26 Oct 06

As a quick background, during my final years at Embry Riddle Aeronautical University, I was awarded a pilot training slot, and later an ENJJPT slot. ENJJPT stands for Euro-NATO Joint Jet Pilot Training and is located in Wichita Falls, TX at Sheppard AFB. It is a specialized program consisting of about the top 5% of all pilot slot selections for that previous year, and at the completion of training 55 weeks later, get their choice (sort of) of any of the F-15C, F-15E, F-16, A-10, F-22 (maybe), B-1, B-2, or B-52. These are all high priority weapon systems (planes) for pilot trainees, and at any other training base the competition is fierce just to get the chance to fly them. Not that it will not be competitive at ENJJPT, but we are guaranteed one of those, and have no chance of flying cargo planes or tankers. Anyway, on with the story.

Back in the end of September, I packed up half of my stuff (half went into storage until I get my own house and/or move out of the Unaccompanied Officer’s Quarters), and moved out to Sheppard AFB, TX. I made the drive over a weekend so I was able to stop by Fort Walton Beach, FL on Friday night and hang out with Dave Sustello and Chris Johansson. It was good seeing them after they moved away from Daytona Beach when we all entered active duty in the beginning of June. Dave showed me around Eglin AFB and Hurlburt Field, which is where he is working on casual status for the time being until he reports to Vance AFB, OK in February. After staying the night there, I met up with mom and dad in Pensacola where I also got to see some old family friends and spend the early part of the day at the Naval Aviation Museum. After we were done there, mom, dad, and I drove from FL to Alexandria, LA where we stayed in a hotel with crickets the size of FL roaches…some sort of infestation at the time, ha ha. The following day we drove from LA to Sheppard AFB, TX, which is located in Wichita Falls. After checking into the Sheppard Inn, we got to relax and see some of the base. I had arrived.

Monday I checked in with the housing office and selected my “dorm” room for the next year. It’s actually called the UOQ, Unaccompanied Officer’s Quarters, but they call it the dorm for some dumb reason. I guess some people would rather live in dorms than barracks, like its less military. So for me, I make a big 360 degree circle, first living in dorms freshman and sophomore year in college, then an apartment, then house, and now back to dorms as an officer in the Air Force. Oh well… So anyway, mom, dad, and I moved all my stuff into the room and it’s not that bad, kind of small at 350 square feet, but has a bed, desk, kitchen, bathroom, closet and some dressers. It’ll work for a year, but I get my entire housing pay taken away, which makes it a very expensive small apartment. Some of my other friends are out here, Mike Kuzmuk, Greg Farrell, (and their wives), and Matt Lowe. Matt is in the dorms with me, but Mike and Greg each have their own three bedroom house on base, complete with a yard and car port. They pay the same for that as I do for my small room. HAHA kinda funny, all I need to do is get married to get a house! Easy enough.

Well, after getting moved in, mom, dad, and I went out to dinner with Matt, Greg, and Jill at Texas Roadhouse. I guess Texas is known for some pretty good steaks, and mine was ok.

Later that day I reported in to the 80th Operational Support Squadron, where I will be attached to the entire time I am at ENJJPT. This was followed by a LIST of things to take care of in the next two weeks, with in-processing and paperwork. Mom and Dad ended up leaving Tuesday, both flying out of Dallas up to Seattle. Basically I spent the next 10 days running around doing CBT (computer based training), paperwork, briefings, etc. Eventually I got it all done, and had some time to work out and hang out with friends and get my room all set up. I also went to the flying training side of base (we are kind of like the red-headed step child, getting stashed way out on the edge of base) and got to know my way around those buildings. At that time, I picked up my training publications or “pubs” from the library. It ended up being a stack about 24 inches tall of all the literature on the plane I will be flying and aerospace physiology classes, aircraft systems, and different instructions. Needless to say, it’s kind of intimidating to know that in less than 6 months, I will know pretty much the entire stack by heart. I won’t have much of a life once this starts! I also had some medical things to take care of, but eventually it all got done.

16 Oct 06 – Our first day of actual pilot training! We reported in to our MTO’s (military training officer) in classroom G2 in full service dress uniform at 0700. The class I will be going through ENJJPT with consists of 25 officers. We have 4 ROTC graduates (me, Mike, Greg, and Matt all from ERAU), 3 OTS grads (Officer Training School), 2 ANG guys (Air National Guard), 7 AFA (Air Force Academy), and 9 Italians! Actually, we all met the Friday before we started and went out to dinner and had a blast meeting everyone and learning about the Italians.

Everyone is really nice and the Italians are going to be a blast to go through the program with! Ok, so we met our MTO’s on Monday, and spent the next two days in the blues uniform sitting through briefings from EVERYONE. Finance, MEO, Flight Med, and even the base commander were just some of the briefings. We spent the nights hanging out, reading some of the literature, and practicing the Boldface/Ops limits procedures. This will come into play later one…The Boldface are emergency procedures that we all have to know by heart, word for word, dash for dash. The Ops limits are the same way, but with numbers like the maximum airspeed, oil pressure, prohibited maneuvers, etc. Mike, Greg and I had been studying that stuff while we were still in Daytona Beach, so we are good to go.

Tuesday, 17 Oct 06 was full of briefings like Monday, but we also got to go to Life Support and get our very own helmets and masks fitted! Talk about finally feeling like we are starting!
Starting on Wednesday, 18 Oct 06, we got to wear our flight suits! That reminds me, one of the in processing events during the 10 days prior, we get issued about $5000 worth of equipment. This includes flight suits, boots, gloves, jackets, briefcase, flying aids, and even our helmet and G-suit! Too bad the helmet was in a sealed box and we were all told not to open it until told to, otherwise there would have been pictures! So, Wednesday we got to wear our flight suits for the very first time, and boy did it feel good. This is only because for the next 8 days we were going through the Aerospace Physiology courses. This included everything from Spatial Disorientation, Airsickness, Survival, Ejection and Egress, Parachuting, and some First Aid. This has definitely been fun considering what we are about to do through. The PLF training (Parachute Landing Fall) was fun and we got to practice it by parasailing and getting released! Needless to say, Parasailing was the best thing we have done so far! They pull you up until you are about 400 feet above the ground, then detach you and let you parachute down! I wish we could have done it more than just twice! As everybody was rotating through, we actually got to teach the Italians how to play American football. They are all really fun to be around and a blast to talk to!

Next on the list was more Aero Phys training, this time we got into the Altitude chamber! On Monday the 23rd, we strapped up and sat inside the chamber for about 2 hours. The first hour we were purging the nitrogen from our blood by breathing 100% Oxygen for 30 minutes, just making sure nobody was going to get Decompression Sickness due to the nitrogen boiling at altitude. We then were taken to 35000 feet (simulated in the chamber) and then down to 25000 feet. This is where everyone took off their oxygen masks and experience the signs and symptoms of Hypoxia (lack of oxygen in the blood). It was quite an experience! I ended up lasting about 6 minutes off Oxygen, and by the time that had passed I was getting hot and cold flashes, tingling, disorientation, and mental confusion. I guess they were talking to me and I was euphoric and non-responsive….haha, I did feel the hypoxia before it got to that point, but wanted to see how long I could last since I was never going to be able to do that again! The rest of the day everyone was pretty worn out, and we were told not to do anything active. I guess lack of oxygen isn’t good for the body…go figure.

On Tuesday, we had Ejection and Ground Egress training. Talk about learning something I hope I NEVER have to use in my life! The rest of the day, as well as Wednesday, was filled with briefings about survival and first aid, as well as two tests for the Aerospace Physiology classes. Almost done with Aero Phys!

Thursday, 26 Oct 06 was our last Aero Phys day. We had a briefing by Dr. Pittner, the psychologist who is very helpful with airsickness and stress management (might come in handy here soon) and we also took the FACT. The FACT, Fighter Aircrew Conditioning Test, is a strength and endurance test to gauge how well your body will be able to handle the high G loadings during flight. It consists of 5 strength exercises and 3 endurance ones. It is a very tough test because each repetition is a 6 count rep, so if you want to max the score, you have to do a full minute and a half of continuous motion with weights. The endurance is being able to do as many push ups, sit ups and squats as you can in one minute. Thankfully, I have been preparing for it in the gym, so I was able to max everything and get 225 points out of 225. Most people who were in shape were getting 201+, so our entire class did well, with only a few people failing an event or two. You are required to pass the FACT by the end of pilot training, and we will take it three more times before we leave here. After that was done, our entire class went out and played football for a while, getting our group physical training in for the week.

Tomorrow is Friday, thankfully, and we are back to wearing our blues uniforms. No more flight suits unfortunately, and now we start the aircraft systems class work. We will be on the flight line in about 2 weeks! It’s going to get really stressful, really fast, but I’m looking forward to it.

Like I said, I’ll try to keep this updated and sent out as often as possible for you to read, and the pictures are all online, so enjoy!