Does anyone know if there is a specific base that they send UPT students to if you are flying the C-130 for the USAFR? I have narrowed it down to 4-6 bases where they host UPT but I'm wondering if there is one that is more preffered than any other or more common for C-130 pilots in the Reserves.

Thanks

 

They'll send you to any base, except Sheppard, which conducts Euro-NATO training...which is geared towards fighters. Randolph only does Instructor training. Moody got BRAC'd and no longer does Primary.

As I understand it, guys who don't do well at Sheppard can still get a non-fighter...but yours is the opposite. You know you're supposed to get a Herc.

You could go to Columbus, Vance, or Laughlin. They could send you to Pensacola (Whiting) or Corpus Christi to do Primary with the Navy (not 100% on Corpus; but I know the Navy has a Primary base in Texas).

Personally, I'd go Columbus, Vance, and Laughlin, in that order, and stay out of the Navy-switch-to-Air Force route. One less PCS; one less different way of doing things. Navy is still flying a lot of T-34Cs; the USAF is flying T-6As except for the last class of T-37 guys at Sheppard. Overall, the T-6A is a much better airplane than the T-34.

 

A lot of future USAF Herc pilots will go through advanced training at VT-31 or VT-35 in Corpus. Don't know the percentage of how many do, but there is a steady supply of USAF studs at those squadrons.

 

Did the Reserves and Guard finally sign up for that? When I was instructing UPT, only active duty students who got C-130s went to Corpus. The Reserves and Guard said they wanted their guys to do T-1s in case the unit got BRAC'ed into a different airframe in the future.

 

All of our USAF studs are active duty here in VT-31. Back when I was a stud the Reserve/Guard C-130 dudes went through T-1s. I think this is still the case.

 

I was active duty but I lived with two guard and one reserve guy when I was at Corpus. Also, the guys that my reserve unit are sending through UPT are going to Corpus. They must be going to VT-35 then if there arent any in 31...

I loved my time in Corpus compared to Columbus but I think the T-1 route makes sense since we are likely to see more changes in missions in the future for the Guard and Reserve.

 

ANG/AFRC folks can go to CRP or stay at their respective UPT bases for Phase III, Active duty folks can do likewise. The one thing I have not heard of for ARC students is going Navy the whole way and only getting exposed to the AF way of business once they arrive at the C-130 school house. I am fairly certain ARC students will do Phase I and II at an AF base. It is rare but it happens to a few AD folks to go Navy the whole way, we had an IP here at DLF who never flew a jet until he became a T-37 IP after T-34/T-44/C-130s.

The idea that T-1s makes someone more universal is funny, considering that was the argument for everyone flying T-38s back in the day. The Guard Bureau used to try to keep a few folks from heavy outfits going to T-38s just in case they ever wanted to change units, but that program ended a few years back. Bottom line, if you graduate Phase II, you are fixed wing qual'd and what you fly in Phase III doesn't matter. A 130 dude from CRP can transition to C-17s/135s/KC-10s down the road, a rotor guy from Rucker can go to a 130 assignment, a fighter guy can hurt his back, get non ejection seat qual'd and go fly a heavy. The only thing that ain't going to happen is a fighter cross flow without having to go fly T-38 IFF as a minimum and in this day and age of shrinking budgets and fewer and fewer pointy noses to fly that is a very unlikely scenario.

 

That is my order of preference....and what everyone seems to say it should.

 

Is there anything to do in the surrounding areas of these bases. Columbus looks especially desolate. My fiance is freaking out because she thinks there is not going to be anything for her to do or anyplace for her to work at (she is a nurse).

 

Man, just take what you get and be happy to be in training. Every argument for which one is better will be full of holes. The airplane or base simply doesn't matter.

Two big picture purposes of military flight training:

1) Throw a lot of information at group of people in a short amount of time and screen out the ones who can't perform at the desired pace (screening process).

2) Teach you how to fly (educational process).

You can get both in Turbo weenie, T-1, Texan II, or King Air syllabus.

Study smart (50 minutes on, ten minutes off, stop studying one hour prior to sleeping, 30 minutes at bare minimum).

Study in groups (someone will have the gouge).

Take Friday and Saturday off. Be ready to hit the books hard Sunday.

Have fun, make friends, fly your ass off!