Do most Army soldiers want aviation?

Velocity173 · January 27, 2016

100 % selection on the civ board?

Tradewinds · January 27, 2016

I believe I read that the selection for the last civilian board was 20 out of 23. Could be mistaken of course.

Tesla · January 27, 2016

Graduate tomorrow, see you guys in Rucker on Friday. How is it this time of year?

Yamer · January 27, 2016

Rainy

Tesla · January 27, 2016

f**k.

Yamer · January 27, 2016

Rainy for three days, then cold for two, then warm for one, then repeat

dovq2011 · January 28, 2016

Rainy for three days, then cold for two, then warm for one, then repeat

Sounds like a typical winter in Ft. Riley. Snowy, cold as sh*t, and windy for a couple months, then a random week in the 70s, followed by another series of snow, cold, and windy month.

MuffinMan · January 28, 2016

I believe I read that the selection for the last civilian board was 20 out of 23. Could be mistaken of course.

you're dead on. 20 selected and 3 non-select on civilian board for Jan 2016

Rob Lyman · January 28, 2016

So....IF shindig was one of the 20 and IF he makes it through bootcamp, and IF he makes it through flight school...ahhh nevermind. I'm going home to drink a beer.

Tesla · January 28, 2016

What's it like when you report at Fort Rucker, do I need to have my bags with me, or do I just walk in with my paperwork?

napoleonpp · January 28, 2016

What's it like when you report at Fort Rucker, do I need to have my bags with me, or do I just walk in with my paperwork?

My wife dropped me off at the building it said to report to. I walked in with all my paperwork and signed it. From what I remember it was just a WOC holdover working the desk that you actually sign in with. Then grabbed by bags out of the car and said goodbye to begin the stupidest course I've had yet.

Tesla · January 28, 2016

My wife dropped me off at the building it said to report to. I walked in with all my paperwork and signed it. From what I remember it was just a WOC holdover working the desk that you actually sign in with. Then grabbed by bags out of the car and said goodbye to begin the stupidest course I've had yet.

Did you have any chance to see your wife while you were in that week of Snowbird status?

It can't be more stupid then basic, could it?

dondlhmn · January 28, 2016

My wife dropped me off at the building it said to report to. I walked in with all my paperwork and signed it. From what I remember it was just a WOC holdover working the desk that you actually sign in with. Then grabbed by bags out of the car and said goodbye to begin the stupidest course I've had yet.

Just curious...what course were you there for? When I went through WORWAC a few decades ago, it wasn't even close to the stupidest course I had ever been through. Hell, the washout rate was above 55%. We started with 45 guys and finished with 15 of the originals for a total of 28 graduating....., including medical and emergency leave set-backs that joined us as we went along.. Maybe people were just stupider then, but I learned a lot and had a great time for most of the course. That said, I have heard from several old buddies that are instructors at Rucker now, that the whole flight school thing has changed VASTLY from what it was when I went through there and several years later was a Tactics IP out at Lowe.....They tell me is has become simple and so dumbed down and easy with such demeaningly low standards that it is sad. is it REALLY all that bad/simple easy now days? Or is that just the views of multiple folks that have been there, done all that and are still there seeing what has happened to the course over the last few years or decades......you know...the old "back in the old days we had to walk to school through 6 foot deep snow and it was uphill both ways"...sort of thing.

napoleonpp · January 29, 2016

Just curious...what course were you there for? When I went through WORWAC a few decades ago, it wasn't even close to the stupidest course I had ever been through. Hell, the washout rate was above 55%. We started with 45 guys and finished with 15 of the originals for a total of 28 graduating....., including medical and emergency leave set-backs that joined us as we went along.. Maybe people were just stupider then, but I learned a lot and had a great time for most of the course. That said, I have heard from several old buddies that are instructors at Rucker now, that the whole flight school thing has changed VASTLY from what it was when I went through there and several years later was a Tactics IP out at Lowe.....They tell me is has become simple and so dumbed down and easy with such demeaningly low standards that it is sad. is it REALLY all that bad/simple easy now days? Or is that just the views of multiple folks that have been there, done all that and are still there seeing what has happened to the course over the last few years or decades......you know...the old "back in the old days we had to walk to school through 6 foot deep snow and it was uphill both ways"...sort of thing.

I'm referring to WOCS. As a former enlisted guy I feel like I got nothing out of the course. It felt more like a right of passage than anything else. Maybe as a street to seat you learn more to help you in your career, but nothing as an enlisted guy.

napoleonpp · January 29, 2016

Did you have any chance to see your wife while you were in that week of Snowbird status?

It can't be more stupid then basic, could it?

I wasn't able to, but I think only because we hadn't PCS'd and she lived in another state. My friend and I were able to run around to the PX and everywhere since he had his car, so I believe if she had been local I would have been able to see her. I'm not 100% sure though.

It's not worse than Basic, especially if you go straight from Basic to WOCS. The course itself isn't too bad, but like most people say it's your fellow classmates that you have to put up with.

dondlhmn · January 29, 2016

OK..I get it. What is now called WOCS was, in my day, called "preflight"....the first phase of Flight school and it was mostly just harassment and learning to "play the game". What you did back in the WOC area and what the TACs did were only REMOTELY connected with the stuff you were learing in "Academics" during that period, a fair bit of which pertained to being a Warrant in the US Army and what exactly the Army was all about and what went on....Remember, we had some guys that were basically fresh off of the street, having only been through Basic Training, knew really very little about the "Army Way or the Army life". A lot of us were prior service and an awful lot of what they had to teach the new guys was NOT new to us, but we had to sit through it anyway. Once "Preflight Phase" was over with we got into the actual learning to fly (during this phase we were called "Juniors") and then academics were MOSTLY flight-related. Also to remember.....in those days you didn't pin on your WO1 bars until graduation.....as I understand it now, you are sort of a "provisional Warrant officer" until graduation, when you become a for real Warrant...or something like that. Back in my days there, we had four "phases" (1) Preflight; (2) Junior Phase; (3) Intermediate phase and then (4) Senior Phase. If I have any of this current stuff totally wrong, please explain to me how it is now. Thanks!

Yamer · January 29, 2016

It's totally different now and none of what you said applies today

dondlhmn · January 29, 2016

It's totally different now and none of what you said applies today

OK...so I GET THAT and KNOW what I was describing with words like "used to be" and back "in my day" and "in those days" is NOT the way it is today....or did you miss those and so figured that you had to point that out to me? So, was what I did say about how I think it is today right or wrong? Close? Far off base? What? Your comments were redundant and no help in filling me in at all....Can you maybe fill me in instead of just parroting the fact (which is what I was talking about) that things are "different now"? Or is there anyone else on here who knows how it goes and that can give me a short synopsis of how it goes from the time you set foot on Ft. Rucker until you graduate as a full fledged rated aviator and a WO-1? Or should I maybe ask some of my old buddies who will, I am sure have their (somewhat jaded/clouded/slanted) views of how it goes now, BUT HAVE NOT ACTUALLY ATTENDED the course and would NOT have the same observations, perceptions viewpoints as someone that either has recently attended or is currently in the midst of it? How about a little actual help, here??

Velocity173 · January 29, 2016

??? There's like a million threads on here that'll tell you what happens from day 1 at Rucker until graduation. This thread is brother Shindig's plight through WOFT. Stay the course!

dondlhmn · January 29, 2016

OK...sort of time limited here, so only tend to look at this thread, though it can be somewhat "whacky" at times, but I'll go have a look at the others.......got any good suggestions which one/ones might be the best?

So..you are thinking that this "shindig" is a real person and is/may be headed to WOFT or could even be there as we speak (well, ....type...)? I really haven't cared enough about all the goofiness to give that much thought.

Yamer · January 29, 2016

Start here Don with the first post by Lindsey. I can't remember if her PDF file lays it all out or not.

http://helicopterforum.verticalreference.com/topic/13468-warrant-officer-flight-training/page-1

I was rushed this morning when I typed that. Sorry I couldn't elaborate more than just saying its all different now.

dirtyfoot · January 30, 2016

OK...sort of time limited here, so only tend to look at this thread, though it can be somewhat "whacky" at times, but I'll go have a look at the others.......got any good suggestions which one/ones might be the best?

So..you are thinking that this "shindig" is a real person and is/may be headed to WOFT or could even be there as we speak (well, ....type...)? I really haven't cared enough about all the goofiness to give that much thought.

I want so badly for Shindig to be fake (for the sake of the Warrant Officer Corps), but then again I have to remember that I have actually seen a student so incredibly inept and devoid of professionalism that he not only brought his dog to 0900 formation, but allowed it to sh*t on the B Co classroom floor while the SMO briefed us.

Yes, sometimes they make it through.

dovq2011 · January 30, 2016

I want so badly for Shindig to be fake (for the sake of the Warrant Officer Corps), but then again I have to remember that I have actually seen a student so incredibly inept and devoid of professionalism that he not only brought his dog to 0900 formation, but allowed it to sh*t on the B Co classroom floor while the SMO briefed us.
Yes, sometimes they make it through.

RLO side can be just as bad. When I was a company XO, one of the PLs called me and asked if I could let the commander know that he wasn't going to be at the training meeting because it was his dog's first birthday.

napoleonpp · January 30, 2016

Both of these stories cannot possibly be true lol

dovq2011 · January 30, 2016

Both of these stories cannot possibly be true lol

Ohhh I assure you mine is true... lol. My commander wasn't very happy... probably didn't help he posted pictures of his dog on Facebook, with a cupcake, and a birthday hat. I showed my commander, she got even madder. I was just the company XO, I didn't have any authority in the mess. Haha.