Air force flying??

[DCA22]

Originally Posted by VF-213

if you have so many "friends' flying in the military, why did you need to post questions on here? Maybe these "friends" are just a figment huh....

You can say what you will about military service but you know.... I suspect I've lived your dream... flown supersonic fighter jets...something you'll never do.

hahahahahahah

Hey thats a real professional thing to say for someone who claims to have flown supersonic jets in the military

the reason i posted the question was because i wanted info about the air force not the navy, my friends who flew in the navy all left and are at the airlines now but they told me the selection process is very different between the branches.

Pal ive been flying since i was 13, no you havent lived my dream i never really cared for supersonic fighter jet, my friends always told me all the navy guys are just cocky.

Hey like you said, maybe the only reason you got in was cause of your daddy and his position.

hope you stay in the military cause that crappy attitude will get you no where

[Hacker15e]

DCA, are you actually interested in a reply to your question?

Or did you post all this just as a way to "educate" all the actual military pilots who read this board...because to read your last couple of posts, it sure seems like you know it all (because your friends told you all about it) and we're all a bunch of idiots who don't know jack about being a military pilot.

[mwflyer]

Originally Posted by TankerToad

DCA22, if you're interested in reading a reasonably thorough journal of what it's like to go through UPT, I actually have a website I maintained throughout UPT for anyone who wanted to read a "day in the life" account of what it was like. Plenty of pictures up as well. The link is www.joelsuptjournal.com. Pass it on to others who may have similar questions! Also, as mentioned above, baseops.net is a great place to look. T6driver.com will give you a great deal of current gouge on the program. Hope this helps!

that was an excellent blog you posted! thanks for the link. i thoroughly enjoyed reading it. i had always wondered what it was like from start to finish. thanks again!

[ppragman]

Hacker, DCA,


Let's all cool our jets (pun awkwardly intended), look, if you haven't lived the military life then you cannot possibly be able to relate. I'm not in so I know I can't compare it. However, challenging peoples motivations for joining isn't exactly all that fair either. If you want to join for the sole reason of flying jets, then good luck to you. You'll have other duties as people have made it abundantly clear. However, why is it a problem that people may have the desire to join for a reason. I have plenty of friends who enlisted solely for the monetary gain and college benefits. Is that a problem? No. Everyone has their motivations.

Come on people, can't we all just lighten up a little bit?

[frog_flyer]

DCA22,

Let me steal a quote from the been-there-done-that dudes of baseops.net:

"never give up the opportunity to shut the #### up."


Best of luck finding any job, much less a military flying gig, with your attitude.

[ppragman]

Originally Posted by frog_flyer

DCA22,

Let me steal a quote from the been-there-done-that dudes of baseops.net:

"never give up the opportunity to shut the #### up."


Best of luck finding any job, much less a military flying gig, with your attitude.

Really? Is this really necessary?

[Hacker15e]

Originally Posted by ppragman

However, challenging peoples motivations for joining isn't exactly all that fair either. If you want to join for the sole reason of flying jets, then good luck to you. You'll have other duties as people have made it abundantly clear. However, why is it a problem that people may have the desire to join for a reason. I have plenty of friends who enlisted solely for the monetary gain and college benefits. Is that a problem? No. Everyone has their motivations.

I actually don't have a problem with people whose initial sole motivations for joining the military are to get free flying training and education benefits. I know of a number of people who had that thought when they started out.

The problem is that alone isn't enough to carry you through what is a long and serious commitment of all aspects of your life. It isn't enough to keep people going through the tough times and circumstances that 10 years flying for the military eventually yields.

First of all the training is hard. Standards are very high, the learning curve is steep, and there is zero flexibility for students who don't learn/perform at the rate required by the program. It takes an immense amount of personal dedication to make it. Those with just a casual interest won't make the cut. There are a lot of people who drop out of pilot training early on in the program when they realize this...and then they're stuck with a 4+ year commitment to being in the military as something other than a pilot.

Second of all, being a military officer is no joke. Not something to be taken lightly. You're not "just a pilot"...you're someone who could be (and often is) called to do things that you don't want to do. Anything from driving a desk all the way through being boots-on-the-ground in a combat zone comes with the territory. Being an officer entails having different legal accountability for your actions. It requires living in places you don't want to live, moving from places you like, separation from family, and living in austere -- often dangerous -- places...none of which you have a say in, or have any recourse if you don't like the decisions made for you.

And all of that for the 10 years of your life after you graduate training. Being able to tolerate all of that requires something a little more down deep in your character than simply wanting some "free" training.

The punchline to all this is that most of the guys I know who joined initially wanting just to get some free training realized very quickly that it wasn't enough...and at the same time, they started to realize that there was something else in them that DID motivate them to do it. That's when you start talking about these cliche'd ideas of patriotism and duty that a lot of us in the business talk about. In fact, I don't know anyone who I have ever actually flown with who still thinks that way.

So, I am certainly not hostile toward what DCA is thinking. In fact, I love this career and I encourage everyone who is interested to investigate it some more, because it can be immensely rewarding. But it's important that he knows the whole picture before committing to it. He's asking for advice, and we're giving it to him based on our own experiences.

I only get annoyed when someone asks an opinion, then doesn't like the one they get from the people who actually know the real deal...and then start telling the 'experts' (I hate that word) that they're wrong.

[DCA22]

im not trying to put anyone down especially military personnell but its like ppragman said not everyone has the same motives for joining. Theres tons of people out there who have to do things they dont like.

How many high school students join the marines because they got no other alternative, they want that money for college.

what about countries that mandate that all its males do at least one year of military service.

my friends who joined did it because of that they wanted the flight training, they said it was tough but they sucked it up got out and now their at the airlines. I dont think thats a bad thing, they said its a tough and serious job, the fact that they only joined for the flying didnt mean they wouldnt go out when called upon to fight for this country.

im sorry if everyone is getting the wrong impression but i think its unprofessional for someone who is a military "officer"/ ex military "pilot" to come out talking like HACKER when a 20 year old makes a remark.

Arent officers suppose to be able to lead, how can you lead when you cant handle a 20 year olds comments.

[MDPilot]

Don't feed the TROLL, guys.

[mjg407]

Originally Posted by DCA22

HAHAHAHAHHA

When is everyone going to get over this serving our country (B.S.)

Son,
One day, when you are older, you will realize that when you make the above comment, you should stand by for the rightly deserved flaming you have received from all of the military pilots who have responded to your little post. It's not just Hacker who has flamed you back.

[ppragman]

Originally Posted by DCA22

im not trying to put anyone down especially military personnell but its like ppragman said not everyone has the same motives for joining. Theres tons of people out there who have to do things they dont like.

How many high school students join the marines because they got no other alternative, they want that money for college.

what about countries that mandate that all its males do at least one year of military service.

my friends who joined did it because of that they wanted the flight training, they said it was tough but they sucked it up got out and now their at the airlines. I dont think thats a bad thing, they said its a tough and serious job, the fact that they only joined for the flying didnt mean they wouldnt go out when called upon to fight for this country.

im sorry if everyone is getting the wrong impression but i think its unprofessional for someone who is a military "officer"/ ex military "pilot" to come out talking like HACKER when a 20 year old makes a remark.

Arent officers suppose to be able to lead, how can you lead when you cant handle a 20 year olds comments.

Don't bring your age into, its bad juju, I should know.

[Hacker15e]

Originally Posted by DCA22

i think its unprofessional for someone who is a military "officer"/ ex military "pilot" to come out talking like HACKER when a 20 year old makes a remark.

I'm curious about exactly what I've posted that you think is unprofessional?

Originally Posted by DCA22

How many high school students join the marines because they got no other alternative, they want that money for college.

what about countries that mandate that all its males do at least one year of military service.

Apples and oranges when we're talking about a career field that will require 10 years of service after a year (plus) of highly skilled technical training.

[robin0c5]

This thread has helped a lot. My question is what is life in the air national guard like if I were a pilot, how far away could I be from my unit, and what if I wanted to start another career but still stay involved? My minor is in ATC and I'd like to do both but I need to set up with the FAA before I'm 30 and the sooner I get in the more likely I am to go where I want. But I love flying! I'd go straight active military if I didn't already have a commitment to a woman and want her to be happy near her family (they're italian and I forgive them for that). It's hard to find solid website material that could answer all the questions I have. There's a lot of conflicting information.

[bunk22]

Originally Posted by robin0c5

This thread has helped a lot. My question is what is life in the air national guard like if I were a pilot, how far away could I be from my unit, and what if I wanted to start another career but still stay involved? My minor is in ATC and I'd like to do both but I need to set up with the FAA before I'm 30 and the sooner I get in the more likely I am to go where I want. But I love flying! I'd go straight active military if I didn't already have a commitment to a woman and want her to be happy near her family (they're italian and I forgive them for that). It's hard to find solid website material that could answer all the questions I have. There's a lot of conflicting information.

Kind of an old thread and I'm new to this site but for Naval Aviation, try www.airwarriors.com. I think www.baseops.net has already been mentioned for the Air Force.

I see nothing wrong with anyone joining the military for the free flight education. Some handle the extra that comes with it just fine, some don't. Sometimes there needs to be some deep motivation to make it through flight school for some. Then the FRS and BS ground jobs that come along with squadron duty. Dealing with inept front offices, long deployments, year long non-flying IA's, etc means that there is often more to just flying in the military. As for the OP, comes across as weaksauce with an ego. Typical of many wannabe's on other sites as well.

[ManlyAKpilot]

I'm very interested in military aviation, so thanks for the information.