RangerMateo

Does he have a star now? I'd like to look him up in global, but I don't know about going VFR direct to a General as a 2Lt ;)

Anyone know where Col Mintz is these days? I about crapped myself when I saw him in the video, he was my FTU/CC back at Tyndall.

Just a random comment for y'all. Just finished up at IFS. I have a lot of opinions on the program - mostly good, seriously...it's going to be a great program once it's running full speed and they get the kinks out. I keep getting the same question all the way from my SQ/CC down to the people I work with. Everyone wants to know if it's a 'weed out' program. Honestly, it doesn't seem to be. Yes, it's screening...yes there are people that will show up and in 4 weeks be talking to AFPC for a new assignment, but it's not their job to get rid of people. Of the three that our class lost, Doss went beyond expectations (As far as giving them extra flights, etc) to work with them. They were great people (Good friends too), but the flying thing just didn't work out this time around. Last I heard, they all are being reassigned to Strike Nav school and will have the option of coming back in the future to try again for the pilot gig. Anyway, the biggest cause of washout in our class seemed to be developing the sight picture for the correct glideslope on landing. Nobody washed out for academics, our class was very strong on that aspect. As far as pacing, they'll move you along as fast as the schedule allows. Four of us took our final check a month to the day from when we showed up and could have left the next day, but they let us stay till the weekend for the solo party. For now it's back in beautiful Altus...

Hey, I have a question. I already have a little flying experience, so I understand a lot of the terminology already. Some of my buds that are headed towards IFS have literally zero hours and not much GA knowledge at all, let alone any knowledge of military patterns, etc. How many people in your class are in the same boat and what has been their hardest struggle so far? Any good strategies for these guys to stay on top of things?

Jacka$$ =) Anyway, they're three guys that were at ASBC with us, I know you met one of them (scrawny little guy, like 120lbs sopping wet) and another kinda preppy one. The other was just a random guy that we met there that is stationed with us here at Altus. Keep up the flying ;)

did they harass you at all about having your own headset? I am thinking about bringing mine just so I'm not making out with the same mic as all the other people...

Don't blow the tests off too much, the first is pretty easy, but the second one caught a lot of people off guard. Again, not rocket science, but don't think you can just glance over the stuff and then walk in. I heard that last year it was way easy, but they made the academics harder because they got feedback that it was too easy. Who knows... I went in January of this year. As far as the other stuff, you have tons of free time. If they hadn't given us 45 minutes for every uniform change and an hour and a half for lunch then we probably could have gotten out of there in three and a half weeks. In fact, I heard that when ASBC was being put together someone made the comment that really the syllabus could be completed in three to four weeks and CSAF responded "What part of 'six week course' did you not understand"? Just hearsay... You'll have fun, if you want to. Exit six is where you'll spend a lot of time. Also, Tuscaloosa and Auburn are both very close and make for a fun weekend. Just remember what town you're in, say something about tigers in the wrong one and you're liable to get beat up on. As far as BAH goes. If you're TDY enroute to Montgomery and single, then you won't start BAH until you get to your first duty station (Where finance will jack up your paperwork and two months after the fact you'll get a nice backpay). If you are already have BAH rolling in...then they won't stop it. They also will go ahead and start your BAH if you have a spouse even if she's there with you.

Hey! We get in Sunday the 10th, you still be around?

Yeah, I definetely had an OTS recruiter feed me that line of BS, problem was that I bit. This guy wouldn't even let me take the AFOQT or take an application from me to meet a board. On the way out I noticed the certificates on his wall for five years running that he had 100% acceptance at boards, which pretty much meant to me that he wouldn't let you apply unless he was sure you'd be picked up. However, I did finally get a commission (and a pilot slot!) through ROTC. I did find out that I could have fought the guy. There is a GPA requirement and from what I've heard they won't really approve your application if it's under a 3.0 for non-tech...unless...you can get a waiver. Evidently they can waiver your GPA based on AFOQT scores...I had two 98's, two 97's and a 95...so I would have qualified. However, in retrospect I think the recruiter was a little on the shady side, but I'm glad I went through ROTC even though I already had a 4 yr degree (240 credit hours!). With no prior experience I feel much more prepared from my ROTC training than I would have gotten from OTS. Not slamming OTS, just you get more from a few years even in a program like ROTC than you can from 12 weeks in OTS. After seeing OTS in action, I really think OTS is better geared towards the prior e's out there, not people fresh out of college. My 2 pesos...

We got our DO to approve it as part of our UPT prep while here on casual and PA is going to print it for us on their plotter for cheap...and by cheap I mean free. =)

I'm getting married soon (before UPT) and my future wife is going to want pets...unfortunatly, as much as I love them, I'm a little allergic to cats (Not too bad, but being around them 24/7 prolly won't be good!). I was thinking about trying to get started on a nasal steroid before we get married. My dad uses them and they work great for him, so I figure it'd be the same for me. My question is that if I go to the doc now and ask for it, will it screw me over for UPT by either dqing me or pushing my start date back (late November right now)? Should I just wait until after UPT and tough it out at home (or tell her to wait until after UPT to get the pets?). If I do go to the doc now, is there anything particular I should know about talking to him about it? Thanks =) -Matt