"Trust me, whether you like or not - you're gonna be a B-52 pilot"

- This was the response of one of our academic instructors when asked about the difficulty and washout rate of the B-52 training course.



So far things are going pretty good. The nervousness and instant explosion of stress really hasn't been anything like it was at Sheppard. Back at Sheppard, all I would have to do is walk through the front doors of the building and I could feel my tension level rise as I started to think of all the stuff I didn't know as well as I needed to and about all the things that could bust me on my next flight. Although things will probably change a bit when I hit the flight line, when I show up to work here, I feel like the instructors are a lot more focused on how to help me puts bombs on target rather than how they can wash me out of the program. It's a nice change to say the least.

After serving the first two of my ten contracted years with the big blue, I've earned my promotion to First Lieutenant (silver bar). Another two years of not breaking anything (that I'm not supposed to) and I should earn Captain. And since I know I'll be more busy than I am now when I'm wearing those Captain bars, I've started working on my Master's degree (which is a pseudo-requirement for Major). It sucks and I hate school. But I'm almost halfway through my first class. It's an online class, so hours of falling asleep in a lecture hall are replaced with hours of falling asleep in front of a textbook and computer screen. For a person who's job requires good vision, they sure know how to destroy eyeballs. I don't think any of the other pilots in my class are taking classes right now and a few of them have already completed their masters. I did find out one guy is doing the same program as me though, he just took a break from it during FTU (Formal Training Unit / B-52 school).

My class has four pilots in my same situation (training to be a copilot) and four pilots who are training to be aircraft commanders (AC / in the left seat). Three of us copilot students were all in the same class at Sheppard so it's nice to have the familiar faces. We also have about 9 navigators and about 5 EWOs (Electronic Warfare Officers...I think). We won't really see much of each other until our second our third flight, a couple months from now. It's uncommon for classes to have equal numbers of copilots and ACs, but it works out since we're evenly paired up for flying purposes. The crew dimensions should be interesting as we go since all four of the AC students were instructors at pilot training bases in their last assignment. We both learn the same material essentially, just from a different perspective. This course also changed recently so that as copilots, we get more familiarization with the left seat. Overall, it's a good thing because when we want to upgrade to AC down the road, it'll put us ahead.

Ellen's in Chicago this weekend watching her sister graduate so I'm trying to take advantage of the empty house to write a research paper that's due in a couple weeks. If you're wondering how it's going, just consider the fact that I'm writing a blog post right now. I should have more confusing and ambiguous pilot-talk posts to come in the next few months (although the farther I go, the less I'm able to talk about). If there's any people from ROTC or ENJJPT who are reading this and have questions about FTU, let me know. And now or you're regularly scheduled shot of the BUUUUFFFFFFF