His flight from class 17-06 (L Flight) is pictured below - he's right in the middle!
Showing posts with label t-38. Show all posts
Showing posts with label t-38. Show all posts
Thursday, July 6, 2017
ENJJPT (Pilot Training) Graduation
A couple weeks after drop night (where Dan found out what jet he'll be flying for his career), Dan accomplished a huge dream! He graduated from Air Force Pilot Training and pinned on his shiny new wings! He is officially an Air Force pilot! I couldn't be more proud of him and all the hard work he has put in over the last many, many years to reach this goal.
His flight from class 17-06 (L Flight) is pictured below - he's right in the middle!
Dan also received an award at graduation that was a surprise to us all - the Officership Excellence Award from the Military Officers Association of America! He is a true leader and is always putting others before himself to help them when they need it. I am so proud of him for receiving this!
His flight from class 17-06 (L Flight) is pictured below - he's right in the middle!
Thursday, May 25, 2017
Drop Night is Coming!
Drop night is QUICKLY approaching, and I just wanted to write about it and what it means to us.
First and foremost, it is set for Friday, June 2nd, 2017 at 7:00PM for Dan's class at ENJJPT.
What is drop night? I get asked this question ALL. THE. TIME. Drop night is when the student pilots from one class (my husband is at Euro-NATO Joint Jet Pilot Training (ENJJPT) at Sheppard Air Force Base, but there are three other Air Force Undergraduate Pilot Training (UPT) bases too - Vance AFB, Laughlin AFB, and Columbus AFB) find out IN FRONT OF EVERYONE what plane they will be flying for their Air Force career.
Dan is specifically in class 17-06, but there is a drop night every six weeks here at Sheppard. The dates vary with the other three UPT bases, but drop nights happen at regular intervals.
How are the student pilots selected for their aircraft assignments? I also hear this one a lot. The student pilots are ranked within their flights and their classes (each class has two flights) based on several factors from their training, check rides, etc. throughout the year-long program. They also get to submit a "dream sheet", where they rank each and every aircraft the Air Force has to offer, starting with their top choice and going all the way to last place. Based on their ranking AND what they hope the fly, the people who choose just kind of go down the list.
What does Dan hope to fly? This is probably the most frequent question I get from family and friends - ALL THE TIME! While he certainly has preferences (and I'll get to those), he has longed to be an Air Force pilot for so long that he will just be happy to get paid to fly anything! He's not one of those people (and oh do they exist!) who will be super upset and unable to function if he doesn't get one of his top choices. But, hey, Air Force Gods... it wouldn't hurt to give him one anyway! ;-) Dan's top three planes on his dream sheet are the F-35, F-22, and F-15E. We really struggled to place those in any kind of order, though, so if he gets ANY of those top three, it'll be like winning the jackpot! His next three are the F-16, A-10, and F-15C, which would still be cool but aren't AS desirable. Then, he skips down to the heavies - or cargo planes - C-130, C-17, C-21, C-5, etc. After the heavies come the bombers and finally FAIPing, which is what we absolutely do NOT want (staying here at Sheppard and him being an instructor pilot - he's already a 1st Lieutenant, prior enlisted, and pretty old for the average student pilot), so we're hoping to avoid this step, but each drop has at least one and sometimes two in the mix... so we know it's still a possibility.
No matte what the outcome, we are just excited to KNOW so we can start planning our next move! That's right - whatever plane he is assigned also tells us what specific base we will be moving to! We won't know EXACTLY when, but we'll have a pretty good idea, and the planner in me is just dying to start looking at houses, activities for Annabelle, an OB and hospital for Baby Cookie #2, etc. I NEED TO KNOW.
This journey really has been a long time coming. When I met Dan in 2008, he was already in the Air National Guard and pursuing a degree in Aviation. He had always dreamed of flying in the Air Force, but that didn't seem like a reality until he was accepted into the Air Force Academy shortly after we started dating in 2009 and went active duty. Basically, our entire relationship has been focused on this one long-term dream and goal. He has poured every little bit of himself into being the best cadet, then officer, then Master's student, and now student pilot that he could possibly be in order to achieve his dreams. No matter what aircraft he is assigned to, we know it will be the right fit for our family because you just don't work this hard for nothing. It's all coming to fruition NEXT WEEK, He will still have three more weeks of pilot training after drop night before graduation, but I can already tell those three weeks are going to be so amazing because we'll KNOW everything we need to know. No more guessing. No more fretting.
This studly husband of mine has worked his tail off for NO JOKE eight years to achieve the goal of becoming a pilot in the world's greatest Air Force. And here we are... about to watch an absolute DREAM COME TRUE. (I'm not proud or anything... ;-) )
Please pray, send good wishes, positive thoughts, crossed fingers, etc. our way next week, as I know we will both be an anxious, nervous wreck!
First and foremost, it is set for Friday, June 2nd, 2017 at 7:00PM for Dan's class at ENJJPT.
What is drop night? I get asked this question ALL. THE. TIME. Drop night is when the student pilots from one class (my husband is at Euro-NATO Joint Jet Pilot Training (ENJJPT) at Sheppard Air Force Base, but there are three other Air Force Undergraduate Pilot Training (UPT) bases too - Vance AFB, Laughlin AFB, and Columbus AFB) find out IN FRONT OF EVERYONE what plane they will be flying for their Air Force career.
Dan is specifically in class 17-06, but there is a drop night every six weeks here at Sheppard. The dates vary with the other three UPT bases, but drop nights happen at regular intervals.
How are the student pilots selected for their aircraft assignments? I also hear this one a lot. The student pilots are ranked within their flights and their classes (each class has two flights) based on several factors from their training, check rides, etc. throughout the year-long program. They also get to submit a "dream sheet", where they rank each and every aircraft the Air Force has to offer, starting with their top choice and going all the way to last place. Based on their ranking AND what they hope the fly, the people who choose just kind of go down the list.
What does Dan hope to fly? This is probably the most frequent question I get from family and friends - ALL THE TIME! While he certainly has preferences (and I'll get to those), he has longed to be an Air Force pilot for so long that he will just be happy to get paid to fly anything! He's not one of those people (and oh do they exist!) who will be super upset and unable to function if he doesn't get one of his top choices. But, hey, Air Force Gods... it wouldn't hurt to give him one anyway! ;-) Dan's top three planes on his dream sheet are the F-35, F-22, and F-15E. We really struggled to place those in any kind of order, though, so if he gets ANY of those top three, it'll be like winning the jackpot! His next three are the F-16, A-10, and F-15C, which would still be cool but aren't AS desirable. Then, he skips down to the heavies - or cargo planes - C-130, C-17, C-21, C-5, etc. After the heavies come the bombers and finally FAIPing, which is what we absolutely do NOT want (staying here at Sheppard and him being an instructor pilot - he's already a 1st Lieutenant, prior enlisted, and pretty old for the average student pilot), so we're hoping to avoid this step, but each drop has at least one and sometimes two in the mix... so we know it's still a possibility.
No matte what the outcome, we are just excited to KNOW so we can start planning our next move! That's right - whatever plane he is assigned also tells us what specific base we will be moving to! We won't know EXACTLY when, but we'll have a pretty good idea, and the planner in me is just dying to start looking at houses, activities for Annabelle, an OB and hospital for Baby Cookie #2, etc. I NEED TO KNOW.
This journey really has been a long time coming. When I met Dan in 2008, he was already in the Air National Guard and pursuing a degree in Aviation. He had always dreamed of flying in the Air Force, but that didn't seem like a reality until he was accepted into the Air Force Academy shortly after we started dating in 2009 and went active duty. Basically, our entire relationship has been focused on this one long-term dream and goal. He has poured every little bit of himself into being the best cadet, then officer, then Master's student, and now student pilot that he could possibly be in order to achieve his dreams. No matter what aircraft he is assigned to, we know it will be the right fit for our family because you just don't work this hard for nothing. It's all coming to fruition NEXT WEEK, He will still have three more weeks of pilot training after drop night before graduation, but I can already tell those three weeks are going to be so amazing because we'll KNOW everything we need to know. No more guessing. No more fretting.
This studly husband of mine has worked his tail off for NO JOKE eight years to achieve the goal of becoming a pilot in the world's greatest Air Force. And here we are... about to watch an absolute DREAM COME TRUE. (I'm not proud or anything... ;-) )
Please pray, send good wishes, positive thoughts, crossed fingers, etc. our way next week, as I know we will both be an anxious, nervous wreck!
Wednesday, January 13, 2016
A PCS is Upon Us
When Lieutenant Lovemuffin graduated from the Air Force Academy in 2014, he was all set to head to pilot training. He's been flying for YEARS and can't wait to train in Air Force planes.
... but then he was offered a slot at AFIT, the Air Force Institute of Technology. A free master's degree? Heck yeah! Dan will be graduating in March as a Master of Physics, and his ladies (Annabelle and I) are pretty proud of his hard work while writing his incredibly long thesis.
He is chomping at the bit to be in the air again, though. His old flying team teammates are finishing pilot training in waves, and he is just stuck in Ohio going to school... still. But it'll all be worth it!
In fact, it'll SOON be here... because we are moving to TEXAS! Sheppard Air Force Base, here we come!
We've actually known since before heading to AFIT. These were his original orders... but we didn't know if the Air Force would mess anything up. Dan received his official orders about a month ago, and he'll be flying down soon to look at houses. We'll leave Ohio at the end of March, and Dan is SO excited to start flying again!
He'll be at ENJJPT (Euro-Nato Joint Jet Pilot Training), where he will start out flying the T-6 and move on to the T-38 before finding out what aircraft he'll be flying for his career. We are so ready to be there!
... but then he was offered a slot at AFIT, the Air Force Institute of Technology. A free master's degree? Heck yeah! Dan will be graduating in March as a Master of Physics, and his ladies (Annabelle and I) are pretty proud of his hard work while writing his incredibly long thesis.
He is chomping at the bit to be in the air again, though. His old flying team teammates are finishing pilot training in waves, and he is just stuck in Ohio going to school... still. But it'll all be worth it!
In fact, it'll SOON be here... because we are moving to TEXAS! Sheppard Air Force Base, here we come!
We've actually known since before heading to AFIT. These were his original orders... but we didn't know if the Air Force would mess anything up. Dan received his official orders about a month ago, and he'll be flying down soon to look at houses. We'll leave Ohio at the end of March, and Dan is SO excited to start flying again!
He'll be at ENJJPT (Euro-Nato Joint Jet Pilot Training), where he will start out flying the T-6 and move on to the T-38 before finding out what aircraft he'll be flying for his career. We are so ready to be there!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
