Almost Half-Way Done!

Since I haven't updated my page pretty much since I started OTS, I'll try to give a quick rundown now...I left for OTS on April 6th and arrived in Montgomery on the 7th. I had plenty of time to relax, get familiar with the base, and look at the OTS campus where I'd be spending the next 13.5 weeks before my commissioning on June 27th. I was also able to meet some of my future classmates at the local Outback Steakhouse for dinner the night of the 7th...April 8th was report day.

It's actually a pretty sweet campus...all of the buildings are pretty new, and well kept. For you future OT's, you'll have two computers to a dorm room on a network with internet! How awesome is that?! Right now, everyone brings their own with them. I live in what a typical college dorm would resemble. Actually, I take that back...it's better. Two people to a room, two separate closets, two sinks, and one shower. No complaints here! As you can see from my last post, the hardest thing here is time management...a common phrase we all have come to know very well is "time jacked." Basically too much to do with too little time.

Anyway, the first few days were pretty crazy getting used to the place and all the procedures. You can't talk to anyone (besides your fellow classmates) without using a reporting procedure something like this, "OT Capt Parker, OT Ferguson reports to ask a question." Then you proceed with using Sir before each sentence until your ready to end the conversation with, "Will that be all Sir?" He'll reply, "That will be all." At that time I return with a salute the greeting of the day...like, "Good evening Sir." That's just a brief summary of one simple procedures...there are a ton, but it's not bad once you get used to it. Besides talking procedures, our dorm rooms have to be in perfect order 24-7 in case their inspected. If you screw up procedures, or have a dorm room out of order you'll get demerits...no push-ups. The demerits hurt once you're far enough along to have base and off base privileges. Even though things were crazy, I was able to catch on to the procedures pretty quick and volunteered to march the flight around the second day. It went well and was a good learning experience without commissioned staff breathing down our necks.


Since I've been here I've also tried to step out a lead in as much as I can. Of course, I'm careful not to over extend myself, but if I can't prove I can lead then my chances for ENJJPT (Euro Nato Joint Jet Pilot Training) are almost zero. So, one thing I did to kind of jump out there (and because it didn't seem too hard) was volunteer to march our flight around the second day at OTS. It actually went pretty well, with some mistake here and there of course. Here's a list of some other things I have done, am doing, or will be doing:

- Squadron PC Honcho - That's a fancy name for the guy who marches the squadron of 26 out to PC in the morning, and then stands out in front to lead exercises. I'm also responsible to compile an Excel spreadsheet summarizing the results of our three Physical Fitness Tests along with a memo for each.

- 1st Volleyball Campaign Leader - This isn't something I volunteered for, but was basically told I'd be leading the first one...I was glad to get the job. For those of you who play volleyball, this isn't anything close. There are a bunch of funky rules and regs that make it A LOT different, but despite that I was able to get a high satisfactory on my leadership during the event.

- Executive Officer for Upper Class Family Night - Again, this isn't something I volunteered for but was told I'd be doing it. Again, that was cool with me. I think this has been happening because my Flight Training Officer (FTO whose a commissioned Captain and teaches us in our flight room) wants to see if I can lead (for ENJJPT purposes). Family night I'll being sharing the responsibility to make sure our upper class' families have a good time looking around campus, the night before graduation, to get a feel for how this place works and see where their child, wife, or husband have living for the past 3 months.

- ALFC (Assistant Lower Flight Commander) - Now, this is a job I wanted. Myself and the Lower Flight Commander (LFC...another person from my flight) will be responsible for leading a new flight of about 12 OT's when they arrive in a little over a week. We we hand picked by our FTO, which I've been told is a good thing because he thinks you're capable of handling the job. Our upper class will be graduating May 16th, we'll become upper class, and then a new class will arrive the following week. It's a big deal with a lot of responsibility. It'll be cool to see what we looked like upon arriving...most of us were afraid to talk with all the new procedures.

- JMAC (Joint Military Athletic Competition) - This took place about 2 weeks ago at Fort Benning, GA Army base. The Officer Candidate Schools (OCS) of the Army and Navy and AF OTS get together for some friendly competition twice a year to battle it out. I was able to make the volleyball and tug-of-war teams, and we came is 2nd and 1st respectively. We kicked their butts in the tug-of-war...where it really counts! BOO-YAH!! It was really good time to get away from OTS and compete as well. Thank God I went into the Air Force.

Since I've been here, we've also had our first Combined Written Test (CWT) and PFT. I was able to score a 96% on the first CWT and a 432 on the PFT. According to OTS standards those a decent scores. For the PFT I cranked out 90 push-ups, 100 sit-ups, and ran the 1.5 miles in 9.45. Since I maxed the push-ups and sit-ups I need to get my run time down. A perfect PFT score is 500, but I'd have to run 1.5 miles in 7:30...YEAH RIGHT!! This coming week we have CWT and PFT #2, so I'm ready to give it my best shot! There are three of each. Along with the CWT, there are three briefs (presentations) and some other memos we have to right and pass to make it out of OTS.

One thing I wish was different at OTS is the fact I feel they kind of treat us like we're not capable of handling more. I know we're different than the Army and Navy, but I think they're too easy on us. I was hoping to get dirty in the mud, crawl under barbed wire, climbing walls and ropes, and all that good stuff. We'll get to do that a little later on in what they call the Vigilant Warrior Course, but even then it's scaled back. I guess I'll just have to wait for Land/Water Survival and POW training during my pilot days for that...but at that point it may not be too fun. Alright...I'm out for now.