This is the post where I tell everyone to do better than what I have done.
In middle school I got all A's, maybe a B or two, but I was a great student.
Freshman year of High School I did wonderful as well.
Sophomore year things started to drop.
Academics are IMPERATIVE in the course to becoming a pilot. Not only is it the number one thing that will stay with you throughout the entire application process, but it's your insurance. What I mean by that is that if you are going to change your mind, or if something happens and you aren't accepted, or maybe you drop out of pilot training then having that education underneath your belt with good grades is the best things that you can do for yourself.
So not only is it important to be working out, doing extracurricular activities and all that, but GRADES are by far the most important thing for you.
Time Management
I'll probably devote an entire post to time management, but for the time being let it be said that learning time management early will help you have a social life and do everything that you need to do.
If your grades are bad, don't lose hope. I had a 3.4 gpa coming out of High School or something like that, and look at me now, I've struggled through college with majors, and my grades have always been a stress to me; don't do that. Get good grades and you won't be at the end of every month praying and wondering whether or not you got a high enough GPA to stay in.
Right now in AFROTC you need to maintain a 2.5 GPA if you are on scholarship or Junior or Senior. Freshmen and Sophomores need a 2.0 min cumulative. There is a 3 strike and your out policy, but don't play with it. Just get good grades and call it good.
My parents always emphasized to me the importance of getting good grades and being academically strong. I never really believed that it was all that important, I just thought that "oh, one bad grade won't hurt me." That was my downfall. Speaking from experience, you need to stay on top of academics, your life will be less stressful and you will have a much better chance at doing what you want to do in life.
It is hard, trust me....I KNOW!!!!....but hang in there. It will all work out.
27 May 2014
22 May 2014
Physical Fitness
A lot of the time we get out of shape or have a hard time losing weight when you get older, so something that is really important is to always stay in physically fit shape.
One of the steps to all of the academy's is the physical fitness assessment that goes with applying.
Playing sports and being involved will help with getting to the physical capabilities that you will need, but they won't be enough. Be sure to focus on the things that you need to such as Push ups, sit ups, pull ups, and a run. Each academy is different so be sure to look up the differences and get them figured out, and don't set this aside.
It is so important to constantly be focusing on the individual areas. Start early and you won't be worrying come time to apply and take the test.
Not only is this helpful for the application process but when you get into the military no matter what route you take, you will be constantly be taking physical fitness exams consisting of different aspects. Starting early with a healthy life and watching what you eat and constantly working out, even if it is just a little, are habits that you need.
By building up the habits when you are young, you can actually build up a love for working out and improving your body physically. I was in great shape after my freshman year in High School, so I thought.
I played football and wrestling and volleyball, and with growing taller and such, I was really getting into the shape that I wanted to, but outside of sports, I never worked out on my own and developed those habits. I never worried about long distance running or pull ups individually, push ups and sit ups came with the sports, but when it came time to take my test, I remember throwing up my lunch after the first 3 laps, and I remember not getting a very good score at all...I actually threw up right on the shoes of my AFJROTC instructor who was administering the exam....haha yeah, it was bad. I was not physically ready. I wasn't overweight, I wasn't out of shape, but I was not physically prepared.
There is no need to lift weights when you are young or anything, but you can run, do push ups, pull ups, all that stuff.
I eventually had a pull up bar installed right outside my room at home, and I attempted to get into a habit of doing pull ups, but it never really worked and my mom ended up using it to hang stuff on.
I guess what I am stressing is to get into shape early and stay in shape and develop a love for working out and eating healthy. Self Discipline. You can do it!!!!
One of the steps to all of the academy's is the physical fitness assessment that goes with applying.
Playing sports and being involved will help with getting to the physical capabilities that you will need, but they won't be enough. Be sure to focus on the things that you need to such as Push ups, sit ups, pull ups, and a run. Each academy is different so be sure to look up the differences and get them figured out, and don't set this aside.
It is so important to constantly be focusing on the individual areas. Start early and you won't be worrying come time to apply and take the test.
Not only is this helpful for the application process but when you get into the military no matter what route you take, you will be constantly be taking physical fitness exams consisting of different aspects. Starting early with a healthy life and watching what you eat and constantly working out, even if it is just a little, are habits that you need.
By building up the habits when you are young, you can actually build up a love for working out and improving your body physically. I was in great shape after my freshman year in High School, so I thought.
I played football and wrestling and volleyball, and with growing taller and such, I was really getting into the shape that I wanted to, but outside of sports, I never worked out on my own and developed those habits. I never worried about long distance running or pull ups individually, push ups and sit ups came with the sports, but when it came time to take my test, I remember throwing up my lunch after the first 3 laps, and I remember not getting a very good score at all...I actually threw up right on the shoes of my AFJROTC instructor who was administering the exam....haha yeah, it was bad. I was not physically ready. I wasn't overweight, I wasn't out of shape, but I was not physically prepared.
There is no need to lift weights when you are young or anything, but you can run, do push ups, pull ups, all that stuff.
I eventually had a pull up bar installed right outside my room at home, and I attempted to get into a habit of doing pull ups, but it never really worked and my mom ended up using it to hang stuff on.
I guess what I am stressing is to get into shape early and stay in shape and develop a love for working out and eating healthy. Self Discipline. You can do it!!!!
15 May 2014
Extra curricular activities
So on your way to becoming a pilot or even just an officer, it is really important that you get involved.
Lettering in a sport or two in High School is really important. I lettered in Football and Volleyball. These are great ways to show that you are a good asset to the military and that you are athletically capable. This is almost a non written requirement.
Although sports are great and show a lot, team sports, individual, both are good, even more important than that is the need to be involved in something else.
I have heard of different things like: Karate, Bagpipes, other musical instruments, Boy Scouts, Junior ROTC in High School, NHS, NJHS, hiking, camping (with proof), organizations really, community service. There is so much. Make sure though that there are ways that you can prove it or show that you have been doing something. For example, anyone could say that they go camping all of the time, but someone that says they go camping with the Boy Scouts of America or with some organization has a little more clout. It really does make a difference.
Anyways, start getting involved as soon as possible. I did Boy Scout (Eagle Scout), Volleyball, Football, a little wrestling, Air Force Junior ROTC, little league baseball, NHS, Guitar, and I can't think of much else, oh yeah church.
Well, get out there and get involved and enjoy it. That is the kind of person that the services are looking for. They want people that are involved and there is so much to learn in your experiences through these different activities.
Oh yeah....I did chess club....haha....yeeeeaaahhhh, it was still fun.
Lettering in a sport or two in High School is really important. I lettered in Football and Volleyball. These are great ways to show that you are a good asset to the military and that you are athletically capable. This is almost a non written requirement.
Although sports are great and show a lot, team sports, individual, both are good, even more important than that is the need to be involved in something else.
I have heard of different things like: Karate, Bagpipes, other musical instruments, Boy Scouts, Junior ROTC in High School, NHS, NJHS, hiking, camping (with proof), organizations really, community service. There is so much. Make sure though that there are ways that you can prove it or show that you have been doing something. For example, anyone could say that they go camping all of the time, but someone that says they go camping with the Boy Scouts of America or with some organization has a little more clout. It really does make a difference.
Anyways, start getting involved as soon as possible. I did Boy Scout (Eagle Scout), Volleyball, Football, a little wrestling, Air Force Junior ROTC, little league baseball, NHS, Guitar, and I can't think of much else, oh yeah church.
Well, get out there and get involved and enjoy it. That is the kind of person that the services are looking for. They want people that are involved and there is so much to learn in your experiences through these different activities.
Oh yeah....I did chess club....haha....yeeeeaaahhhh, it was still fun.
08 May 2014
Get Started Early
Post #3
So the next most important thing to address on your way to the Air Force, Marine, Army, or Navy pilot life, is where to really get started, or when?
The best answer. ASAP
You really could pull off starting later, but honestly why take the chance. The best time is to start at the beginning of high school.
GPA, Sports (Varsity particularly), Extracurricular, and everything else all play in effect.
You need to begin your academic life with a good start. You'll get to a point in the application process to where you will need to have good scores on all of these things, so getting started early is the best way to do it. I didn't take any AP classes, so I am not too sure how much those play an effect.
Ideally the major thing to be concerned about at first is getting into an officer program, that would be one of the 3 mentioned in the last post.
The Academy and ROTC play the most effect on your high school grades and other things. OTS and other officer schools after college focus more on your college grades and such, but hey, it still never hurts to get started early.
On another post I will go into the roles that each of these things plays in your decision, such as sports, doing Junior ROTC in high school or not, flight hours, other things.
Keep it real for the time being and get out there and do stuff.
So the next most important thing to address on your way to the Air Force, Marine, Army, or Navy pilot life, is where to really get started, or when?
The best answer. ASAP
You really could pull off starting later, but honestly why take the chance. The best time is to start at the beginning of high school.
GPA, Sports (Varsity particularly), Extracurricular, and everything else all play in effect.
You need to begin your academic life with a good start. You'll get to a point in the application process to where you will need to have good scores on all of these things, so getting started early is the best way to do it. I didn't take any AP classes, so I am not too sure how much those play an effect.
Ideally the major thing to be concerned about at first is getting into an officer program, that would be one of the 3 mentioned in the last post.
The Academy and ROTC play the most effect on your high school grades and other things. OTS and other officer schools after college focus more on your college grades and such, but hey, it still never hurts to get started early.
On another post I will go into the roles that each of these things plays in your decision, such as sports, doing Junior ROTC in high school or not, flight hours, other things.
Keep it real for the time being and get out there and do stuff.
06 May 2014
Decisions
Post #2
So today I figured I would talk about the different choices that need to be decided when coming up on the choice of routes. I hope that made sense.
First thing is first, you need to choose a branch of service, or try for many.
I started by choosing Air Force, but I applied to the US Air Force Academy and Westpoint and Naval Academy. So that goes on to my next point.
Generally speaking, throughout each of the branches of service you have three options.
First you have to become an officer in the branch in order to be a pilot. Army is mainly helicopters, Marines Varies, Navy Varies, and Air Force there are mainly planes, so take your pick.
When deciding on your branch of service you also need to look at the life you want to live. The Army life, Air Force life, Navy life, or Marine life. Each is different with many similarities. Each type of location is different, housing is different and more importantly length of deployments are different.
I choose the Air Force because for me it is more family oriented and with my desires and background in the LDS church, I want a life that is more cohesive to a family life. I choose the Air Force for that and many other reasons. They care more about future education, they have better housing, better conditions, and shorter deployments. It's not that I don't want to be out there doing the fighting, because I do, but I don't want to put that much stress on my future family. I want to be able to do both and I think that I can and I will.
Anyways, so you need to become an officer....
There are typically three ways of becoming an officer with a chance of getting to be a pilot.
1. Military Academy School- I refer to Air Force Academy, Naval Academy, and Westpoint, not sure if there is the chance of still doing pilot stuff out of the merchant marine academy, something to research.
2. ROTC- most branches provide some sort of ROTC program or in college training program. There is an ROTC program for AF, A, and N, but for the Marines it is a little different.
3. Officer School- This is a school that you can apply for after completing or almost completely a degree and you go to training for a set of weeks and learn the rope of the military. It's like learning what the other two have but all smashed together.
There are benefits and negatives to each, look up information and research them to see which is best for you.
In the Air Force, there is a way to guesstimate the options a little. These are my assumptions....about 50% of officer in the AF come from the Academy, 40% from ROTC, and 10% from OTS (Officer training school). So you choose what works best for you. OTS is not an easy things to get into, but you don't have to go through the sort of training that the Academy guys or the ROTC guys do, you can instead focus on school and then do training, but OTS is hard to get into. The academy is a good option because it is all paid for school, but there is a continuous military environment that you go through and a training that comes with it. ROTC it really depends, you can get a scholarship or no scholarship and then figure it out from there. ROTC though is a mix of the two. You are getting training while you are in school, and getting paid for some of it, but it's not a full military life.
I did AFROTC at BYU and I absolutely loved it. I applied for the academy and was accepted but didn't receive my senators nomination, so I only got into Westpoint, but I choose to do Air Force and ROTC was my route. I was able to get married to my wonderful wife. I was able to visit my family more and be more free with where I wanted to live. I did work through school a lot though, but I was able to participate in so much and kind of live a military life while keeping my own life, maybe like a transition.
Each option is different for everyone. Some better than others. I am grateful I was able to do ROTC, the academy would have been great, but there are important things in my life that I would have missed out on therefore, I am very grateful for the experiences that I have been able to have along the way.
So today I figured I would talk about the different choices that need to be decided when coming up on the choice of routes. I hope that made sense.
First thing is first, you need to choose a branch of service, or try for many.
I started by choosing Air Force, but I applied to the US Air Force Academy and Westpoint and Naval Academy. So that goes on to my next point.
Generally speaking, throughout each of the branches of service you have three options.
First you have to become an officer in the branch in order to be a pilot. Army is mainly helicopters, Marines Varies, Navy Varies, and Air Force there are mainly planes, so take your pick.
When deciding on your branch of service you also need to look at the life you want to live. The Army life, Air Force life, Navy life, or Marine life. Each is different with many similarities. Each type of location is different, housing is different and more importantly length of deployments are different.
I choose the Air Force because for me it is more family oriented and with my desires and background in the LDS church, I want a life that is more cohesive to a family life. I choose the Air Force for that and many other reasons. They care more about future education, they have better housing, better conditions, and shorter deployments. It's not that I don't want to be out there doing the fighting, because I do, but I don't want to put that much stress on my future family. I want to be able to do both and I think that I can and I will.
Anyways, so you need to become an officer....
There are typically three ways of becoming an officer with a chance of getting to be a pilot.
1. Military Academy School- I refer to Air Force Academy, Naval Academy, and Westpoint, not sure if there is the chance of still doing pilot stuff out of the merchant marine academy, something to research.
2. ROTC- most branches provide some sort of ROTC program or in college training program. There is an ROTC program for AF, A, and N, but for the Marines it is a little different.
3. Officer School- This is a school that you can apply for after completing or almost completely a degree and you go to training for a set of weeks and learn the rope of the military. It's like learning what the other two have but all smashed together.
There are benefits and negatives to each, look up information and research them to see which is best for you.
In the Air Force, there is a way to guesstimate the options a little. These are my assumptions....about 50% of officer in the AF come from the Academy, 40% from ROTC, and 10% from OTS (Officer training school). So you choose what works best for you. OTS is not an easy things to get into, but you don't have to go through the sort of training that the Academy guys or the ROTC guys do, you can instead focus on school and then do training, but OTS is hard to get into. The academy is a good option because it is all paid for school, but there is a continuous military environment that you go through and a training that comes with it. ROTC it really depends, you can get a scholarship or no scholarship and then figure it out from there. ROTC though is a mix of the two. You are getting training while you are in school, and getting paid for some of it, but it's not a full military life.
I did AFROTC at BYU and I absolutely loved it. I applied for the academy and was accepted but didn't receive my senators nomination, so I only got into Westpoint, but I choose to do Air Force and ROTC was my route. I was able to get married to my wonderful wife. I was able to visit my family more and be more free with where I wanted to live. I did work through school a lot though, but I was able to participate in so much and kind of live a military life while keeping my own life, maybe like a transition.
Each option is different for everyone. Some better than others. I am grateful I was able to do ROTC, the academy would have been great, but there are important things in my life that I would have missed out on therefore, I am very grateful for the experiences that I have been able to have along the way.
01 May 2014
Introduction of Myself
Post#1
So I have been wanting to do a blog for quite sometime. When I first met my wife is when I figured I should start. That was more than 2 years ago and I am just now starting to do my blog. What is the reasoning? I finally was forced to do it because my class is requiring us to do one. But I guess I finally received the kick start that I needed. So let's start with an introduction of myself.
I am from Las Vegas, NV. I was born and raised there. I go to BYU.
At 9 years of age, my dad took me on a walk one day and talked to me about dreams and goals and such. It was late at night, and I don't remember too much about it, but I do remember having gone to an air show at Nellis Air Force Base at some point and had thought about wanting to fly planes. My dad asked if that was what I wanted to do. As we walked he talked about the military and how he almost did the ROTC program at BYU and would have loved to, so I began my research, yes at age 9. I didn't focus my life on it, but I made up my mind that I wanted to be a pilot. Later on I chose the United States Air Force, and that what I decided. Since then I have reached the part in my life, where I am about to commission in the Air Force and I am starting on the path. I head to Undergraduate Pilot Training at Laughlin AFB, TX next March and finish classes for college this June, so I guess you could say I am living my dream, even though there have been some bumps and scares on the way....I have stuck with my dream and the things that I have always wanted to do in my life.
I just got married just over a year ago to my wonderful, beautiful and loving wife, Jordan. She has made the best impact on me in my entire life. She is such a blessing to me. Everything in my life has improved and continued to improve since meeting her. I would not be who I am without her.
So the thing that I have mainly wanted to blog about is the steps to becoming an Air Force pilot.
I have wanted to be a pilot since I can remember and I wish that I would've had a way to help me get there through the process. So I am going to document everything that I can remember to the process starting way back when.
If you know me then you know that I am a spiritual guy. I belong to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and have faith and a testimony in Jesus Christ and his teachings and in the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith. I know those things to be truth and to be the guiding force in my life.
I mention the spiritualness because a lot of the decisions that I have made about joining the Air Force and military have been spiritually based and the Spirit has guided me to do the things that I want to do and I feel that they are part of my calling in life. I am so grateful that I have my wife that supports me in this goal and life dream and believes in the things that I have planned for myself.
As I go along in this Blog, it will be somewhat sporadic and include parts of the process to becoming a pilot, different options. I don't know if it will all be in order, but it will all be here. I will probably include a lot of personal experiences about the process and how the Lord has helped me to get there and grow, but I will at some point put down the different ways of going about becoming a Pilot to the best of my knowledge and the necessary things and the helpful things.
I am more than free to answering questions when asked to help people gain more knowledge on the process, if I don't know the answer to a question, which I am sure that I won't, I can at least help direct the way to getting the answer.
I look forward to helping out others and even more recording down this huge part of my life and experiences that I have had, and I am very glad to be able to share them with others.
I think once that I have finished the process of describing and sharing the process of becoming a pilot in the US Air Force (Maybe the knowledge on other branches that I have too), I think I will continue to share the experiences that I have as a pilot and other positions that I hold in the Air Force.
As a side note: Once I get to pilot training, I probably won't have time to write on the blog much, it'll be a very busy time of my life and the most important. More details to come......
So I have been wanting to do a blog for quite sometime. When I first met my wife is when I figured I should start. That was more than 2 years ago and I am just now starting to do my blog. What is the reasoning? I finally was forced to do it because my class is requiring us to do one. But I guess I finally received the kick start that I needed. So let's start with an introduction of myself.
I am from Las Vegas, NV. I was born and raised there. I go to BYU.
At 9 years of age, my dad took me on a walk one day and talked to me about dreams and goals and such. It was late at night, and I don't remember too much about it, but I do remember having gone to an air show at Nellis Air Force Base at some point and had thought about wanting to fly planes. My dad asked if that was what I wanted to do. As we walked he talked about the military and how he almost did the ROTC program at BYU and would have loved to, so I began my research, yes at age 9. I didn't focus my life on it, but I made up my mind that I wanted to be a pilot. Later on I chose the United States Air Force, and that what I decided. Since then I have reached the part in my life, where I am about to commission in the Air Force and I am starting on the path. I head to Undergraduate Pilot Training at Laughlin AFB, TX next March and finish classes for college this June, so I guess you could say I am living my dream, even though there have been some bumps and scares on the way....I have stuck with my dream and the things that I have always wanted to do in my life.
I just got married just over a year ago to my wonderful, beautiful and loving wife, Jordan. She has made the best impact on me in my entire life. She is such a blessing to me. Everything in my life has improved and continued to improve since meeting her. I would not be who I am without her.
So the thing that I have mainly wanted to blog about is the steps to becoming an Air Force pilot.
I have wanted to be a pilot since I can remember and I wish that I would've had a way to help me get there through the process. So I am going to document everything that I can remember to the process starting way back when.
If you know me then you know that I am a spiritual guy. I belong to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and have faith and a testimony in Jesus Christ and his teachings and in the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith. I know those things to be truth and to be the guiding force in my life.
I mention the spiritualness because a lot of the decisions that I have made about joining the Air Force and military have been spiritually based and the Spirit has guided me to do the things that I want to do and I feel that they are part of my calling in life. I am so grateful that I have my wife that supports me in this goal and life dream and believes in the things that I have planned for myself.
As I go along in this Blog, it will be somewhat sporadic and include parts of the process to becoming a pilot, different options. I don't know if it will all be in order, but it will all be here. I will probably include a lot of personal experiences about the process and how the Lord has helped me to get there and grow, but I will at some point put down the different ways of going about becoming a Pilot to the best of my knowledge and the necessary things and the helpful things.
I am more than free to answering questions when asked to help people gain more knowledge on the process, if I don't know the answer to a question, which I am sure that I won't, I can at least help direct the way to getting the answer.
I look forward to helping out others and even more recording down this huge part of my life and experiences that I have had, and I am very glad to be able to share them with others.
I think once that I have finished the process of describing and sharing the process of becoming a pilot in the US Air Force (Maybe the knowledge on other branches that I have too), I think I will continue to share the experiences that I have as a pilot and other positions that I hold in the Air Force.
As a side note: Once I get to pilot training, I probably won't have time to write on the blog much, it'll be a very busy time of my life and the most important. More details to come......
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