Starting UPT next week

That's a great accomplishment -- try to take a moment and enjoy what you just spent so much time and effort achieving. You never get to the top of the hill, unfortunately -- you're only at the base camp.
 
Hacker15e said:
That's a great accomplishment -- try to take a moment and enjoy what you just spent so much time and effort achieving. You never get to the top of the hill, unfortunately -- you're only at the base camp.
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Agreed......to the OP (or the guys in flight school) I've been doing this for about 5 years now (much less than some of course), and I have yet to have a moment where I'm not in some sort of a syllabus, or working towards a qual/upgrade. You can never rest on your laurels from my experience anyway. And if there is a break in the training/career progression, then a ground job will eat up the rest of your sudden spare time. That was hard for me initially.....never really getting to the end of the tunnel.....but as soon as you can accept the fact that you are never on top, the sooner you will appreciate the process and how much better it makes you while you are too busy to notice that you are getting better :)
 
I've got 2 1/2 weeks off, I'm just enjoying the time I have alone in the car on the drive from Del Rio back home to Ohio, been using the time to reflect and catch up phone calls and relationships that fell into neglect during UPT. As for ground jobs, I'm gonna be honest, I went guard for a reason, definitely still part of it, but less so... also i'll be wearing those 2 Lt bars until mid December, so plenty of time left to be talked to like a kindergartner on the first day of school! I too am realizing that it never ends, I plan on getting a real masters degree and flying civilian aviation again as well. The hard work never ends, but it's so worth it.
 
Congrats, I think I figured out what unit you are with, glad you are getting "new" old planes, my old SQ was the one that got a non-flying mission.
 
Soku39 said:
I've got 2 1/2 weeks off, I'm just enjoying the time I have alone in the car on the drive from Del Rio back home to Ohio, been using the time to reflect and catch up phone calls and relationships that fell into neglect during UPT. As for ground jobs, I'm gonna be honest, I went guard for a reason, definitely still part of it, but less so... also i'll be wearing those 2 Lt bars until mid December, so plenty of time left to be talked to like a kindergartner on the first day of school! I too am realizing that it never ends, I plan on getting a real masters degree and flying civilian aviation again as well. The hard work never ends, but it's so worth it.
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Yeah, I think it is probably different in the Guard wrt ground jobs.....probably even so in the regular AF/ACC......we have basically 20 officers (3/4's of them being pilots) to fill the jobs that would normally fall on the shoulders of non-pilots in your maintenance squadrons....at least as far as I understand your system. For example, I'm an O-3 and lead a division of ~ 50 sailors. I think the reality of a first tour AF Capt is probably more about flying and less about other stuff comparatively. That being said, I'm sure the "always learning" part is no different in the cockpit.
 
To the OP as a former UPT IP: attitude is Everything at UPT. We could teach a monkey to fly, we couldn't teach a monkey to fly the way the AF wants them to fly though. What that means is, if you put in the work, you study, you come to class or the flight well-prepared, IPs will do everything they can to get you through the program. But, no one wants to fly with a guy with a poor attitude.
You'll also hear the phrase "cooperate to graduate". It's extremely important, as you can't complete UPT in a vacuum. You will have the opportunity to rate your classmates, as they will rate you, along with all the IPs rating you as well. That all goes into your final class ranking. Everything you do, from the moment you sign into UPT until you graduate, you are being evaluated, inspected and watched. You screw up off duty, it'll hurt you.
Also, don't forget all you know about civilian flying, BUT don't try to equate civilian flying to military flying. The guys that had the most problems in formation and tactical portions of UPT were the guys who were civilian flyers. During those phases, just let it go and be a sponge!
Study your boldface, ops limits, rules and regulations, help out your fellow classmates, be eager to learn and you'll do well.
Good luck, it'll be the hardest year of your life. You'll be pushed physically and mentally, but the sense of accomplishment when you get those wings is unlike anything you've ever felt or will feel again.
The day I graduated from UPT and received my wings I still count as one of the five greatest days of my life.
 
The OP is this recent grad 13 1/2 months later. The advice will be good for others, but to an extent there will always be an element of no matter how much you prepare you won't have a clue what's happening until you get down there. The write up is great for other guys headed down to UPT, and you're right as a prior time guy formation and tactics were the hardest part of the syllabus. It will easily be the hardest year of my life, at times was I disappointing to the IPs and other studs... sure.... did I let it keep me down, not a chance.
 
Soku39 said:
The OP is this recent grad 13 1/2 months later. The advice will be good for others, but to an extent there will always be an element of no matter how much you prepare you won't have a clue what's happening until you get down there. The write up is great for other guys headed down to UPT, and you're right as a prior time guy formation and tactics were the hardest part of the syllabus. It will easily be the hardest year of my life, at times was I disappointing to the IPs and other studs... sure.... did I let it keep me down, not a chance.
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Congrats man!
 
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