<p>i had over a month of summer before i started camp usafa almost 3 years ago… good times :)</p>
<p>lucky, i had 3 weeks before i headed out to the P 2 years ago ;)</p>
<p>We now are in the teens ladies and gentlemen…Tick, tock…</p>
<p>no! that means soon i’ll be leaving the beaches of Florida to meet you all. nothing personal, but the beaches of Florida are much more appealing</p>
<p>^ I will miss them as well. I should be heading out today actually.</p>
<p>upatel: I don’t think we met, but it’s possible. I’m not the one graduating early though. I had/have almost a month and a half of summer vacation. :)</p>
<p>heheh 17 days. well actually just under if you go by “hours” hahahaha…</p>
<p>Now eagle won’t our bright, shining, scared, faces be almost as good? ;)</p>
<p>well, i’m sure i’ll get some great laughs seeing some of dumb things the basics will do, but nothing quite beats beaches and fighters. foruntetly i should get to see everyone’s faces when you show up on thursday, but i doubt you’ll be bright and shining when i chat with y’all 
lol.</p>
<p>enjoy these last couple weeks. couple tips i have that you may find useful. take it or leave it:</p>
<p>1) take some time to write to yourself what you’re feeling: emotions, excitements, goals, really why you’re going and what you want to accomplish. bring this with you, and look at it throughout basic/4 dig year to remind yourself that you want to do this when times get tough for you</p>
<p>2) buy envelopes and stamps. pre-address letters home and to friends so that all you have to do is the write the letter and seal it. the minutes you save of sleep are priceless</p>
<p>3) also address letters to yourself. give them to family and friends who you want to hear from. i got at least one piece of mail a day (my mom) with friends sprinkled throughout basic, and that gave me a huge morale boost each day. its amazing how long it can seem between mail checks each day.</p>
<p>4) spend time with those most important to you. if its family or friends, enjoy your time. its the end of high school (for many of you) and you are going to change before you see everyone again.</p>
<p>5) don’t try to anticipate. let the days come, and take each moment in basic as if its your only chance to get through. we’ll see if you’re pushing yourself or just “going through the motions”</p>
<p>6) NOTHING IS PERSONAL. know that no matter what, you and your classmates won’t be good enough. you’ll always be called out for something. not to say don’t try (b/c that’s really obvious), but don’t get down on yourself and think its the end of the world</p>
<p>that’s just my little tid-bit for you all to think about over the next couple weeks. if any of you are <em>lucky</em> enough to be in my flight, then i’ll be seeing you a lot, so enjoy your time away from me (right missmuff? haha ;))</p>
<p>what’re you talking about eagle?!
two things: one…i think it’s probably close to a tie for you between running basic and florida
and two,…thank goodness i wasn’t in your squad! :P</p>
<p>and yeah, you almost-basics…letters are awesome. i’ve said it before, and i’ll say it again, that’s the best part of basic. i wrote home every night. that might’ve been excessive, but now i have all my best basic memories recorded (my mom kept them in a box.)
I also did what eagle said and addressed and stamped envelopes to myself and gave them to friends. my parents also appreciated that all they had to do was scribble a note and pop it in the mail. believe me, even a quick, “thinking of you,” from someone from back home will make you feel good (it made me smile, but…i smile a lot.)</p>
<p>also, like he said, don’t take it personally. a few kids did, and that’ll really getcha down. if you don’t, though, basic is challenging, but very doable. heck, if i can do it, anyone can do it! (true statement, btw.) </p>
<p>especially when people you’ve met (like eagle) get in your face, not that any of you would, but don’t treat them any different than any of your other cadre. unless you want to go above and beyond. that’s cool.
but don’t smile… 
(i didn’t during basic. hooah!)</p>
<p>dont be like missmuff who falls asleep in class either :)</p>
<p>right, mateus, i’m the one who fell asleep in class…</p>
<p>So random question. What type of security clearance do we as cadets (well almost) recieve? Someone asked me the question a few days ago and I didn’t know.</p>
<p>Secret as a cadet, although some research and summer programs will require higher you would apply for your TS/SCI if you need it.</p>
<p>yep… like we ever use it though.</p>
<p>SERE/CST would have some parts that would require it.</p>
<p>oh i know that, they told us during a briefing about it; i’m just sayin, in our entire first year, i’ve never had to use it til now.</p>
<p>we’ve had a couple briefings over the past couple years where we’ve needed them. here on research i need it to work where i do and to attend certain briefings. not that its anything hard to have, but they need to have checked you out.</p>
<p>PS. i was the 10,000th view of this thread. dang</p>
<p>Interesting countdown I ran across… [Countdowns</a> for 2013](<a href=“http://usafa2013.com/]Countdowns”>http://usafa2013.com/)</p>
<p>yeah, 2012 has one too </p>
<p>[Countdowns</a> for 2012](<a href=“http://www.usafa2012.com/]Countdowns”>http://www.usafa2012.com/)</p>
<p>although I must say yours is significantly more depressing</p>