Day 3 – Friday – 4 April 08

First day of the physiology portion of academics where we will be until next Friday. Had a pretty good day. The morning was all powerpoint lessons after the OG’s brief, and then got a good 1.5 hour lunch break. The stuff we’re learning is all very applicable to what we’re going to be doing (obviously) and kept me very much in-tuned to the material. My goal is to really stay focused during each lesson, take great notes, review and compile them that evening, and then study again before each test. That should prepare me pretty well for the exam’s we’ll have.
Ryan and I hit up the BX real quick during lunch and picked up some more much-needed supplies before heading back to the house for a quick sandwich. I think I’ve finally got most of the start-up type things needed for moving into a new place.

This afternoon we had some more lessons, but we also got to show up flight-suits which was a nice change. It looks like the rest of physiology will be in the bags, and then probably back to blues after that until we actually ‘earn’ them. We got to go into the hyperbaric chamber as well to familiarize ourselves with the masks and wearing them hooked into the oxygen regulators. Our chamber ride will still be in a few days, though. It was all repeat stuff for me having both done the chamber before and been on the Strike Eagle rides at Seymour; but I forgot until talking to Ryan afterwards that for many guys this was the first time any of them had worn any of that head-gear. The biggest thing to get used to is breathing on ‘emergency’ oxygen where the air is actually forced into your lungs and you have to push it out. If you think about it, this is the exact opposite of how you normally breath: active inhalation; passive exhalation. Again, no big deal at all, but especially interesting for those for whom this was a first time. All in all it was a good first day.

After we were let out, Ryan and I and one of our Guard guys Mike went into the FACT room to see where we stood for the test we’ll be taking next Friday. The FACT (Fighter Aircrew Conditioning Test) is a series of scored physical events to test mostly our strength and hence (supposedly) our ability to withstand the G-forces required to fly high-performance jet aircraft. The test is specific for those who want to track into the fighter world, and so really won’t affect my final scoring at all; but it’s definitely a personal pride and self-esteem issue for me to do as well as possible. For me the test consists of:
60 lb curls
140 lb bench press
120 lb lat pull-down
280 lb leg press
80 lb leg curl

For each of these events the minimum is 10 reps and the max is 15. Each rep counts for one point, however, you fail the event and the whole test if you don’t at least get 10 reps on each. Then you have 1 minute each for pushups, situps and a leg-press of your own weight. Each of these events is min 20 and max 50 with a point for each rep again.

An Excellent rating is for a score under 200 down to like ?150? points. An Outstanding score is awarded for 200 points or more.Happily, I scored a 196 today, and I’m positive I’ll be able to get into the top Outstanding range by next Friday. I was actually quite pleasantly surprised with my score and I’m glad we took the time to do that today. It helped boost my confidence and gives a good goal to work towards and a couple of events to focus on improving over the next week. I’ve also lost about 5 pounds since arriving on station and hope to take about 5 more in the next month or so. I’m working on getting into a solid work-out routine, and I’m eating a lot of fruits for snacks instead of anything fatty. Getting into and staying in good physical shape will really pay off during UPT I know. Should help with all the stress if nothing else.

I will be cooking spaghetti tonight bachelor-style, which means I’ll make 2 lbs of it for 2 guys so that we will have leftovers for about the next two weeks or so. Ryan did the same thing with a big batch of chili last week, it’s a great way to go for single guys who don’t mind eating the same thing over and over again, let me tell you!

We have no real plans for the weekend yet right now besides just finishing more stuff around the house. I still only have some of the things up in my room that I want for decoration and will finish that up this weekend (yes, Cindy, including the lava-lamp that really do love, BTW!). Ryan also offered to help me put in the sound system into my car from my jeep which includes a new in-dash controller, an amp, a cd-changer, bass, etc. He has some experience with all that and will be a big help in making sure I don’t electrocute myself or anything. Highly looking forward to this weekend, will try to make another update before Monday, but no promises!