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Made it through the long, cold, wet "Dark Ages" and Spring means commissioning, assignments, and fun summer duties - Spring's great. We're sending our pilot candidates to Del Rio TX and an amazing number go to Vance AFB in Enid OK. Most have an operational duty for 6-9 months prior to going to UPT. Our navigators are split with 50% going to Strike Attack training at Pensacola and 50% off to Randolph AFB for heavies or EWO training. If they qualify physically, most of our cadets opt for flying. We even worked an aged foreign student who's our biggest pilot enthusiast to get a pilot slot thru OTS - yes, they offered the age waiver. We'll do almost anything under the sun to help our cadets get the right assignment.
All but one of our juniors who asked for flying training got picked up. I expect the remaining one will get picked up when they release the rest of the pilot slots in September. KU has done much better than average in the last 3 years. Why doesn't everyone who can go - go to pilot training??? Good Question! The answer is that we are near max capacity at the UPT bases; but we are maxed out at the weapon system RTUs (replacement training units). That's the impact of pilot retention - there aren't enough experienced pilots to fill the critical flight lead, instructor, and command slots in the fighting forces and have enough for transition training. We are blessed with a great safety record despite drop in experience. But UPT isn't the only bottleneck -- RTUs are the choke point until we see the fruits of our AF retention initiatives.
We're sending cadets all over the place this summer. Between sophomore and junior year, we send our cadets to a month-long summer camp at either Tyndall AFB, (Florida panhandle) or Lackland AFB (San Antonio TX). There are 3 camps periods at each site. KU's schedule causes most of our cadets to go in late Jun and July. They have done great every year. We also send our instructors and high performance cadets to serve as Field Training Officers and Cadet Training Assistants at camp.
We have also sent some cadets for soaring gliders and free-fall parachuting at the Air Force Academy. Several cadets are visiting stateside bases and do some "gopher" jobs while catching a few flights, and learning first-hand what the different career fields are like, and reaffirm our story that the REAL Air Force is a great way of life. Seniors can apply for overseas bases and they're slated for Italy & Alaska.
Some Good and Bad news: Capt Erich Schroeder won an AF scholarship to KU's med school. He's been studying in the early morning, volunteering in the community hospital, and still doing a great job as commandant of cadets. He'll be missed but we'll be gaining a great AF doc. If you know his lovely bride, Ms Ellengray will commute to Lawrence and continue to teach 4th grade.
We're having our annual retreat and awards ceremony on 1 May. We certainly appreciate the efforts of great organizations like TROA who take the time to personally attend and present awards. Very much appreciated by all. We have some deserving. If you could see the charged up young men and women that we see - you'd feel great about America's future and confidence in the next generation of military leaders.
I have attended several of the JROTC awards ceremonies in Kansas City area and have seen some great programs and great communities working together for youth and the lessons of citizenship. TROA is always there too. Hope we can find a site in Lawrence - the results of JROTC continue to be thoroughly impressive. Proud to be a member of an outfit who serves others so well. Have a great summer.
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