It has taken quite a while to get this done. He had to have a dental appointment, an eye exam, and finally a physical. He had to make, and then wait for each appointment before he could move on. And being in Louisiana for a month didn't help things go any faster.
All I can say about how slowly things have been progressing is, at least he still gets a paycheck in the meantime. Back when we were paying for flying on our own we constantly ran into situations where we would have just paid the USU flight department $5000 (from student loans) only to have Brandon's flight instructor leave for a fishing trip or something. Yeah, it really happened - and not just once.
Even though this application is taking forever, at least it is progressing. And we are approaching the end of it. All Brandon needs to do is get some letters of recommendation, fill out the actual application, send it in, and wait.
Since we are closer than we have ever been to getting this thing done, I thought I'd take a minute and answer some frequently asked questions about this whole Warrant Officer thing. Neither of our families has a lot of experience with the military so we get asked these types of questions a lot.
What is a Warrant Officer?
Okay there are Commissioned Officers like Lieutenants and Captains and such. They focus on learning how to command troops or getting a staff duty position. Warrant Officers on the other hand pick a specialty, train for that, and then stay in that field. There are positions such as Human Resources Technician, Legal Administrator, Field Artillery Targeting Technician, and so on. (Click here for the whole list.)
What Specialty is Brandon applying for?
Brandon is applying to be a Rotary Wing Aviator. Which means helicopter pilot. (Read the requirements here.)
Doesn't he have to be a member of the Army for a certain amount of time before he can apply?
To apply for any other Warrant Officer position Brandon would have to have been in the Army for at least 2 years. For some positions he would have to be at least a sergeant before he could apply. But as luck would have it, Rotary Wing Aviator is the only one where he can apply right away.
Actually he could have signed up to be a helicopter pilot right when he enlisted, but with the troop drawdown on the horizon there weren't any positions available at that time. Maybe he could have held out for one, but we wanted to get going with this whole Army thing as fast as possible, so it wasn't in our family's best interest to wait.
How much of a chance does Brandon have of being selected?
I don't know. But he already has almost 300 hours of flight time that he earned in college. And he scored very well on the aptitude tests. So those two things should help his chances.
He has been chasing this dream of being a professional pilot for so long that part of me doesn't believe it will actually work out this time. We've been let down so many times before why should this time be any different? And yet we feel like this time IS different. That for whatever reason Brandon is meant to be an helicopter pilot in the Army.
What happens when Brandon's application is approved?
This may not be entirely accurate, but we've been able to piece the following process together.
Brandon will go to Warrant Officer Training for about a month. Then he will go to flight school for a year. At some point he'll also go through The Survival Escape Resistance and Evasion (SERE-C) course, and Helicopter Ditching and Dunker Training. The kids and I will probably move with him to flight school. I don't know what we'll do during the other trainings.
Where is flight school?
Fort Rucker, Alabama. It's a 30 hour drive from Utah, but only 6 hours away from Disney World. I've always vowed that I wouldn't take my kids to Disneyland/World until they were all tall enough to ride all the rides. BUT if we are going to be only 6 hours away, and get a military discount, then I think I might go back on that vow. It would be really fun to take the kids while it's all still real to them.
How soon will Brandon start training?
No idea. First of all it depends on how soon this application can be completed. Brandon has been working on various parts of it since February. We are hoping to have it done ASAP which probably translates into late July. Once it's turned in I don't know when we will hear back, or when Brandon will be asked to go to training. I imagine we wont be moving until March, but I have no real evidence to back that up. One thing is for sure, I highly doubt that there will be any changes until after Baby D is born.
Doesn't Brandon want to fly airplanes?
Not necessarily. Brandon wants to fly. The type of aircraft doesn't really matter. Back when he was still learning to fly airplanes he told me he thought it would be cool to learn how to fly helicopters. At that time I told him we should probably finish up flying airplanes first. But now I'm all for the change.
There are some fixed wing (airplane) jobs available in the Army so it is possible he could fly those one day. But either way if he is flying we will be happy.
. . .
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