheers for global warming! If you dont like it; move some place colder!

-Aaron

Hey guys, how long is tech school for life support? Also, how long and rigorous is the follow-up training at the base?

It's not very rigorous at all, at least it wasn't for me. I'm guessing they've got you slated for 30 days of OJT once you get back home. You'll basically work with the full time technicians out there for a month and familiarize yourself with how things are run at the base. It'll probably be a welcome change of pace after tech school. (My first day on the job I was laughed out of my flight chiefs office by my senoir co-workers after I called the flight chief "sir") I really enjoyed my follow up training because I finally had the opportunity to work on a jet, and not just an aluminum box riveted together to simulate part of an airplane.

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2! Although for a while it seemed like we were getting some spring weather and then all of a sudden it starts raining and everything freezes over. I was surprised to see snow yesterday! (Although I shouldn't have been!) Three cheers for global warming! If you dont like it; move some place colder!

I know what you mean. Me and the guys were so excited about the temperature hitting 50 yesterday that we fired up the grill, threw on some steaks, and each downed a 6 pack.

what's wrong with calling the flight chief sir? Question

and how long is LS
tech school?

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what's wrong with calling the flight chief sir? and how long is LS
tech school?

There's nothing wrong with it, you're actually supposed to. It's just that once you come back to your home station you'll see a lot of that "yes sir/no sir" stuff fly right out of the window. It's not as formal as tech school or the AD world.

As to how long long your tech school is, I wouldn't know, I'm a structural guy, which is a different part of the fabrication flight (which you'll be part of)

Forum Veteran Joined: Dec 25, 2003 - 10:03 PM Posts: 679

I think it's 6 weeks but I can be wrong. You can find the answer online somewhere.

flanker_hater wrote:

Survival School was a good learning experience for me. The only guys that got booted out of the class seemed to be life support guys though not sure why.

TC, you're a bit off on the advanced beating course, not all drivers and intel go through that in fact, most don't. Only those that are flying on aircraft with "sensitive material/missions". Standard Viper/Eagle driver doesn't get advance a$$ beatings.

A bit incorrect on that last statement there bro...

The A course really isnt an advanced a$$ whooping, its actually the same resistance part, but you go over the knowledge and disclosure of more severe material.

The advanced a$$ whooping comes if you are minority or female. Very Happy

Remember this? "Return with honor" Then a BVR Bitch slap!

got some crappy news from MEPS...they disqualified me due to "chronic back pain". My back hurts, so I went to a chiropractor last year. I was required to have him send a waver to MEPS, which wasn't good enough. Now I've got to get another physical and send that info plus my previous treatment history to the state flight surgeon to try to get that decision turned around. Anybody ever have something like this happen to them? I need some help, guys...anything's appreciated. Bang Head

I think DOBMERB does that to about everyone. Its a hassle but you only have to get it over with once. I think its a two fold purpose; one, they want to make sure they are bringing healthy members into the service. Two, they want to make sure that if you have a condition that doesnt disqualify you but its prior to your enlistment, that the condition exhisted prior to your enlistment, and they cant get pinned for it. I had to submit about 8 years worthe of skin tissue removal, pathological reports on the former, and then about a year of rehab I needed on a knee injury from highschool track and also go through a seperate physical from an AF funded doctor. I havent had any problems. I think this is just "one of the things." Laughing

-Aaron

I'm wanting to enlist with the stingers before I graduate high school, just to get service time in. Since I won't have tech school training yet, I won't be able to work in the life support shop much (if at all) Confused

, so what kind of stuff will I do for now?

You'll probably just follow other members of your shop and watch them as they perform their tasks. If you're not doing that, you're more than likely going to be doing a lot of cleaning.

Forum: Careers & Assignments

Going into aircrew life support for the 180th FW