Best Week Ever
(Yeah, just like the show.)
Who's having the best week ever? That'd be me. Well, probably not the best week ever, but definitely the best week since being in Oklahoma. Monday and Tuesday was full of escape and evation tactical stuff. Basically we spent Monday learning hand-to-hand combat with an M-16, low crawl, high crawl, rush and roll, and some other pretty cool stuff. Tuesday was full of shooting. Unfortunately, we were only shooting blanks, but it was still a ton of fun. We learned how convoys work, setting up a landing zone for a helicopter, how to ambush and evade an ambush, and basically got to run around in the woods and shoot at each other. Unfortunately, there were way too many ticks, but that didn't take away too much from the fun.
Today and tomorrow my group is with the Operations Support Squadron. They basically run the air fields, air traffic control, make sure planes are landing and taking off. Yeah, not that exciting. Going up in the control tower was alright. But the major highlight of the day was seeing two F-15s land and then going out walking around the aircraft and talking to the pilots. Kinda makes me wanna try for pilot, but at the same time I don't think I'd have the passion and drive for that, and also I'm already planning my whole life with pharmacy. Of course, it could all change, I say screw pharmacy, and end up flying, which would be totally awesome. Eh, who knows.
Overall the whole program has been ok. Definitely could use some imporvements and pretty much everyone agrees it should be shortened. But everyone suggests that to AFROTC every summer, but it's never shortened. I've enjoyed most of my time here despite the many times I sat around with nothing to do, the waste of 3 days down at Moody AFB, and the many boring briefings and lectures about Air Force careers I'm completely uninterested in. I guess what makes it enjoyable is the other cadets, who for the most part have been really cool. Don't get me wrong, there are definitely some douchebags and ROTC Nazis here, but those only make up about 2 or 3 out of 40 cadets. Just hanging out with other cadets, hearing about other places in the US and different detachments, shooting the shit and just having a good time -- all of that has made this a pretty good three weeks. I won't miss working from 0730 to 1630 every day, or the random PT sessions that seem to pop up without warning, or the barely beareable food at the chow hall, but I'll definitely miss the other cadets. I wish I'd been able to hang out with more of them and get to know some of them better, but isn't that the way things always work. Hopefully I'll keep in touch with some (thanks to the greatness known as Facebook) and maybe even see or visit some of these crazy kids later on. Who knows, I could run into some of them at Field Training next summer, or better yet, end up working alongside a few of them. As I've heard several times, it's a very small Air Force, so there are no real "good byes."
Anyway, besides that little sentimental bit, I'm glad to be going back home Friday. I'll have my one day of rest, aka my bday. And then I'm off again to Hartsville for SSP. Ahh, the sweet relaxation of summer...
Who's having the best week ever? That'd be me. Well, probably not the best week ever, but definitely the best week since being in Oklahoma. Monday and Tuesday was full of escape and evation tactical stuff. Basically we spent Monday learning hand-to-hand combat with an M-16, low crawl, high crawl, rush and roll, and some other pretty cool stuff. Tuesday was full of shooting. Unfortunately, we were only shooting blanks, but it was still a ton of fun. We learned how convoys work, setting up a landing zone for a helicopter, how to ambush and evade an ambush, and basically got to run around in the woods and shoot at each other. Unfortunately, there were way too many ticks, but that didn't take away too much from the fun.
Today and tomorrow my group is with the Operations Support Squadron. They basically run the air fields, air traffic control, make sure planes are landing and taking off. Yeah, not that exciting. Going up in the control tower was alright. But the major highlight of the day was seeing two F-15s land and then going out walking around the aircraft and talking to the pilots. Kinda makes me wanna try for pilot, but at the same time I don't think I'd have the passion and drive for that, and also I'm already planning my whole life with pharmacy. Of course, it could all change, I say screw pharmacy, and end up flying, which would be totally awesome. Eh, who knows.
Overall the whole program has been ok. Definitely could use some imporvements and pretty much everyone agrees it should be shortened. But everyone suggests that to AFROTC every summer, but it's never shortened. I've enjoyed most of my time here despite the many times I sat around with nothing to do, the waste of 3 days down at Moody AFB, and the many boring briefings and lectures about Air Force careers I'm completely uninterested in. I guess what makes it enjoyable is the other cadets, who for the most part have been really cool. Don't get me wrong, there are definitely some douchebags and ROTC Nazis here, but those only make up about 2 or 3 out of 40 cadets. Just hanging out with other cadets, hearing about other places in the US and different detachments, shooting the shit and just having a good time -- all of that has made this a pretty good three weeks. I won't miss working from 0730 to 1630 every day, or the random PT sessions that seem to pop up without warning, or the barely beareable food at the chow hall, but I'll definitely miss the other cadets. I wish I'd been able to hang out with more of them and get to know some of them better, but isn't that the way things always work. Hopefully I'll keep in touch with some (thanks to the greatness known as Facebook) and maybe even see or visit some of these crazy kids later on. Who knows, I could run into some of them at Field Training next summer, or better yet, end up working alongside a few of them. As I've heard several times, it's a very small Air Force, so there are no real "good byes."
Anyway, besides that little sentimental bit, I'm glad to be going back home Friday. I'll have my one day of rest, aka my bday. And then I'm off again to Hartsville for SSP. Ahh, the sweet relaxation of summer...