Eyes

I didn't want to apply for a pilot slot because I thought that since I didn't have 20/20, 20/15 vision, I'd not get in.

I found out that if you have crappy vision, the air force will fix it, as long as it's correctible to 20/20 (mine is).

I mentioned that Hanscom had an "old" and "new" system. I never told Hanscom that I was going to Ohio for my flight physical. So, they called me yesterday (Thursday, 10.18) and asked for my email address so that they could send me the specifications of what I'd need to do to get my flight physical.

I could have said, "Oh no, I'm taking the flight physical in Ohio".

But I didn't. I wanted to see what I'd have to do to take it at Hanscom. Well. I got an email today with the list of things that I'd have to schedule. There was also an "introductory" letter.

I read the letter and what struck me was this sentence:

"Soft contact lens wearers shall remove their contacts 30 days prior to their flight physical" and then later on "the optometrist will cancel your appointment if you haven't done this. THEY CAN TELL"

Today is October 19. I literally have EXACTLY 30 days until my flight physical. I wear soft contact lenses. If I hadn't gotten that email today, my trip to Ohio would be completely wasted. I can't afford the flight to Ohio, so I'm relying on family for help. How AWFUL would it be if I took the flight and essentially WASTED the physical because I didn't know about the glasses?

My recruiter never told me about the glasses. Once I found out about it (today) I emailed my recruiter saying that I just got information from the flight physical at Hanscom that I can't wear contacts 30 days prior to my flight class I examination. If he had any other candidates going on the 19th, he might want to notify them TODAY about the contact lens thing.

He said
"Hi Ma'am,
Thanks so much for the email and letting me know about the contacts. I'm sorry, but flight medicine never told me about that."

Oy. I mean, I feel like this process should be way more transparent and streamlined?  No?

Clear as Mud

So the good news is, things are...moving.

I had a great run around (again) with my recruiter. I heard back from him 3 weeks after I found out I got in.
He sent a piece of paper that essentially said: "Yes, I'm moving to Boston and need a recruiter there".

Wow.

I signed and sent it back the same day. He REQUESTED that I do that. Same day. Let's just keep in mind, it took him 3 weeks to get together this piece of paper.

I had given him the number of a medical contact at Hanscom AFB to schedule my flight physical. After about 2 weeks of phone tag, it turns out that I was supposed to call and schedule my flight physical on my own.

Great.

I called the number and left a message saying that I needed to schedule a flight physical.
I got a call back the next morning.
They told me that Hanscom AFB was switching from an old system to a new system. The way it is now, I will be registered into the old system, but I will be called in 1-2 weeks (that means 2-3 weeks) about the new system.

I asked about the old system. Apparently, you are put on a waiting list until the flight surgeon can see you. That can take anywhere from ONE to FIVE months. FIVE MONTHS???? That puts me at March. When I already thought I was going to be in Officer training. Hell to the N-O.

The "new" system apparently entails going to your doctor on your own and getting the tests/checkups that culminate in a flight physical. It takes as long as you take to make the appointments, and then when the flight surgeon can see you. Now, I was told by my recruiter that I have "priority" because I'm getting old, but I am DEFINITELY not going to bank on that.

I asked what number I was in the "old system" waiting period.

35.

No offence  but I feel like a doctor could see 4-5 patients a day (my dad who is a doc sees WAY more) and be caught up in 7-10 days. I don't know. Clearly I have no insight into this and I don't presume to judge the Air Force medical process.

Once I heard the 5 month caveat, I asked if there was anywhere else in New England that I could do my flight physical. Apparently, the closest was New Jersey. The gas, the time, the stress...I decided that I'd ask about doing it in Ohio (where my recruiter is based).

He already scheduled the other flight candidates for their flight physicals (no one else is pilot slot, just me, but they have flight physicals II and III...) Anyway. He said, "You're ON, for November 12!", which is just about a month from now. I called my sister and asked if I could stay with her in OH then. She said, "I'm away. That's veterans day. Double check with your recruiter about if that appointment is actually legit".

Good thing she mentioned it. I emailed recruiter man asking if I was REALLY on for the 12th....

NO.

I'm actually apparently scheduled for the 19th. Now, some of you might be reading this and thinking, "are you kidding? How are gov't employees so spacey?" Well, I've worked in the private sector, and I haven't seen much difference.

Despite the fact that it will cost more money, I will have the peace and sanity (and ride, thanks brah) for my flight physical.

Now I just need a new recruiter in Boston (already in the works), and a start to my security clearance.


Le Sigh.

Tick...Tock...

I found out two weeks ago today that I got a pilot slot in the Air Force (OMG!!!)

Since then, NOTHING has happened.

I mentioned that I had issues scheduling my TBAS, and it went something like this:

1) I told my recruiter before I left for Israel that I would be back May 15 and would like to take the TBAS as soon as possible after that. I also knew that I'd take it at Hanscom Air Force Base, so I passed that info along to him too.
2) I got back from Israel, and he had scheduled nothing
3) I called. "I can't find the contact at Hanscom for the TBAS." he said.
4) I knew an Air Force guy at Hanscom that I met through flying. I called him and begged him to put me in touch with someone.
5) He put me in touch with the officer recruiter at Hanscom
6) I emailed her telling her I needed to schedule the TBAS.
7) She emailed back and gave me the contact info of the guy who does it.
8) I forwarded the entire email chain to my recruiter
9) He STILL couldn't reach the TBAS scheduling man
10) I emailed Hanscom recruiter. She sent a scathing email to the scheduler.
11) He finally got back to me.

Basically, I scheduled the TBAS by myself.

Now, to be fair, my recruiter is in Ohio. But one of my next steps is to get put on a "courtesy ship" and be transferred to a recruiter in Boston. I feel like that shouldn't be hard. But apparently it takes more than two weeks. I know that apart from me, 4 other people were accepted in this board. So my recruiter has 5 people he is juggling. I feel like that is not an insane amount to handle.

Anyway, the lesson I learned from TBAS is that if I nudge a little bit, I can get things done. If I sit and wait for people to get back to me, it's likely I'll be sitting and waiting for a while. I want to go to Officer Training in February at the latest. I've been told this is feasible. I do not want to be sitting and waiting (and getting older!!!) to go.

So, since I know that the recruiter at Hanscom SEEMS to be good at getting things done, I emailed her over the weekend and let her know what my next steps are and if she can help me attain them sooner rather than later. For example, I know that the flight physical is going to be at Hanscom. I feel like that is something that is easily scheduled. I mean, it's a doctors appointment for crying out loud.

I know I sound kind of angry, but I just don't like waiting and twiddling my thumbs. I want to make sure that I exhaust all resources to GET IT DONE.

The End. I hope everyone has a lovely forthcoming week :)

Board results released.

I heard today. If you are my facebook friend, I kindly ask that you not share this on facebook.

If you already know how it went down, scroll down to hear the caveats...

Of course, I thought I'd hear between 4-5pm Eastern Standard Time, so I figured I'd save all stressing til that time period.

I was at work. I was training a new server at Dolphin. When I had a free moment (around 12:20) I looked at my phone and saw a missed call from my recruiter. I checked my email (LOVE for iPhones!) and saw that I had an email from him that said

"Hi Ma'am,
Please give me a call when you can. I have the selection results. Thanks!"

Ah! I told the other servers, "I NEED to make a phone call, please watch my tables!!!"

And I ran outside. I called my recruiter and he said
"Hello"
"Hi Sargent Hileman, this is Katrina Kaufman"
"Hello Ms. Kaufman! How are you doing?"
"I'm SO nervous! What's going on?"
So...it's Monday morning, and the board released their results..."
"...And? Any news?" [Of course I'm dying a slow and horrible death inside because I. JUST. WANT. TO. KNOW.]
"Let me be the first to congratulate you on your acceptance to the Air Force!"

Ok.

[Eyes to the sky, freak out inside, moderately loud, feminine scream on the outside]

Some iteration of "Oh my god! no way! Are you serious?!?!" came out of my mouth.

THEN, of course, the immediate question......

"WHAT DID I GET IN FOR?"

"Ma'am you got a pilot slot"

As I just wrote that I still can't believe it. I thought I had a decent shot at pilot until I took the TBAS (hand eye coordination). When I got a 30 out of 100 on that, I thought I was absolutely done. Maybe navigator or air battle manager, but certainly not pilot. Pilot. No way.

Ok so this is awesome, but I as wrote in one of my other posts, this is the TINIEST hurdle out of many. The next two are coming right up. First off, the flight physical. My eyes are not perfect, and if for some reason they can't be fixed by surgery, or during the flight physical they find out something else funky, I'm already out of my pilot slot. I'd be bumped to Combat System Officer (STILL AWESOME though).

Then, the security clearance. I've done a lot of awesome things and lived in a lot of awesome places, but some things probably look a little weird...some of my ex boyfriends are not the most savoury characters, and I DID spend 4 years living alone and traveling to all sorts of places in and around fairly nascent ex-communist countries...It's definitely not WASP-y "AMERICA!"-ish behavior. ANYWAY. We shall see. 

I just want to remind everyone that YES! This is SO exciting! But at the same time, I'm not home free. There are so many stumbling blocks still in my way that I must overcome. Ideally, I'll be off to Officer Training School by February or March, but who knows? It could be later....

Anyway, I am grateful to the support of all my friends and family who know about this. I hope that I pass everything else and that I will be in flight school just over a year from now....

Waiting.

The Board that made the decision regarding my acceptance has apparently been "delayed".

I was supposed to find out September 5th if I got in. I got a call on September 5th from my recruiter. He said,

"The board's decision has been delayed. You will hopefully hear by the end of this week, or next week."

Well. It's 11pm on a Friday night. I was told I'd hear between 4-5pm Eastern standard time. I haven't heard anything. Yes or No. I know that I'm not going to hear until next week. Meaning 3 days of angsty waiting. I hate it. I've been waiting since JUNE. I know it's just a  couple of days, but it is so frustrating!


I wanted to ask you all about what I should do if I find out the answer is "NO."

There are several options that I can take advantage of.

I will write them out in detail when I actually get a yay or nay. However, I wanted to give an update on flying. The thing I'm most afraid of is.................TALKING TO PEOPLE!

I was a tour guide. I AM a waitress. I talk to people all the time.  Public speaking is not a problem, and  I enjoy being the "center" of attention! BUT! For some reason I totally overthink talking to the tower. Yesterday, Mike and I did the "ring of fire" which means flying from Bedford to Beverly to Manchester, to Fitchburg to Bedford. Different airports, different classes, SO crazy. I... researched, and failed. It was so hard. I just got caught up in the details. I had quite a few issues talking to all the different towers/approches. I think I shall meet up with Mike and have him give me all sorts of random calls that I have to answer.

I kind of understand what controllers tell me, but at the same time I freeze when something isn't perfect. For example. I was flying into Manchester, and the controller asked if I could see the airport (at 11 o'clock) from 6 miles. I was actually 8 miles away, so I totally freaked out. I didn't know if I should make a correction that I was further, or if I should  just acknowledge that it was me. I just froze. and it was like my mind and my ears just blocked everything because I couldn't handle it.

GR! I clearly need to get over this.

Will let you all know what happens.

Cau!

Busy life

I feel awful that I haven't written recently.

I've been having some issues with my feet, but don't want to write about it here for reasons that I also don't want to write about!

Primarily, I have been super busy working. Flying has put me in debt about 6,000 dollars. For someone who worked as a substitute teacher earning 80 dollars a day, and working sometimes 1-2 days a week, I'm still in a hole. I didn't want to get a "real job" because if I get Air Force, I don't want to be a jerk and give two weeks notice and create bad blood with an employer.

I picked up serving. I work at Dolphin Seafood in Cambridge, MA. I just got promoted to Manager, so I manage about once/twice a week, and serve the other 3-4 days. It's a long day. Managing is a solid 12 hour day. Serving is 10-11 hours. I like working hard, and I like that my days fly by. It doesn't leave much time for a social life or flying. However, flying is on the back burner. I already submitted my Air Force application, and no amount of flying is going to help it anymore. Yes, I want my pilot license, but I will fit it in when I have time. I haven't been able to practice much because of work and the weather. I might try to go tomorrow morning...

I have to say, I'm nervous/scared about talking to the tower. I listen to it, and it seems like no big deal, but I get so scared when I have to talk. I always feel like I'm going to say something wrong. So I'd rather not say anything at all. Bad idea.

It feels so far away. Since I'm not involved with anything Air Force anymore, I feel like it's a cloud that I will never reach. Obviously, I HOPE that I get accepted in September, but I feel the reality more and more that I may not get accepted. I don't want to be a defeatist, just a realist. I think about what I would really do if that were the case. The worst part is that I have a laundry list of things that I could do/want to do. I'll go more in depth later if I actually don't get in.

For now, keep me in your thoughts, cross your fingers, and come to Dolphin and tip me 100% on your bill ;-)

Cross Country

I never read the paper.

Don't get me wrong - I read "The Economist", Praguemonitor.com, sometimes the NY Times (online) and I occasionally watch CNN, so I'm definitely not un-informed. I just don't read the actual, physical local paper - In this case, "The Boston Globe"

Last Thursday though, I was at the pool with mom, sans reading material, and she had the paper. I flipped to the Metro West section, and saw that the Blue Angels had an air show in Portsmouth. Ohmigod. If you don't know, the blue angels are navy fighter jets (F-18s) that do acrobatics

So cool

More information here,

Obviously, this is totally something I would love to go to. However, I had a friend in town, and I wasn't sure she'd want to go, etc. etc.

It dropped from my mind.



Mike and I  had done some ground work before on Cross Country flying. I'd explain it to you, but it's very technical, and not VERY interesting. Suffice to say, one has to plan a flight before flying to make sure you have enough gas, make sure you have landmarks set, make sure you have the right heading, etc. I'll write more about it later and include pictures of my instruments.

So Saturday, I was supposed to do my first cross country with Mike. Now, I like Mike. But he is so scattered and kind of flakey. He's cancelled on me a lot of times. Flight instructing isn't his first job. First he's a music instructor, then he is a pilot for a charter plane company, and on the side, he is a flight instructor.

I find it fantastically annoying, and want to switch flight instructors, but it's too late now, unfortunately. Saturday, when we were supposed to go, he meets up with me at 1, and says, "Kat, I have to go to my accountants first. Come with me and we'll talk about the flight". I was SOOOOOO annoyed, but what could I do?

It took an hour and a half to get to his accountants.

His accountant lives in a disgustingly messy apartment in Malden, MA. Like, shockingly disgusting. Papers everywhere. Business cards and old posters pinned and taped to the wall. The stove was obviously inoperable - boxes and papers all over it. Literally - cobwebs hanging from the ceiling. It was so gross. I was getting more and more pissed by the second. Especially since he couldn't operate his frikin copy machine. ugh.

Anyway. We finally left, and kind of rushed through the pre-flight stuff. I mean, it was my first cross country, and I would've liked a little more time, but I still don't know all the steps to do when planning a cross country. I thought I covered everything.

We flew to Stanford, Maine. I actually did a really good job. I could see everything that I expected to see. It was absolutely beautiful. I asked Mike when we were flying if he had ever seen sky-divers when flying. He said "YES. If you're ever flying around Lebanon New Hampshire, make sure you be VERY careful!"

Shortly after that, I saw three things kind of "falling" towards the bay that encloses Portsmouth, New Hampshire. I said "Mike! Look! What's that?"
"They must be skydivers" he responded.

Then I saw white smoke come from all of them. In a flash I remembered the paper and that the Blue Angels air show was in Portsmouth. And so were we.

"I think it's a Blue Angels air show" I said. Mike immediately turned the plane inland to give the planes a berth. I forgot to check the notices to airmen (NOTAMs) he said. He started tuning into the Portsmouth ATIS, which gives pilots info about the airport. Usually regarding weather, but other stuff too.

Lo and behold, there was a 5 mile no fly radius around Portsmouth. Mike told me that had we flown into the air show, he would have lost his license, and I would have lost mine too (since my student pilot license is essentially "loaning" his).

So we basically almost flew into a Blue Angels show. Funnnnn (not really).

Anyway, my first cross country went great. I can't wait to keep going and FINALLY get my license.