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.

When I grow up.....

My mom found this today:

Let me re-type it:

- Go to Russia
        -Visit Black Sea
        -Visit countries like Uzbec.
        -Go to Moscow, St. Petersburg, Leningrad
- Get a creamish brown gelding [horse] call him Georgie
- FLY
- Move to Hollywood next door to Leonardo Di Caprio [I wrote this list in 1997, after Titanic came out...]
- Be in a movie 


 First of all, for those who KNOW ME really well, you will realize that point number one has been a solid goal for about a year and half (I've been researching visas, travel ideas, trying to get some family members to come, etc). I shelved it recently in exchange for South America. Why? Because there are MANY Air Force bases in Asia (Kyrgyzstan for one...) that would allow me to fulfill point one very easily. There are no bases in South America, so I had considered doing a massive trip there before I go to OTS so that I can knock it out of my "to travel" list.

About the horse, I've upgraded my pet wishes to a Fox and a Goat, but it still fits along the "outrageous pet" theme.

Point. Number. Three. May I refer you back to my first blog post. Since high school, I kind of pushed this wish/dream of flying to the back burner. I honestly thought that it would never happen. Note how it is the only point in all caps.

This list makes me laugh and also makes me a little proud. I've jumped around from job to job, relationship to relationship, and country to country. I often feel a little scattered and I'm sure that people who know me and watch me wonder what the f*ck I'm doing! However, the things that I wanted to do when I was 12, I STILL WANT TO DO. I am happy that my adult self isn't succumbing to the status quo and doing what society expects me to do. 

Addressing point 4: Leonardo Di Caprio is a hottie. If he is interested in dating me, I'm down.
Point 5: I would still love to be in a movie. Who DOESN'T want to be famous? :)

Next Steps

Hi Everyone,
So I've had some time to get over the crappy TBAS score.

On Thursday I was interviewed by the commanding officer of my recruiter. She writes up her opinion/recommendation and submits it along with my application. It was a similar interview to the one I did earlier when I was applying to intel. I basically got asked about leadership positions. Apparently she would have liked it if I were in more leadership positions, but otherwise, she said that I seemed like a really strong candidate.

My recruiter went over next steps with me. If I don't get accepted, that's it. I'm done. I can reapply in six months to another rated or non-rated board (I'd probably apply again to the non-rated board for an intelligence position).
If I get accepted, I will go again to MEPS (Medical entrance processing station) here in Boston, and since I've already done a medical, I will sign the paperwork that basically commits me to X job in the Air Force. I will also do a swearing in, and be put on "delayed deployment". My recruiter is going to transfer my package to a Boston based recruiter, and apparently, I have to meet with a recruiter once a month before I'm deployed. This was news to me, because I had actually planned on doing a bunch of travel come September. However, I will just cross that bridge when I come to it. Maybe there's some way that I can get a two or three month stretch free.
Also, I will have to go do a Class IA flying physical. This is going to be a more stringent physical that checks me much more intensively than the one I did earlier. Apparently, it takes about a month to get all the results (don't know why). Then they will do my security clearance.
I looked at OTS "class dates" (the beginning of my 12 weeks in officer training school), and there is one October 30. I'm almost  positive that I will not be done in time for that. The next one is January 8, and the next one after that is February 26. There is a good chance that I will be in either the January or February class. I'm hoping for the January class...I mean, I'm tired of waiting...I'd like to get started...

The last board announced their decision at the end of February (Feb 28). My recruiter said that from the people who were accepted from that last board, one has left in June, and the other 6 are leaving in July. So hopefully, the January date will be possible for me...In addition, the last rated board accepted about 68% of applicants, so if that is the trend to go by, I think my chances of acceptance are more than good...

Apart from that, I've been working as a server in a restaurant, 2 restaurants, actually, and continuing to fly. Unfortunately, I am in quite a bit of debt from flying lessons, and I can't justify the expense of doing more, so it's currently on hold. There's no rush though. Now that my application is submitted, I can't do anything to "improve" it, so I can take my time with the pilot license. I'm just going to keep studying the FAA questions and practice tests, and then I'll learn about flying "cross country" with Mike.

And that's all for now...