Hawker

Anyone have any info on the timeline for the all the aircraft to be updated with the modernization upgrades? Has the FTU seen any of them yet?

What's the likelihood of getting your base preference? I hear they try and send base assignments out prior to starting the FTU to help in deciding on whether or not to buy/rent while in Abilene. My wife and I decided to try and stay at Dyess mainly because she has her own photography business and it'd be a royal pain to move it again after only 6-9 months.

Can anyone compare the flying differences between Dyess and Ellsworth post FTU? Sorties per month/duration/low-levels/etc...?

Just got selected for the B-1 out of UPT and have a few questions about Dyess if anyone has any insight. I'll be getting married a week after graduation and my wife and I are trying to learn about the best places to live either on-base or off-base so my question is where are some good places to look in the area while at training? Also, how long does it take usually to get through the schoolhouse and if anyone has any info on what the syllabus is like that'd be appreciated as well.

Thanks for the advice guys, yeah it seems like its all different and there is no way to know for sure. It'd definitely be nice to have her move paid for though. Hopefully by doing it on a weekend it wont be a problem. We'll see though.

Did a search and only found a couple posts from 5 years back or so regarding the time between UPT graduation and follow on training. I'll be graduating UPT here in June of 2013 and am planning on getting married shortly after (like the weekend after). I'm just wondering what the current average amount of time is between graduation and follow on training, i.e. SERE/Water Survival/MWS training/etc...? Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks for the info guys, so to make sure I'm understanding this correctly as long as they meet AF standards as far as dress and apperance is concerned (AFI 36-2903) it's OK to wear personal glasses or contacts at IFS and not those "BCGs"? Just need to make sure the glasses/contacts are conservative in nature.

So I was reading up on this forum and I'm pretty sure I understand the glasses policy at IFS but wanted to make sure. Since doss is an FAA run program that is contracted out through the military it is still held to FAA standards medically wise. So can we bring our own personal glasses to IFS or even contacts at that matter that we use while flying civilian (i.e. the ones I wore getting my PPL a few years ago) and not the ones the Air Force has us issued?

Went in to flight med this morning for in-process at Columbus to ask about getting on the contact lens program for pilots and was told to come back in next week for an appt. I've been wearing contacts since about 2004 and was using Acuvue 2 and now Biofinity contacts. Is this mostly going to be filling out paperwork to get me in the program or do I have to do multiple appointments like was said earlier in this forum? My civilian prescription by my Optometrist is this: Sph Cyl Axis OD -1.00 OS -1.00 -.075 076 Am I good to go for the the contact lens program? The SSgt at the front desk said I might need a waiver for the difference in my eyes but she wasn't really sure and didnt ask the flight doc but now I'm curious as to if I do or not? Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Does anybody know the policy for Columbus AFB regarding how far we are allowed to travel on weekends while training at UPT? A friend of mine is getting married in another state and asked me to be in his wedding and I was curious as to what the process is like on leaving on friday after training and getting back that sunday. Any would would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks for the advice guys, I've just read Riddlers IFS & UPT blog and it gave me the idea of writing one myself. Mostly for family and friends as a lot of them have shown interest in keeping up to date with my experiences while training to be a pilot in the Air Force. I guess my next question is...in terms of like SERE stuff as well as getting captured by the real enemy at war (hopefully that will never happen!) what would they be able to get from a blog about flight training that they wouldn't be able to get from say a facebook or myspace or other social media site since most people have them these days including a lot military members? *Absolutely NOT trying to prove anyone wrong or anything of that sort, I'm just trying to decide on whether or not my family would be at risk anymore than they would from my facebook* Any and all advice or criticisms are appreciated.

Thread revival.... What about Riddlers IFS/UPT blog on here, is that ok or safe to do? He, to the best of my knowledge, kept his name as well as others names anonymous. The only thing he mentioned of that sort was his class #s and UPT base. He didn't post any pictures or anything that would give him or his family away. Would starting a journal like that be ok so long as you kept everything anonymous and used false names if any?

Searched most of the threads on here and had no luck with this one either but I may have missed it so if I did I apologize ahead of time. 19 pages is tough to read through in one sitting. Anyways, heres my situation. Graduated and Commissioned on 11 June 2011 and my EAD was delayed till 17 Feb of this year. Since my lease was up at my house back in the state of Washington at the end of June I moved out to Missouri which is where my family is. I put most of my household goods in a storage unit back in WA and it has been there ever since. I've been working with the Whiteman AFB TMO and filling out the paperwork for a partial DITY to have them move my stuff from my storage unit in WA down to Columbus AFB and me to move my higher priced things on my own from Missouri. All was going well until they said that my address in Washington is not a valid one to ship from. My orders state that I will depart for Active duty from here in Missouri (which is where I'm at now so that makes sense), as well as that is my Home of Record (where my parents live). The temporary address on my orders is listed as my storage unit back in WA. My NCOs at my det told me that this wouldnt be a problem but now TMO is saying I could end up paying the difference for them to ship my stuff from WA and not Missouri. Does anyone know if this is true? I called AFPC and they said it was fine and it would be covered but TMO is still saying no. Any help would be appreciated!

It was mentioned earlier about getting a few hours in a DA-20 before arriving at IFS, I believe all civilian DA-20's have the instruments in front of the left seat whereas, if I'm not mistaken, IFS has us sit in the right seat as the instruments are on the right side for Doss' aircraft. Would you recommend sitting in the right seat while picking up a few hours prior to get used to the sight picture and just not have the instruments in front of you? Or just sit in the left seat? The company I'm going to be flying with offered either seat for me so I'm just wondering what would be better.

Correct, you will have 1 minute to perform each exercise. Keep in mind you're allowed to rest if needed; however, you can only rest in certain positions though (i.e. up position with arms locked for pushups) UPTgoal

So it seems like it's just like an annual flight physical with FCII standards, is that correct?

Anyone have any info on the physical that happens right before starting UPT or during the first week? Are these the same standards as the IFC1 and MFS down at brooks?

Are you Rotc or guard?

I just want to share some insight on the IFC1 and MFS down at Brooks. First off,the entire staff at brooks is amazing. We had the largest group they had ever had back in August and they handled it very well. Everyone was really friendly and helpfull and was willing to walk you through tests if you needed it. As far as the process goes. We were split into two groups on the first day. The first showing up at 7 am made up of Guard and ROTC and the other at 9:30 am which was all ROTC. We did all the blood work, heart exam, dental, hearing, and finished with all the vision tests (i.e. visual acuity, depth perception, color vision, etc...) We finished at about 4 pm. Both groups came back the next day at about 8 am and we did the psych test and the drug urinalysis as well as chest x-rays. That was pretty much it for the 2nd day. The last day consisted of dilating your eyes and doing more eye tests and finishing off with seeing the Flight Doc for a complete physical. We had people get released anywhere from 1 pm to 5 pm depending on what tests still needed to be done. Overall, the process wasnt as bad as we all make it out to be. Most everyone there is nervous about something happening but for the most part it is all a mental thing. Plus the lodging is great too with pretty large rooms. Do your best to get out into San Antonio as its a great city. Hopefully this gives some of you an idea of what exactly goes on during the process. Also, Wright-Pat is taking over the IFC1 and MFS duties here soon as brooks is getting closer to handing it off there. And as far as the timeline for approval, mine took about 6 weeks to get certified. One cadet in my Det who was down there with me had hers approved in about 4 1/2 weeks.

Been looking around baseops for some info on this and couldn't find much if any. How many UPT classes are there per year? Specifically for Columbus since that is my base assignment but I'm also curious about the other bases as well so hopefully someone has some info on this. I'm just trying to get a range on when I will begin UPT.

Just curious to see how long it's been taking lately to get the approval from the AETC/SG after completing the IFC1 and MFS at brooks?

Just a quick question about the depth perception test down at Brooks. I head down there in about two weeks for my IFC1/MFS for rotc and have noticed that a lot of people seem to fail the OVT. My DP seems just fine and I passed through the Dodmerb with no problems. People seem to recommend the magiceye technique to pass it though. I can see those images from magiceye.com or whatever. My question is do you have to use that technique to pass it? or will a specific circle stand out by just looking at it normal? Also, I have heard of a program called Prospective Defective Stereopsis management group in which folks who happened to fail the OVT but passed the battery of re-evaluation tests were put into this group and granted the waiver if they met the waiver criteria. Anyone have any further information on this? It is found at http://aviationmedicine.com/resources/files/PDF/VFS_attachments_07/USAF%20Wavier%20Guide%20PDF.pdf

Does the FCI only test to the 6000 HZ range? or does it go higher?

So just got my PDT assignment for this summer. Got my second choice which is Ops-AF...wanted SOAR but heard only 12 slots were given for that this year. Anyways my question is this, my freshmen year I went on the OPS-AF PDT to Mountain Home, AFB as a freshmen in ROTC going into my 200 year. This time I'm headed down to Keesler, AFB but as a POC this time. My cadre told me that this is a different program since I am a POC this time and that I would have a 'leadership' role there instead of being a regular cadet like I was my first time. But I've been looking around trying to find anywhere that this might be explained but I can't find anything. Any help would be great.

Ya I heard it was harder to get them to give you the meds if your not winged yet. Hopefully my blood pressure will be within the regs by the time I get to Brooks.