Young Crow

First off, Google is your friend. From the Twin Cities, the closest base with a chamber would be Offutt. About 400 miles away.

I disagree whole-heartedly with this. I love flying, and frankly, most EWOs I know are more interested in 'aviation' than the majority of navs I know. For me, the decision was this: - There is, in fact, navigation training done in UPT. The pilots generally know how to do everything you're doing, and I'm not interested in being a human fuel calculator or FMS data entry clerk. - Most pilots don't go through a comprehensive EW course. If I'm going to do something, I want to be the dude to make the decisions. I want to be the expert. - I wanted to go to a combat aircraft, and all EWOs go to combat aircraft. The majority of navs do not. I'm sure every Herk nav will point out how low and slow they fly over enemy territory, but their goal is to stay away from the enemy, not penetrate their defenses. As always, your mileage my vary. This is how my decision process went. Flame on.

Maybe you should be waving the sarcasm flag before you break out the BS flag. The dude who posted this did mention that she has dual citizenship. She is not "technically a US citizen", she is a US citizen. As for the original question, friends who have "international" connections have told me that they just had to dig a little deeper regarding overseas influence, and ask a few more questions. Lots of people worry about their clearances - unless you've been convicted of a crime, been in some serious financial trouble, or were a founding member of Islamic Jihad, you're probably going to be OK. If you're curious, ask the investigator. The ones I've talked to have always been pretty honest and open about the whole process.

Normally I don't bite off on these posts, because I think most people, myself included, would just be better off jumping into these kinds of situations and seeing things for themselves. I'll give you the same advice that many have given to the dude who really wants to memorize the -1 before they get to UPT: you'll have plenty of time in training to think about training - take some time before hand to enjoy yourself and NOT think about aviation. That being said, I do take some exception to what Navtastic said, so I'll highlight some differences, and emphasize some agreements: - Life at Randolph: Beautiful base, probably better than most bases at which you'll find yourself. Live off base, enjoy your BAH. Living on base at Randolph is the worst decision I have yet made in my USAF career. Besides being close, the dorms suck. You want your own kitchen. Austin is awesome. As for Sherlock's... An Irish pub? Being one who's been to many Irish pubs all around the world, including in Ireland, Sherlock's could best be described as a normal American bar. I've been looking for a good pub atmosphere in San Antonio - it doesn't exist. - CSO Phases 1. Aerospace Phys You learn some survival, physiology stuff, etc. Take a test, go in the altitude chamber, really not too threatening. 2. Introduction to Navigation Basically all about the wiz-wheel, with some basic chart usage thrown in. Lasts a week or two. 3. Fundamentals of Navigation Learn how to do instrument approaches and departures, radio-aid navigation, aviation weather, services, and basic aircraft instruments and systems. 4. Systems Navigation They add the radar and INS, and then throw some weather into the sims that you'll have to avoid. 5. Intermediate (once called 'Global') Same as SN, except this time you "do" air refueling, search an operations area, and then do a divert on the fly. Sadly, this is the first part of navigation training that requires timing control. 6. Operations Approximately one month of classes learning about the capabilities of friendly and non-friendly weapons systems. 7. Advanced (EWO) I would not trade what I've learned during my EWO training for most anything. I would also not post what I, or other EWOs, have learned on a public forum. 8. Integration Plan and brief a large, multi-sortie combat operation. Lasts about a week. 9. T-1As Get 9 hours flying in the jump seat of a T-1A with the 99th Flying Training Squadron. You also get 3 sim hours in the T-1A sim, which is fun. Then you graduate, get some squash-bug wings, and go off to survival and your FTU. - Cross Countries CSO are going on X-countries again. The EWOs go for 4 days, the Navs for 3. Based on differences in squadron policy between the 562nd (nav) and 563rd (EWO). - Flying/Sim'ing For those who like flying, CSO training will certainly be a supreme disappointment in that aspect. The flights are pretty sparse, most of your T-43 flights occurring in a 2-month period. You're flying a 737, with 16 navigators onboard (12 studs + 4 INs) and 2 pilots. Needless to say, you spend most of the time staring at a radar or TACAN, instead of controlling the aircraft, talking on the radio, scanning out the window, or communicating with the crew. I have a whole rant lined up for this, but don't feel like being a completely grumpy bastard. I will say that in a few years when Randolph closes up nav training, and it's all moved down to Pensacola, the Air Force and every navigator student thereafter will benefit greatly. They simply do it better down there. - Choose to be a Nav? I was genuinely happy when I found out I was going to nav school, and being an EWO is the second best nav job out there (I'd rather be in the back seat of a Mud Hen or Bone). Would I rather be a pilot? Hell yeah I would. Unfortunately, just wasn't in the cards for me. Am I still a little bitter? Of course, but I'm damned happy to be in the air. Nothing against being a navigator, it's a respectable, and in some aircraft, necessary vocation. I'd just feel better with a window, stick and throttles. - Washout Rate I honestly wish it was higher. Too many people get through that shouldn't. Two people failed out of my class, 2 people washed back for busted checkrides/test failures. - Sushi Zushi I'm a sushi snob. This place is bad. Not as bad as Sushi Chi, or any other place in SA, but bad. Things that are supposed to be warm were cold, the cold stuff was warm. Oh, and they smother everything in Chipotle Mayo, whether you like it or not. For sushi though, it was pretty cheap. - Assignments Out of Randolph Navtastic is pretty much right. As for the KC-135R... A lot of guys have been trying to get this assignment, because some people have been told that it means a "guaranteed" slot to pilot training. Their FTU is less than 3 weeks long, because they don't fly more than a few hours a month. They're mainly used as mission planners. Oh, and with a few exceptions it's the guys at the bottom of their nav class that think they're gaming the system and going to go be pilots. - EWO Feel free to send me a PM if you want to hear about being an EWO. I love it, because it means you're deeply involved in honest-to-god combat operations. Not dropping toilet paper in Kenya or delivering diapers to Abu Dhabi. Geek speak and beeps and squeaks? Not really. About 2 weeks are spent on the 'beeps and squeaks' to give you a good foundation. - Math 7th grade math? Probably 4th grade is closer. Simple addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. - Studying Really didn't need to study much during most of nav training, just did a few hours of prep work before sims and flights. During the EWO portion, I would spend upwards of 12-16 hours a day at the squadron in class/studying. Definitely the most rewarding training I've gone through. I'm in a good mood, but this is a surprisingly critical post looking back on it. I guess I'm just better at criticizing than building things up. Nevertheless, love having the wings and getting paid to do something I absolutely love.

What, you don't have another jacket? You'll end up looking like a LtCol I knew at McGuire who always wore his old parka with his blues. Good guy, but strange... Any KC-10 duders know who I'm talking about? No names, please...

But did you ever get the old dudes up front to really push the T-43 up to .79? Speaking of the T45... Reminds when the operator decided I should do the approach for my checkride at .72M. The arc was more like a very short point to point.