I'm fine with the threadjacks.
My challenge now is to find something motivating and exciting other than flying, I don't want to end up in a cubicle (yet) if I can avoid it.
How is the environment different between the two communities? In what way do you mean?
This isn't just a question to the OP, it's for anyone who wouldn't mind answering it for me.
Thanks.
I don't want to piss anyone off or misrepresent what I'm trying to say, so FWIW if I'm totally off feel free to let me know. And this has nothing to do with how things are in the fleet...I'm only going off of what I've observed and heard from my buddies who recently winged.
In some ways, like as far as duty and the command and all that, things seem a little stricter in the HT's.
Most of my friends out there said they had more fun in Advanced than they did in Primary. And some of them did struggle in Primary. I don't know many jet guys that would say the same thing. I mean, there are definitely fun things and things you feel immensely proud at having accomplished, but most guys I talk to are getting their asses kicked right up until their last block of flights.
In T-45 land, the emphasis is more on the flight than the briefings. You may get grilled leading up to an end of block flight/solo, but generally the IP does the talking and you're expected to demonstrate your knowledge of the procedures and maneuvers during the flight. The whole process usually takes two hours, but only because you're showing up an hour early to claim your board and get it and the computer setup. From what I've heard about helos, every brief is an interview to go flying that the stud has to pass, most taking around 2 hours, and you can expect to get grilled. The understanding is that if you show up knowing your shit, you can get plenty of instruction in the air if it's just about monkey skills.
I'm pretty sure that like the VTs, the HTs have studs and IPs share the ready room, unlike in Primary. Once you get used to this, it makes perfect sense.
As far as personalities go, I'd wager that the majority of studs that go jets are more type-A. This is purely anecdotal, and it's not a judgment about anyone. Like I said, most of my friends were type-A compared to most civilians, but in the aviation community, probably relatively less so. I also found it interesting how prevalent the Academy guys are out here- I'm an OCS grad. And that almost
everyone is engaged, married, or in a pretty serious relationship. Over Christmas, 2-3 guys in my class all got engaged. It'd be interesting to see stats on all of this.
And I'm not saying I wish I went helos, in case it seems that way. When I finished Primary and found out I had the grades, I had to take a shot at jets, and I'm glad I did. I have other friends who debated until the very last minute, and when decision-time came, they had an easy time figuring out what they really wanted.