Casual Status at Columbus AFB

6 Oct 05 (24 days till UPT begins)

As you might have read in our family news page, we moved during the Katrina Hurricane, the worst storm I have ever seen. We escaped the damage that was typically seen on TV and we thank God for that. We arrived to Columbus the first of Sep 05 and I will be on “casual” status for about two months till class starts. These two months have been wonderful to get the family settled down, find a church, build my confidence by studying ahead and get use to the area. I highly recommend moving well ahead of your report no later than date, if possible. I also took two weeks of leave at the end of September to go home to GA and see the folks. See pictures below of Columbus AFB.

A few of many T-37 Tweets here at Columbus

The beautiful T-38 Talons

The T-1 Tone

The transition office and classrooms are in this building

Here is a great Aerial photo of Columbus AFB. Three runways: one for each of the trainers (T-37, T-38, T-1).

I have met about half the class thus far and so far I stand to be the Class Leader (highest ranking: Capt). Everyone I have met has been very friendly: I’m thankful for this. So far we have about 11 males and 1 female. During these months I’ve had the opportunity to assure I’m in shape, read the aircraft manuals, memorize the boldface (important procedures to use in basic emergency situations) and operational limits for the aircraft and use the CFTs (cockpit familiarization trainers) to get use the the numerous instruments (See pics below). Some students in transitional/casual status are assigned permanent jobs around base while others just fill in where needed. I was assigned during September to the Katrina evacuation center but when I returned from leave it had closed down due to lack of use. Now I help out when volunteers are needed but otherwise do the things I’ve mentioned above.

Everyone in our flight seems to enjoy being together and we an event scheduled from last week till training begins. We have a cookout and Halloween party scheduled and I’ll bring updates and pictures when I get them. I ordered a new camera, the Casio Exilim EX-500, a camera the size of a credit card and about .5” thick. Hopefully, I’ll be able to catch all the events and moments and record them.

24 Oct 05 (7 Days till UPT begins)

All things are going well since the last update. I’ve received the camera and been happily taking pictures. I’ve continued to read the 1T-37B-1 and daily go through the cockpit checklists in the CFT (cockpit familiarization trainers). Almost 21 people are here so far and getting ready for class to start. We now have three Captains total so I won’t be class leader since the other two Capts have more time-in-grade. We have two students from Singapore and several members are from various Guard and Reserve units. Tomorrow (5 duty days prior to class start) we can pick up our flight suits and other equipment and on Friday (2 duty days prior) we can pick up our aircraft publications. We are planning on getting the class together prior to class start (besides a party) and take a bold face test to assure that everybody has got those down. It would be nice for everyone to pass two tests on consecutive days so that our class may begin to wear flight suits instead of blues. If you wear blues here, you are either new or in trouble. We have a Halloween party this weekend for the whole class and it will be good to get to know the new people. I’m trying to mentally prepare myself for a year of friendly competition so that I can deal with stress and succeed in a healthy manner. 

26 Oct 05 (5 Days till UPT begins)

Wow!  Day 1 is almost here. Well, yesterday half the class went together to pick our flight gear at individual issue. This is a lengthy process as you have to try on all of your clothing items and ensure they fit. This is definitely imperative that everything fit because you don’t have a opportunity to get a different size reissued. The total bill crept just over $1000 with the AF paying, of course. Here is the list: 3 flight suits, winter flight jacket, summer flight jacket, old-style flight boots, 2 pairs of thermals (tops & bottoms), nomex (lightweight) flight gloves, winter (leather) flight gloves with black wool inserts, helmet bag, black flight sunglasses (cool a few decades ago), hearing protection for the flight line, winter wool hat (see pic below of our model Andy), small flashlight, bulky but cool Casio G-Shock watch, flight computer (wiz-wheel), knee board, checklist leg strap, flask, flat ruler/stencil. After lunch we dropped off our flight suits and jackets at the parachute shop with rank and they put on the velcro & rank, which I picked up today. By today, everyone has check in and we have about 24 people (3 captains, 2 foreign students, approx 5 Guard and Reserve members with the remainder active duty 2Lts). We have five married couples, our family the only one with kids. Also our commissioning makeup is about half from the Academy and the other half an even mix of OTS, ROTC and AMS (Guard). Everyone seems very smart and competent , so I will just do the very best I can with the abilities God has given me and follow God’s plan of what I will fly. Tonight we went to Backyard Burgers as a class and enjoyed getting to know the new people who just arrived.

Andy modeling the ear protection, sunglasses and winter hat with Tin demonstrating what a normal person looks like.

Someone testing my camera and capturing my utter confusing in getting my flight gear.

This pic and below pics were taken at Backyard Burgers, Columbus, MS. 

31 Oct 05 (1 Day until UPT begins)

Since the last update I have picked up pubs (publications) for class and our class had a Halloween party. Two days prior to class start, we were allowed to pick up our checklists, study materials and aircraft manuals. The study materials included weather, physiology, survival, fitness, aerodynamics, etc. This morning all were invited and six members of our class got together and prayed for our class and the upcoming year. We discussed keeping the larger goal of carrying out God’s mission above our own ambitions. This doesn’t mean we can’t work towards a goal but that we must maintain our Christian walk while getting there. Here are some pictures and videos I took while sitting and watching the flightline.

T-37 two-ship formation

T-38 two-ship formation

T-37 taxi

On Sat, 29 Oct, we had a class Halloween party and it was great. We continued to get to know our new class members and relax before we begin our year of training. I have heard that other classes barely know each other and don’t really get together before class begins. I really don’t recommend this because I feel comfortable with all my class mates and we even got together last Thursday to take a boldface test together. Well this is my last update while being on casual status. Tomorrow I will wake up and actually be in pilot school, not just waiting around. Below are some pics from the Halloween party.