Finals Week Shminals Week

Well, it's the last stretch of the semester, and I couldn't be happier with the things that have unfolded. All the new friends I made and experiences I had made for an unforgettable last few months. Only one semester left until Pararescue tryouts, and I'm giddy with excitement. All that's left really to talk about are my finals.
     Today I had 2 finals, one for Aerospace Studies and one for Russian. My aerospace final was a complete joke, 25 multiple choice questions AND there was extra credit. It was almost pointless. My Russian final however was a different story. I studied all week for that and it still hit me like a brick wall. I think I did decent though. Tomorrow is the day I am dreading. First is Latin at 7:30am. That's not SO bad, but I still should study more for it. Then is Hawaiian Studies. Our study guide is enormous, almost 5 pages. And me, hailing from New Jersey, have absolutely zero background or previous knowledge to help me on this test. The professor was so boring during class it was impossible to take notes, and it didn't help that his slides had no words and he just orated everything.
     Anyway, tomorrow is my last day, then I get a nice 4-day vacation until I'm back on the plane to Jersey. Of course I am excited to see my family, but they can be a handful after a while.
     What I'm looking forward to most this break is my friend Eric's birthday on the 28th. Eric is a buddy of mine all through high school, and we both came out to Hawaii for college. When we go back for break, we are going to Atlantic City for his 21st. His parents bought us and a bunch of our other friends a 4-bedroom hotel suite at a 5-star hotel (yeah, they are loaded...) which has an enormous indoor pool with beds and a swim-up bar. Then we plan on hitting the casino and going broke. But it's okay because we will just get really drunk and try to forget I guess..
    I assume this is our last blog post as well. These were actually quite enjoyable for me to talk about whatever, whether people were reading them or not. It was also fun reading all of yours! Hope you all had a great semester as well and good luck in all your future endeavors.

Field Training Preperation

     As this semester comes to a close, us sophomores in ROTC need to start preparing for Field Training, which takes place over summer from sophomore to junior year. It is a rigorous 5-week long program at Maxwell AFB, Alabama used to train and test your aptitude to become an Air Force Officer. The get ready for that, the spring semester of your sophomore year  is designed to emulate certain aspects of the program to spectate how you all work under pressure and stress. The freshman still have a pretty lax semester, but get an insight on what to expect when it is their turn.
     I don't know too much about Field Training itself, because you're not supposed to tell anyone anything about it. You're supposed to go in there fresh without knowing what to expect, anything else is considered "speeding" and is highly frowned upon because it gives an unfair advantage. What I do know is that it is very challenging both physically and mentally, and you better know your stuff when you get there or you'll get ripped apart.
     A lot of people tell me they think I will do really well though, so that helps me be a little more relaxed about it. If I rank high against my peers at the end, it should give me a huge boost in competitiveness while applying for an ENJJPT slot.

ENJJPT

     So recently I had a counseling sessions with my Captain, and a lot of what we went over were my plans for the future. Even though since the beginning of this blog, and actually the idea that manifested it, were these plans of me wanting to become a CRO, I had somewhat of an epiphany during our talk. When going over my recent AFOQT test scores, Commander's ranking, and other factors involved in career selection, he told me my scores were highly competitive to compete for an ENJJPT slot. ENJJPT, or "Euro-NATO Joint Jet Pilot Training", is a 55-week training school at Sheppard AFB, TX designed specifically to train pilots for Fighter Jets (F-22, F-15, F-16 etc.) It is used primarily to train jet pilots for NATO.
    When I heard this news my jaw dropped. Yeah, I always wanted to be a pilot, but a fighter pilot? There is a huge formula that calculates each potential candidate a score between 0-99. They say 80s are competitive, 90s should be just about a guaranteed slot. As it stands right now, my score is a 93.5, and I still havn't taken my TBAS (see previous post) or gone to Field Training. And if I do well in those, I can potentially raise my score to around a 97. (There are other points awarded if you have private flight hours logged already, but that is just too expensive for me).
     I;ve been doing a lot of research, watching a lot of videos and trying to get in contact with a lot of people that could help me out. Because if I was able to get a slot to ENJJPT, one of the most prestigious jet training facilities in the world, who wouldn't take that opportunity. Guess I'll have to make a decision soon though.