Goofytallguy
Registered User
I'm gonna tell you up front, I don't really know what the point of this will turn out to be, I just wanted to share some of what I've experienced in the last 3 months.
Before I left for boot camp I was an avid reader and occasional poster on this site, I enlisted in the aircrew program, with the plan to go through STA-21 and become an officer, hopefully flying myself, but at least riding along in the back for the time being.
Well here's how it's happened so far: When I went to MEPS to ship out, they informed me that I was 4 pounds over the weight limit for aircrew. (I'm 6'6" tall, and they have a flat weight cutoff of 235, good grief!) So they kindly came up with a great solution... They'll put me in the airman apprentice program, I'll easily lose 4 pounds in boot camp, and I can sign right back up for aircrew and all will be well. Great. So I ended up losing 22 pounds in boot camp, however they failed to recheck my vision at MEPS, and my examination at boot camp showed that I was WAY past the cutoff for aircrew. So lucky me, I'm now an airman apprentice!
For anyone who isn't familiar with the program, you wash planes and carry wheel chocks around for a year until you can qualify for a job that you REALLY want. Luckily now that I'm in the training, it's not nearly as bad as it first appeared, but suffice it to say I was somewhat bitter considering I had a 99 ASVAB score, qualifying me for everything (except aircrew) and I lost my $5000 signing bonus. Even better was the fact that if I had just enlisted in this program to start with, I would've received the same bonus. On the plus side my enlistment went back down to 4 years instead of 6. GREAT! I need out of here!!...or so I was thinking at the time.
At this point I lost sight of any officer or flight dreams and set my sights on finding a tolerable job for the next 4 years and moving on with my life. (I can see now that this was somewhat of an overreaction but of course these and many other changes to my meticulously thought out plans, and the frustration of dealing with the people in boot camp, caused my thinking to be a bit cloudy for a while.)
I've now settled into my original plan. I mean, I'm either gonna spend four years here and go to college, or if I make STA-21, go to college and do 5 years as an officer which would be much more enjoyable(just my opinion, I can also see where some people are much better off being enlisted, it's just such a different world). I have to say, as optimistic a person as I generally am, it's been exceedingly difficult to deal with the Navy's inconsistencies and little surprises they like to throw at you at random times, sometimes it seems it's just to screw up your plans for no apparent reason. I see much more clearly now how much dedication and sense of purpose it takes to follow through on these things. I mean, I just wanted to start out and be an aircrewman, which is obviously not near the challenge of becoming a fighter pilot, and numerous things jumped out and stopped me from doing that. So the prospect of attempting the pilot thing, especially with my vision (thank goodness for the eye surgery waivers) and most importantly, my height, is quite a daunting thought. Even if I can crouch down a little and convince them I'm really less than 6'6", I don't imagine I'd fit into a jet cockpit so, who knows.
I think what I really wanted to get out of this post what to let prospective SNAs know what they're gonna be dealing with, especially ones going right for NROTC, never having been enlisted. I prepared myself as much as I could for every challenge I might face, and things still came up that I had no way of anticipating.
So, the most important things are, if you have any hint of doubt about becoming a pilot, you won't make it, it's gonna take absolute commitment, and however easy or difficult you think it's gonna be, it'll be harder. Accept that, deal with it, and keep on going for what you want. I was caught a bit off guard and got sidetracked, but thankfully I remembered what it is I really want, and I still see ways to get there. Amazingly, I haven't had to remotely compete with any other sailor's so far. If you're squared away, it's not hard to excel. My biggest problem has been little things from the Navy that I can't see coming, and that's the most frustrating. At least there's a site like this to help us all anticipate as much as possible, even if it's not everything.
Next week I'm finishing up my apprenticeship training, top in my class, which means a promotion to E-3. It's amazing, saying that on this forum makes it sound like nothing, when all the talk is about being an officer, but man, will it feel great to get that extra stripe, get some more money, and of course, make my record look just a little bit better when it comes time for that STA-21 review.
I'm still in the game, and I'm not as mean as I was 3 months ago if some of you remember any of my more insensitive posts. =) So, I'd love you hear what anyone else has to say, I'm gonna start catching up on all the reading I've missed, and good luck to everyone.
Before I left for boot camp I was an avid reader and occasional poster on this site, I enlisted in the aircrew program, with the plan to go through STA-21 and become an officer, hopefully flying myself, but at least riding along in the back for the time being.
Well here's how it's happened so far: When I went to MEPS to ship out, they informed me that I was 4 pounds over the weight limit for aircrew. (I'm 6'6" tall, and they have a flat weight cutoff of 235, good grief!) So they kindly came up with a great solution... They'll put me in the airman apprentice program, I'll easily lose 4 pounds in boot camp, and I can sign right back up for aircrew and all will be well. Great. So I ended up losing 22 pounds in boot camp, however they failed to recheck my vision at MEPS, and my examination at boot camp showed that I was WAY past the cutoff for aircrew. So lucky me, I'm now an airman apprentice!
For anyone who isn't familiar with the program, you wash planes and carry wheel chocks around for a year until you can qualify for a job that you REALLY want. Luckily now that I'm in the training, it's not nearly as bad as it first appeared, but suffice it to say I was somewhat bitter considering I had a 99 ASVAB score, qualifying me for everything (except aircrew) and I lost my $5000 signing bonus. Even better was the fact that if I had just enlisted in this program to start with, I would've received the same bonus. On the plus side my enlistment went back down to 4 years instead of 6. GREAT! I need out of here!!...or so I was thinking at the time.
At this point I lost sight of any officer or flight dreams and set my sights on finding a tolerable job for the next 4 years and moving on with my life. (I can see now that this was somewhat of an overreaction but of course these and many other changes to my meticulously thought out plans, and the frustration of dealing with the people in boot camp, caused my thinking to be a bit cloudy for a while.)
I've now settled into my original plan. I mean, I'm either gonna spend four years here and go to college, or if I make STA-21, go to college and do 5 years as an officer which would be much more enjoyable(just my opinion, I can also see where some people are much better off being enlisted, it's just such a different world). I have to say, as optimistic a person as I generally am, it's been exceedingly difficult to deal with the Navy's inconsistencies and little surprises they like to throw at you at random times, sometimes it seems it's just to screw up your plans for no apparent reason. I see much more clearly now how much dedication and sense of purpose it takes to follow through on these things. I mean, I just wanted to start out and be an aircrewman, which is obviously not near the challenge of becoming a fighter pilot, and numerous things jumped out and stopped me from doing that. So the prospect of attempting the pilot thing, especially with my vision (thank goodness for the eye surgery waivers) and most importantly, my height, is quite a daunting thought. Even if I can crouch down a little and convince them I'm really less than 6'6", I don't imagine I'd fit into a jet cockpit so, who knows.
I think what I really wanted to get out of this post what to let prospective SNAs know what they're gonna be dealing with, especially ones going right for NROTC, never having been enlisted. I prepared myself as much as I could for every challenge I might face, and things still came up that I had no way of anticipating.
So, the most important things are, if you have any hint of doubt about becoming a pilot, you won't make it, it's gonna take absolute commitment, and however easy or difficult you think it's gonna be, it'll be harder. Accept that, deal with it, and keep on going for what you want. I was caught a bit off guard and got sidetracked, but thankfully I remembered what it is I really want, and I still see ways to get there. Amazingly, I haven't had to remotely compete with any other sailor's so far. If you're squared away, it's not hard to excel. My biggest problem has been little things from the Navy that I can't see coming, and that's the most frustrating. At least there's a site like this to help us all anticipate as much as possible, even if it's not everything.
Next week I'm finishing up my apprenticeship training, top in my class, which means a promotion to E-3. It's amazing, saying that on this forum makes it sound like nothing, when all the talk is about being an officer, but man, will it feel great to get that extra stripe, get some more money, and of course, make my record look just a little bit better when it comes time for that STA-21 review.
I'm still in the game, and I'm not as mean as I was 3 months ago if some of you remember any of my more insensitive posts. =) So, I'd love you hear what anyone else has to say, I'm gonna start catching up on all the reading I've missed, and good luck to everyone.
Just ask any of the prior E's in this forum. O1E pay ain't too shabby either.