<p>woohoo!!!</p>
<p>Potterfan is doing her very happy dance too, missmuff.</p>
<p>worst semester yet. yay for being a senior!</p>
<p>I hear ya my friend! Barely missed a C in Astro! Lucky I got a B-. LMAO. I hate that class with a passion.</p>
<p>Your lucky Doc Martin isn’t arond hearing you say that Hornet.</p>
<p>You mean docfrance right? Ya, I’m aware. He is the reason that Astro is like it is. It’s designed to be a haze course, not to give us some real skills and knowledge. I love Aero, it is actually giving me some good insight. Astro is not. The GRs and graded events are designed to paralyze, not test the knowledge. Why in the world would you have a class with two full sections of people repeating it? I have heard of no other class doing that except calculus and chemistry. Those were due to unprepared 4 digs. Astro is being repeated by experienced firsties. This just screams that something is wrong to me. </p>
<p>I also say it because the course policies are insane. Not allowed to get up and go to the restroom. Are we 5? Any tardiness for any reason whatsoever is recorded on a form 10. We’re suppose to commission soon, right?</p>
<p>Get the gist of my annoyance?</p>
<p>Yeah DocFrance, getting old Hornet. Sorry to hear about the grade school methods. You know Potters B/F is an Astro guy at Embry Riddle, takes a little different veiw on the world I guess. As for the late/form 10’s, she had to write a bunch for just that reason the other weekend. She was miserable the whole time.</p>
<p>I see there is a “B-” club for astro. (Proud member–proud to be done that is…)</p>
<p>I’m somewhat confused as to why my lowest grades this semester are my majors courses…? A’s in core classes and B’s in majors classes, huh?</p>
<p>people failing and retaking the course is because they aren’t putting forth any effort. I took it as a junior when i was still motivated and easily pulled an A. my teacher was very helpful though and i put forth effort. find the teacher that will bend over backwards for you and get EI from them (and study sessions in HAPS!)</p>
<p>as for the classroom policies, they are screwed up. i got treated with more responsibility in high school by my teachers. we had “hall passes” at least, and most teachers trusted us enough not to screw around they we didn’t even use them.</p>
<p>You know…if you don’t like Marty’s class, go up to him and tell him why.</p>
<p>Don’t whine, P<strong><em>, B</em></strong>H, and moan; show him why it’s not a good course, useless to you as a future officer, etc.</p>
<p>Of course, knowing Marty, I think he’ll disagree with you and then proceed to explain precisely why in your limited military career so far you really DO NOT know what is valuable and what is not, for your future career.</p>
<p>I am a contemporary of Marty France…I’m a pilot. I took Astro and got an “A” as I found it fascinating. FYI, I was “AC PRO” enough semesters to be called an ACE. And then I never thought about astro again.</p>
<p>Until I was involved in plans and programs and guess what, my job involved satellites and missiles! And the experts were spouting all this information about astrodynamics, ballistics, orbital mechanics, etc…etc…etc…and the mind being a funny thing, all those lessons for some reason came flooding back! And I wasn’t lost; I picked up quickly on what was being done.</p>
<p>And it was VALUABLE for my job at the time.</p>
<p>Hey…you’re close, so VERY CLOSE to commissioning and taking the next step. Don’t allow something you don’t like to taint the experience, or prevent you from picking up something that may be VERY valuable to you later in your career.</p>
<p>A LOT of the things I learned in classes at the Zoo that I thought were a TOTAL WASTE OF TIME when I was a firstie…came back to aid me A TON when I was a Major and Lt Col…and had jobs that suddenly were using that knowledge. I had the background and the ability to pick it up quickly; a lot of my contemporaries did NOT.</p>
<p>THAT is the advantage you have!!</p>
<p>Steve
USAFA ALO
USAFA '83</p>
<p>"…I also say it because the course policies are insane. Not allowed to get up and go to the restroom. Are we 5? Any tardiness for any reason whatsoever is recorded on a form 10. We’re suppose to commission soon, right?</p>
<p>Get the gist of my annoyance?"</p>
<p>Forgot to address this.</p>
<p>Sounds painful, unfair, silly, stupid, (enter your own descriptive term HERE)…</p>
<p>GET USED TO IT! :-)</p>
<p>It will NOT change once your have your gold bars. You will have no-notice recalls, meetings that you WILL attend, “mandatory fun”, etc…etc… And GOD help you if you DO NOT SHOW or leave early, or any of a number of perceived incorrect actions. And try to walk into a wing stand up late…that does NOT happen as the doors will be closed and your name will be submitted to the WG/CC as “late.” UGLY for you; especially a LT.</p>
<p>Because once you’re an officer, you’re expected to know better and to be SPOTLESS in your deportment.</p>
<p>Now, that is not to say that we put up with silly things like “I gotta go hit the head…I’m walking out now, but I’ll be back…” We don’t get LOR’s for that, etc. But it’s a LOT smarter to make certain you don’t have to walk out on the OG/CC, WG/CC’s meeting after 20-45 minutes’ because you didn’t stop on the way over. THAT will raise a few eyebrows.</p>
<p>Hey…you’re close…nail the rest of the semester, have a GREAT time, and prepare for the next challenge: being officers!</p>
<p>It’s gonna fly by…and then the career is gonna fly by!</p>
<p>Trust me…seeing classmates of mine wearing stars on their shoulders is stunning because, hey, we only just graduated!</p>
<p>But then again, why is everyone calling me Colonel? Wasn’t I just the 4th Group S/E Chief?</p>
<p>Steve
USAFA ALO
USAFA '83</p>
<p>I’m just wondering why the PTB (Col. France or others) felt the need to institute such a policy for a junior/senior level course. Using the bathroom is not a major problem in any of my other courses.</p>
<p>Eagle, a lot depends on the instructor’s style and student’s style. I studied a lot more than normal, and still pulled a 54 on my first GR in astro. That is not normal for me, especially in non-curved classes! (IIRC, the only classes I’ve scored lower on a GR were Chem 222 and Physics 215). So, the next time I studied my butt off and pulled an 82.
I probably put in more GR study time for astro than any class here, and still came away with a below average grade (for me).</p>
<p>I’ve gotten a lot of useful information out of EE, CE, EM, and Aero. No doubts there. In astro I’d like to learn much more about the PAYLOADS and their limitation on the satellites. Spending 2 lessons on the payloads and 10 on COEs is useless for me. Spend 10 lessons on payloads, the limits of a Hohman/standard transfer with them, and our capabilities in space. As a pilot, intel officer, etc. I could care less about the COEs but tell me why I can’t put optics in geosynchronous, or why the Russians like Molniya orbits. These are useful things that can still greatly utilize the math required in the course and provide some VERY relevant information. Instructors received many course critiques asking for this for several semesters, the course has DE-emphasized these in the same time. Really? The complaints and solutions have been presented and largely ignored.</p>
<p>Molniya orbits are pretty interesting. I’m surprised we don’t use them more often. Seems pretty useful…</p>
<p>Some of the ICBM stuff and payload stuff (espeically optics etc.) could be pretty darn useful. COEs and transfers are good, but a bit more technically oriented, IMO.</p>
<p>The issues are addressed every year, only to deaf ears. I think we understand that you can’t leave a wing stand-up to hit the head, but i would guess most often you didn’t just come from three other hours stand-ups back-to-back-to-back with only enough time between to get to the next, not stop to use the head.</p>
<p>as for the material, eh, maybe it’ll be useful, maybe not. maybe its the concepts of learning random junk just for the sake of it, or to give us an appreciation. i don’t really know or care, i just dislike the feel of the course of the treatment. thankfully i’ve been done with it for almost 300 days now. good luck hornet and raimus</p>
<p>To clarify, I had it last semester. My final grade for the class was a B-</p>
<p>Semi-related: summer schedules are out. Go talk to your AMTs if you haven’t heard anything yet - they have them all.</p>
<p>oh, i can’t wait to see what i get this summer! i hope it’s a trip to Key West, a wedding in Wisconsin, back-packing around Europe, and a visit to NYC…</p>
<p>:p yay for 60-days :)</p>
<p>Well, I had two pre-recognition phone calls and apparently a relatively happy pair of twins grade-wise. When one complains about teachers or subject matter, I always offer them community college (on their own dime, of course). Surprisingly, most of those complaints don’t come my way, as often, anyway.</p>
<p>Congrats to all, especially you firsties, who have run the race and can see the finish line!</p>
<p>hah very funny on summer schedules jerks!! if you need me during your glorious 60 days i’ll be down at lackland :p</p>