Personal Narrative: Advanced Training Flight

long and boring, but we finally shipped off to training eleven days later. As I was sitting in the

“What was it like having to share the huge tent with all the other Air Force

Once upon a time, there was a boy named Jack and he could make any of his fantasies come true, and all he wanted to do was go to flight school. But that was the only thing his mom wouldn’t allow him to do. He didn’t want to use his abilities because he was convinced he was going to become a great lawyer one day and he needed to practice a lot. Everyday he would beg his mom to let him go to flight school, and everyday she would say wait until your 14th birthday. Until finally, his 14th birthday came, and he came home from school that day after not asking for a couple of months and asked her to let him go to flight school. But his mom, completely forgetting about their deal, getting surprised yells out “No, I thought you were done with asking me about that and I thought we said you would wait until you were older.” “But mom, you said I could go to flight school when I turned 14 and today I turn 14.” His seemed to get caught off guard by that, “Well I’m saying no now.” “Really mom, I thought we had a deal.” “There never was a deal.” “Yes there was, you said...” “I did not anything whatsoever.” “Yes you did.” By this time we were both yelling our heads off. Neither of us wanting to give up, until he said something he shouldn’t have and got sent to his room. On the way there he thought something he shouldn’t have and accidentally made it come true. The next day, when he arrived at school, he new something was going to happen during lunch that day because of last night and he

The next weeks were filled with classes and exercises, waking up before the sun and not getting enough sleep. During my classes I learned not only survival skills but skills that would help me pick my rate in the Navy. Although the exercising was brutal, it taught me self discipline and will power. Along with the skills I learned in class, I was also taught how to be a proper military member. I was taught that my shoes always needed to be shiny and my uniforms were always to be ironed. When I was not in classes, I was in tech training. Tech training was the time where I learned basic survival skills that would ensure my safety whether on the ship or on shore. In Tech training, I learned the skills of a Sailor. I learned to handle and shoot the M9 service pistol and M870 shotgun correctly. I also learned the basics of a seamanship which included basic water survival and fire fighting because a fire can break out on ship without any notice. While the time in boot camp was stressful, I can look back and see how it prepared me for the life ahead of me while I was serving on board the USS Enterprise. I left boot camp on January 23, 2002. years but it help shape me as a better

It was a short drive over to the parking lot outside of building 7518. The two-story khaki- colored building resembled the barracks at the Security Police School at Lackland. The building itself provided a sense of familiarity, which helped ease some of my anxiety and uncertainty. Sgt. Billingsly escorted me into the Dorm Managers office where I presented my military orders to Staff Sargent Kingsley, the manager in charge of maintaining order in the barracks. He was also charged with ensuring that the rules were followed with regards to maintenance and visitors. He had dark brown hair, and by the looks of him, he spent hours in the gym lifting. He offered a friendly welcome and asked if the PI was my first duty station. I said, “Sir,

“Go! Go! Go!” yelled Drill Sergeant Saunders. I must have fallen asleep for a few seconds because I did not hear him give the order to start crawling. I opened my eyes to all three drill sergeants surrounding me and screaming at the top of their lungs. In my mind I kept asking myself, "Why did I join the U.S. Army?"

Did I make it? That was the question I was asking myself the night before what was going to be one of the most special days of my life. After being called to leave for Air Force Basic Training on a short 8-day notice, I was now finally at the end of my journey and tomorrow I would graduate and become an Airmen. The nerves and excitement were running through my body as I was unable to sleep in anticipation of the big day. Now the day is here and I get to celebrate all my hard work by seeing my family and earning the title of an Air Force Airmen.

To begin with, arriving at Ft Sill, Oklahoma from Florida was a drastic change in cold weather, elevation, and environment. “Welcome to the US Army, privates”, I remember the Drill Sergeants saying with smirks on their faces. Everything went from being peaceful and calm, to sudden screams, and rushing as if the world was about to come to an end. We were escorted out of the bus with eyes watching us from every single angle. As soon as everyone lined up, we had to unpack our bags and throw every belonging on the floor in order to be checked. The next day, an

On the second day, we learned more formation stances and positions including fall in, fall out, present arms, order arms, attention, at ease, left face, right face, and about face. I also was introduced on how to operate a military-style living space. In the morning when everyone got up at 6:30 am, we were required to make sure nothing personal was visible and fix our beds so they were uniform. To do this, we were required to fix each corner of the bed so it had a “hospital corner,” fold the top over, and have the blanket so tight that there are no wrinkles and one could bounce a ball on the bed.

Day one was possibly the most stressful day of the whole ordeal. From the start, I doubted myself. How was I, a 160lb unfit kid, supposed to carry 70lbs of kit and march 16 miles thru hills and forest? How was I going to finish complete all this and carry on to become what my country needed of me? And then I heard it “Push on! This was going to be your

Hey Nate, Congratulations on recently finishing up with the Air force. Where is Holloman, New Mexico AFB exactly; never heard of that particular post? I actually grew up not to far from White Sands Missile Range, and drilled out of Kirkland AFB for a couple years. How does the reality feel acclimating back to civilian life? I could not handle the process myself. After leaving active duty I crawled back to the reserves a few months later. What is your business concentration in? I too am eight classes away from my business degree in marketing, then go straight to my masters program.

People always ask “How hard is it to start your helicopter?” and my usual response is “It’s actually quite difficult”. There’s a right way and a wrong way to start our [St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office] helicopter. If you skipped or missed a step during the start sequence, you stand the risk of “cooking” a $250,000-dollar jet turbine engine. First and foremost, when you climb into any aircraft; helicopter or airplane, you should follow the Cockpit Preflight Checklist. For instance, in our helicopter the Cockpit Preflight Checklist includes the following; shoulder harnesses locked and checked; overhead switches and breakers, verified; instruments are verified in their static state; fuel valve is on; the force trim and hydraulic boost switch are in the

It was mid June now all the lakes and rivers in Alaska were completely thawed now. So it was no surprise when my supply company Alaskans Last Line told me I would be using a floatplane. But instead of converting my plane they told me “We don’t have time to convert you plane form the tundra tires it has on right now to floats. That could take a day and we don’t have time for it. So we are assigning you to the Champ GC7 with the tail number 911.” They said that I needed to take off right away because a storm was coming our way. They made me take off without even completing my preflight checklist because of how fast the storming was moving. They said it would be fine because the mechanic already went through the whole plane but

It all started on a day,unlike others me and my unit was doing our daily routine when we received a word from command that a group of rebels were aiming to attack the city we were the first response"All hands on deck I repeat all hands on deck!"the Admiral called over the speaker as the TIE fighter pilots got their equipment and got set up.After a while the shuttles began to load up with troopers I remember feeling a Sense of fear since we had no experience in battle it was odd for us and just completely scary.The Shuttle began to take off,we loaded our E-11s and looked at each other I remember one thing I hate flying in these fucking

I was cut off by the a fellow soldier silencing us. We were in the central tent, and tables with papers and diagrams were strewn on top of them. The commander was already talking, so we quickly found an empty table and sat down.