I agree with kinnem.
In honesty, that ridicule will be your life for your year at UPT. IPs are not your fan club. They are not there to be your cheerleaders. Be prepared.
JMPO, I agree with the posters that say be willing to accept plan B, especially if you want to fly. There are many that don't even make it passed the 1st hurdle after receiving their rated slot...the flight class 1 physical. (I know 2 posters on this board that were AFROTC scholarship, no waivers for DoDMERB, failed the FC1....no UPT for them) It is not the 30 minute DoDMERB exam. Than for the AF there is IFS, where 25% wash out. Than once at UPT, there is another 25% wash out rate. Than out of that @20% get fighters, the rest will get heavies.
Now let's say you do get that AFA appointment you need to add in their attrition rate which varies between 20-25%.
Do the math. That's a lot of 25% being cut each time. 100 start at the SA, that is 75. Assume 15% for FC1, now you are at 65. 25% at IFS, now it is 58. 25% now at UPT it is 36. 25% out of that get Fighters or around 9 or 10 or overall 10%. Statistically the odds are against you. Now ask yourself do you really want to owe a decade after commissioning in the AF to fly heavies? Will you be looking up at the sky when you see an Apache and sigh that could have been me.
You are a big fish in a very little pond, probably at a school with a large academic disparity...I.e % that go ivy compared to % that go to CCs. When you get to any SA that disparity will disappear, everyone will be on the same academic scale.
Finally, I think everyone that flies will say to you that part of that life is not just being book smart, it is handling the stick too.
I would also say as a spouse that is married to a retired F15E WSO, now working on the 35. This kind of remark is common. You have to develop a thick skin. I remember at one squadron, I walked by one of the briefing rooms and saw coloring books and crayons in the corner. I asked Bullet's who had a little one in there...he laughed at me. He than told me that it is there for to tell somebody to shut up and color.
~ IOWs if scouts post offended you, he was being kind by saying at this point for you less is more.
~ Another story is a guy got the call sign Tuna. It was his 1st assignment, no operational hours and went up against a pilot with 2000 hours in the Strike. Hence, TWO to none....tuna. Had he been given that harsh comment at a young age like you from someone like scout, I doubt he would have had to live with that call sign for his entire AF life.
, my goal is not simply to fly, rather to push the limits of our aircraft and to use them as weapons against the enemy. So in conclusion, I do not simply wish to fly.
