Hey, Lt Nonna, make this one a full stop. I'm going to hop out, and then take'r back up.

Its been almost a month since we've started flying.  As of Friday I had twelve flights under my belt. The thirteenth flight, per the syallabus, is a solo.  I was a little apprehensive at first of taking up a $5 million jet by myself.  The idea that they would let us do that so soon seemed a little crazy, especially considering at one point in the pattern you're at about 400 feet going about 230 knots, banked 75 degrees and pulling 2.5 g's on the turn to crosswind before you can climb to pattern altitude.  I guess they figure if things get bad enough there's always an ejection handle in between your legs you can pull if you need to get out, not that there's no risks associated with that option.

So anyway, a few people in the class had already soloed and on Friday afternoon it was my turn. The solo is basically two sorties in one. First, you go up with your instructor pilot and do a normal landing, a pattern breakout, an emergency landing pattern, a go around, and a no flap landing.  If that's good, you land and taxi back to chocks.  He hops out, the crew chief ties the rear cockpit down, you trade nametags with your IP (his nametag has wings on it, and you need wings to fly) and then you go for it.

The crew chiefs know when someone is doing an initial solo.  They also know that your buddies will be waiting for you so they can throw you into the dunk tank. Finally, they know if you make it back to the flight room without getting dunked, everyone owes you a case of beer.  Before closing the canopy and starting up its usually a good idea to coordinate with them to have a getaway truck waiting at the jet when you get back.  More on that later.

I started the plane up, taxied, took off and flew four patterns.  I pulled closed for the first two, which saves the time of flying all the way around the pattern.  On the third I took a lap and did the outside pattern, landed, requested closed, and did another closed pattern to a full stop.  I probably could've stayed up longer than 0.4 hours, but everything was going well and I didn't want to push my luck.  Keeping the flight short also caught my flightmates off guard.  When I landed I hopped out of the jet, got into getaway truck that was waiting, took off my harness and g-suit, and got dropped off at at a side door where I was able to sneak into the fight room.

Of course I wasn't getting away with that.  I was escorted outside to the dunk tank and promptly dunked.  See video here.... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h54MjuSVuEA&feature=youtu.be

Got dunked....

The picture below is from last week.  It was after my buddy Paul's solo. 

Look, no one in the back seat!

Now that the initial solo is complete I begin a new block of training.  This block includes aerobatics, which should be fun.  I have also started instrument sims.  Basically in these we do the things we learned about during instrument academics, and will represent most of the flying I'll be doing when I move on to T-1's.  I'll likely have my mid-phase checkride before thanksgiving.  This is the first of four checkrides you have in Phase 2 (T-6's).  The next week and a half will be spent studying for that, in addition to preparing for contact flights and instrument sims.

First Week In Jets!

This week marked an important milestone in my fledgling Air Force career.  I had my dollar ride in a T-6.  A dollar ride is someone's first flight.  I'll try to describe it here, but words can't really capture how awesome/overwhelming it was.  The instructor I had was previously a T-38 guy, so I knew it was going to be a fun ride. I'll talk more about it when I discuss flying later.

A bit about the T-6.  The T-6 is a new, 5 million dollar plane which replaced the 50's era T-37 in the early-mid 2000's.  It is much more powerful with its 1,100 hp turboprop.  It cruises at 200 knots, can easily go 240, and tops out at 316. It can pull -3.5 to +7.0 g's, and has performance compared to the P-51 Mustang of WWII.  It's wingspan is about 33', and it weighs 6,500 lbs fully loaded with 1,100 lbs of fuel, of which probably 700 will be burned on a typical 1.3 to 1.5 hr mission.

This week was also the first week in the flight room.  I'll walk you through what seems to be a typical day.  Luckily (for us, not for them) some guys from Class 14-13 got washed back into our class due to budget reasons.  They have been really helpful getting us up to speed on all that goes along with being in the flight room for twelve hours a day.  I'll take a minute to go over a typical day.

We are given a schedule the night before telling us what time to show up.  Its usually between 0700 and 0730, and sometimes depends on what we have scheduled that day, or what we had the day before.  We are required to get 12 hours of crew rest, and are limited to a 12 hour duty day, so if we stay later than 7:30 pm, we can't report in any earlier than 12 hrs later the next day.  Anyway, the class meets up outside the building to ensure we all start our 12 hour day at the same time.  A minute prior to our show time, we go into the flight room and start preparing the morning's formal brief. The formal brief consists of informing the class on the day's weather, expected ops for the day, op notes, previous day's runway supervisory unit comments for each particular student, and an emergency procedure brief.  The briefer, and the emergency procedure briefer rotate daily.  Following the brief is a mad rush to get the people scheduled for the first 'go' ready for their mission brief.  This involved creating a mission data card, which has the mission objective,training objectives (goals you want to accomplish, i.e. maintain altitude within 150', no improper radio transmissions, etc), mission profile (where you want to go, and what you plan to do when you get there), expected weather,  and JOKER and BINGO fuel levels.  If you're flying the first go, you then sit down with your instructor pilot (IP) and brief what you are going to do, otherwise you study stuff you should've read the night before and make sure popcorn is ready by the time the guys who flew the first go get back.  As for the brief, some of this is briefed by the student, other parts by the IP.  You will usually step (finish the brief, go put on your g-suit and harness, and test your mask, ad then go to the supervisor and get your assigned aircraft) a half hour before your scheduled takeoff time.  After that you will go outside and get a ride to your jet if its far, or walk if its close. 

Once you get to the jet you will check the documentation for things like ensuring all the required inspections are either not overdue, or signed off if they are overdue, etc.  Then its time to hop up on the wing, do some cockpit checks, a preflight inspection of the exterior, and finally strap in. Once you are all strapped in and have followed your checklist to check all the switches in the cockpit its time to close the canopy and start the engine.  This is simple thanks to a computer that pretty much does everything for you.  Once started, its time to turn on what you need (most importantly the air conditioning) and do some final checks before taxiing to the runway.  Once there you do some more checks, arm your ejection seat, call for takeoff clearance, and then take off. 

This is where it gets exciting.  When the power is moved to MAX, there is a short delay while the turbine spools up, but once it does the plane goes!  Its off the ground in about 1,500 feet.  The landing gear and flaps are retracted a few seconds later, and by now the plane is going 130 knots, on its way to cruising speed of 200.  Stuff happens so fast on departure that it takes some getting used to.  My IP did this part of the flight during the dollar ride, but I got to fly pretty much the whole mission for my second and third flights.  During my third flight on Friday I noticed time slowed down a little, as I was getting used to flying the plane and some tasks that used to require conscious effort were now becoming second nature.  Anyway, we will leave Laughlin and fly 18 or so miles to the Southeast. There are blocks of airspace assigned for military operations that we use to practice maneuvers.  They are fairly big (~14 nautical miles long by maybe 10 nautical miles wide, depending on which one you get assigned to) but at 200+ knots you go almost 4 miles a minute, so they aren't as big as they seem, and three of them have the Rio Grande as a border, and you don't want to bust that boundary that otherwise you are in Mexico, and you have to wear a sombrero the next day.

For my dollar ride, MOA work consisted of an intro to the T-6.  My instructor demonstrated a roll and a loop, and then I got to do one. We pulled 4.5 g's, which is harder than I thought it would be and is border-lining on becoming uncomfortable.  To put it in perspective, your body weight, if you weigh 200 lbs, now feels like 1,200 lbs.  Needless to say you really feel yourself getting pushed into the seat.  Also being pushed downward is blood from your head.  This is counteracted by the g-suit inflating and your anti-g straining maneuver, in which you tense up your leg muscles and abdomen and push back against the g-suit, and breathe in an abrupt manner that I really can't describe in words.

Following area work, you will let air traffic control know you're ready to come back and you will an assigned arrival thats pretty straight forward.  There were clouds at or around my assigned altitude on my dollar ride and my flight on Friday. For my dollar ride they were perfect for "cloud chasing" where you get to fly through the contours of the clouds like they are valleys, sometimes rolling inverted and pulling to hug the "peaks" of the clouds below.  On Friday, however, I was inside the clouds and had my first exposure to real instrument flying.  It was a little disorienting, but it should get easier with time.

Once back in the pattern, we usually take a few laps and practice landings.  I think I'm starting to get the hang of it, but have to remember that I'm not flying a Cessna anymore, and pattern turns are to be done at 60 degrees of bank and 2 g's (which is more than you would think, and is enough to start inflating the g-suit), as this minimizes your time exposed during a turn.  There can be up to 12 jets in the pattern, all going 200 knots so this is important.

Following the mission will be a debrief where your instructor goes over what you did poorly/well, usually discusses an emergency procedure, and then tells you what to prepare for on the next flight.

While not flying time in the flight room is spent studying, making jalapeno popcorn, and on some other formal events.  These might include "Standup" where each student stands at attention and recites a note, warning or caution from an emergency procedure(EP) of the IP's choice (the required EP's for the day are assigned the previous day). If you get it wrong, you remain standing until the IP goes the rest of the way around the room and comes back to you.  While there are a lot of notes, warnings and cautions, the system is gamed by assigning certain ones to each student so we only have to know 2 or 3 each, 4 at most.  This makes it manageable.

Other than that I can't really think of too much more to talk about at this point.  I really should get back to reading for tomorrow's EP quiz.

A row of T-6's, with one airborne in the background.

Walking out to the jet for my dollar ride.

Over the rail check.

Putting on helmet, getting ready for first flight in the T-6.

Getting ready to fire up the engine.

Checking mask before my flight on Wednesday

Testing mask.

Hitting the Flight Line...

I haven't been very good about keeping this blog updated.  I try harder in the future...

Anyway, Phase 1 wrapped up on Friday with the weather test.  Phase 2 starts tomorrow, and that's when we start flying real planes.  Its going to be a big change from Phase 1.  Our class has been split up and assigned to Flights; B Flight and E flight.  Since my name starts with a letter in the second half of the alphabet, I was assigned to E Flight (Elvis Flight).  On Friday we met with our new flight commander and instructor pilots in what will become our new flight room.  This flight commander welcome was starkly different to the one at OTS, as it was not a show to make us feel like we did everything wrong.  Instead, I get the impression that at UPT you are treated as adults until you prove otherwise... for the most part.  We will be on a relatively short leash, and start off on formal release.  This means things will be a little more structured than Phase 1.  The days will be fairly long, and we will be required to stay in the flight rooms until we are formally released (probably 12 hours later- the AF limits duty days of pilots to 12 hours) by our flight commander.  The good news is the flight rooms seem to be fairly comfortable, with amenities such as a coffee maker and a popcorn machine (which must have fresh popcorn in it when the instructor pilots and students return from flights). If nothing else, it will afford us with plenty of time to study, especially since my phone doesn't get service in it.

I'll wait until I actually experience that, and will share more when I get around to posting again.

Like I said, we hit the flightline tomorrow.  I get to fly tomorrow for real.  Up until now we have only flown in simulators (See pictures below).  I've been told your brain works four times slower in a plane than it does on the ground, and I have experienced that in the sim. Lets hope it doesn't get any worse in a real plane.  The good news is your first flight, called a "dollar ride," is a free ride.  You can't hook (fail) it.

Below is the T-6 Texan II, the type of plane that is flown in Phase 2.  They are relatively new planes, entering service to replace the T-37 Tweet in the mid 2000's.  They have 1,100 hp turboprop engines, top out at 360 mph, are capable of -3.5 to +7.0 g's, and are very maneuverable.

Below is an OFT.  I forget what that stands for, but its the type of simulator that we use which has full visuals, almost 360 degrees.  It really gives you the sensation of flying.

This is me inside the OFT. You can tell it's the OFT because my visor is not down.

Finally, the picture below shows us in our flight room on a Sunday.  We are having what is called a "pattern party."  The carpet has a traffic pattern on it, and we are practicing "flying" it, complete with radio calls and traffic conflicts.  The military overhead traffic pattern is very different from a civilian one in that is designed to accommodate lots of planes going fast (in our case, 12 jets going 200 knots (230 mph).

UPT: Phase One, Part One: It Finally Started!

Its been a while since I last updated this blog, so this is going to be a long one. In the time since then class officially started. Undergraduate Pilot Training (UPT) Class 14-15 began on 6 September 2013. Its been over two years since I started the process of testing and applying for a pilot slot. It feels good to finally be here, and I'm still amazed at how different everything is from Officer Training School- no one's out to get you for having a loose thread on your uniform! Class 14-15 is a relatively big class; 31 students. Thirty really. One guy, Paul, is a former Army Blackhawk pilot who is getting his fixed wing qualification and has a different syllabus than the rest of us. But anyway, the class has a good mix of active duty, guard and reserve from all of the commissioning sources (AF Academy, ROTC, OTS, and AMS). The class is mostly males, but there are two women. Three of us are form the same OTS class, so it was nice to know a few guys before I even got here. I spend most of my time with one of those guys, who used to be a PJ, and the former Army balckhawk pilot. Us old guys must like to stick together. At 29, I think I'm the third oldest in the class. A vast majority of the class is around 22-24, and are recent ROTC college graduates.

 Anyway, UPT is broken into three phases. Phase 1 lasts for about six weeks and consists of mainly of academics and simulator rides. This is the phase we're in right now. Phase Two is flying T-6's, and Phase Three is flying another aircraft depending on your track select (fighters go to T-38, airlift/tankers fo to the T-1). The following website does an excellent job describing the phases of pilot training: http://baseops.net/militarypilot/ . I won't go into details about anything I haven't experienced yet. The picture below shows the three different aircraft that UPT students fly. Everyone starts off in the plane in the middle- the T-6 Texan II, a relatively new plane used by both the AF and Navy to train new pilots. From there, students will track either T-1's (left) or T-38's (right). This picture was taken on a class' graduation day (all the families were out looking at the planes)from the cafeteria/snack bar place where I tend to eat lunch. Planes on the ramp for families to look at following a class' graduation

The picture below is from the first day. This is where we were issued our publications. In here is (almost) everything we would have to learn/memorize in the next few months.

The first part of Phase One is aerospace physiology. This consists of a few things; learning about the limitations of the human body (actual physiology), basic survival (we will all go to a several week long survival school in the future, but they want us to have some basics in case we eject and are on our own for a while), and aircrew flight/life support equipment. My main takeaway from the physiology portion was that the human body and sensory systems work fine at sea level, upright, at 1 g, at walking speed. They are not good at orienting ourselves to our surroundings at conditions other than that. Evidence of this the record of about one or two fatal crashes resulting from unrecognized spatial disorientation that happen in the USAF every year where a perfectly good airplane is flown right into the ground. We also learned about the effects of altitude, culminating in our altitude chamber ride. In the chamber the pressure was pumped down to what you would experience at 25,000 feet. We then removed our masks and simple tasks like a maze, wordsearch and even reading became difficult. The scary part is it was hard to notice how limited your abilities became. Evidence of this is those F-22 crashes that occurred a few years ago because of the faulty oxygen generating systems which led to hypoxia. The pictures below are from the alititude chamber.

The last part of aerospace physiology was learning about all the crap you have to wear, what it does, how you strap into the seat, and what happens when you eject. This included PLF's (parachute landing falls). This consisted of practicing jumping with your feet together, contacting the ground in the appropriate manner. We also go to practice releasing our parachute risers while being dragged on the ground by classmates. Luck would have it that we had to do these outside on the only rainy day in Del Rio in months. It was actually sort of fun. The picture below is from the practical where the learned how to strap in and egress the T-6 cockpit. I got bored and started inflating my g-suit through the hose. Probably not a good idea since it could introduce moisture to the air bladders, but whatever...

Following aerospace physiology, and the three exams that went along with it, we began a series of aircraft systems classes. Here we learn about al the different aircraft systems, how they work, and how to operate them. These systems include things like the propulsion system, electrical system, fuel system, environmental control sustem, radio and navigation systems, etc. Most lessons are taught in the form of "computer aided instruction" where you sit in front of a computer in the computer lab and work through the lesson. Reveiws are then held with cilvilan instructors (all retired pilots) where a group of lessons are reviewed prior to a test. We had our first systems test last friday, and have our second one tomorrow. A quick note about tests; they aren't that difficult, except the passing score is an 85. Pretty much three test failures and you're out, so there is always motivation to study. The class as a whole has been doing well on them so far (I don't think anyone failed one yet), so hopefully that'll continue. 

We've also started some simulator classes with instructors. So far they have just been cockpit familiarization type lessons in cockpit familiarization trainers. Everything in them functions like the real plane, and you can fly the plane, you just cant see any visuals outside the cockpit because there's no screen. These will definately be helpful for working on checklist flows until they are like second nature. This should hopefully spare us some ridicule from the IP's (instructor pilots) when we finally hit the flight line at the end of October. The picutre below is one of those trainers.

Weekends have been spent pretty much the same way every week. A handful of us go to Lake Amistad for swimming, cliff jumping, BBQ'ing and beer drinking. Its very relaxing and fun. I imagine we'll be doing this for another month or two since most of us are from the northern part of the country, and we don't consider 80 degrees too cold to go swimming like people from Texas (or at least the lady at walmart who was ringing me up) apparently do.

Every three weeks a class has their drop night at the Officer's Club. This is where they find out their assignment when they graduate UPT. The O club is definately the place to be on these nights. I forget if its the OG commander or the wing commander, but one of them is new and wanted to continue the tradition that dates back to WWII of burning a piano on the most recent drop night. I think the tradition stems from an American squadron in Britain. One guy would always play the piano at the bar at night. One day he didn't come back from a mission, so it was instructed that the piano be burned since no one would be able to play it as well. The name of the pilot and exact location are lost to history, but its a tradition nonetheless. The picture below is from a drop night. This probably shows about 1/10th of the people in attendance- that place was really packed.

2,100 miles later...

On the 18th I left home for a 2,100 mile drive to Laughlin AFB in Del Rio, TX. I was accompanied by Alida, which was nice. We stopped in Dayton, OH, Tulsa, OK, and Austin, TX. Austin was a pretty nice city that I will definately return to. I reported in to the transition flight here on the 22nd and began inprocessing. Of course it is not going smoothly because the miliary personnel flight (MPF) at Maxwell never put in the paperwork to update me in DEERs, so the MPF here had to do it, and now I have to wait until that goes through. We went to the officers club on Friday night. It was "drop night" for class 13-14 who graduates next week, which is a party where they find out their assignments (airframe and location). It was pretty cool and I'm looking forward to many more nights at the officers club because the beer was cheap and there are no bars in Del Rio that are worth going into. We also checked out Amistad Reservoir, which is just outside of town. We found a cool place to go cliff jumping. See the pictures below. The final picture is of the Riverwalk in San Antonio. Its a pedestrian walkway right alongside a river that is in the middle of downtown. It is lined with stores and restaurants. This week I have more inprocessing stuff to do. I also have an appointment to get issued equipment and fitted for a g-suit. Other than that time is pretty much mine to spend how I need to so I'm ready to start class the following week. I'll check in again once class starts.

Dining out

I, Timothy John Nonna, having been appointed a second lieutenant in the United States Air Force...

I'm finally back in Saratoga. Commissioning was yesterday morning. My father, Pop and fraternity brother Lt. Andrew Moyer, USN, all came down. It was an honor to have my oath of office administered by Drew (the oath has to be given by an officer). Following the oath, my father and Pop pinned second lieutenant rank on the epaulets of my service coat. Overall it was a great day. Looking back on it, I really had a good experience at OTS. It was certainly not easy. The first few weeks, which consisted of 17 hour days (17 hours of doing stuff without ten minutes to relax) were tough, but worthwhile. I met a lot of good people, some of which will be in my UPT class at Laughlin. I'll keep this post pretty short. In the days and weeks leading up to OTS, I viewed it simply as a formality that I had to go through so I could start doing what I really wanted to do- fly jets. I have a different viewpoint now. They must have done a real good job at OTS because they definately got me to drink the cool aid. Now I realize that I will be an officer first, and a pilot second. This is not to be confused with having flying as a second priority; its not. You need to be one before you can become the other. Even though I'm done with OTS, things are only going to get harder. Now its time to get ready for what will probably be the most challenging year of my life- USAF undergraduate pilot training.

Apparently OTS is not over until we leave Maxwell

Last Friday the Goldhawks had a no-notice inspection by my flight commander. This was a problem because we had just been inspected by the MTIs (miitary training instructors- the guys with the "drill sergeant" hats) the previous day,AND we had to change from blues to ABUs at lunch time, so people took shortcuts and didnt really have their rooms in inspection order. Anyway, he waited for us to get back to the dorms and yell at all of us in the hall, and then proceed room by room what was wrong. After going down one side of the hallway, he said "Now for my favorite room- lets see." Myself and my two roomates knew exactly which room he was talking about. It was ours. One roommate was convinced we werent getting inspected so he left all his shit on his desk, didnt make his bed, didn't empty the trash can, etc. The counseling that happened in our room next was hilarious, and definately worth the OTMR (Officer Trainee Memorandum for Record) that went in our file. When I reported in to sign the OTMR for that, he said that there would be one more inspection- but he didn;t know who it would be- goldhawks, tigers, or hoyas. Anyway, the reason I'm telling you this story is there was another inspection by the MTIs yesterday for the upper class of all three suqadrons. Goldhawk rooms were all perfect. The same can not be said for the other two squadrons. It was so bad for the other two squadrons, in fact, that they had their privledge level knocked down from Phase four to Phase three. This means they can't wear civilian clothes any more, they have to formally report in, etc. It wasnt just bad, it was eally bad. The most ridiculous story had to do with a pizza box in a room- with pizza in it AND there was pizza crust in the toilet. I'm not sure what those people were thinking, but I can't really blame them. There is a general attitude of "not giving a fuck" at this point and most people are checking out mentally since we only have like 4 more days here and we have so much more freedom now that we have Phase Four privleges. We were reminded by the MTIs yesterday and parade practice that OTS is not over until we leave Maxwell.

6 Days and a Wakeup!

Theres only one week left. Commissioning and graduation is next Tuesday morning at 8 am. I mentioned in an earlier post, the one discussing the Commander's Run, Prop & Wings Ceremony, and Phase 2, that I got back to the room and found something under my flight cap. I said I would share what it was inthe future. Below is a picture of it. It's an engraved Second Lieutenant bar; something we will pin on in a week. 

 I have three guests attending graduation; My father, grandfather, and fraternity brother Lieutenant Drew Moyer, USN. They are coming into town on Monday, the day before graduation. Dining Out is that night. Thats a formal dinner held at a hotel downtown that is a military tradition. Its the first (and probably second to last time) I'll have to wear mess dress, which is the military equivalent to a tuxedo. It should be a fun event, even boisterous at times, that celebrates our time at OTS. 

Getting back to graduation, Drew said if I ever got commissioned, he would attend. Im holding him to that. He will administer the oath of office, which signifies, among other things, direct authority from the president. It has to be administerd by an officer, active or retired. My father and grandfather will then pin 2d Lt rank on me. Later in the morning there will be a graduation parade on the parade field (which we have like 8 hours of practice for this week), and then I'll get the hell out of Alabama.

CWT #2 and AEF Complete! No more graded measures!

Its Sunday, July 28th. Last week was a busy week. On Monday, we had our second comprehensive written test. I scored a 95. I mistakenly filled in the wrong two bubbles, and changed a correct answer to an incorrect answer, but who cares because at least its over. The next day, Tuesday, we departed for AEF. AEF stands for Air Expediationary Forces. It simulates a deployment where Cubans retook Gitmo, and lasted until Friday morning. We arrived and had to retake a base from staff using paintball guns and the techniques we learned involving small unit tactics. For lagter base defesne operations, some groups of trainees became the opposing force in addition to staff members. Aside from these base defense operations, most of the time was spent on ELPS (expedionary leadership problems). these are graded field leadership measures where you have 40 minutes as team leader to complete an objective. This tested ones ability to delegate, lead a team in formulating a plan, and then makig decisions to impliment that plan. What was interesting was we did not do anyting at AEF with our Flights. Instead we were broken into chalks (they were essentially the chalks from our info and advo briefs), consisting of people we havent worked with before. Overall we, Chalk 9, did pretty well. We got 5 mission completes out of 11 missoins, which was probably about average. AEF was probably one of the times at OTS where we actually had free time after ELPs and BDOs. This time was mostly spent napping, in the morale tent playing cards/games, or watching movies in the dining tent. Overall it was a fun experience. Ive included picturs below which show the camp, and the inside of our tent. The tents were big, but not quite big enough for 18 people. The only real problem with the tents was the constant A/C malfunctions which made it 90 degrees inside. Other than that it wasn't that bad. Tomorrow is TD 41. 6 more TDs (Seven days and a wake up) and OTS is all over. The upcomming week, the last full one, should be pretty easy but it will probably go by slowly since we are done with academics. We have a drill competition, which we havent practiced for, tomorrow, graduation parade practice every morning for like 3 hours, some breifings that obviously aren't testable since we just had our last test, and a bunch of outprocessing stuff to do.

Lower Class Arrival, TD-31 tomorrow

Its been a while since my last post. Its Sunday, 14 July. The lower class arrived on Tuesday the 9th. Its hard to believe it, but we were in their shoes about six weeks ago. I'll explain a little bit about their arrival day, and then share my thougts and observations. OT's (officer trainees) start rolling in at about noon. They park their cars and are greeted by an upperclassman. They are directed to a tent where they recieve an attache case, and are instructed on appearance (shirt and shoelaces tucked in, etc). They are treated politely at this point, and the stress is low. They then take their belongings to the "dojo." This is an artifical turf field covered by a roof, and provides some relief from the sun and heat. This is where the upper class inprocesses them. They proceed to a series of tables and get checked in, issued name tags, reflective belts, camel backs, apply for a STAR credit card if they need to,are given a pocket sized OTSMAN (OTS manual containing rules/regs and guidance) and a HAWK (a booklet of things that have to be memorized) etc. They also get instructed on the position of attention, etc. It was very visible that their stress was increasing. At this point they would be corrected by the upper class on things they were doing wrong. If these corrections came from commissioned staff, they were yelled at. One of the best yellers of the commissioned staff happened to be walking around, and as bad as I felt for the new OTs, it was amusing watching them get lit up for something they probably didnt even know they werent supposed to do, but thats all part of the game.I was amazed at the visiblly increasing stress levels these people were under. I don't think I was nearly as scared as they looked, but its hard to tell. Finally, after visiting all these tables, they were rushed over to stand in line. We remind them why they are here, and let them know that it is about to get intense. Once forty of them were lined up, they were walked (very quickly) the 1/4th mile to the dorm. I was one of the people who walked them to the dorm. This job sucked because it was hot- we were under black flag conditions. Anyway, once they got to the dorms they were met by the MTIs (miltary training instructors). These are the guys that people often refer to as drill sergaents in the flat brimmed hats. The OTs are lined up in front of the doors while the MTIs find a few to yell at. This serves to let them know that they are not special, and it doesnt matter what you were before you got here. They are then rushed up the stairs to their rooms to drpo their stuff off. they are then rushed back outside where the MTIs begin to teach them about drill (marching). Below is a video my room mate took out of the third floor laundry room window of such instruction taking place. I apppoolgize for the picture quality, as the video was texted to me, but the audio is good and thats really all that matters. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBXmAPdLRyY Its nice having a lower class here since they are now the focus of attention. There is some added work, however, we now have to correct deficient behavior we see. We can't simply walk by and let it continue. So far this has not been too bad. I choose to use a constructive approach, and always treat the OTs in a professional manner. I'm still amazed at how scard/nervous they are around upper class. Last week we were briefed on how we should interact with them. It was explained to us that we were not supposed to create stress for them, but it was explained that we still would. This is definately true. I am the Squadron One mentorship officer. I solicited upper class volunteers to be mentors, and assigned 15 of them to the 45 lower class Goldhawks (I have to report 100% contact back up to the wing). We had our first mentoring meetings on friday. I also provided some tasty snacks and candy purchased with squadron funds since I think they deserved it. The sessions were well received. I filled in as a mentor for an upper classman who had family in town and cojuldnt make it. It was nice to put the mentees at ease and talk to them about how things have gone so far, answer questions (about stuff I could talk about- theres some stuff they shouldnt know about) about whats coming up, give them tips that might help them, and get to know a little bit about where they're from and what they are going to be doing in the AF. Since I was in charge of mentoring I gave myself three reservist pilots. One is flying C-5s, another KC-10s, and the third was C-130s. All airlift/tanker guys. Upcomming events: This week we have advocay briefs. These are briefs where we must take a position on an issue, write a position paper on it, and then present to the class. I chose an issue not on the list we were given; protests at military funerals. As repugnant as the individuals of the Westboro Baptist Church are, I feel they should be able to freely express their opinions and peacably assemble on public land. To target a group just because its message is unpopular is very dangerous. What if you had an unpopular message you had to share at some point? We also have Leadership Reaction Course at Project X. This is a graded measure were we are graded on our performance for one scenario where we are a leader, for al other scenarios we are either team members or safety observes. This is a site on the OTS campus that has a bunch of of "obstacle courses" in a 20ftx20ft cement "room" where we have to work as a team to move ourselves and our supplies from start to end. When we first got here we did two project X scenariosou. I was leader for one where we had to move from start over water to a 4 fot tall cement piling that was 1ft x 1ft about 6 feet away using a plank and some rope, to another piling about 6 feet away, and the onto a big pipe, and then go through the pipe. If you touched the water, or anything painted red it was a 30 second penalty and all members and equipment had to return to the start. This may not sound like much, but when you only have 20 minutes it is. Next week we have our second written test on monday. This is the last graded measure we have that goes into our overall grade. On tuesday we leave for AEF. This is our mock deployment where we live in tents, and have other graded leadership evaluations.

Happy Fourth of July

Happy Fourth of July from the Welsh Parade field on the OTS Campus on Maxwell Air Force Base. 

Tips for Future OT's, Part I

I'll try to post an entry with all the tips I have for future OTs that I've learned in the last 5 weeks at Basic Officer Training (you will see me referring to the program as OTS and BOT.  Both are correct.  BOT is the program at OTS that commissions air force officers).  A few that I can think of now are below.  They will be random and not organized in any logical manner.  Maybe some day I will organize them.

-Live out of your laundry bag.  Dont waste time folding, rolling and displaying clothes when you only have to have one of each item in your drawers/closet for room inspection.  No one will look inside your laundry bag.

-Don't go without caffeine for longer than you need to.  Know what the OTSMAN says.  Also know that OTS commissionsed staff (namely your flight commander) can't approve caffeine for you until two weeks have passed. Conclusion: do something good as a flight, and get caffeine privledges early.

-Shirt garters- get the ones that only clip once to each sock. Dont get the ones I got that reqiure two for each leg.  Worst of all, dont get none.  You will look like a slob.

-Keep DIRTS towels handy in your dorm room so you can use them to wipe things clean before leaving , and as a shower bath mat. You can't put them in the laundry bin in the morning because if the laundry room gets inspected your entire floor will get a demerit.  They can be stored during the day by hiding them under your laundry bag, or you can shove them behind the desk hutch thing.  Just make sure they dont hang down to where they are visible through the holes that the cords for your computer run through.  I suppose you could also hide the above the ceiling tiles in your room, but we've never had the need to do that.  Also, if they ever looked up there you would have a hard time convincing anyone that they've been there for a long time if they are still damp.


-Taco Bell at the base exchange closes at 3pm on Sunday.  Get there before that.

 -You won't have much time for meals.  I tried to make all food into a sandwich.  This let me eat enough food to survive in the short period of time you are intially given to eat.

-If you bring food with you, like I did, you might be told you can't have food in the dorm past TD-2.  I don't think this is true.  Read your OTSMAN and figure it out, OT.  I just put my food in my civilian luggage, which gets locked up in a storage room, and got it later when we reached phase 2.


-DO NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES, unless you really like ants, put open food or food wrappers in your CamelBak at any field excersizes, to include the confidence course, BELPS, blue thunder, ropes course.  They will find your food or empty wrapper (complete with tasty snack residue) and they will colonize the inside of your CamelBak.  They are everywhere.

Tips for the first few days:
-Lights on is 4:30.  Get up before this, put a towel under your door to block the light, and shave and get dressed.  You door WILL be pounded on at 4:30 and you will be expected to be outside almost immediately.

-Your room wont be inspected the first week.  Don't waste time trying to set it up.  Wait until the weekend for that.  Also, only make your bed once.  Sleep on top of it.  Often times you won't have time to make it in the time you have between physical training and breakfast and/or class.  This is true for all of OTS, not just the first few weeks.

-Make sure to know chapter 1 of the OTSMAN and Section 1 of the 24TRS supplement to the OTSMAN by TD-3.  If you don't know it fully by then, know it by TD-6.  Trust me.  You will be tested on it.  Also know your knowledge that you are required to memorize out of The Hawk.  Know it cold.  Trust me on that one too.  You will be asked to recite that, and it wont be in the clam setting of your dorm room.

Other Tips:
-Demerits don't mean that much.  Don't get too upset when you get them.  Just don't get more than 150% of the flight average, or 5 or more if the flight average is less than 5 or you will lose privlegdges.  (also, know that rule- you will be asked about it).

-OTMRs on the other hand, you don't want.  Too many in one category can get you recycled.

-

Half Way There! TD-24

Today was TD-24 of a 46 day training program.  This means that, curriculum wise, we are half way done!  On a calendar day basis, we are not quite halfway there because of the 4th of July Holiday, (two weekdays that aren't training days).  I'm not concerned about that, however, because the time off will be nice. 

First, I'll discuss phasing up to Phase 3, and what’s happening next week.  Next week, on July 9th, the lower class shows up.  This means that, per the OTSMAN (the OTS manual that essentially governs our lives) we (the OT wing; that is all of class 13-07) can request Phase 3 status no earlier than 7 days prior to the lower class arrival.  The trainee wing staff submitted that memo last week, and it was approved effective today.  This means that we are now Phase 3.  This gets us off-base privileges.  We are all looking forward to getting off base this weekend for a few meals, and some beers (in accordance with the guidance published in the OTSMAN, of course) at some point over the 4th of July weekend.  Unfortunately, we were denied temporary Phase 4 status for the holiday weekend, which would have let us leave the local area, and would also let us wear civilian clothes while off base. 

Phase 3 also gets us one other nice privilege.  No more tight meals.  Ever. This means we can eat in significantly more comfort in the dining facility.  We still have to follow dining facility protocol for lining up, getting food, sitting down, and getting up, but at least the actual act of eating can be relaxed and we can converse quietly among our table. 

I mentioned that the lower class shows up next week.  This means that we will be where class 13-06 was when we showed up.  I know that sounds obvious, but it really isn't because our transformation has been gradual over the last 5 weeks, so I guess I didn't really notice it.  Stated differently, we are almost equivalent to the point where our upper class was when we met them....and they seemed pretty sharp.  We had a dry run for their TD-0 (the day they show up).  It went pretty smoothly.  My job is to move them quickly through the dorms, to their rooms, and get them to drop their stuff off and get back on the wall as quickly as possible.  This will involve things like yelling at the group (we are not supposed to yell at individuals, however we are expected to correct them)  Once they finish putting things in their dorms, they get turned over to the MTI's (military training instructors; or drill sergeants).  That’s when things will get real for them.  They will be yelled at by people who are extremely good at making themselves scary.  The astute trainees will realize that this is all part of the game, and the yelling isn't personal and to go along with it, act professionally, and make corrections.  The trainees that don't realize that this is a game might have a tough time adjusting at first.  Again, the upper class doesn't really do any yelling (don't confuse talking loudly with yelling).  It's our job to be mentors and set the lower class up for success for when they face certain stressful evaluations that will come their way in the first part of their training.

Anyway, this week we have started the combatives program.  We drill and fight for 2 hours each morning, from 5 to 7.  This means that I am sore and bruised today. So far all of the sparring has been from the ground (no standing), no striking, no small joint manipulations (fingers, etc), no slamming, etc.   We do submissions, however, and those can hurt.  Being a former wrestler definately helps when we go live.  My go to move in high school, the roll, works real well here because opponents often put their weight high my body (i.e. make their CG high) when I'm in the down position, making them easy to roll. 

Last week we did BELPS and M9 qualifications.  BELPS stands for Baseline Expeditionary Leadership Problems.  In this exercise, which is a graded measure, we go to a field and are given a mission to accomplish that requires us to use land navigation skills and leadership skills.  Each flight member has to be a leader once, and is graded on their performance.  It was exciting because not all the rules were told to the participants, so something might get you killed that you didn't know about.  When I was leader, I instructed the team to move with a low profile. One kid stood up, and he was incapacitated.  I then had to drag him to the next waypoint.  At this wayoint, our mission was to repair a radio receiver (i.e. reconnect some wires on an old DVD player).  Also unbeknownst to us was that if anyone touched the red wire, they would be incapacitated.  The two guys I assigned to repair the equipment both did this and were incapacitated.  Now we had three people out of our original 8 that had to be carried.  Anyway, I wont go into too much more detail, but the exercise put emphasis on leadership, and not really mission completion (which is only worth 1 point out of 28), so I still did pretty well.

We also did M9 qualifications.  For those not familiar, the M9 is the standard military sidearm.  I qualified, but missed expert by 4 shots to the body.  I got the requisite number of head shots for expert, and should have stopped aiming for the head when I knew I had met that requirement.  I'll go for expert when I requalify.

-

23 Jun 13. TD-18 tomorrow

I want to appologize in advance for the typos and seemingly random topics in this post.  I don't have much time to write it so I'll get down whatever I'm thinking about now and maybe come back and fix it up in 43 days after graduation.

Its Sunday.  Another week down.  This weekend was relatively slow.  Our student squadron commander, Major Dieter (this guy is STRICT, but fair and very professional), decided to pull our base privledges for Saturday and restrict us to the OTS complex because we've been slacking ever since the upper class left.  This whole thing is definately a game, and I think that was all part of it; give us some slack for a few days and then yank the leash back in real hard and jack everyone up for every little thing.  Come to think of it, there were a few days where everything seemed too quiet.  Usually commissioned staff sharks around on the "bomb run" (the long walkway between the academic building and the dining facility where flights hold and wait to enter the dining facility).  They usually quiz flights on their knowledge, watch for flight leaders to make mistakes marching their flights to meals, "correct" officer trainees by "speaking loudly" to them, etc.  But not for most of last week. Anyway, we (i.e. all of Class 13-07) were all told on Thursday that everything we were doing was not up to standards in terms of professionalism and procedures, and that it was going to start raining OTMRs (officer trainee memorandum for record). Those are essentially memos that go in your folder that document how you messed something up- and always require you to report to the officer who issued it.  Often times this can start what is called an "OTMR Waterfall" where you go in to get an OTMR, mess something up in the process, and have to come back for another one, mess up again, and the process repeats.  One kid in my flight got at least five OTMRs this way.  Anyway, just my luck- I was on the schedule to be flight leader on Friday (remember we were told on Thursday that it was going to start "raining OTMRs").  I ended up with one OTMR that day for a mistake entering the dining facility- I forgot to call "as you were" when I wanted to cancel an order. Thats the second one ive gotten since being here.  Not a huge deal because no OTMR waterfall ensued.

Aside from that, this past week consisted of one day in the field (I think I mentioned that in my last post), 4 days of classes, and our second physcial fitness test.  This was probably our busiest week of classes so far. I don't think i've discussed academics that much yet, so i'll briefly mention those.  We study three main subjects; leadership studies, profession of arms, and warfare studies.  W also have some classes on communication, but none of these are testable so everyone, myself included, ignores them.  This week consisted primarly of warfare studies lessons.  We covered the history of airpower from Post-WWI through present.  We also had some culture lessons geared at making us aware that we will have to go through even more cultural training if we ever deploy.   These lessons covered all the combatant command areas of responsibility (i.e. central command, Africa command, northern command, pacific command, etc.).  Fortunately (unfortunately?) these lessons are not on the syllabus for the next exam, so myself and many others did not pay attention.  Since these were given in a lecture hall to all 130 something members of Class 13-07, rather than in our flight room, this seemed like the right thing to do.

We had a number of leadership studies classes last week that i'm finishing up homework for this week.  The leadership studies curriculum contains subjecs geared towards managenemt, supervisison, and obviously leadership.   Lessons include conflict management, leadership authority and responsibility (interesting- this dealt with the legality of issuing orders and the sources of an officer's authority), change management, effective supervision, and stuff like that. 

The final sylabus area is profession of arms.  That includes subjects such as military law, UCMJ, cultural awareness, enlisted force structure, and other topics pertinent to being an officer in the United States military.

As I mentioned, we also had our second (out of three) physcial fitness test.  The test consists of abdominal circumference, a 1.5 mile run, 1 minute of pushups and 1 minute of crunches.  My score improved from a 97 to a 98.7; the highest in the flight.  I increased my pushups from 48 to 53, and my situps from 48 to 58 (58 is the max for situps).  My run improved from 8:53 to 8:38, however this did not increase my score because I already had scored the max.  Ab circumference was also maxed out.  The only place left to improve is pushups.  If I can do 15 more in a minute, for a total of 58, I'll max that one out too.  We did well as a flight also; our flight average was above 95. 

Our flight's PT score was enough to get us Athletic Flight of the Week, again.  This is good because our flight commander likes that sort of stuff'- he was a college football player.  Some other flight awards are given out such as academic flight and overall flight of the week. Other Goldhawk flights won those ones giving the Goldhawks another sweep this week, making the Goldhawks the squadron of the week, again. The rivalry between us, the Hoyas and the Tigers is healthy but the commissioned staff wants us to come together as a wing since the lower class will be here soon.


This upcoming week will be a busy one, and will be almost entirely in the field.  We have M9 pistol qualification on monday.  We have Baseline Expeditionary Leadership Skills on tuesday and wednesday (a graded field leadership measure) and a high ropes course on thursday.  The week after that we have a graded informational briefing, which I should do well in as long as I follow the standard AF info brieing format, because I'm used to giving presentations at work.

TD-13

I haven't had a chance to update this blog in a while because we've been pretty busy.  Since last time we reached Phase One.  We have since reached Phase Two, but first I'll discuss some other stuff we did since then. 

The acamdemics are in full swing.  We are spending a lot of time on the "Leadership Studies" curriculum.  Some of this stuff is interesting, other parts of it are terribly boring. None of this really matters though because we don't really have time to actually learn the subjects.  Instead we are concerned only with completing homework assignments so we would be prepared for the first test, which happened last Thursday.  I scored a 93.something %.  The Class 13-07 average was an 88 I think.  I shouldn't have missed the questions I missed, but thats in the past now so I'll have to work harder on studying for the second test.  This was the first of two CWTs (consolodated written tests) that we have while we're here.  These make up the majority of our overalll grade. Other things that factor into our grade are field leadership excersizes and pysical fitness testing.

Getting to Phase One was not easy (we came in at Phase Zero).  It consisted of a Phase One Evaluation where the upper class pulled us out of class unexpectedly, lined us up in the hallway and asked us individually to recite knowledge we were suppoesed to memorize, such as the Airman's Creed, OTS Mission, AF Vision, Code of Conduct Articles 1 through however many there are, quotes of the day, and so on.  Every so often some of us would be sent into "Cube City" where the commissioned staff offices are.  That area was artificially filled with additional commissioned officers and upper classmen to test our knowledge of bracing and passing procedures, and also our procedures for reporting in to an officer.  Normally, this stuff would be easy, but all the yelling tended to throw people off their game.  I came out of it unscathed, and didn't have to take a second loop through, even though I almost did by accident.

 Phasing up to Phase Two was much better than going from zero to one.  It happened on Friday the 14th at the end of what is called the "Commander's Run".  We went on what I'm estimating to be a 5.5 mile run (not a long run by my standards) stopping at a number of landmarks around the base that had historical significance.  When we stopped the historical significance was explained by our Lower Flight Commander and Assistant Lower Flight Commander (These are both upper class Officer Trainees who are selected to mentor and teach, using many techniques not the least of which is "talking loudly," us lower class trainees).  After that we would do some sort of excersize that had some relation to the historical aspect of the stop.  For example, there is a B-52 static display; we did 52 pushups underneath it.  Another example; there is a full size metal sculpture of the Wright Flyer.  We did four 120 foot shuttle runs to commemorate the distance of the Wright Brother's first flight (coincidentally, my left quad cramped so bad on the first one I thought I pulled it- muscle cramps have been a problem down here for me probably because of the heat/humidity leading to profuse sweating casuing a lack of electrolytes).  Anyway, after all these various stops we ended up at the Air Univeristy (AU) Headquarters.  This  building was actually where Air Corps Tactical School was located in the 30's.  Anyway, in front of that building is a prop & wings statue, which is significant because it was the original insignia of the Army Air Service in 1920, and is now given to Officer Trainees, AF Academy Cadets and ROTC cadets.  Anyway, after a speach by the OTS Commandant (hence the event being called the Commander's Run) the upper class pinned our prop & wings on us.  These insignia will be worn on our flight cap as part of our blues uniform while we are OTs.

Upon returning to our rooms we found that the upper class also put our Phase Two epaulets on our blues shirts, pinned another prop and wings on our flight caps, and also left a surprise on the inside of our flight caps which I'll discuss on August 6th after graduation.


With Phase two came some additional privleges.  We no longer have to brace the wall when passing commissioned staff or upper class.  The upper class has also been noticably nicer to us.  They now refer to us as "sir/ma'am" rather than "OT."  More importantly we can leave the OTS complex (but not Maxwell AFB).  This meant a trip to the base exchange.  For some reason I ended up buying all sorts of stuff I dont even like and never normally eat, such as cookies and red bull. Another nice thing was getting to wear our "privilege uniform" which is a polo shirt and khakis. That was the first time I've worn civilian clothes in over two weeks. 

 Phase Two also means that weekend meals are optional, so some of us ate at the golf course on Saturday.  Weekday dinners in the dining facility are also no longer tight meals, meaning we can talk, and we no don't have to sit at the modified position of seated attention (we can lean back, feet dont have to be at a 45 degree angle with the heels together, unused hands dont have to be bladed and grounded to the front of the knee, we get more than 3-5 minutes to eat etc).

Today consisted of field lessons where we learned tactical communication, land navigation and small unit tactics.  The rest of the week is almost entirely classes, but at least they get more interesting.  They are mostly from our "Warfare Studies" curriculum, and occur in a lecture hall with the entire class and are taught by a civilian (retired AF) lecturer (as opposed to most of the other classes, which occur in our flight room and are taught by our flight commander). This week's topics are airpower from pre-WWI all the way through the Cold War. 

In other news, the upper class graduates tomorrow.  Next week is M9 qualifications and some expediationary leadership excersizes; almost no classes for the entire week, so there is plenty to look forward to.

Its also much cooler this week. Last week it was in the mid to high 90's, very humid and sunny.  Apparently that's unusually hot for this time of year, even down here.  Needless to say, that heat combined with wearing ABU's (Airmans Battle Uniforms- long pands, undershirts, long sleeve shirts, hat, and boots) is not pleasant.  I routinely sweat all the way through them. 

Overall things are going pretty well.  I was told that the first two weeks really suck, and it gets better after that.  We are almost three weeks in at this point.  So far, that is turning out to be true.

TD-7 ?

I think it's td-7. I haven't had a chance to update this in a while because we've been do busy. We had our Phase One Evaluation  yesterday. It consisted of being asked our knowledge in a stressful environment (ie getting yelled at by commissioned staff and upperclass OT's.  We were also tested on our procedures for reporting to an officer, opening/closing class, and some other stuff.  The squadron, the. Goldhawks, passed! That's the first time a squadron has passed their POE on the first try. As a resultof passing we get to wear phase one insignia on our uniforms. 

The other two student squadrons failed (Tigers and Hoyas), and have to go through that again, which sucks for them because its really stressful , and there will be nupper class here because they have their mock deployment next week. That means commissioned staff only, which is bad for them. 

 We were also tested on drill ( marching) which we did not pass, so we have another eval on that next week if we pass,we will be allowed to march as a flight by ourselves, which is good because it takes eyes off us. 

TD-2 Down.

Before I start I want to state that I typed this on an iPhone. I apologize in advance for typos or short sentences, but its too tedious to be eloquent when typing on this thing. I was going to update the TD-0 post, but I'm too tired and that day was a blur. 

I will, however, take a moment to explain the the class structure. Class 13-07 is broken down into3 squadrons. I am in squadron 1, the Goldhawks. The hoyas and tigers are the other two. There are four flights in squadron 1. Imin flight 1-10. Much of our activities are done as a flight, including sitting in our flight room and memorizing stuff from a small book we must have on us (in a particular way depending on which uniform we have on- standardization is huge). We are always " in our knowledge" at the position of parade rest reading from these books when waiting outside the bathroom, for a briefing to begin, etc. it's futile sometimes though when you're that toted. I must have read the Air Force vision statement fifty times yesterday and retained about three words of it. Anyway, all our classroom instruction will take place in our flight room. 

 It's training day 2 now. Yesterday we woke up at 0430, and had to post outside our doors immediately. I don't really remember much else other than getting back at 2200 and having to type a memo before lights out. I sent it in at 2302, two minutes after lights out. I didn't catch anything for it today, but might at some point. Lesson learned- if you get something done after lights out, send it in at lights on at 0430 the next morning. Anyway, we did a physical fitness test today. I did well- too well I think. I wanted to not stand out too much. I ran the 1.5 mile run in 8:43. My fastest time ever. Not bad considering I hAve only slept for about 7 hours in the last two days. Hopefully there's room to improve.  After that we showered and changed into airman battle uniforms for the first time. We worked on marching for a few hours on the drill pad. I forget what we did after that, but I'm sure it included a ton of getting yelled at for doing stuff no one told you how to do. Had a breifi g from the Chaplin, and then another one from an MTI ( military training instructor, an enlisted drill sergeant). He was very good and entertaining. Much better that when he's watching us march someplace and sees someone mess up. 

Anyway, we got to eat our second meal in the dining hall for dinner. Too bad because MREs are actually pretty tasty. 

After dinner we were matched back to our flight rooms. We never walk anywhere outside- we only march as flights and only when escorted by an OTS upperclassman. If we can demonstrate the ability to march on our own we will earn that privilege in a few weeks. 

We lined up in the hall at attention by squadron and then had to call knowledge for a half hour. That's where an officer trainee (OT) sounds off and the squadron states whatever it was were supposed to yell. Today's objectives for knowledge was the Air Force mission, OTS mission and Air Force vision, along with a quote of the day. 

We're now back in our rooms and I'm trimming and burning threads off my ABUs. Demerits get handed out starting Monday and I want to minimize the number I get. Below is a picture.  

So far I'm finding this exciting, but its starting to wear everyone thin. The lack of sleep and constant activities is pretty demanding.