WTF is A POOL

[fastnumber15]

ATTENTION!!! STUPID QUESTION TO FOLLOW:
YES...searched...poorly at that.

What is A Pool. I've read about it...heard about it....
I report to Whiting on 8 May 09...is that A-Pool, because I leave for AF IFS in July? I know it sounds stupid, but is that the same thing as AF casual status where I will be reported in sitting around doing a casual job.

Dates Reposted Here

8 May 09--whiting field
July IFS-pueblo co
Sept 09--IFT--whting field

May to July....what happens?? THANKS...

 

[NozeMan]

An AF stud will probably give a more accurate answer, but....


A-Pool is the pool of students waiting to start API. We met every weekday at 0730, check our names off a list, got some announcements, looked at the class up list, then went home. This is how Navy studs do it, not sure if the AF is included in it. While I was at TW-5 (Whiting), I believe all the AF students did their waiting attached to VT-3, the joint squadron.

 

[scoolbubba]

A Pool is one of those sweet sweet deals that only comes along every so often. It's the group of studs waiting for IFS/API. It used to be show up at 730, get your ID card checked that you were actually there, and bug out for the beach, a nap, drinking, golf. I had a stash job that required a vigorous 8 hours of standing watch one time per week. Since you're AF, you might not even have a stash job. I'm not sure how it works now, i've heard they tightened down after some colossal fuck ups, but friends say its back to being a killer deal again.

My advice? Get a place on perdido with 2 or three of your buddies who are checking in same time as you, and enjoy the pool, both A Pool and the one you'll be sitting by. Since you're there in the summer time, tourist season will be in full swing. A typical day should go something like carpool to muster so you drive in to work maybe twice a week, early round of golf or the driving range for a few hours, lunch, beach and beer for several hours, sensible dinner, then jellyfish directly into the florabama. Rinse and repeat, and don't do anything stupid like showing up to muster hammered and you should survive A Pool just fine.

 

[A4sForever]

....What is A Pool. I've read about it...heard about it.......

But have you lived it??

There's two kinds of pools that will be of concern while a being a STUD in the NAVAIRTRACOM ... and both can be troublesome if not handled properly .... in point of fact, they can crop up anywhere along the line from day one @ PCOLA to day infinite at the RAG ...

 

[jt71582]

A Pool is one of those sweet sweet deals that only comes along every so often. It's the group of studs waiting for IFS/API. It used to be show up at 730, get your ID card checked that you were actually there, and bug out for the beach, a nap, drinking, golf. I had a stash job that required a vigorous 8 hours of standing watch one time per week. Since you're AF, you might not even have a stash job. I'm not sure how it works now, i've heard they tightened down after some colossal fuck ups, but friends say its back to being a killer deal again.

My advice? Get a place on perdido with 2 or three of your buddies who are checking in same time as you, and enjoy the pool, both A Pool and the one you'll be sitting by. Since you're there in the summer time, tourist season will be in full swing. A typical day should go something like carpool to muster so you drive in to work maybe twice a week, early round of golf or the driving range for a few hours, lunch, beach and beer for several hours, sensible dinner, then jellyfish directly into the florabama. Rinse and repeat, and don't do anything stupid like showing up to muster hammered and you should survive A Pool just fine.

AH I can't freakin' wait! Scool - I might not be able to make the winging but I'm going to try my best. Are you swinging through P'Cola on the way to Jacksonville?

/threadjack

 

[scoolbubba]

yea, i'll be thru p cola on my way to jax whenever they cut my orders. I'm actually sitting here in my apartment on "househunting leave" in jax. pretty awesome deal, they gave me 10 days, my fiancee and I found a place in about 3 hours. god bless the internets for taking some of the leg work out of it.

its all good if you can't make the winging, corpus ain't exactly on the way to anything, 'cept mayheeecoooo.

EDIT: Damn, P Cola must have grown/imported much different talent when A4s went thru the pool.

 

[zipmartin]

When it comes to pools, timing is everything. Started AOCS in Jan. '76, commissioned May, hit the road to Kingsville, winged 7-22-77, hit the road to Jax for the A-7 RAG, finished Mar. '78, must-pumped to my fleet squadron on cruise in the Med, made 4 months of cruise and still was an ENS. I never knew what a pool was nor had the time to even go to the pool.

 

[JZAB]

One of my friends form API was AF he was a pilot his orders had him @ Whiting the whole time before he started, then he went TAD? TDY? Or what every the call it in the AF to NAS Pensacola, i.e. he got paid per Diem and mileage to drive from Milton every day. Then when we finished, we checked into TW-5 and begin the wait, his was wait shorter than mine since the Marine Corps wait is bad like over 3 months to start primary.

Being an AF guy you still wait once you finish AF IFS in (wherever they do it out west). To start API then wait after API to start Primary. But you will never be in "A-Pool" as you are in the AF and not the Navy; you will have a senior AF in charge of you. Maj. Or higher that you will report to.

 

[fastnumber15]

very insightful...thanks folks...guess it's eat donughts and swim between reporting to whiting and IFS...SWEET

 

[sevenhelmet]

When it comes to pools, timing is everything. Started AOCS in Jan. '76, commissioned May, hit the road to Kingsville, winged 7-22-77, hit the road to Jax for the A-7 RAG, finished Mar. '78, must-pumped to my fleet squadron on cruise in the Med, made 4 months of cruise and still was an ENS. I never knew what a pool was nor had the time to even go to the pool.

Wow... and I'll be just about to pin on LT before I hit my fleet squadron.

 

[Single Seat]

Who pissed in the A-pool? I remember in our day (alllll the way back in 2003) we phone mustered every day but Wed. Your only responsibility was to wake up, not sound hung over on the phone, and go back to sleep.

 

[scoolbubba]

Who pissed in the A-pool? I remember in our day (alllll the way back in 2003) we phone mustered every day but Wed. Your only responsibility was to wake up, not sound hung over on the phone, and go back to sleep.

Hmm... could it be the ensign who drunk drove his car through a living room? or perhaps the guy who flipped off the Base CO at the gas station. Or maybe it was the ENS who showed up to muster visibly hammered, or maybe it was the dumbass who let it be known to media types that a bunch of college grads were sitting around making O-1 pay and not doing anything for it for months at a time... any one of these fools could have ruined the awesomeness for everyone. Its an ebb and flow though; i got lucky and went thru when it was relatively awesome.

 

[Slammer2]

damn...

 

[Single Seat]

Hmm... could it be the ensign who drunk drove his car through a living room? or perhaps the guy who flipped off the Base CO at the gas station. Or maybe it was the ENS who showed up to muster visibly hammered, or maybe it was the dumbass who let it be known to media types that a bunch of college grads were sitting around making O-1 pay and not doing anything for it for months at a time... any one of these fools could have ruined the awesomeness for everyone. Its an ebb and flow though; i got lucky and went thru when it was relatively awesome.

Wow, they'll make an awesome addition to any ready room.

 

[magnetfreezer]

Hmm... could it be the ensign who drunk drove his car through a living room? or perhaps the guy who flipped off the Base CO at the gas station. Or maybe it was the ENS who showed up to muster visibly hammered, or maybe it was the dumbass who let it be known to media types that a bunch of college grads were sitting around making O-1 pay and not doing anything for it for months at a time... any one of these fools could have ruined the awesomeness for everyone. Its an ebb and flow though; i got lucky and went thru when it was relatively awesome.

Don't forget the people who phone mustered from New Orleans and VA Beach. Stretches the definition of "local area" a little