euro2005
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Posts posted by euro2005
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If you start early you can string that shit out over multiple years with no fear.
This is exactly what I'm doing. I'm only taking one class at a time. I'm still a 2Lt so I got lots of time. I'll be a 3rd done with it when I pin on 1Lt in a couple months. Folks think I'm crazy for starting so early but it's a headache I do not want later on down the road. I'm using TA while I can (before it gets taken away again) and since I'm a CSO my ADSC is 6 years anyways so my TA commitment will run out before my ADSC does.
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Schoolhouse is about 6 months- correct. Preparation? Not much you can do for now. The course is mixed crew positions - all crew positions go through as a class, though every individual class/sim/etc is broken up depending on who needs the instruction. There is a lot of self-study; some days are packed and sometimes you will have almost nothing scheduled all week. However, that may change in the near future due to a host of factors.
Seeing as "CSO" in Pcola-speak is not the same as "CSO" as a crew position on the W, I don't know which crew position (Nav/CSO) you're going to . . . I think thus far everyone straight out of Pcola has gone Nav, but that doesn't mean you're not the first of a trend if you are in fact going to be a W CSO.
And yes, both Nav and CSO on the W have some WSO-like responsibility. In my opinion, two of the best CSO jobs in the AF - though I will warn you, the workload as a crewmember is very high. It will be a challenge.
I'm currently going through the schoolhouse now. The syllabus for my class is out of order because they're currently upgrading the sims from MC-W to AC-W. We're done with academics and now just waiting on the sims to be finished being upgraded and also for the class ahead of us to finish the tactical sims. You weren't kidding when you said there's time where we have nothing scheduled! It's time spent studying.
I'll be a Nav on the W, not a CSO...I meant I dropped the gunship from CSO school. I also didn't know they were 2 separate crew positions either when I wrote that. Navs will typically spend a year and a half to 2 years in that position before they upgrade to CSO, kinda like how a co-pilot waits to upgrade to AC. They used to dual-qual folks right off the bat but they stopped that a few years back.
They're short on Navs so there's a ton of us going through the FTU right now. It seems like every class has 4 Navs in it. My class has a CSO too. There's alot of cross over from C-130Hs & AC-130Hs. I think because of this, not very many Ws will drop out of P'cola for awhile. Those who dropped Hs within the past few years are now going to the W too. We'll all spend 4-5 years here and eventually transition to the J at Hurlburt (or so they say) Many of the folks who have been here for roughly that amount of time already are all getting ready to leave to Hurlburt or to a staff tour and let us new guys take the reigns.
I still have so much to learn but so far, I'm really enjoying it. The gunship is so damn awesome!
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I just dropped one as a CSO. I'll be a nav on the W. I know the schoolhouse is 6 months or so, what can I do to prepare for it? Am I training with pilot studs too? What is the schoolhouse like? I know we're kind of like WSOs too. I was talking with an instructor who was an EWO on the U model so he didn't really quite know how things work for the W model. He and the others I talked to all said they absolutely loved it though.
Yes, I used the search function...just found a bunch of stuff about living out in Clovis, drops, ISR jobs, cross training into other variants, family life and things of that nature. Any information is appreciated!
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^^^^ I got the AC-130W Nav!!! Beyond excited. It was #1 on my list. :D
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That's correct about them taking 13-15 and just cancelling that class. They were now 14-01. It was so backep up on the T-1 side...a complete mess! I was in the high level phase when it was at its worst. It sucked sitting on standby to fly for 2 weeks straight. 13-14 was still doing their low level flights...because of the crappy weather they obviously didn't fly much. This put a huge crunch on them...weekend classes for almost 2 months straight and they even double turned sims so they could graduate on time. 5 of them got rolled back into 13-15 too (before they cancelled 13-15s grad date). So yeah, 13-15 = no CSO drop or graduation. And ever since, they had to swap the last 2 phases of training (AI and the low levels) so nobody would spend 3 weeks just sitting around doing nothing.
anyways, this was (13-15s) 14-01s drop:
F-15E x4
AC-130W Nav x1
AC-130H EWO x1
B-1B x1
MC-130J Nav x1
RC-135 EWO x5
B-52H x9
C-130H x2 (Nat'l Guard and Reserve drops)
EC-130H Nav x1
U-28 x1
14-02s drop from yesterday:
AC-130U EWO x1
AC-130H Nav x1
AC-130W Nav x1
U-28 x2
B-52H x5
RC-135 EWO x3
B-1B x3
EC-130 Nav x1
F-15E x5
E-3 AWACS x1
C-130E/H Nav x1
^^^ this is such an awesome drop. I just hope they saved enough B-1s & AC-130s to go around for my class! I'm in 14-04.
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saw this thread and figured I'd give these cards a shot (again...been several years). wtf, how was I so retarded before that I got most of these wrong? (I did on the actual TBAS itself too and did terribly on that test) Now, these are easy. Not that it matters for me anymore haha
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Here's 13-14's drop:
C-130 x2 (Guard and Reserve)
F-15E x4
RC-135 EWO x2
AC-130W Nav x1 Cannon
AC-130U EWO x1 Hurlburt
B1-B x1
B-52 x1
MC-130H EWO x1
U-28 x1
E-8C JSTARS x1
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C-130s are Guard & Reserve only...those who drop them knew all along of course!
KC-135, not sure tbh. Last 2 drops had one each...maybe one per class or every other class it looks like.
what's so bad about Cannon? Sorry for my ignorance...I've heard a few bad things but no place is gonna be perfect I guess.
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ok thanks! I honestly don't know what my class standing is. I didn't even know what it was coming out of the T-6 phase. Obviously Hurlburt would be preferable (I love the Gulf Coast!) but I'll take Cannon too.
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Apparently there may be Growlers in the early to mid fiscal year 14 class drops. We'll see if that does happen with the key word here being 'may'. There's 2 dudes in my class who really want one.
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I'm getting more & more interested in the gunship (well, we'll see how well SP goes. Still got a minute before I start that.) Where do people who drop those typically stand in their class?
Master's Degree Madness
in General Discussion
Posted
I'm almost done with my FTU actually. I've been taking only one class at a time because I don't want to overload myself & still be able to get drunk on Friday nights. I figure I could get it done at a leasurely pace and not be rushed at all while still having enough time to study my ass off for my job (that's all I do every day when not simming or something.) Also, I'm single with no kids. I'm sure this automatically frees up so much time I otherwise wouldn't have. One dude in my flight at UCT had 4 kids...I don't know how he did it. I can tell you a master's is definitely one of the last things on his mind. I wouldn't want to do it either! It is definitely bs that this is such a stringent 'requirement' that isn't actually a requirement.