When Reality Hits, Did You Have Regrets?

[davidc1220]

You might have dodged a bullet looking to fly and be a Marine. The leadership of that service has a long history of terribly managing its aviation assets and people.

Not the first time i've heard this btw. I heard alot of it has to do with budgets and whatnot, but I don't know everything about that

 

[FloridaDad]

I

Hey Everyone,

It's been a while since I have posted on here and a lot has changed since then.

First off, My times working with the Marines has pretty much come to an end. My OSO and I were very honest with each other and we made a deal and stuck to it. He gave me until September to basically "get my sh*t together" and get my PFT up to what I need it to be to be competitive for OCS. I took it extremely seriously and put in the work for a solid 4 months, but life,age, and human physiology have a funny way of doing things and we both came to the agreement that maybe the Marine Corps isn't meant to be.

Instead of taking this as a crushing end to a dream, I see this as an opening to new opportunities. I have reached out to both the Air Force and the Navy, with the Navy looking like a very promising option. Since I have my ASTB done and MEPS already completed, all i'd need is to get NAMI done and I'm set. Unfortunately National Guard at my location is not taking anyone for pilot slots for the next 3 years.

But I was wondering,
1. Has anyone ever had an experience where you had to let go of something you were working on for years and years, and then completely shift to something completely new and foreign?

2. Did you ever have regrets for not doing what you originally intended to do?

3. If or when reality hit you at some point in your career, what did you do and how did you react?

I'm honestly excited about these new opportunities because at the end of the day, I have to do whatever I have to do to get to the goal of becoming a military aviator

Thanks again for the replies, this site is awesome and I'm glad to be a part of it!

I'm going through something similar and yet very different at the same time. Aviation (and NASA actually) was my dream as a kid all the way through high school. I only applied to one college despite being told that was a bad idea and got accepted, took 3 science courses my senior year to boost up my transcripts, could identify just about any plane at the airport as it was taking off, and spent countless weekends at Kennedy Space Center with my dad. As I graduated high school though, I was hit with the reality that my eyesight had deteriorated too much, and LASIK wasn't an option at that time. I had to give up that dream and ended up throwing myself head first into music and acting. I got a BA degree in music and spent the last decade of my life playing in bands and pursuing that career. In 2019, I was the director of a music school, was teaching students, was touring nationally with a friend's band for money, and my own band was finally starting to gain momentum. Then COVID hit... Due to my wife's pregnancy and a lung condition in our (at the time) yet to be born daughter I made the decision to stop touring and gigging for the time being. When things finally cleared, the band I was touring with had moved to Nashville, and my own band had lost any and all momentum that we had. In addition, the music school I was working for decided to replace me as regional director in the first quarter of 2021 despite doubling the size of the school and experiencing a faster period of growth during COVID than we had ever had before. I lost all of the music income I had spent a decade developing in less than a year and was facing the prospect of completely starting over, not as a single 20-something or a young married couple, but as a 30 year old dad with a mortgage and both my kids and my wife all having various health issues. Needless to say I spiraled pretty hard trying to desperately figure out how to stay on the path I worked so hard for and loved so much, but in the end my wife and I came to the conclusion that it just wasn't going to work anymore. My dream had slipped away yet again. I spent all summer applying for a job as a music teacher with the school system, but when I finally got a job offer, the only way we could make it work financially is if my wife went back to work and left a special needs toddler and a baby with a lung condition in day care. That just wasn't an option, so I began exploring other options. One of my best friends (the lead singer of the band I toured with actually) was in the marines for 6 years, and suggested I look into military service. My wife is an army brat so it made sense to her and I began seeing recruiters. It was through that process, that I found out the rules regarding LASIK surgery had changed since I was a high schooler, and suddenly my world changed overnight. The dream that I had worked so hard towards as a high school student and had to let go of, was suddenly alive again! I also realized I had a ton of work to do. First of all I had LASIK surgery one day after meeting with my officer recruiter, but that was the easy part. I'm currently now in the hard part. In high school, I graduated with honors and scored a 32 on the ACT without even trying. In college though, I was a music major that couldn't even read music when I showed up. I had no business being a music major, yet I somehow passed my audition. A combination of never having had to try in high school, studying something I was constantly playing catch up on, and the typical BS indifference of an 19-23 year old lead to me graduating with just below a 2.5 GPA, the current minimum for aviation. In college I didn't think it really mattered, I was going to be a performer and teacher, not a grad school student. I just needed to graduate and that was all that mattered. Looking back I've learned the valuable lesson that doing your very very best always matters. I'm currently finishing up two random undergraduate classes from the local community college. I'm on track for an A in both classes and that will bring my cumulative GPA up to 2.5. That being said, I know that with a 2.5 in an art degree, that's just not impressive at all. In order for me to make this dream happen, I'm going to have to score 8's across the board on the ASTB if not 9's. Even then it's not a promise, but that will give me a solid chance. I'm approaching this test in a way I've never approached anything academic before. I don't even take it until mid December but I've already been putting in 2-6 hours of studying a day and I am constantly drilling information. I've never been more intimidated by a test in my life but I also feel confident that I can score high when the time comes. Losing music made me feel like I would never be able to do something I genuinely love while also taking care of my family and providing them with financial stability and a good quality of life. Discovering that this door was once again open to me has given me that hope again and I'm so excited for the future that may be. Sorry if I went totally off topic from your original post, but your story resonated with me. The idea of dreams that die and give rise to new dreams, or in my case, old dreams that rise again from the ashes. I wish you favor and wisdom on your journey, and I hope we both end up finding what we are looking for!

 

[davidc1220]

I

I'm going through something similar and yet very different at the same time. Aviation (and NASA actually) was my dream as a kid all the way through high school. I only applied to one college despite being told that was a bad idea and got accepted, took 3 science courses my senior year to boost up my transcripts, could identify just about any plane at the airport as it was taking off, and spent countless weekends at Kennedy Space Center with my dad. As I graduated high school though, I was hit with the reality that my eyesight had deteriorated too much, and LASIK wasn't an option at that time. I had to give up that dream and ended up throwing myself head first into music and acting. I got a BA degree in music and spent the last decade of my life playing in bands and pursuing that career. In 2019, I was the director of a music school, was teaching students, was touring nationally with a friend's band for money, and my own band was finally starting to gain momentum. Then COVID hit... Due to my wife's pregnancy and a lung condition in our (at the time) yet to be born daughter I made the decision to stop touring and gigging for the time being. When things finally cleared, the band I was touring with had moved to Nashville, and my own band had lost any and all momentum that we had. In addition, the music school I was working for decided to replace me as regional director in the first quarter of 2021 despite doubling the size of the school and experiencing a faster period of growth during COVID than we had ever had before. I lost all of the music income I had spent a decade developing in less than a year and was facing the prospect of completely starting over, not as a single 20-something or a young married couple, but as a 30 year old dad with a mortgage and both my kids and my wife all having various health issues. Needless to say I spiraled pretty hard trying to desperately figure out how to stay on the path I worked so hard for and loved so much, but in the end my wife and I came to the conclusion that it just wasn't going to work anymore. My dream had slipped away yet again. I spent all summer applying for a job as a music teacher with the school system, but when I finally got a job offer, the only way we could make it work financially is if my wife went back to work and left a special needs toddler and a baby with a lung condition in day care. That just wasn't an option, so I began exploring other options. One of my best friends (the lead singer of the band I toured with actually) was in the marines for 6 years, and suggested I look into military service. My wife is an army brat so it made sense to her and I began seeing recruiters. It was through that process, that I found out the rules regarding LASIK surgery had changed since I was a high schooler, and suddenly my world changed overnight. The dream that I had worked so hard towards as a high school student and had to let go of, was suddenly alive again! I also realized I had a ton of work to do. First of all I had LASIK surgery one day after meeting with my officer recruiter, but that was the easy part. I'm currently now in the hard part. In high school, I graduated with honors and scored a 32 on the ACT without even trying. In college though, I was a music major that couldn't even read music when I showed up. I had no business being a music major, yet I somehow passed my audition. A combination of never having had to try in high school, studying something I was constantly playing catch up on, and the typical BS indifference of an 19-23 year old lead to me graduating with just below a 2.5 GPA, the current minimum for aviation. In college I didn't think it really mattered, I was going to be a performer and teacher, not a grad school student. I just needed to graduate and that was all that mattered. Looking back I've learned the valuable lesson that doing your very very best always matters. I'm currently finishing up two random undergraduate classes from the local community college. I'm on track for an A in both classes and that will bring my cumulative GPA up to 2.5. That being said, I know that with a 2.5 in an art degree, that's just not impressive at all. In order for me to make this dream happen, I'm going to have to score 8's across the board on the ASTB if not 9's. Even then it's not a promise, but that will give me a solid chance. I'm approaching this test in a way I've never approached anything academic before. I don't even take it until mid December but I've already been putting in 2-6 hours of studying a day and I am constantly drilling information. I've never been more intimidated by a test in my life but I also feel confident that I can score high when the time comes. Losing music made me feel like I would never be able to do something I genuinely love while also taking care of my family and providing them with financial stability and a good quality of life. Discovering that this door was once again open to me has given me that hope again and I'm so excited for the future that may be. Sorry if I went totally off topic from your original post, but your story resonated with me. The idea of dreams that die and give rise to new dreams, or in my case, old dreams that rise again from the ashes. I wish you favor and wisdom on your journey, and I hope we both end up finding what we are looking for!

I guess we can all agree that life has a funny way of doing things and bringing things into our lives at a later time. I never saw myself doing any other branch other than the Marines, just like in high school I only wanted to go to the Naval Academy, but never did. Hopefully, it works out for you man, you have had it rougher than I have and honestly you deserve this. Don't quit, no matter what anyone tells you, that way if you don't make it, you can say you fought until the end.

 

[PMPT]

don't be sad. if you wanted to go jets, Marine tacair is in a weird spot right now (and not a good one).

 

[FloridaDad]

I guess we can all agree that life has a funny way of doing things and bringing things into our lives at a later time. I never saw myself doing any other branch other than the Marines, just like in high school I only wanted to go to the Naval Academy, but never did. Hopefully, it works out for you man, you have had it rougher than I have and honestly you deserve this. Don't quit, no matter what anyone tells you, that way if you don't make it, you can say you fought until the end.

I appreciate it man! The odds have been against me in almost everything I've done in life so I have no plans to stop beating odds now haha. Keep us updated on your journey!

 

[davidc1220]

don't be sad. if you wanted to go jets, Marine tacair is in a weird spot right now (and not a good one).

Whats going on over there, I've been hearing that alot lately but don't understand what's going on.

 

[PMPT]

I'm a nugget so I'm not going to throw too much shade (especially not about the things that are maybe more speculative in nature or unconfirmed rumor), but it simply can't be denied that the jets (AV-8B and F/A-18C/D) are just old and tired. I'm sure it's a different story if you go F-35, but it sounds like they have their own odd issues to deal with in their community.

 

[davidc1220]

I'm a nugget so I'm not going to throw too much shade (especially not about the things that are maybe more speculative in nature or unconfirmed rumor), but it simply can't be denied that the jets (AV-8B and F/A-18C/D) are just old and tired. I'm sure it's a different story if you go F-35, but it sounds like they have their own odd issues to deal with in their community.

Well, either way, im not angry with what happen with me and the Marines, nor do I hold anything against myself or the Marines. I'm thankful to have gone through the process with them because It taught me alot about myself and made me a stronger person both mentally and physically.

 

[PMPT]

Don't sweat it man. There are plenty of opportunities out there. I promise you in 3 years time you won't feel sad about not having to stand weekend 24 hour duty to go babysit the barracks (hint: USAF and USN folks don't seem to do this).