One Man's Experience (blog posts from elsewhere)

Great thread Raimius. Thanks! Some of those posts are being sent to the boy! :thumb:
 
Thanks for sharing! Very well written, informative, and fun to read.
Great job!

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Thank you so much Raimius! We really appreciate the time and effort it took to write all of that. For DD, this will go a long way in relieving some of the anxiety due to "the unknown."
 
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Thanks Raimus. I called my C1C son last night to tell him he should read this post, especially the UPT portion. He has been given a pilot slot and I think what you wrote would be good for him to read. Thanks again.
 
I read this awhile back, and now that DS has accepted his appointment went searching for it. Thought others that may have missed it might find it as incredible a read as we have. Thank you, raimius!
 
Thank you for taking the time to write this post. I had my son read it and now he's ready to go.
 
Raimus, I am not dure if I may have missed it, but which Helo did you end up getting and where were you stationed?
 
raimius said:
Before the Academy

I am lucky enough to have been born to a very loving family. My parents have been supportive as long as I can remember. Their concern was "I don't care how the numbers come out, as long as you do your best."

My family is strongly Christian. My father worked in telecommunications at our church, while my mother did daycare, HR, and charity work. Most of my family lives in the Chicago area, and my dad's side is very close-knit.

From an early age, I was interested in the military. I had my arsenal of plastic guns and super-soakers, a collection of micro-machine planes and tanks, and 50,000 legos to tinker with. Super-soaker fights and playing army took up a good chunk of those hot Chicago-land summers. No doubt, some probably thought it was odd that my favorite TV show was "Wings" on the Discovery channel, and that I knew the top speed of a P-51D Mustang by around the age of 10.

I had a relatively unique experience with schooling. My mother homeschooled me up until 6th grade. I attended a private Christian school for 7th and 8th grade, then transferred to the public school system. Home school was great, since I could get my work done in about 3 hours every day. The Christian school had a good sense of community, but the long commute and hard-core Calvanist teaching proved to be a little too much. My public high school had its share of problems, like chronic academic underperformance, but it did provide me with more opportunities than my previous schools.

While I had always been interested in the military, I had not given much thought to actually joining. I do not have great eyesight, and that had pretty much crushed my dream of being a pilot. In 6th grade, a teacher introduced me to ham radio. That caught my interest, and I decided I was going to become an engineer. By high school, I had my plan--I was going to go to the University of Illinois-Urbana Champagne and become an electrical engineer.

During my sophomore year, one of my friends told me he was going to go to the Air Force Academy. "What's the Air Force Academy?" I asked. He told me it was a college for the Air Force, and most of the graduates become pilots. "That sounds cool, but I couldn't be a pilot, since I don't have 20/20," I said. Well, you don't need perfect vision, my friend told me.

Not too long after that, I went to a local college fair, at our community college. As I was looking for where the UIUC presentation was going to be, I noticed there was a "US Air Force Academy" booth. After the UIUC briefing, I dragged my somewhat confused parents to the USAFA booth. There, I talked with a Major for about 5 minutes. He told me that some people with glasses could fly, the academy was a challenging place, and that I should probably work on my fitness, if I wanted to go there. (My 6ft. 130lb frame probably gave away the fact that I was not an athlete!) I walked away with the card to have the academy send me a Pre-Candidate Questionnaire.

The more research I did on USAFA, the more interesting it sounded. I found out about college tours and the Summer Seminar program at the academy. I wound up going to three places, UIUC, the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago, and summer seminar. I went on an overnight visit to IIT first. It was a fairly cool place, in my opinion. The frat I stayed at was pretty welcoming, the academic facilities looked decent, and IIT had a really good deal for AFROTC (which I was also investigating by this time). "I could go here," was my conclusion. Next, I visited UIUC. Apparently, even making their honors program only got you the ability to choose classes first. The tour was impersonal, and the campus didn't seem very inviting. The tour indicated that UIUC was not the place for me. So much for my original plan! Then, I went to Summer Seminar. My roommates and I connected pretty well, and the "classes" were mostly interesting. "Doolie for a Day" made my decision. Being the not-so-athletic person I was, I broke a LOT during that afternoon. However, when we finished, all 300 of us started chanting "RTB" and waiving our red hats. I felt a sense of accomplishment and camaraderie that stuck with me for quite a while. "THIS is the place," I thought. "I don't know if I can make it, but I HAVE to try!"

Over the summer, I completed my congressional applications and started the academy application. In the fall, I went to my first nomination interview. My interview was at my Congressman's office. I was nervous about Rep. Manzullo’s interview. Two retired officers conducted the interview, and I did terrible. As I walked out of the office, I thought, "Well, I blew that one. I guess I need to get a nomination from one of my Senators."

Then, I received a letter from Senator Durbin. It went something like, "Thank you for your interest in Senator Durbin's nomination to a service academy. While your record is excellent, this year's applicant pool is extremely competitive. Unfortunately..." I stopped reading there. As my eyes moved over the rest of the letter, I realized my chances had just become substantially less. One Senator wouldn't even give me an interview. Could I get the nomination from Senator Obama? His nomination was my last chance.

On a chilly fall day, my father and I traveled to Chicago by train. We walked to Sen. Obama's office. After waiting for about a half-hour, I was admitted into the interview. There were about 10 people on the board, and I was quizzed pretty well. I was nervous, but didn't do nearly as bad as at Rep. Manzullo’s office. As I walked out, I thought, "Well, at least I still have a chance."

About a month later, I received a letter from Rep. Manzullo's office. "I know how this is going to go," I thought. Again, the letter started out something like "Thank you for your interest in an appointment to a service academy."
...yeah, great...
"This year's applicants are very competitive..."
...tell me something I don't know already. I have a 3.99GPA and didn’t even get an interview with Durbin!...
"Congressman Manzullo is pleased to offer you his nomination to the US Air Force Academy."
...Wait, WHAT?! There wasn't a negative in there somewhere, was there? Nope, no "but," "except," "not," or "unfortunately" in that sentence...I GOT THE NOMINATION!

When the rejection letter from Senator Obama's office arrived the next week, I really didn't care. I had my nomination. Now, all I needed to do was complete my application and, hopefully, get an appointment.

(Go back a year, to the start of my junior year) After I had learned that athletics were a big part of the academy, I had decided to play a sport. I wasn't big enough to play football, and I was way too slow for track. So, what could I possibly do? The tennis team was pretty easy to join...I had messed around with badmitten before, and they aren't too different, right?...I really needed a varsity sport for my application, and I needed to get more fit. Tennis it was! Well, I discovered I am not an all-star tennis player. I learned quite a bit and had fun, even though I usually played on 4th doubles.

(Fall of my senior year)
Well, I had my nomination. My application was almost done, except for the CFA. Let's see...pull-ups...uh oh...shuttle run...not good, I'm a slow sprinter...basketball throw...WHAT?! Who thought that one up?...sit-ups--FINALLY something I'm good at!...push-ups and a mile run.
I had already switched my PE class from the normal one to "Excel PE" (weightlifting and cardio). As the winter rolled around, I realized I was WAY behind the power curve for athletics. With the help of my parents, I bought a treadmill and weight machine. My father asked around and found out his boss, Mike, was a personal trainer. Mike came to my house 3 days a week to help me train, and developed a workout program for the other days. It was time to work my butt off, if I wanted to pass!

With the application deadline quickly approaching, I scheduled the CFA before school, with my PE teacher as the proctor. It didn't go very well. I started with a measly 3 pull-ups, didn't do great on the basketball throw, was really slow on the shuttle run, but I did OK on the push-ups, OK on the run, and maxed the sit-ups (and accidentally went over the max). Would it be enough?
I sent the application packet, crossed my fingers, and prayed.

I had a VERY long discussion with my ALO, and he said my academics and scouting/clubs helped overcome some of my athletic weakness. I was still competitive.

So, I waited.
...and waited...

After a while, I decided to call the admissions office. So, I walked into my HS counselor's office and asked to use the phone. The lady at admissions told me the admissions board had reviewed my packet and was sending the appointment packet on Monday. "Appointment packet?"
"Yes, the packet is going to be sent on Monday"
"Does that mean I have an appointment?"
"The packet is being sent on Monday. The appointment information is inside."
"So I do have an appointment, right?"
"That is correct."
"OK, thank you."
I don't think I stopped smiling for another 12 hours.
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I'm so happy you got the appointment! I'm going into junior year and your situation is completely relatable to mine. Congrats again.
 
I'm kind of glad this got bumped because there have been a lot of "grr argh I'll never get in because I'm not (insert best athlete or valedictorian or super Community Service guy)". Even some posts of kids flat giving up a month before orientation because why bother even trying?
This past weekend my daughter had Sea Cadet drill and one of our old cadets came by to visit. This now Navy pilot, had a single mom who passed away his senior year of high school, depended on the CO to pick him up for drill weekends, didn't have a 4.0 average, but he said he set a goal "I AM going to be a Navy pilot" and he never wavered from that. He got an appointment to USNA and this week he heads to his first duty station.
Make a goal and stick with it because you never know unless you try.
 
Raimius,

Thank you for taking the time to post your personal experience. If you don't mind, I would like to print it and send it in a letter (OK, several letters) to my DD who just started her 4C year.

I don't know if you wrote this each year, kept a journal to remember the specifics, or what, but it is very insightful from a "newer" grad's perspective. My DH is class of '79, so he has tried to impart some of his experiences and USAFA expectations to our DD, but over the past few decades, many things have changed, yet many have stayed the same.

My DD started keeping a journal beginning on I-Day. She has entries, some long, some short, for every day during BCT. She filled the journal with her experiences, thoughts, etc. She has started a new journal for the 4C year. Your post reminds me of some of her entries. Some of her writings were repeated in the few letters and phone calls we received from her over the summer, but others were not. She presented us with this journal to take home for safekeeping and said we could share it with family and friends. One of the best lines in her journal, when things were really tough during Jack's Valley, was, "If Dad can do it, I can do it."

Best wishes for continued success.
 
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Thank you! The details of daily life change over time. Hearing some current cadets talk about the rules can be interesting. So many little things change, but the big things remain.
 
DevilDog said:
Thanks Raimus. I called my C1C son last night to tell him he should read this post, especially the UPT portion. He has been given a pilot slot and I think what you wrote would be good for him to read. Thanks again.
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It's is great post! The only thing I would add/change, is that as of 2015, every UPT class was required to send two students to RPA's...
 
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