USAF Academy or ROTC

[JimNtexas]

being a part of any military flying unit is about the funnest thing you could ever do!

Amen!

 

[Benhuntn]

If you want to live in a "nanny" state with someone to tell you when to go to bed, wakeup eat, take a dump, go to class, march, iron your uniform, shine your shoes, then go AFA. If you want to learn to live on you own, develop self disipline, become self reliant then go to the ROTC detachment of your choice. Good Luck...

 

[T-1GUY]

I graduated from 2 year ROTC program. I will tell you that just as many of my peers had basket weaving (ie History) degrees and went on to fly fighters as engineering degrees. I don't believe that your school or degree influence whether you will fly fighters. I graduated in 1990. This was the first year that they took away pilot slots from the academy. It can happen. My orders were cancelled while in route to willie. We were given a choice to: Leave, take a new nonflying assignment, or wait for UPT. I waited for two years before they sent me to Del Rio. I will also say that timing has a very big part of getting a fighter. I graduated 7th out of 24 in my class. During this period, only the number one guy got a fighter, and it was a banked assignment at that. I eventually ended up being a T-1 instructor and was part of the group that rated and discussed the assignments for the students. This was about the 2000-2002 time period. The top 1/3 of the class and as many as 50% were getting fighters. Once again, this was pure luck and timing. The differences I noticed between the ROTC grads and the Academy grads were the relationships that were already formed amongst the Academy guys. If your class consists primarily of Academy guys, you can feel like an outsider at times. Luckily, by the end of the year and all the trials and tests, you are all pretty close. I will say that attitude has a great deal to do with getting a fighter IF and thats a big if, there are fighter slots to be filled. I enjoyed my Air Force career. It is the finest pilot training available. I love my career and dont regret not getting to fly fighters. Do your best and hope for the best. Remember, you are an Officer first. You will be assigned to meet the needs of your country. That may mean a 135 in the Dakota's...

Good Luck..

 

[Birdstrike]

Deleted.

 

[AlbieF15]

Both are options.

If you go to the AFA and don't fly a fighter, you'll have still gotten a good education, made some friends in the AF, and flown gliders, jumped out of airplanes, and had some neat base visits. You also will spend time doing lots of stupid $hit, and hiding in closets with your buddies while your roomie bangs a fat chick hoping not to get caught.

In a large state school, you can get the AF to pay for a degree in about any enterprise you care to try. You'll make friends that won't just be in the AF, but in all walks of life when you get out. You can join a fraternity, or get a part time job, or do a work study, or travel a year as a foreign exchange student, or a host of other things you'll never do in the academy. And if you are 18, or 19, or 22 and want to bring a person of the opposite sex over to your apartment to spend the night nobody will say anything about it. You won't get threatened with honor code violations, and you just might have a "normal" young adulthood instead of living in a boarding school environment for some of the most dynamic and interesting years of your life. (note: If you are a chick--disregard. At an academy you just became a movie star regardless of your apprearance or previous popularity in high school. You will have a blast. You are now a Goddess. You rule. At least until 4 days after graduation...) ROTC $ucks, but its 3 days a week for 2 years and if you don't let it ruin your life you can still have a good "typical" college life. At least at Auburn, if one ROTC group plays hardball with pilot slots you could sometimes swap over to another branch...saw that happen a few times for some folks.

All the advantages of an academy disappear the day you show up at UPT. Zoomies, ROTC geeks, and 90 day wonders succeed or fail with about equal ratios during the program.

I've irritated folks before with some of my tongue in cheek comments...but seriously...I flew 2300+ hours in the F-15 and flew my entire 20 year career. AFROTC got me all I needed to get to UPT. And those years at school were so wonderful because of all I got to experience OUTSIDE of the military. I spent all that time from 22-42 serving...I'm glad I got to expereince some thing OUTSIDE the military too before I jumped in.

Why not ERAU? The same reason I didn't want the academy---too limiting. You can get your flight certificates a LOT of places...including 141 schools...for less money while you pursue a degree in things that will back up your life...engineering, finance, medicine, or whatever. The world is covered with folks with Aviation Science/Management degrees (including me...), and a furlough or bad medical means you are back to the drawing board. Chase your aviation dreams while you prepare for a back-up plan outside aviation. And go to a college where there are some girls... Lifes too damn short to hang around dudes all the time.

 

[NWA-AirGuard]

The students that consistantly did the best (my point of view from when I was a student and a T-37 IP) were the USAFA soaring instructors (glider IP's). Also, I don't think your degree has any bearing on how well you do in pilot training.

 

[BeeVee]

Here is one "sure fire" recipe for flying a fighter in the Air Force...

If you can get into the Academy - GO!

Become a soaring IP, get good grades, and go to ENJJPT at Sheppard for UPT. If you go to Sheppard, you're going to fly a fighter.

Good luck!

 

[JimNtexas]

Here is one "sure fire" recipe for flying a fighter in the Air Force...

If you can get into the Academy - GO!

Become a soaring IP, get good grades, and go to ENJJPT at Sheppard for UPT. If you go to Sheppard, you're going to fly a fighter.

Good luck!

I know they've uploaded the bombs and downloaded the torpedoes a number of times over the years with respect to ENJJPT, but don't some grads from there go to bombers?

 

[BeeVee]

You may be right, I'm dating myself a bit here also...back in the 1990 timeframe all Sheppard grads got a fighter....
Has this changed? Anyone? Anyone? Bueller? Bueller?

 

[Bill Mostellar]

Here is one "sure fire" recipe for flying a fighter in the Air Force...

If you can get into the Academy - GO!

Become a soaring IP, get good grades, and go to ENJJPT at Sheppard for UPT. If you go to Sheppard, you're going to fly a fighter.

Good luck!

I trained some ENJJPT pilots to fly the C-21 back in the 90's...so it's not always a guarantee, but it's FAR better than going to any other UPT base.

 

[AlbieF15]

Hence the expressions:

"Did you go to ENJPT?" "Nope...I EARNED my fighter..."

or:

"Do you want the normal MQT or the Euro-NATO MQT" (From the OV-10 days when a guy who got an OV-10 out of Sheppard was a harbinger of bad things...."

 

[Occam's Razor]

I enjoyed my Air Force career. It is the finest pilot training available.

Correction: It is the finest non-Naval flight training available.

Please post your experiences going through Navy Intermediate and Advanced Strike Training. How did your UPT weapons delivery training measure up to what you did in the Navy? Did you feel the ACM training (specifically the 2v1 stuff) you did before getting your wings was better in UPT? Wasn't Carrier Qual a hoot?

Not a huge difference. No more than the difference between Gold and Lead.

 

[Afterprop]

Correction: It is the finest non-Naval flight training available . . . . Not a huge difference. No more than the difference between Gold and Lead.

LMAO . . . and we all pay homage to NATOPS, too. ROTF.

As to the grasshopper's questions, it's hard to economically beat the cost of an Academy education, whether it's Annapolis, the venerated Military place on the Hudson, or the upstart Zoomie Land.

 

[Occam's Razor]

LMAO . . . and we all pay homage to NATOPS, too. ROTF.

NATOPS rocks! Can't sleep? Crack open the big blue sleeping pill...

As to the grasshopper's questions, it's hard to economically beat the cost of an Academy education, whether it's Annapolis, the venerated Military place on the Hudson, or the upstart Zoomie Land.

Agree. Money-wise, it's a no-brainer.



(Now...shhh! I'm luring Scrappy into a turning fight!)

 

[Bill Mostellar]

You may be right, I'm dating myself a bit here also...back in the 1990 timeframe all Sheppard grads got a fighter....
Has this changed? Anyone? Anyone? Bueller? Bueller?

Unfortunately not. I trained several in C-21's from Sheppard who didn't get fighters. Of course, they were just happy to be offered pilot slots.