The Planner and Her Pilot: A Pilot's Wife

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

A Pilot's Wife

Well before meeting Jake I never thought I'd be the wife of a pilot, but now that's all changed. Our whole future was decided yesterday. For months we've been stressing over this pilot slot business... a lot of people don't realize that to be a pilot in the Air Force Jake had to compete for the opportunity against the rest of the nation's cadets. One gets the chance based on their GPA, AFOQT score (Air Force Officer Qualifying Test) TBAS (which test his skills in basic aviation) Field Training performance, Physical Fitness Assessment and Commanders ranking. He did well in some areas and exceedingly well in others but we still didn't know what to expect. It's been his dream to be a pilot, so the thought of not getting a slot was devastating.

So yesterday when his commander popped in to let him know that the results were most likely coming that afternoon, everything in our little world stood still. Jake called me to let me know that he'd find out at 12:30, and although I tried to sound calm and confident, I was truly freaking out. All of our plans would be lost if he didn't get this slot. I waited around the house cleaning and trying to distract myself until 12:30 rolled around. Then I drove to the detachment and sat there for a half an hour, about ready to have an anxiety attack. Soon enough I see five boys in green flight suits come around the corner wearing small cardboard boxes on their hips. One of them was Jake. I jumped out of the car and ran up to the group gathered around them. I was right in time to hear the commander announce that ALL SIX cadets had received their spots! Needless to say I have never been more relieved and I have never seen my husband so happy (other then when he married me of course)...

Next on the agenda is some detailed physical assessments to make sure he isn't dying or something and then when next Spring rolls around we'll find our location for pilot training! So Air Force here we come!