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Don't listen to them, Art. I'm on your side. Sure they might tell you what you should do, but if you do it, they won't respect you in the morning. Show these guys your Den Mother defensive skills. You're like a big bear man, a big bear with big claws, defending the cub you don't have yet, that popped out of the mama bear you don't yet know. You're so money and you don't even know it.

For fuck's sake, you just cannot shut up, can you?

From your lips to God's ears.

As another "pilot hopeful," I should probably just sit back and shut up, but I can't help myself... Above is what would've likely been a better response...

You don't need to fly everything in the jet. You can't build a pilot in a simulator.

Just ask your local CGOC president.

I'm guessing you're new here, so let me bring you into reality. There is no anonymity here. I know a LOT of dudes who post here in real life, either personally of by reputation. If you are a pilot in today's Air Force, there is no such thing as anonymity, the community is too small. Everyone knows everyone, or knows someone who does. EVERYWHERE you go, the first question you are asked is "Hey do you know _____?" and chances are you do. I have no "internet persona" here, trust me. I am just a blunt, sarcastic, cynical and direct in person as I am here because I make the assumption that EVERYTHING I post here will be read by people I know personally and will be reacted to accordingly. More quibbling. You never received the piece of sage advice of "never pass on an opportunity to SHUT THE FUCK UP and listen", so let me clue you in. Nobody here "slandered" you. Many of us highlighted the flaws in your idealistic world view, and directed your attention to the fact that answer you clearly were seeking in the first place (so why ask the question?) was not a viable answer. We did it in a manner typical of our community and culture. Pilots are direct, sarcastic, and generally cynical. We can come off as rude to the uninitiated. Guess what-- you're on our forum, so don't get butthurt when you're expected to play by our rules. And rule one in our world is when someone who has seen/done more this week than you have in your entire life you probably should shut the fuck up, listen, and if you think they are saying something that is disagreeable to your pweshious wittle ears you should double down on shutting the fuck up and maybe learn something. But by all means, continue to attempt to "slander" us back. I guarantee most of us are enjoying this immensely anyway, and maybe you just might learn something yet.

Brevity.

They're only one short step away from retirees walking at quarter speed down the aisles of the BPC mall!

Hey all, hopefully this is the right section to be asking these questions. My thread didn't really seem to fit any so I figured this would be the best place. So I am very interested in joining the Air Force. I am going to be a sophomore (at college) this coming fall, so I am late to the party (I'll be joining ROTC). I am a Civ. Engineer with a 3.5 GPA. I would love to become a pilot. But there are a couple things that are scaring me. I am a single guy and I want a family in the future. I assume I will have time to find a girl at some point early in my career...but will I be able to start a family and have them in an ideal situation? Let's say by the age of 35, will I be able to have a child and keep them in one place? I am willing to sacrifice anything to fly except a normal family life. (If I can achieve a normal family life by the age of ~35 though...I can manage.) Of course this all depends on if I can even get a pilot slot. But hopefully with a lot of effort and hard work I can achieve my dreams and if not, I will be content with a life in the Air Force as a Civil Engineering Officer. Thank you for taking the time to read and answer my questions. More importantly though, thank you for serving our country.

Everyone who gave this guy some grief (me included) was doing him a favor. Letting a guy sign away 10 years of his life with false visions of a stable family life is cruelty. Still waiting for this guy to thank us.

a publicity whore will do pretty much anything degrading to entice the limelight their way. Fuck him. I do not see any terrorists going on Al Jizera (don't give a shit if I spelled it wrong) saying that the images of them videotaping the killing of American's with IEDs while chanting "aler ackbar" are haunting them. Some guys are just pussies.

Fair enough. I guess my sim experiences are different. I went went through United Airlines' sims during my brief foray into the airline world back in 2000. I found it to be very good in realism, and establishing solid normal and emergency procedures. Like Evil Eagle, I also went though Flight Safety for the B-300. While I was disappointed with Flight Safety's training overall, I did find that the sim did a good job of getting me comfortable with the airplane very quickly. However, I whole-heartedly disagree that "Sims make you a shittier pilot than actually flying". Your experience may be different than mine. Before AETC had contract sim instructors, the IP's did them. I spent almost 500 hours in the T-38 sim, and I am a significantly better T-38 pilot than I would have been had I spent 500 more hours in the aircraft. Is that heresy? Maybe. Burn the witch! Ram, get me another Ensure!!

There is also a double standard that exists. The chosen ones can do anything without scrutiny while the unchosen are looked at under a microscope. I've clearly never been a chosen one, but after a deployment where I saw vastly different standards enforced, I couldn't take it anymore.

Yawn... done in the '80s.

WTF. The "kid", internet stalker, CGOC rep, whoever it is asked for advice on a fairytale dream involving being a USAF pilot using "intimate" in the title. The "kid", internet stalker, CGOC rep or whoever got a lot of solid advice for such a shitty initial post and should be grateful for it. I will tailor my advice to the doucher cuz the "kid" only wants to hear what "he" wants to hear. And it is 100% true because i am deployed right now. I absolutely LOVE that I have been deployed for 310 days in the past year! My family IS in one place right now!!! It is so special and sweet! I missed trick-or-treating, thanksgiving, christmas, new years, my anniversary, both my wife and kids' birthdays and my kid's first dance recital! For my family, that IS normal right now. Art came looking for advice and that's the truth from a deployed AF pilot. I've been married for 9 yrs and have a young kid. And I'm 35 like "his" dream talks about. Art, you get genuine advice about the real world and not your little dreamy rainbow world.........and from pilots nonetheless.........and call people like me douches ----- Go F yourself. You wouldn't last a day in the military, let alone a flying squadron.

If you really wanted to be a pilot you wouldn't bring up any of this whining bullshit....don't attempt to jepoardize the brotherhood by diluting the gene pool. That's too bad! In my aviation career, I made all 4 of my weddings!

Hopefully chopped chicken returns soon...It is really nice though, to not have to worry about the dumb reflective belt. Maybe 10% of folks I see wear one and *gasp* accidents have not gone up. Have we been lied to??

Much more accurate. Seriously dude? Open your fucking ears and close your man pleaser. No one is saying you or anyone else is crazy for wanting a family. I've been happily married for close to a decade. I literally have 2.5 kids and a cocker spaniel. What people are saying is stop trying to plan your life 17 years from now when you obviously don't have the next 2 figured out. You want to be a pilot and have a family? Here is a list of shit you haven't done yet: 1 - Get accepted into an commissioning program 2 - Do well enough in a commissioning program to be rewarded with a pilot slot 3 - Medically qualify for a pilot slot 4 - Attend and complete IFS 5 - Attend and copmplete UPT 6 - Attend and complete a FTU 7 - Make it through a 10 year flying career without being medically DQ'd, force shaped, or killed And that's just for the Air Force. I hope your attitude here is just an internet tough-guy thing. If you seriously can't handle criticism or being mocked you are looking into the wrong career field. I can assure you your time in the pilot community will be short and embarrassing - like your pecker. If you have the desire and motivation to make your dreams happen, and you can shut your mouth and open your ears long enough to learn from those that haven been doing this since you were watching teletubbies, you'll be able to make the family situation happen.

If you are set on the requirements that you listed, then active duty probably isn't for you. Ask about Guard or Reserve...I don't know much about them. Just a data point: I'm a CE officer. We move every 2-3 years. Deployments have been about 7 months out of every year, but that is improving rapidly with the drawdown. We were told to expect 6 months down range out of every 18-24 months once the drawdown is complete. My advice: worry about being 35 when you are 35. Family is awesome, but don't waste your life just waiting around for it to happen.

A good experiment would be to put the RPA pipeline graduates into a T-6 and see if their 50-60 hours of T-6 sim time actually taught them how to fly.

And put hundreds of young women through college.