<p>no has a right to degrade retired fighters or spouses. veterans obviously have put in time. Spouses are critical to the AF, and they do serve our country through their support and raising future fighters. posts which call out others will only lead to ppl calling out you.</p>
<p>as for this thread, forget it. Flyboy has dreams and didn't mean to be cocky or arrogant, and no one wants to tell him not to dream. everyone mature a little and let this go.</p>
<p>if all you have going for you with the rest of your life is this forum, then 1) i pity your sad life and 2) continue on belittling others to make yourself feel good.</p>
<p>As cadre and your upperclassmen, we're going to do what we can to ensure that you are not only given the tools and environment in which to succeed, but that we do not squash that motivation and enthusiasm that ultimately makes the success. As 2nd BCT cadre, I promise you that. Expect to be pushed, and expect people to question your reasons for coming here. It's one of the ways we see if you have the right stuff.</p>
<p>You will learn hard and fast, just as anyone else does when they get here. I came into the Academy with just as much, if not MORE criticism than you face now (for the SAME reasons), some of it from my own CLASSMATES, let alone cadre. USNA69 had a good point: that people don't come into this place officer-qualified , but with officer potential. What you do with that potential is what matters. You will learn, as all of us are STILL learning (something we forget quite often) how to lead, how to inspire, and how to become officers who are motivated, convicted, and tough.</p>
<p>Remember that you are learning. Don't put yourself into an endless dichotomy of passing/failing at what you are attempting, whether it be now or a month before graduate. That will only dampen your drive and weigh you down with the onset of cynicism that never ends here. Instead, fight it, but fight it RIGHT. Strive for your best, set the bar high, and LEARN. Do it now, because learning out in the real Air Force is a whole lot harder, more challenging, and sometimes...more expensive. Learn how to not stand out when you shouldn't. Learn when to stand out when you SHOULD. Learn how to follow. Learn how to lead. Finally, learn how to serve (which in my opinion is a LIFE-LONG learning process). You've got a long way to go, but so do I and every other cadet on here. The "veterans" will attest to that.</p>
<p>As for the rest of you: </p>
<p>Would you please give it a break? This bickering is getting old fast, and not helping anyone, least of all flyboy.</p>
<p>That said the young man has met some of the afor mentioned cadets, and already made an impression. They are trying to offer guidance and assistance that will make his life eaiser, and his career more successfull.
</p>
<p>I think a wife can break a career but not sure about the other way. Are you telling these young candidates that if they don't find the correct spouse, their career is over?</p>
<p>If hornetguy and eagle saw things that they did not think appropriate, I would have certainly expected them to act professionally and discuss it privately, not on an open forum.</p>
<p>Try to accomplish a busy day of working around the house and look what I miss out on!</p>
<p>First off, to Flyboy: Don't feel bad about what happened. It's called a learning curve for a reason. You thought, quite innocently and with all good intentions, that you would show how enthusiastic and excited you are to start your journey. I applaud that, and hope you keep your dreams front and center as you strive to reach them. Never give them up!
You also saw how others reacted, and probably were just a little surprised by the heated reaction! Thank you for trying to diffuse the situation by letting everyone know your motives for posting. You've been given lots of advice and recommendations for rudder corrections (some solicitied, others not) and we all agree that it's time to put this to rest. All I will add about the "That Guy" scenario (I know, NOT ANOTHER POST WITH ADVICE FOR YOU!): you will find throughout your career that no one wants to hear from the new guy (or gal) that they are going to walk in and be the next best thing since sliced bread right off the bat. You will be judged by your actions (always), and not by your declarations. At this point, prove it! Go out there, work your tail off every step, and KICK BUTT! You WILL get whatever your heart desires if you always work harder than everyone else. And in the end, as your taxing your F-22 to the active, you can look back to today and laugh, both at us and yourself.</p>
<p>To the cadets on this forum: Remember where you were just a few years ago. Probably just as excited, just as nervous, and just as ready to prove to all that you had what it takes! You might of had the benefit of communicating on a forum like this (or this exact one itself!) as you prepared for the most dramatic change ever in your young lives. Then you got to the AFA (or ROTC), and saw the "real" picture; that there is more to this than the Hollywood dream. It became more than the video game version, and you soon realized the amount of work and effort you have to put in to reach those dreams you still hold to your heart. KEEP THOSE DREAMS IN YOUR HEART, give yourself something to shoot for, ALWAYS! But realize those behind still need to learn the lessons you learned when you first reported that June day a few years ago. Bottom Line: keep giving Flyboy your wisdom, let his innocence slide for now (Besides, you'll have plenty of time this June to teach him the "real world of the AF", in rather loud and painful ways!)</p>
<p>I hardly think a moderator would ban you for that. Proves their are some adults still left on the forums! (don't worry others like ds, you're in that too). Again, you won't be banned, that's for sure. I won't let your expertise and experience escape from my grasp. ;)</p>
<p>Looking back on what I just posted, I've decided that I needed to act like a profesional officer and remove some rather heated words I publically posted to a certain individual. He will receive them via PM instead. </p>
<p>A little lesson on officership for all you young cadets. Praise in public, chew butt in private.... Bullet</p>
<p>probably a good decision on your part, but i agreed with everything you said. if they kicked you off for that, i would complain more than i ever have (which is quite a bit! lol)</p>
<p>Colonel they can come for me first. I kept my best for the PM too. Flyboy keep your dreams they give you a goal to reach. Hornet, Eagle and everyone else, well you know.</p>
<p>If we cadets have come off as a bit harsh, I'm sorry, but try to understand our intent. I can virtually guarantee that each of us saw something that scared us. Every year, people come to USAFA with the goal of being a great fighter pilot. There is absolutely NOTHING wrong with that. In fact, this is one of the best places (THE BEST, IMO) to pursue that goal. However, some of these people will put on "blinders" and focus almost exclusively on their end goal. When people put on those blinders and stare intently at those F-22s at Langley, the reality of USAFA tends to come in from the side and give those people a hard whack on the head. Some cadets manage to react well, readjust, and continue on, but others get "KOed" by reality. I've seen people with lots of flying experience and a serious passion for flying nearly get booted for poor academics. I've seen others get in honor trouble and get kicked out. I don't want that to happen to anyone here!</p>
<p>Don't take our words as attempts to crush your dreams. We don't want that AT ALL. What we do want is to caution you about becomming too focused on the end goal, at the expense of the steps to get there. To me, your initial enthusiasm about getting a fighter slot, ENJJPT, soaring, soaring sooner than currently allowed, etc raised a big, red flag in my mind. I thought, "Wow, this guy is getting ahead of himself. ENJJPT, etc. is a great goal, but when you have not even inprocessed, it is about 5,000 steps down the road." Having a solid plan is good. Knowing the details is good. Focusing on steps 4501-5000 before step 2 has the potential for great harm. I don't want to see you fail/almost fail because of those "blinders."</p>
<hr>
<p>B&P and USNA69, if you are going to fight, please take it outside.</p>
<p>Technical skill is very valuable to a leader. It does not automatically make them a good leader. I've seen great leaders with only a rudimentary understanding of the tasks their followers performed, but they did well because they had vision and GREAT people skills. I've seen others who were extremely skilled, but made horrible leaders because they could not communicate well. I've also seen leaders who were respected because they werer skilled, even though their social skills were a bit rough. Leadership has many critical aspects. If a person is entirely missing one of those aspects, they will NOT be a good leader. That being said, skills and talents are not binary. There is a long continuum both in being a talented stick and being a socially adept communicator.</p>
<p>I don't read the AF Forum too often but stumbled over here the past day or two and caught Flyboy's beating.
This really surprised me since from what I could tell he asked a question about flying an F-22 and he posted a new AF commercial.
I have read Flyboy's posts in the past and he always seemed eager and enthusiastic and full of questions and got terrific and supportive answers from all of you. Seriously folks, if you can't ask questions on an anonymous internet forum then where can you ask them?
So I was puzzled by the harsh words from cadets, hornetguy, guy4christ etc.<br>
They always seemed so eager to help and encourage before.</p>
<p>So I did a little search - You guys actually met Flyboy at orientation! Wow. So now you are all like his cadre now? Now that he is not anonymous you can take him out in PUBLIC??<br>
Wait until he gets to the academy - take him out there.
BTW - when kids post questions and get answers then they stay here - other kids read them and are influenced by them. In good and bad ways.</p>
<p>Flyboy - Keep reaching for the stars. </p>
<p>All you other prospectives - Keep your internet personality PRIVATE. Do not make friends, post personal information or get to know these folks. It WILL come back to haunt you.</p>
<p>thank you raimius for that advice. i don't want myself to focus on step 4000 and lose out on doing well on step 1 either. however; in my case, becoming a pilot will encourage me to do the little things- like studying when i could be hanging out, getting tutored when i could be doing something else, etc. if my getting an ENJJPT slot is my long term goal at the academy, then that dream will surely push me to succeed in every step needed to get there. this is the same case with soaring. i know i can't just skate by freshmen year and hopefully get a soaring slot, i know i have to have a good OPA, and earning a good OPA means a lot of hard work! however; if getting a good OPA means i get to soar, then i will push myself that much harder to get a good OPA. do you see where i am coming from now? thats why i ask so many questions about these things- because the excite and encourage me to do well!! </p>
<p>and thank you very much, momof4boys, for that wisdom you offered others and support you offered me :).</p>
<p>JustaMom and others; This has gotten a bit out of hand with total misunderstanding. There is not one person in this or the other thread that is "Taking him out in public". Every post put out on this and the other similar thread were done totally with good intentions. </p>
<p>Everyone needs to just take a pill. I don't care if you take the Blue pill and pretend none of this ever happened, or if you take the Red pill and realize that there are no personal attacks happening here. In other words, don't be so sensitive. It's not personal. Get a little bit thicker skin.</p>
<p>Personally, I suggest the Red pill. Maybe a whole 2 people know who Flyboy is. When he walks into BCT on 26 June 2008, that will mean nothing. The advice given here by many different people and in many different ways is intended to provide for a better existence among the other 1350 cadets that you will be living with for 6 weeks and the 4000 for the next 4 years.</p>
<p>Repeat after me: "Ommmmmmmme; Ommmmmmmmmmmme; hommmmmmmmmme, home on the range........". Take the red pill for god sake.</p>
<p>JAM, I do not want to see someone come in here and get completely rocked by the cadre. You think we're beating up on flyboy? Sorry you feel that way. Better he understands where we come from now than to enter and be chastised here. His classmates in BCT and cadre will not be excited by that enthusiasm, it will only lead to problems. WE SPEAK FROM PERSONAL EXPERIENCE. </p>
<p>You suggest we let him learn the hard way then? "Wait until he gets to the academy - take him out there." Excuse me? This contradicts the whole supposed point of your post. Our goal here is to help these guys prepare for USAFA a bit better than people who don't have this resource (or don't see it out). That's not just raw infomation about academics or SAT scores, that's attitude and behavior that will help here. No one says don't have goals, telling everyone that you are planning on being an F-22 pilot by doing this and that, doing things earlier than normal people would, etc. is not going to sit well with a large portion of people here. That's a self-centered sounding path, and the famous phrase here is: "Collaborate to graduate." </p>
<p>About meeting him in person. Yes, we did. It confirmed our fears from the forums and made us realize that he should know before entering what to expect.</p>
<p>Others influenced by posts......why does this make me wonder. O yes, the banter and absolute crap that occurs on the USNA boards for one. The USAFA board has become huge in the last 2 years. That's because we are blunt and offer the answers to questions without flaming like some do. The cadets here love offereing advice and tips on how to get in and how to succeed while here. I'm sorry you are one of only two who think differently. Those that have posted like missmuff, CAfalcon, nobility, hneedle, af16, and so many others have been awesome to talk to on here and a pleasure to meet in real life. Same with the 2011ers last year. I don't think it has come back to haunt them in bad ways at all. Unless you count a couple snickers and a phone call at the end of basic courtesy of the 2010ers (and soon 2011ers). </p>
<p>Speaking of, this place isn't anonymous in a way you can hide behind the monitor and say what you want. The cadets on this forum have been willing to put our identity out there and won't hide behind an internet persona. We love helping and staying anonymous doesn't help. </p>
<p>Until you understand the culture and live it like we do daily, do not chastise US for trying to help someone else from being disenchanted by his cadre and classmates when he inprocesses.</p>
<p>If you do not want to sound self-centered, its about how you tell your cadre. Don't proudly announce with your chest out that you intend on flying the F-22. Be more along the lines of: I really want to fly, fighters would be cool, but I just want to fly. And you already have a good answer to if you can't fly. In BCT, really don't be gung ho, that puts attention on you AND your flight. Attention is bad, very bad. In BCT the goals will become getting to the next meal, next day. So much happens that thinking about goals 6 years from now become overwhelming, but small goals in the present keep you going. If you have to eat an elephant, stick your face in and start eating or you'll be overwhelmed.</p>