alright! luke, coach, thanks for all the help! i guess i'll let this topic die now.
maybe i'll see you guys around in a couple years! take care!
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| Author: | desperado302 [ 26 Feb 2003, 07:21 ] |
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I'm headed to UPT in May and hope to be flying a hog in a little over a year. I'm looking for some information as to what I can expect after graduation from UPT (assuming I get an A-10 slot). I'd like to know about the FTU (length, intensity, location), deployments (frequency, duration), and the lifestyle in general. Any information would be appreciated! Advice is welcome, too. Thanks!! |
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| Author: | luke [ 26 Feb 2003, 20:23 ] |
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First off, congrats!!! Second, where are you going to UPT? I am a T38 FAIP at Sheppard. Third, about all those questions you asked. Let's say you get an A10. Well, after you finish UPT you will have to do IFF (introduction to fighter fundamentals). It is about a 6 week course right now for some guys but for those doing IFF at Moody AFB it is a 3 month course because they are using the T38C with a bunch of new stuff and they are allowed some extra rides to learn it all. You will also have to go to the centrifuge. That sucks (but is not the end of the world like a lot of people make it out to be). You will also have to do water survival at Pensacola NAS (vacation) and land survival at Fairchild AFB (the part out in the mountains for a few days is a cool camping trip with fake bad guys chasing you - the bad part is at the end of that they "catch" you and put you in a fake POW camp for a couple of days - good training but something I would rather not have to ever do again) Then it is off to RTU. For the A10 this is at Davis Monthan AFB in Tucson AZ. This course is just over 180 days therefore justifying a PCS instead of getting a bunch of TDY money. Locations for the A10 after RTU include staying at Davis Monthan at an operational unit, Spangdahlem Germany, Pope AFB in North Carolina, Eielson AFB in Fairbanks Alaska, and Osan AB in South Korea. The lifestyle is the fighter pilot lifestyle...12 hours a day 5 or 6 days a week. If in Korea 6 or 7 days a week. If deployed, 7 or 8 days a week <img src=icon_smile.gif border=0 align=middle> . From what I have seen the community is pretty cool. Still pretty intense but nothing compared to F15C guys. Prepare to deploy a LOT if you go to ANY airplane in the air force, fighter or heavy. Do NOT let someone trick you into thinking that going to a heavy will mean less time away from your family. It does not work that way. I am currently wrapping up my last 4 months as an instructor before going to IFF and then to A10s myself. So, some people who have already 'been there done that' in the A10 can give you some better insight into that. As for pilot training, well I have been in that world for 5 years now. You have already done quite a bit just to get a slot. Now when you start just work your ass off. That seems like common sense but there are dudes in every class who do not work like they should. It is EXTREMELY obvious when someone climbs into the plane who has not been putting in the effort. When I became an instructor I was surprised at just how obvious it was. It will be hard and stressful (so to speak) but remember to have fun. Being a pilot, especially a fighter pilot, is very hard and you have to put up with a ton of crap and memorize thousands of pages worth of stuff that you have to be able to recall and apply while going hundreds of miles and hour. It is too much work to be worth doing if you are not enjoying it so remind yourself every once in awhile that what you are doing it pretty damn cool and you will do just fine. |
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| Author: | desperado302 [ 26 Feb 2003, 21:06 ] |
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Luke, Thanks for the congrats and in-depth reply! You helped answer a lot of questions. I'm headed to Columbus for training. Now here's my biggest question. I'm trying to fit a wedding in the midst of all this training. I was hoping to do it directly after UPT. What's the chance of getting a couple weeks of leave immediately following UPT and prior to any other training (i.e. IFF)? Also, becoming an IP right out of UPT has crossed my mind. How have you liked it? Something you'd recommend? Thanks!! |
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| Author: | luke [ 27 Feb 2003, 08:03 ] |
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First, the wedding plans...congrats again...after UPT you can PROBABLY get 1 week or so right after training for a wedding. That could mess with some of the follow on training dates though so there is a chance that even that may not work. Have a fall back plan of a quick wedding that you can do over the weekend. Do not plan on a honeymoon for awhile (after RTU probably). Now some people end up having a month here or there in between some of those above mentioned training programs but you will not find that out until literally a week or so before graduation. You might end up being one of those guys or the guy who starts follow on training the Monday after a friday graduation and has no breaks bigger than a couple of days until the end of RTU. It is really just a crap shoot. When it gets closer to graduation let your supervisor know and maybe something can be worked out. Another option is to push up the wedding to right around Christmas. This is AETC - we get a week and a half or so every year for the holidays. I have 2 students right now who just got married over the break. Second, being a FAIP...a few people request to be FAIPs. Usually it is to get married or to stay in town for a local girlfriend or wife or to stick around while your kids are young. I did not request to FAIP and did OK in training so they made me stay. It has been great. I have about 1500 hours total time now and 1200 in the jet. All of the guys that I graduated with are lucky if they get 600 hours in 3 years. I am getting tons of experience as well. Another good thing is no deploying. However, I am stuck here flying relatively basic sorties while the people I graduated with and some former students of mine are already over flying real combat missions. So, I am looking forward to getting into an A10. I realize though, that deployments will be rough for a guy like me with a family who has been in the military for 6 years and never had to leave yet. There are good and bad about every thing. |
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| Author: | desperado302 [ 27 Feb 2003, 08:38 ] |
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Thanks again! This is REALLY helping. Three more questions: Would it be easier to plan a wedding after UPT if I stuck around as an FAIP? (In other words, what was the post-UPT training like for you?) Is it difficult to get a spot as an FAIP? How difficult is it to get an A-10 AFTER being an FAIP? Sorry to keep hounding you. I am very grateful for your help! |
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| Author: | Coach [ 27 Feb 2003, 17:20 ] |
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Des, listen to Luke. Don't confuse when to get married with your career choice. There is a reason not many guys ask to be FAIPs, they don't care if you want to be one or not. If they want you...you will be one. You can fly to Las Vegas and get married over night, don't make a career choice based on a wedding and time for a hineymoon. Besides, everytime you return from one of your MANY deployments as a Hog Driver, it will be a honeymoon all over again. If you want to fly Hogs, do it as a Lt! No offense intended to Luke or any other FAIPs reading this, but once a FAIP, always a FAIP. Your mind is in the learning mode as a Lt, once you become a 1500 hour FAIP, sometimes it difficult to slip back into the student role. Not impossible, but I've seen many have real problems with it. Besides, which do you want to do first...ride beside/behind someone trying to puke on you or kill you, or go to the range and shoot stuff with pieces of metal the size of barstools flying 50 feet in the air? Go for it all! ATTACK! |
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| Author: | luke [ 01 Mar 2003, 02:47 ] |
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As for being a FAIP....Coach is exactly right, once a FAIP always a FAIP. An operational squadron always needs a guy around who actually knows how to file a flight plan. The part about being a student again is definitely something that will be an adjustment for me. I did NOT request to be a FAIP. There was one to give out in our class and I got it. It has been a great job and I have learned a lot but if I had to go back I would have still not requested to be a FAIP. If wedding plans are influening what plane you want out of pilot training then you need to sit down and realize what you are about to get yourself into by becoming a military pilot. Make sure your future spouse knows what the life will be like as well. As for the FAIP availability. Don't know. It is all timing. As for the ability to get the plane you want after being a FAIP....you CANNOT count on it. I know more than one FAIP here flying with me who selected to stay on as an instructor because they knew their class rank was not high enough to get what they really want. They honestly think that the air force OWES them their first choice after their instructor time is up. They are IDIOTS!!!!! Assignments following FAIPdom is also based on timing. Next year, for example, there are 86 or so FAIPs getting assignments and only 7 of them will get A10s. If you want to fly an A10 - then my advice would be to go fly an A10. You almost definitely will spend part of your flying career back in AETC as a T38 or T6 instructor anyway....use that as a break from deploying in between operational tours... |
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| Author: | desperado302 [ 01 Mar 2003, 13:28 ] |
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thanks for the input, guys! you've given me plenty to think about. i've always been told that it's best not to be a FAIP right after training, now i guess i know why. looks like i'll be shooting for A-10s right out of the gate! now i have one more question if you've got some time. i want to get to spangdahlem as early in my career as possible. do you know of anything that could improve my chances? |
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| Author: | Coach [ 01 Mar 2003, 14:47 ] |
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I'm not sure how they do assignments out of FTU now (I think it is merit-based, but not sure), but I would recommend doing as well as you can in all phases of training (SUPT, IFF and FTU) and take what you get. Can't do any better than that. Who cares where you go, you're still flying a single seat attack jet. There are no bad A-10 assignments. |
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| Author: | desperado302 [ 03 Mar 2003, 15:24 ] |
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alright! luke, coach, thanks for all the help! i guess i'll let this topic die now. maybe i'll see you guys around in a couple years! take care!
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| Author: | poke [ 03 Mar 2003, 17:08 ] |
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Desperado, where are you going to pilot training? I am 2 flights away from being Tweet Complete up here at Vance. "See that green switch? Flip it down." |
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| Author: | luke [ 03 Mar 2003, 20:08 ] |
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<BLOCKQUOTE id=quote><font size=1 face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id=quote>quote:<hr height=1 noshade id=quote>2 flights away from being Tweet Complete<hr height=1 noshade id=quote></BLOCKQUOTE id=quote></font id=quote><font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" size=2 id=quote> Poke, Did you track select yet? Good Luck!!!!!! |
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| Author: | poke [ 03 Mar 2003, 21:06 ] |
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Not yet. We're super-ahead of schedule. We don't track until 11 March. But I form check tomorrow. I'm nervous! I know I still have a chance at T-38's if I get an excellent, but if only a good or ... (won't say it!) then I don't know. "See that green switch? Flip it down." |
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| Author: | desperado302 [ 04 Mar 2003, 10:46 ] |
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poke, congrats on finishing in the tweet! good luck getting 38s. how've you liked it all so far? i'll be heading to columbus in may. |
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