Dear Justin,
I gather you are in the 17-18 year old range. Usually guys of that
age group have got some pretty colourful ideas about being a
fighter-pilot, with the A-level cohort particularly bent on being
an officer for some strange reasons. Anyhow, let's take a closer
look at these choices.
First let's talk about being an officer. I do not know what you
guys of the current generation are thinking of, but back then, you
will hear guys on the basketball court bouncing their balls
(basketball) while talking about wanting to shave their heads in
preparation for enlistment..........
Please, don't do that. That act says a lot about the fragile nature
of their minds. Go ahead, dye your hair if you want to. When its
time to shave it off, it will happen, no need to slowly wean
yourself off all that crowning glory.
The next topic will be OCS. They somehow think that having straight
A's in A-levels is not good enough, they must headbutt their way
into OCS by hook or by crook, or else their egos will take a
beating. DO you know what being an officer means? It's not a
permanent branding under your foot or something like that. It's
just a role you need to play should you be selected for that period
of time as an NSF, a small number of them do sign on and become
captains eventually, but to carry on until that age of 45, that is
really rare, and anything beyond that age, your chances of even
having a contract offered to you is as good as being selected after
several rounds of parading yourself on TV for star search. And this
occurs in the Navy, Army and airforce. Talk about career decisions,
unless you are born with blood on your palm like Genghis khan, I'd
say its a high stakes gamble. After you finish your term as an
officer during NSF.....what then? DOes it help in your career in
the civilian world? Yes it does, to a certain extent depending on
the nature of your choice of work, but don't look at it as a must.
And if you do get your contract, by which time it means you may be
ejected out at the age of 45, with no other work experience,
balding, kids to feed, wife to please.......you wanna know what is
happening to my friend who is a captain?
Airforce fighterpilots......you know, the job's not all about
flying, its about projects, projects, and more projects, lots of
office politicking, none of that TOP GUN "oh I'm so tom cruise I'm
going to pull a few G's and date my instructor" kind of stuff. Not
even close. And if you do get close, be sure you clean up after
being air-sick. See the exodus of flighter pilots to the airlines
for a good measure of how much these guys actually love the
job.
I can go on and o, but my fingers are tired, and I need to catch a
show. What you really need to do is speak to the people who are
actually doing what you are doing, go for the older guys, and ask
them what its really all about. If you need, I can intorduce a
couple of them to you. WHo knows, you may actually have what it
takes, and we all know what good connections mean.
Happy enlistment. I enjoyed my NS, I hope you will too.
