Flying is Fun

Hello!
I'm sorry I've been so terrible about updating the blog. I actually started working, so now my days are much less free. I have to finance my flying lessons somehow, so I work as a substitute teacher, and fortunately, I've been busy essentially every day of the week. After I finish teaching, I either go work out, go fly, or go run some other errands. When I get home, I study the FAA Pilot Manual. Which is what I'm supposed to be doing now. Except it's so dry and REPETITIVE that I had to take a break. Seriously, 20 pages could explain the 46 pages in the chapter that I'm now in.

Additionally, I'm taking notes on all this information in a notebook, so reading takes extra long. Much of this information I've already studied in a cursory manner for the AFOQT. However, this is way more in depth.
So that I won't bore you all with studying stories, I'll talk more about flying...My instructor Mike was away for a week and a half, so to get practice time in, I booked some hours with another instructor, Pete. Pete is great. Interesting back story, a fairly nascent flight instructor, he's awesome.

The first day we flew was grey and cloudy - which I've learned, is the greatest weather for flying! It was probably the best day I've ever had for lessons. There was no crosswind, and Pete decided that we should practice take offs and landings. This is something called "touch and go" landings. It's when you touch down, cut the engine as if you were about to taxi, and then you pull the engine to full throttle and take off again. So I've realized that taking off is super easy. Not to mention fun :-)

Landing is SUPER hard. However, on the first day we were together, I actually had 3 out of 4 good landings. I felt great about it! Additionally, Pete kept complimenting me! "Great level turns" he said. "You have great stick and rudder skills...I think you might be one of those pilots that gets their license in just about 40 hours." was next. "I can tell you have very good motor skills for flying". My favorite: "It seems like you already have this attitude, but don't ever let anyone tell you that you can't or shouldn't do something because you're a girl."
*smile*

This was SO different from Mike, the last time we flew: "You're losing altitude, and you'd be about to fail if you were actually taking the test!" Mike said. "Why do you keep turning right?!? Stop over controlling!" was after that. "Straight and level, c'mon, you know how to do this!" Now, I'm SURE Mike is doing this because he wants me to focus and perfect EVERYTHING. And I'd MUCH rather that, than a laissez faire, always complimentary teacher. I am a hyper perfectionist and if something is not perfect, it's not good enough for me. However, I have to admit it was kind of nice to hear from Pete.

Of course, this all went down hill the next day. The next day was gorgeous. Blue skies, sun shining, PERFECT. I am the biggest sun bunny ever, and when it's nice out, I would need to be bribed to heaven and back to NOT sit in the sun and tan. However, on Sunday (the beautiful day) I realized that flying was a much bigger priority over sitting in the sun. Not because I had to, but because I wanted to. I wanted to be in my little sweatbox plane SO badly, it wasn't even funny. It turns out though, that hot beautiful days are kind of crap for flying. First of all, there was a crosswind, which totally shot my landings to sh*t. Second, there are these things called "flares" which are hot pockets of air that shoot up. If you fly over one of these, your plane does a little jumpy dance. Picture "turbulence" in a big passenger plane. Apparently this is totally the norm for hot days. As I mentioned before, I've been flying a tiny 2 seater called a Piper Tomahawk. When I was in the Air Clubs office the other day, someone said, "Oh, I hear you're flying the TRAUMA-hawk". Apparently "Traumahawk" is the nick name of the plane I fly. As Pete said,
"It's like an old lady. If you treat her nicely, she'll play cards with you and be nice to you, but if you push her, she'll go crazy, snap back at you and make you wish you were dead."
Oh joy :-)

I can't wait for my next lesson. I am drunk on the love and challenge of flying. I wish I could do it every day. I've realized that it's a bit of a community too. Yesterday (Sunday) I helped take my plane to the Hangar for inspection and I got to close the hangar doors and pull the plane in (yes, I can lift my planes nose and pull it too). On our way to the hangar we passed some old Navy EA-6Bs (prowlers). They were just so f'ing cool.

On top of that, I've been back and forth to Winthrop a couple of times where my friend lives. The cool thing about Winthrop is that it's on the flight path of planes flying into Boston Logan Airport. So I see commercial airlines landing all the time. They're always "nose up" which is how you have to land when you're flying a heavy plane. Ah, there are so many more things I wish I could tell you all about flying (especially landing, since it's been my nemesis for the past two days...) but I will have to save it for another post. Must get back to studying now. To end, here are some pictures of my little kingdom of Boston, and some planes taking off/landing:

Look carefully above the skyscrapers and you can see the plane taking off in this next one:

Flying is hard

Maybe I could get some reader feedback on this...I'm not sure how much y'all want to learn about flying an airplane. I'll write this post, and maybe you can let me know if it's too boring, too technical, not enough information, or just right.

I knew when I started that learning to fly would be kind of difficult, but it has definitely exceeded my expectations.

Knowledge: For anyone that has taken a drivers ed test, especially in Massachusetts, you know it's pretty easy. One can just read over the 60-70 page manual about rules of the road a couple of times, and as long as you answer 80% right, you're good. My practical test was also a joke. I had to do a three point turn and stop at a stop sign. Flying is no where like that. First of all, I need to know aerodynamics. Physics. Bernoullis principle. Different density measurements. Different pressure measurements. Newton. I hated physics when I took it my freshman year in high school (1999). Since then, I know my learning style a bit more, and I know that if I can apply something to the real world, I learn it SO much better. Theoretical esoteric concepts just don't grab my attention. So that means, I actually like physics now. I like being able to know the how and why of why my plane is acting the way it is and what I need to do to control it.

Following that, I need to know about my plane. I need to know how much gas it holds, ALL about the engine, minimum oil needed, what the fuel level is when the liquid meets the tabs, what the fuel should look like, different appropriate velocities, performance stats, ideal rate of climb, etc. To be honest, I almost wish that everyone had to know that stuff about cars when they got their license.

I also need to know how to talk to the tower (harder than one might think). When you first get into a plane, you tune into the information channel, which loops information about where to set your altimeter, the temperature, weather, etc. It finishes by saying "This is information X" Where X is a letter of the alphabet but said in the NATO phonetic alphabet. For example, yesterday the loop said "This is information Alpha [information A]" It's called the ATI (Air Traffic Information)
So before I even get to taxi, I need to contact the ground, identify myself, tell them where I am and where I want to go, and what information I have. Additionally, according to Mike, I will sound like a rookie if I'm too verbose, so I need to keep it short and sweet. So yesterday, I was flying a Tomahawk with the number 9182A. My contact with ground control went like this: "Hanscom Ground, this is Tomahawk nine one eight two Alpha, West Ramp, taxi with Alpha"And then they answer back at you, and then you have to repeat what they say. So they said "Tomahawk nine one eight two Alpha taxi Juliet Echo" That means that I use taxi way J and E to get to the runway. I said back "Juliet Echo, nine one eight two Alpha"
It's almost like learning another language, right?
Last and not least, I obviously need to know the rules of the air (always pass on the right) etc.

All of these things that I have to know are BEFORE I EVEN START TO FLY. :) And I will be quizzed on them. On paper, when I take the FAA test, and in person, when I have my practical test.

So let me get to more detail about actual flying. I think I mentioned in a previous post that on the ground (and in the air too) one has to steer with the rudder pedals. Good news, I'm actually getting much better at this. During take off, due to the way the propeller turns, the plane has a tendency to veer to the left, so one needs to apply much more right rudder and no left. This is not too bad when it's calm out. But Sunday was super windy and there was a cross wind coming from my left. So I applied a ton of right rudder on the ground before take off, but once I got myself in the air, the cross wind and my foot on the rudder pedal veered me to the right WAY too much. In case you didn't know, you're supposed to stay over the runway even when you're in the air taking off. I was not doing this very well. Yesterday (Monday) I was much better at it. Also because there wasn't any cross wind yesterday :)

When flying, the plane has a constant tendency to nose up. So I need to keep the nose at the appropriate level for what I'm doing. If I'm climbing, it needs to be on the horizon. If I'm flying level, it needs to be about four finger widths below the horizon. And when you turn, you have a tendency to lose altitude, so a turn requires not only turning, but also keeping the nose up so you don't lose altitude. And when you come out of a turn, pushing the nose down ensures you don't climb. It's an obvious fact, but flying is a three dimensional exercise, which is WAY harder than driving a car. On Sunday I practiced level, climbing and diving turns. It was so hard. I think that the last time I did it, Mike was helping me more than he said. Mike and I also went to Fitchburg: In Fitchburg, there is a runway and place where private pilots park their planes. But there is no tower. So you have to tune to the appropriate Fitchburg frequency, and essentially announce what you're doing all the time. Mike did this for me.

We landed in Fitchburg, and I did a little practice rudder steering on the rampways, which was so helpful. We then took off again. It is so beautiful and peaceful up in the air. It was a stark contrast to how I felt: frustrated and confused. There is just so much learning and doing that it can get very overwhelming at times, but in a good way. I adore learning all of these things, but I wish I could remember it...better, so that I could do it perfectly the second time instead of the fourth :) But...I know that is not going to happen.

So this weekend my instructor isn't going to be around. So I will actually be flying with another instructor this weekend to get the hours and the practice in. I'm definitely curious to see what other instructors are like. I don't know ANYONES name at the flight school apart from the secretary and Mike, my instructor. I am curious to see if other instructors are as good/laid back as Mike. However, I think that they all know me at this point. I'm "the cute girl" who's learning to fly. Seriously, in the entire time I've been there, I've only seen one other girl getting flight lessons (out of about 30 students total). Oh! On that note, Mike told me that the female Air Force pilot who he will make an introduction for me with was also an accountant. He also mentioned that a lot of the female pilots he knows either studied accounting or were accountants. Interesting! It kind of makes sense to me...as I said before, one of the reasons I am tackling this is from doing ridiculously difficult tax returns. Additionally, I found out yesterday that the FAA test questions are from a huge bank of 700 questions that one can buy and practice on. I've heard from people who aced the CPA exam say that they studied off a question bank as well. Hmmmm.

That's all for now, more updates later...

Frustration with Video Games

It's been a while since I wrote (sorry)

The last time I wrote, things had been looking pretty good. I flew for the first time, I was working out, etc. I'm still working out, but I do not like my new gyms cardio apparati (apparatuses?). I also have been failing to run. I played video games twice this past week. Additionally, I wasn't able to fly last Thursday because of the weather, and my flight lesson on Sunday was...frustrating.

The thing is...I KNOW that this is the beginning, and I KNOW that I'm not going to be good at anything I do - video games, running every day, flying. I've already noticed an improvement in my flying. I have not REALLY noticed an improvement in my video gaming skills. Running will have to be saved for another post later.

With flying, I'm aware that it is an exponential learning curve. I know that I'm at the very beginning of that curve. Same with video games. However, it's so frustrating to be at that place with TWO things that I'm trying to excel at. I know that practice makes perfect, and I'm trying to practice as much as I can.

Video Games. My incredibly wonderful friend CE who I've known for years was (and still is) a whiz at video games. He's been teaching me Grand Theft Auto and mostly Call of Duty. I love Grand Theft Auto because I can take my time, drive some fun cars, and do all sorts of stuff. I do NOT like Call of Duty for many reasons. First, when we play, we play with a split screen, so I can only see what's going on in my half. CE is phenomenal at gauging, anticipating, and striking. I'm awful. I want peripheral vision. I think that even if I had a whole screen view I would still suck. Call of Duty also has "enemies" coming at you whether you like it or not: Suicide Bombers, Terrorists, dogs, even helicopters. I know where to look to see where enemies are coming at me, but I still can't SEE them. Not to mention the movement. I need to run, duck, look in all directions, fire a gun....IT IS SERIOUSLY SO HARD!!!!

I can see how someone would get very attached to video games, and at the same time, I wonder about the people who do play a lot of video games. So much time and effort has to be put into even MOVING AROUND the right way. I just barely can move my character around and I've played for over 8 hours. People who have that kind of dedication and commitment to a TOY amaze me. And also make me wonder...If they weren't putting that focus into video games, what might they be doing instead? I feel like a lot of people who play these games for hours and days and months might have been phenomenal scientists, drone pilots, and general researchers. I mean, all I wanted to do was give up and throw the controller in the air at first. But I knew I had to persist so I did. I think a lot of my time here in Boston is going to be spent getting my hand eye coordination on a stellar level, and moving a joystick with finesse.

I know that I could have played Grand Theft Auto instead of Call of Duty, but I know that Call of Duty is going to help my joystick skills, hand eye coordination, and reaction time WAY more. So I chose to play Call of Duty. I first played it on Friday for about 5 hours. Then I played again on Saturday for 3 hours. That is still not enough time to even remotely do well. If he lets me, I need to make a set schedule and stick to it for video games with CE. *sigh* I AM super appreciative though that I not only have a place to play video games, but I have a phenomenal tutor as well. Hopefully within several weeks I will be a video game guru.

And this is the interesting part...after today, I've spent about 5 hours in plane. And I would venture to say that I feel more comfortable flying a plane than I do playing video games.

If any of you know a video game fanatic (especially Call of Duty) see if you can get them to change tack to something a bit more....productive. The world needs focused individuals.

I Flew

I had a fantastic day yesterday (Sunday).

I woke up late.

Then I hung out with my mom. We had a nice morning, and then drove to visit my mom's friend who lives in a western suburb of Boston. I had already decided that I was going to go for a little run, so I brought all my running stuff with me. I had a gorgeous run through Lincoln (the suburb). It's a bit hilly, so that was different from my usual flat Ohio run, but it was great. I ran by a horse farm, then, I ran by a community farming project thing. The farm was quite cute...there were all sorts of seed beds, and on all the trees around the farm were buckets collecting sap for maple syrup! The only thing that made me kind of sad was that most of the buckets were filled and over flowing. When I was in fourth grade, we tapped trees for sap, and then boiled it down and made Maple Syrup. I think it's something like 40 gallons of sap makes one gallon of syrup. I didn't like seeing the waste. Nevertheless, the run as a whole was bucolic and lovely.
Sap Buckets on a tree.


There is a bike path alongside the road I was running on which would have been great. Would have been great apart from the fact that it had snow and ice all over it.
Running on snow and ice is kind of hellish. It's like jogging through sand. I'm not a fan. I think (hope) that OTS in Alabama will have neither snow nor sand. Though come to think of it, maybe I should practice running on non-pavement surfaces so that I can handle whatever they might throw at me. My pace on pavement was about 9 minutes a mile . My pace once I hit the snow was over 10 minutes a mile. Yikes. I have these fantastic things called Yak Trax that my dad got me for running in wintry weather, but they are unfortunately stuck in a box in Columbus, Ohio, and won't be back in my hands til next weekend. I'm sure if I had them, I would have been able to run much faster. They look like this:











Yak Trax












So then I went to fly! The End.

Just kidding :) I went to Hanscom Air Field, and met my instructor, Mike. He's very nice, and actually a music professor. Instructing flying is his part time job. I played piano for many many years, so I thoroughly enjoy being around other musicians. We had a chat about my goals, and he said he would teach me as if I were going to get my private pilot license and we'd go from there. His schedule seemed pretty flexible too, so that's a bonus. He was very kind, and even knows a retired Air Force pilot who is female, so I asked if he might be able to arrange an email or personal meeting. He has logged a lot of flight hours, loves flying, and comes from a family of pilots.

So at the place that I went to fly (East Coast Aero Club), one can rent from a variety of planes. I chose the most inexpensive one, because...it was the most inexpensive. It also means that this plane is the tiniest. It's a two seater, propeller driven plane called a Tomahawk. Mike said "this is a great plane to learn on. If you can learn how to fly this, you can learn how to fly pretty much anything." Great. So I got a binder for my Tomahawk, and in the front is a big checklist. The first part is all things that you do pre-flight, which I knew would've made my mom and dad happy. We literally checked EVERYTHING on the plane. We checked to make sure all the bolts were secure, we checked the functioning of the ailerons, rudder, and flaps, we checked the fuel gauge inside the plane, and then visually checked the fuel in the tanks on the plane. We took samples of the fuel in three different places to make sure it didn't have air bubbles or was contaminated, we checked the lights on the wing tips and the landing light. We checked the brakes, and lifted up the cowling to check the engine too. Apparently airplane engines are a little redundant: they have 2 spark plugs for every cylinder, two fuel tanks, and two electrical contacts. The reason for this is in case something fails in the air, the other one will kick in and everything will work normally. As Mike said, "When you're in a plane, you can't exactly pull over on the side of the road and fix something."

So then we got in, buckled our seatbelts, put on our head phones and started up the plane. The interior looked exactly like my AFOQT study guide said it would, which was actually kind of nice and comforting.

On the ground, one steers an airplane solely with their feet on the rudder pedals (it moves the back of the tail and thus the nose from side to side). It definitely took me a little time to get used to it, and I'm not even going to pretend I'm proficient in it. I can't wait to practice more. After a bunch of pre flight checks, we went to the runway and took off. Taking off, as you might imagine, is pretty fun. We put the throttle on about 1600 RPMs, which makes the plane move very fast down the runway. Then, we pulled back on the steering column and were up!

I practiced a bit of climbing, level flight, turns, etc. Turns are interesting because when you put a plane in a turn, it just stays there. You need to counteract the turn by "turning" in the opposite direction to fly level again. I feel like I'm not describing this too eloquently, but hopefully with more practice I will. We did a stall, and Mike showed me how one can still fly an airplane even with the engine cut out. He did a bunch of steep diving turns to see how I handled it, and it was fine. It felt like the plunge on a roller coaster or a dive. I actually like that feeling very much, I kind of wanted to do it more :)
It was beautiful up there. Since it was about 4pm, the sun was setting, and it was gorgeous. We could see Mt. Monadnock in New Hampshire and Mt. Wachusett in Massachusetts. When we turned around to land again, I could see the city of Boston bathed in golden sunlight. We even flew through a teeny patch of snow which was pretty cool. Seeing the snow on the ground was very beautiful as well.

I have a LOT to learn still. My first homework is to learn the NATO Phonetic alphabet so that I can talk to the Air Control tower. This is the alphabet.

I also have to read the first 3 chapters of an FAA book, which is fortunately available online for free, so that's great. Alright, I'll wrap up this post with a photo of me in front of the teeny plane I flew. Yay!

Ahhhhhh...I work out!

In case you didn't get it, that title is in reference to This Video. A great song for the start of a run or workout. Really gets one motivated :)

So before I started this new work out plan that I'm doing, I was a total cardio monster at the gym. Since I had a desk job, all I did was cardio every morning. I felt it was the only time that I could get my legs moving. While I love cardio, I know that I need to do weights and build up strength elsewhere, or OTS is going to kick my A-S-S.

So on Thursday, I did this:

Lat pull down
Squats
Row
Dead lift
One leg squat
Dumbbell row
Hamstring curl
Leg extension
Pull up: as many as you can do (if you can't do a pull up just keep pulling until your muscles fail) <--- Although I did this on an assisted pull up machine. 5 with 10 lbs of assistance
Finish with abs and some sort of cardio for at least 30min

I wrote that I could have pushed myself harder...NOT on my legs. I don't often work out my legs because I always felt cardio was enough, and I also didn't want my legs to get bulky. But I did the one leg squats holding 10 lbs in each hand, and then I did the squats on a bosu ball also holding 10 lbs in each hand. OUCH. My legs still feel a little gummy. It's a GOOD sore, but still...I want it to go away so that I can walk normally :) By the way, a BOSU Ball is this:
One can do ALL sorts of exercises with this. It's SO good for maintaining balance and stability. Doing almost any exercise while standing on this automatically makes that exercise a mini core workout as well. I highly recommend. I've also done pushups holding this (with the ball side on the ground) I think it made my abs hurt more than my arms. On Monday, when I do my bicep and shoulder work out, I put the blue part on the ground, and step up on the black part (you NEED good balance) and I do 3 way shoulders standing on this. I'll explain 3 way shoulders later.

So yesterday, my weight workout was this:

Flat bench

Pull down (rope)

Incline Bench

Tri extension

Decline Bench

Close in bench (hands approx 2-3" apart)

Flys

Dips

I did all of it with dumbbells. So if one my readers is reading this, and thinks "great workout, I'll do it too." Word of advice: don't use machines. I (personally) do not like the machines at the gym that simulate these exercises. I mean, they're good if you have no idea what you're doing, but doing exercises with free weights is just so much more productive and I personally find I get much better results when using free weights. If you're a female and reading this, I will teach you if you want. Or, ask a guy you know to teach you and tell him to drop the sexist attitude while he's at it :)

Yesterday when I was working out, I saw 2 girls also working out, benching and whatnot. It made me very very happy. I can't stand when guys stare at girls working out with weights. Why can't we do it too? When I was a diver, guys and girls both lifted. My first year, I thought it was kind of stupid, so I skipped it all the time. My second year though, I went to all the lifting sessions, and lo and behold, I dove SO much better and suffered zero injuries (the year before I had issues with my ankle and shoulder). I wish more females would get into the weight room. Contrary to popular belief, it will NOT bulk you up. Just do lower weight and more repetitions. Some of the skinniest girls I've ever seen lifted weights (at my old gym in Columbus) and did very little cardio. I know guys stare at me and give me weird looks when I'm using weights, but I've trained myself to just ignore it, smile, and keep lifting.

Now that I'm ranting about things that irritate me at the gym, let me continue along that path.

I. HATE. THIS.Do you see those two benches there? The flat and the incline? Do you see how there's 45 lb weights on each end of each bar? Do you know how many people were using these benches?

ZERO.

People who don't re-rack weights when they're done should be banned from the gym. If you're one of those people, do us all a favor and ban yourself from the gym. It's not that I can't lift a 45 lb weight, it's just that I DON'T WANT TO. When I'm at the gym, I am working out, not cleaning up after someone else. When I bench, I usually put 10 - 15 lbs on each side, but I clean up after myself. I ALWAYS re rack my weights because I KNOW how annoying it is to have to do it after someone.

And...I also hate this because I think it's a passive way of blocking females from using benches. I think most females COULD take off a 45 lb weight, but it's kind of this implicit barrier that seems to say, "Only Men are allowed to use THESE." If I were an in-shape female coming into a fairly empty gym, and thought "Oh, maybe I'm going to step it up and try benching the bar today" I would be immediately intimidated and deterred by the picture above.

Anyway. I think I'm done ranting. I'm going flying today for the first time! Yay! Then I might go play video games. I was supposed to play video games last night, but my friend M and I ended up drinking wine and watching movies instead. Ah well.

Getting there...

YES.

Good day today so far. Pushed myself on weights with legs, abs and back, Ran 3 miles (on a treadmill...yuck) finished with more cardio on an elliptical. I also realized that I can do 5 pull ups with only 10lbs of help. Which I believe means that if I keep my strength and lose 10 lbs, I'd be able to do pull ups on my own. Or, just increase my strength and maintain weight. Or, a little bit of both. Anyway, that was exciting (for me). When I was in middle school and did gymnastics, I was able to do 10 or so pull ups at a time. It made me feel very impressive in gym class, especially because none of the boys could do that many. :)

Below: Me as a bad ass 13 year old catching ducks. and me as a 13 year old in the Czech Republic catching pigs at a pig farm.

Apparently, SERE isn't going to be a problem for me....





















Yes, I could have probably pushed myself harder today at the gym, but I also have a free personal training session tomorrow morning with a trainer at my new gym, so I didn't want to be completely dead for that...When the weather is nicer, there shall be more running in the afternoons.

So I've mentioned in previous posts that there are 4 positions that one can apply to if they are applying to a rated board (which is what I'm doing). The four positions are: Pilot, Combat Systems Officer (CSO), Air Battle Manager (ABM) and UAV Pilot (unmanned aerial vehicle pilot). I can apply to one or all four of these. My recruiter wants me to apply to all four. I have no problem applying to the first three, but I do not really want to apply to be a UAV pilot. It seems as if it would be like playing video games all day, and while that may appeal to every guy on the planet earth, it does not appeal to me. I need to GO somewhere when I'm flying...I feel like being a UAV pilot is like running on a treadmill (something I also dislike) - you put in tons of effort and at the end of the day you've gone nowhere.

When applying to the rated board, you list your preferences in numerical order, with 1 being the position you'd like most. I have obviously put Pilot first. Number 2 is CSO, and number 3 is ABM. I'll pull the descriptions from the Air Force website so my readers know what I might do.

Combat Systems Officer:

Air and ground battles move at almost unimaginable speed. Consequently, so do our Combat Systems Officers (CSO). Calling upon their extraordinary level of focus, efficiency and leadership, they become the eyes of their fellow servicemen. Utilizing their expertise and precision in a wide range of high-tech equipment and weapons, they find and eliminate targets. CSOs typically operate from an aircraft, such as a bomber, a fighter or a tanker, but no matter where they are, their job is always to use their skills and accomplish the mission.

Career Tasks

• Master principles and techniques of all weapons systems
• Perform surveillance and intelligence
• Operate in a specific area of specialty
• Develop and conduct training for other Airmen

Basically, in this position, I still go to UPT and SERE, and I'm up in a plane with a pilot. It's essentially a navigator/gunner position. According to my recruiters, the Air Force is phasing out traditional navigators, and replacing them with CSOs. In the last rated board that they submitted applicants to, 6 of 7 were taken in as CSOs (2 had pilot as first choice, 4 had UAV pilot as first choice, and 1 had ABM as first choice - he got his first choice - ABM) The cool thing about this position is that you still learn to fly, you get to ACTUALLY fly every now and then, you learn about ALL the weapons that the Air Force has, and it's a shorter time commitment - 6 years instead of 10. I would honestly and truly be happy if I was selected as a CSO instead of a pilot. Currently, 6.5% of CSOs are female.

Air Battle Manager:

During lightning-fast air combat, every decision makes an impact. And the officers making all of those decisions — right down to choosing the right aircraft for the mission — are the Air Battle Managers (ABM). They use strategy, experience and an intimate knowledge of all aircraft, weapons and surveillance to ensure success. By controlling the battle space and establishing "big picture" situational awareness, ABMs plan and execute the entire theater air operation. Their expertise is also often called upon in an advisory role by other allied military forces.

Career Tasks

• Plan and execute theater air operations
• Analyze national defense strategy
• Develop and conduct flying and simulation exercises
• Conduct, manage, evaluate and improve unit training and readiness
• Create operational policies

This is still considered a flight position, because sometimes the ABM is up in the air, especially in AWAC planes like this:

Oooooo. It's kinda cool. I'm less thrilled about this position because to me, it seems like in peacetime, I would essentially be an Air Traffic Controller. I would most like this position in actual use (Air Battles) or in training situations. I'd still get to learn about all the resources and weapons that the Air Force has, and I suppose a similar position would be an orchestra conductor. Which is kind of bad ass.

I believe I do not go through UPT with this position, but I think that SERE might still be a necessity. 12.1% of ABMs are female.

So I HAVE mentioned that there are lots of opportunities for failure along this process. One thing that also keeps my spirits up, in the event of failure, is that apparently intel officers are often ex-pilot candidates. People who burn out of UPT are quite frequently scooped up by intel school. Why? They're clearly intelligent, already have a security clearance, and are already commissioned officers. The military doesn't particularly like letting people with those qualifications go in a snap. So even if I don't get pilot, I still have some pretty awesome other options.

When I first started this process, I wanted to apply directly to intel, the non-rated board. My recruiters wanted me to apply to the rated board because they said I'd have a better chance of being selected. This is why: the last couple of non-rated boards that have come up (sometimes there aren't even any in a given year) about 20% of people submitted by my recruiters were accepted. Now, I think I would have had a really good shot at being in that 20%. The other 5 people I took the AFOQT with were not as intelligent, well traveled, or sharp as I was. Anyway. The last rated board my recruiters submitted to, 100% were accepted (7 of 7). In the one prior, apparently the stats were also the same (close to, if not 100% acceptance). My recruiter said that he has submitted one female to a rated board in the past year, and she was accepted as a UAV pilot (she listed pilot as her first choice). None of the acceptances that had pilot as their first choice had flight hours or a private pilot license.

So in a nutshell, it looks like I will almost definitely get in. The question now is, what will I get in as?

Motivation

A fitting title for a day in which...I once again did nothing.

A lot of people who I sent my blog invite to were a little...surprised, to say the least. Most of the wonderful people in my life know me as slightly America skeptic, and totally in love with Europe (especially the Czech Republic). I did live in Europe for 4 years, and wanted to go back with every shred of my existence. I would still love to go back eventually, but if I went back now, here's probably what would happen: I would get a job as an English teacher (something I always promised myself I would never do), and hope that I would get back into the corporate world somehow, making a just barely liveable wage doing something I'm not a fan of. Now, don't get me wrong, I love Economics (and even a bit of Finance...) but most jobs don't involve the subtleties of supply and demand, determining ideal tariffs and pricing policies, or maximizing utility. That is usually done on a high government level, which is not somewhere I will find myself any time soon (especially in the Czech Republic). I have a term that I use for working in the corporate world: "Making rich people richer". Sure, I've gotten the trickle down benefits by earning a wage, but the work itself...I guess I haven't been too happy working in the private sector. If you've had a different experience than this, I think it's great. But almost every job I've held, I've had this feeling. Maybe it was especially difficult coming out of Bentley, where business ethics was stressed EVERY class. It all seemed to drop by the wayside once I entered the work force.

Additionally, even though I love Economics, I don't want to close the door to OTHER things I like, and things I don't even know I like. For example. There was an "Aviation knowledge" section on the AFOQT. I knew nothing about aviation. However, after studying it, learning it, and seeing it in action at the Air and Space Museum in Washington D.C. I loved it. I thought it was so cool. I couldn't believe I had never learned it...SOMEWHERE. It made me even more reluctant to pigeonhole myself into the role of Accountant/Analyst.

I have this craving, this desire to do something that really MATTERS, something that could really make a difference.

Perhaps more motivation stems from how I felt at my first day of work in the corporate world EVER - I sat at my desk and kept thinking, "How am I getting PAID for this? Shouldn't I be doing something with my hands, contributing to society?" Since college, I've always been very active - working 5 different part time jobs, going to school, and diving. I know that working for the military will give me the satisfaction of being physically AND mentally busy almost every day (if it keeps my extremely bright and energetic brother in law happy, I think it'll work for me...).

Yes, I would love to end up in Europe eventually, but I can actually do that while I'm IN the Air Force. I don't need to struggle and just get by on a liveable wage in Prague. There are bases in Germany, England, the Azores, Turkey, Kyrgyzstan, and more. There are bases in places that I've never been but would love to go to: South Korea, Northern Japan, American Samoa.... And why not travel for my job? What better way to see the world AND do something that makes a difference? On top of that, as a government employee, I get 30 days leave and all U.S. holidays. And this is a job where they actually ENCOURAGE you to take your vacation - it's not like some of those crazy public accounting firms that give you 25 days of vacation and then work you so hard that you never get to take it. Yes, there may be some weekends and holidays that I have to work like crazy (wars don't ALWAYS stop for Thanksgiving...) but that is a possibility that I'm willing to accept once in a while. At this point in my life, it is slightly more important to have a job that I care about and want to excel at, even though the alternative of living in Prague forever is not necessarily an awful thing.

My sister said recently as well that I thrive in situations where people don't expect much of me. Also true. During my first ever collegiate diving meet, I broke the school record and qualified for division II nationals. Let me just say here and now, that NO ONE expected that. Not even me. Next year, that definitely didn't happen. The year after, was actually my worst year diving EVER (for other reasons, but still).

Another motivator that I'm still trying to define eloquently is the fact that I like a lot of things guys do, therefore, Air Force, to me, seems awesome and I'm honestly surprised more females don't do it. Not that I have anything against it, but I am DEFINITELY not lesbian. I love men. Sometimes too much; I've developed very strong infatuations and molded my life around them usually ending in a break up and an unhappy me. This is another reason that I would like to focus on piloting (it's not for a guy, it's 100% for me)

I was also totally one of those little girls that played with G.I. Joes for a couple of weeks. I used to hate wearing dresses and skirts because I felt like it made me "less" of a person than boys. In High School, I loved souped up cars a la Fast and the Furious (yes, I can talk to you about horsepower, exhaust, lowering, ground effects, Nitrous Oxide, etc.). Every car I've driven is stick shift...I'm not afraid to bench press or do 21s or Romanian dead lifts at the gym.

I still like being girly though...I love pink. I (now) love wearing dresses, I think make up is awesome. I've learned, as I've gotten older, that women will probably not be treated the same as men for some time to come. This isn't necessarily a bad thing - if one knows how to "work it" (male or female) one can usually get what one wants.

This is me working it in Istanbul:
Cute dress, nice smile























This is me NOT working it in Venice:
Asleep.













Glad you laughed. Moving on! I'm almost certain that in this male dominated environment, I will thrive. Also, I really WANT to break into this position that is mostly male dominated. I mean, if they can do it, I can do it too. I want to at least try my VERY VERY hardest to get it.

Also, I realized that I really don't have to pick just one path just because society dictates I should. I can do "male" oriented and "female" oriented things. I can fly a plane wearing makeup, and don a dress and heels when I'm done if I want to. Honestly, some of the things that worried me most about Officer Training School (OTS) and being an officer were the things associated with girls...Do I have to cut my hair short? No, I just have to pin it up so it's above my collar line. Do I have to take out my earrings? No, I can only wear one set at a time in my ears though, and it would be best to leave out the belly button ring for intense physical training periods. Can I wear dresses/skirts? Yes, there are actually standard issue skirts that Air Force Officers can wear. Even (get this) an Air Force Maternity Jumper. Hot.



Air Force Maternity Jumper.



So that's a little more explanation on the motivation. Yes, being a Euro Expat was kind of where I was heading, and I would have probably been content with it. But I know I would live the rest of my life wondering "What if I could have done something more? What if I could have done something truly life-changing and awesome?"

I've told some of you this, but for those who haven't heard, I can't imagine a better way to spend the next 13 years than pushing myself physically and mentally, learning all sorts of new things, being a part of the greatest military force in the world, and most likely traveling the world at the behest of my employer.

I hope that this post clears up any misgivings or misconceptions for those of you who were skeptical and confused about this life choice...