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YoungnDumb

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Posts posted by YoungnDumb

  1. Live off base.  People think that the 10 minute drive to work will somehow make or break their UPT experience, it won't.  If anything it's 10 minutes to clear your nugget going to/from work.  Get a roommate and a decent house and throw some ragers.  Your future self will thank you.

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  2. Gotcha, I was a T-6 guy back in the day so your mileage will vary, however it was leave by exception only when I was at KRND back in the day.  However depending on the level of bro in the Cheetahs/how many do you know/how backed up are they you may be able to swing a couple days here or there.  I would really recommend taking as much leave as possible either before or after PIT.  You'll have a chance to take some once you show at your gaining base while you in process and get thru MQT (or whatever they call it) but after that it gets tougher as they'll want you to start double/triple turning pretty quick.  Best of luck.

  3. Also as some others have mentioned being a FAIP can limit you in some programs such as WIC/TPS but lately I've been seeing an increase in the number waived/admitted.  Who knows where the AF will be in a few years.  Just remember there is a waiver for everything and if you want something make them tell you no.

  4. Former FAIP here, when my UPT dream sheet came out I listed fighters first, FAIP next, bombers, then everything else.  I looked at it as a second chance and a way to keep the dream alive.  Ended up working out for me as I fly Vipers now.  I will say that trying to forecast your drop is one of the worst things you can do.  List your desires, don't play games.  Trying to play the "well I think this guy did well and he'll get X so I should put Y," is stupid.  Yes there are people who clearly did well and those who did bad, then there are a bunch in the middle and guessing who is where is near impossible unless you're staring at the MASS.  Also trying to game the system is stupid.  As a FAIP I saw a student who really wanted helos (nothing wrong with that) and thought that he was somehow gaming the system and put T-38's #1 and then was shocked when he got 38's, essentially shot himself in the foot.  Point is list your desires, don't try and game the system.  You earn your right to choose so do well and let the chips fall where they fall.

  5. 53 minutes ago, dream big said:

    For one, how is a Wing/CC supposed to manage 20 squadron CCs with no middle management?

    Be delegating responsibility to the squadrons.  There is no reason for waivers or approvals to require an O-6 approval.  Let Commanders be commanders, give them the power to run things the way they see fit, tell them the only reason to bother the O-6 is if they need something, and get rid of all the pointless meetings (most of which can be accomplished with an email).

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  6. 20 hours ago, HuggyU2 said:

    I can't tell you how many times pilots have told me "I didn't apply to the U-2 because I didn't fly the T-38 in UPT".  

    Note: flying the T-38 in UPT is not a pre-req for the U-2.  Off the top of my head, I'd say at least half of the U-2 community went T-1's.  Read the application requirements.  

    That's a shame that they didn't apply, I have several good friends currently flying the U-2, none of which flew 38's.  As a note, I am not saying I agree with the 38 studs should fly X argument, post was more of an eye roll expecting someone to kick off that discussion again.

  7. 19 minutes ago, FLEA said:

    I'll add this too. Don't be afraid to speak up and ask questions, even seemingly stupid ones. 

     

    This.  Ask questions often, if one person doesn't give you an answer you understand then find someone else and keep going until you get an answer that works.  Also try learning by more than just memorization, I found that if I draw stuff out and explain it back to someone I pick it up much faster.  So don't be afraid to grab a white board and sit an IP down and go over something.  One of my favorite things to do as IP was to sit down with students and draw stuff out and explain things to them.

  8. 22 hours ago, Splash95 said:

    I've also had a couple recommend that I (single O-4) live in the dorms anyway to foster class cohesiveness

    This may be the stupidest thing I've read all day.  No one cares where you live, in fact in my whole class (nearly 30 people) only 1 person lived in the dorms.  Plus the dorms are tiny and suck.  So don't live in the dorm.  Go get an apartment or a house off base (or on base if you want).  

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  9. 26 minutes ago, Ch33s3 said:

    Question for the audience from a lowly T-1 stud - are the last drops of the year better or worse on average? FAIPs are saying it’s gonna be fire. Last drop of FY20 scheduled to be Aug 20 for classes 20-22/23

    They're average.  Personally never noticed any big swing one way or the other.

  10. 6 hours ago, Uptapplicant2019 said:

    Currently at Vance about halfway through T-6s and recently hooked two flights in a row resulting in being put on flying CAP (commanders awareness program). Getting off altitude from poor trim and being task saturated in the pattern drove the unsats. 
     

    I’m just hoping to hear some stories from guys that got their wings after struggling during UPT and what actions did you take to improve?

    I spend hours chair flying every day, but something just hasn’t clicked yet.

    Relax.  Had plenty of students go on CAP and plenty of students got off of CAP.  Some of the best students I ever had went on CAP, people have bad days, it happens.  One of my best students had a few bad days and ended up on CAP, and because he was dwelling on it so much he kept messing up and performing poorly.  Eventually I sat him down, told him to chill out, go home and be with his family and to not even think about the T-6 or open a book that night, basically just go relax and have fun.  Next day the kid came back and flew an amazing sortie.  The key is not to dwell on it.  The more you dwell on it and focus on trying to be perfect the worse your performance will be.  Take the lesson, learn from it and move on.  More people than you will ever know have been on CAP, whether in UPT, or IFF, or B-Course.  Good luck and don't get down on yourself, you'll survive.

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  11. Can't speak too much about Eagle B-Course but for the Viper side in my year-ish at Holloman I saw 2 people wash out and 1 DOR over 4 or so classes.  So not every class has one, but it's not that uncommon.  As for why, it typically revolved around SA and decision making.  The IP's expect you to not be good at the mission but to be able to handle small things like staying visual and making a relatively informed decision when something goes wrong in your jet.  That being said the learning curve is pretty steep, 5 flights then your checkride, each phase after that is only 3-4 flights for you to gain a basic level of proficiency and understanding before the next phase which builds off the previous.  Again, the expectation is not that you are a hyper lethal guy ready for WIC, but that you can be decently lethal while doing the basics correctly.  Best words you can hear in the debrief are "nothing for ground ops, departure, recovery, admin in the airspace, and no TR's observed."

    I have heard Eagle B-Course has a higher washout rate but that's purely rumor only.  If you're trying to decide which to pursue based on difficulty I recommend you don't do that.  One, that's just weak.  Two, they are different aircraft with different missions, pick a mission that you believe in and pursue that no matter how tough. Three, fly the Viper.

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  12. 16 hours ago, Mark said:

    better to seek forgiveness than ask permission and all.

    I have operated the majority of my career this way, so far not too many bad things have happened.  And besides for housing, worst case they try and make you break your lease, but being totally honest that's probably too much effort for some civilian running the housing office so you'll likely be fine.

  13. On 5/12/2020 at 9:42 PM, Duane Mayfield said:

    Last Banzai flight at Vance T38 drop. A-10, F22, F35, F15E, F16. Finished about 6 weeks shy of a year. 

     

    Are these students guaranteed a fighter for going through the fancy syllabus or did they just luck out?

  14. On 5/13/2020 at 1:45 AM, HuggyU2 said:

     But I ask you:  what else would you cut out of the UPT syllabus because “the CAF doesn’t do that?”. 

     

    Huggy, I'll be totally honest I can't think of anything right now besides fix-to-fix that I would cut out.  Even to the day I ended my FAIP tour I was arguing for more training in order to expose the students to more things earlier in their careers.  I honestly miss formation takeoffs and landings, they were always something fun that you could do decently but took some practice to do well.

    That made me laugh about HUD out being a dual only item.  If only they came from a plane with no HUD 3.6 weeks earlier...

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