Forum: Future F-16 crew

Hello to all you fellow Patriots- I'm Jeff, a 20 yr-old student at the University of Colorado at Boulder.

The main reason I posted this is because there is no “sticky” thread on 'AFROTC: Prospective Pilots' which appears to be a popular topic. I’ve read through many of the similar threads and they seem scattered in purpose and content.

Here's my life story in 6 points:

*Thought I was going the AFA and become a fighter pilot since 1st Grade. Worked hard in school, made Eagle Scout, did sports, etc.

*Went to USAFA Summer Seminar between Junior and Senior in HS. Decided it wasn't the college experience I needed. - Went to CU Boulder and did not join AFROTC - I guess I wasn't 100% ready.

*Have done ok as an Aero Engineering student, and continued leadership with my fraternity.

*After two years of college, decided it was time to finally bust my a$$ and join AFROTC. I'm finally ready to do whatever it takes to become an officer in the Air Force, if at all possible a Viper driver. My lifelong objective/dream is to protect the [Link pending approval] Constitution as a soldier. I can do this best as a pilot in the Air Force.

*I understand the insane amount of work I have in front of me, I began by getting all the info/paperwork from the Cadre of Det 105. I've been doing a lot of pushups, situps and running so far this summer.

*I have 3 more years to graduate, which I'm told should work quite well for the AFROTC program.

So, here’s what I know I need to do. (No particular order)

1. Get in awesome shape. Goals: 10 min [Link pending approval] mile, 60+ Pushups/Situps. (Will work on pull-ups and other too, running is my biggest weakness in life)

2. Get great grades. I now need to work as hard as I possibly can, I’ve been working hard, but just doing well enough to get by in my difficult Aerospace Engineering major.

3. Lead. My leadership style is by example. I need to begin shifting my focus of time and energy in a leadership capacity from my fraternity to AFROTC. I want to finish what I start (fraternity) but want to do what’s best in the long run (AFROTC leadership)

4. Do well on tests. Somehow prepare very well for the AFOQT, which should be very soon for me.

Any and all advice regarding an AFROTC cadet whose dream is the cockpit will be very appreciated from you gents (and ladies). I’ve been an unregistered reader for a while, and am happy to finally be posting.

God Bless-
Jeff

F-16.net Sponsor

Or perhaps this horse has been beaten to [Link pending approval]

My two main questions:

1. How should I prepare for the AFOQT?

2. I had mild scoliosis (curvy spine) that was corrected 6 years ago without surgury. Never any restrictions on any activity. Will this be a problem when I get tested for a pilot slot?

Re #2: AFI 48-123 is the medical regulation for the USAF. Just realize as a pilot you'll be going for an FCI (Flying Class 1) physical. You can find the file pretty easily on google. If you don't understand the medical terms in the reg, or something is unclear there are a few flight docs in the medical forum of [Link pending approval] that could probably answer your question. The most important gouge for that site is to do a search first before you post.

Unfortunatly the horse has been beaten to death 1000 times, but each case seems to be uniquely individual enough that it's worth deserving it's own thread.

I'll put it this way; I enjoyed the personal horse beatings I got from the members here, and still routinly get on occassion. On that note, I dont mind answering the questions of people I can as long as they keep posting; as long as it's stuff that it seems like they've ran a forum search on prior and haven't found the exact answer they needed or in terms put so that they can understand. I also appreciate each person having their own thread so that we can keep discussions individualized and organized.

With that said, my reccommendations to you are to work your butt off this summer. Put you're Frat second. Every Cadet I know who's been a member of a Frat said that it routinly got in the way of them doing the right thing. That's not saying they didn't succeed; but they did admit to it being an obstacle. If you are willing to prioritize that's great; but make sure your priorities are in the right order.

I say this because you have a reputation to work up in ROTC now. A reputation the members of your class have had ONE FULL YEAR to already build on that you havent. Since I started my first year of ROTC as a 250, and finished as a 100, let me give you some insight to what it's like.

First, you will see other people in their first year getting treated nicely and baby stepped into the program, learning how to march from the basics. You my friend will not be. Because while they have 2 years to prepare for field training, you don't. Now it varies det to det but at least in my det I felt like crap my first semester, and behind. They expected out of me what every other 200 knew and I didn't know it. I would get grilled for not knowing it as if I were supposed to have known it. I also felt ousted by the other Cadets, although I knew that really wasnt the case. They just had a year more to bond together that I didn't have with them. Not to mention the stress of having to pass all your classes on time. In the end I decided to hold back my commission one year and joined the 100 class and I dont regret it a bit.

But; you dont have to do that if you want. I did it because I felt it would increase my odds of a pilot slot, my ultimate goal. It was ONE MORE YEAR to build my GPA, build flight time, become more physically attuned, and brown nose (haha Just kidding) the Col a bit. Actually I just mean his impression of you is really going to be formed when you get back from FT and he starts to learn who you are because he cares; since before there was no said and done thing you would even commission. In other words, when he decides it's important to learn your face (and this may be different in a smaller det) the first thing he'll look at after FT is you FT performance score.

With that all said, all power to you. If you do decide to be a 250 (which this whole time I'm assuming is the case because you said you have 3 years left to graduate) then I suggest you start working your butt off this summer instead of next year. You need to make sure you have the one up on the other 200s every way you can because while they are confident about their marching and other cheesy horse crap when you get there, you will be unconfident and unwilling to stand out. So stand out in other ways; like perfecting you're first PFT. I started ROTC with an 82 PFT. I had never worked out in my life. I worked my butt off all year and all summer and ran on the other day. I maxed pushups, situps and waist measurement (that's easy for me!) and ran a 9:58 on my 1.5 mile. You have no idea how good I felt to finally break that 10 minute mark! That came with running 3 miles every day for almost 3 months solid and maybe some luck. While I'm talking PFT scores I think I should also mention, at some point you need to start working legs in a weight room, IMO. Because I was stuck at 10:25 for the longest time and it wasnt untill I started doing leg curls, extensions and calf raises admist other stuff I broke that. I could sprint the whole 1.5 mile, I just didnt have the strength to go faster. Anyways, back on topic; work hard this summer and score a 95+ on your PFT. It will raise some eyebrows because you just proved you are already PHYSICALLY capable of surviving FT. Also, if you have high grades, its a plus. At least in our det, up till you 300 year the only way the PAS knows you is by your stats; and a 4.0 is a hard stat to pass up. If that's not what you have, hopefully they are decent. If you want to raise them a bit more before next year; take 1-2 summer courses at a community college and get an A in them. It will only help a bit but then you can reduce you're course load both semesters your next year; which = more time to study which = higher grades. Also, pick up the ARCO books on the AFOQT and study like MAD on them. Follow some of the other AFOQT tips scattered in this forum. If you score extremely high in all areas of the AFOQT then you are sure to attract some attention from the Cadre. That's the stuff you want. It shows you are capable, but just set back. Lastly, walking in with some flying time wont improve your perception in the Det at all but I will help you in the long run on your pilot slot and it will also give you something to talk about with other cadets interested in becoming pilots, helping you get into the "in" croud. I was always told you didn't need flight time to get a pilot slot but I was so surprised at how many people had it when I got to my det; in the long run I decided it wouldn't hurt. Especially with how competative it is these days.

Now that I've ranted long enough (sorry but I've missed 3 weeks of F-16.net) I will let some other members butt in here for some comments.

-Aaron

www.wantscheck.com

www.baseops.net

Thanks Wigs, Aaron, viperman26, you answered so many questions. Smile

Hey dude, hope you got the PM. I changed my orginal post, PM me if you got any questions.