Rose, 2010 GWW Scholarship Winner

It has been a year full of leaps and bounds for me. I have discovered more
about myself – my limitations and capabilities – than I ever have in such a
short period of time. When I started this year, I thought (with the
undeniable naivety of the young) that I could do everything, perhaps only
sacrificing sleep to the wayside.

I’m sure you can already imagine the outcome of his essay with a beginning
like that…

Well, as you’ve probably already guessed, I quickly discovered it’s not
possible to do it all. I entered this scholarship on a whim, when I heard of it
from my father (who has been so entirely supportive of my endeavors it’s
almost too much) and I quickly forgot I’d even entered it in the rush of the
new school year.

You see, my most dominant desire in life is to fly for the United States Air
Force. I have grown up around the military my entire life, and there’s
something about it that’s called to me deeper than any other path I’ve ever
considered. And I want to be in the Air Force to fly, because the Air Force
has the most beautiful, lethal, sleek planes I have ever seen in my life. So
after my freshman year of college at Florida State University where I mucked
around and figured out that yes, I did definitely want to join the military, I
returned to FSU for my sophomore year and signed up for AFROTC.

I had no idea how the program worked whatsoever, and I was so nervous
that they’d just turn me away at the door that I completely forgotten that I’d
applied for Girls With Wings. However, the detachment at Florida State didn’t
turn me away, and I began training.

Before I began the year, I thought I’d be able to be a full time student and
make a commitment to AFROTC and fly and still be able to maintain good
grades. It didn’t take me long to realize that between the early morning
Physical Training and the long hours of classes and Leadership Lab, (an
AFROTC requirement in which they teach you a variety of things from how to
wear your uniform and marching to leading and various aspects of the Air
Force); my flying was falling by the wayside.

It wasn’t long after this realization that I received a letter from Girls With
Wings stating that I was one of two winners for the year if I accepted. Well
that was a no brainer! It was also the first time during fall semester that I
felt like I was on the right track. AFROTC was proving to be more of a
psychological drain than I’d anticipated, and although I was putting as much
effort as I could into it, I felt like what I had to offer wasn’t enough. The
timing of the scholarship couldn’t have been better.

However, the majority of my time was still dedicated to AFROTC as cadets
began dropping out of the program. There were a few perks to being part of
the detachment, however: during our football season we had a C-130 flyover,
and the C-130 crew invited our detachment to the flight line to explore the
airplane and talk to them and ask questions. As I’ve often learned with flying,
there are usually more things that can go wrong than those that go right,
and my fellow cadets and I sat around the FBO waiting for the C-130 to arrive
for hours after its estimated time of arrival, due to maintenance problems. It
was highly worth the wait, however, and we got to explore the plane, walk on
the top of the wings, and see inside the cockpit as the sun set.

I also had the great fortune of being able to talk to an F-22 Raptor pilot
because of extra training I was doing in addition to the normal AFROTC
training. My flight of cadets drove to Tyndall AFB and had the opportunity to
walk around one of the first functional F-22s and even look in the cockpit.
Talking to that F-22 pilot was one of the coolest conversations I’ve ever been
in, and it was encouraging to hear his story. I’d love nothing more than to
get the opportunity to fly the Raptor.

Thanksgiving rolled around, and the opportunity for me to fly again arose. I
was set to volunteer for concessions during the FSU/UF football game on
Saturday (working concessions raises money for our detachment) and instead
of driving back a day early my father offered to take me on my first cross
country back. We’d estimated that it would have taken an hour en route and
perhaps half an hour preflighting the plane. Unfortunately, as I mentioned
earlier, not everything goes to plan. Due to cold weather, the plane wouldn’t
start and I had my first experience flooding the engine. We switched planes
to another C-172 that was available for rental, and I also learned how to
preheat the engine (something I’d never encountered before during warm
Florida summers). Luckily, we managed to get this plane to start and
departed from Eglin AFB to Tallahassee. It was for the most part smooth
sailing – or, ahem, flying – until we reached Tallahassee airport, when our
radios overheated and stopped working. I learned another valuable lesson
that day – when planning a cross-country flight, bring a back up radio!
Fortunately my dad had one on hand, and we were able to land safely and I
made it to the game before it started (albeit a little late).

I didn’t fly again until after finals, when I returned home in December and
quickly popped up to Atlanta to visit family for the holidays. During the week
I stayed in Atlanta, I flew out of Aviation Atlanta. Due to inclement weather, I
only got to fly a few days out of the scheduled time, but I sure got a lot of
time practicing planning cross-country flights. It was interesting to fly in such
a highly urbanized area and get used to using different landmarks than the
ones I was used to. I spent an awful lot of time grounded and studying.

When I returned to school in January, I began the Field Training semester for
AFROTC. In AFROTC a cadet spends one to two years noncontracted – that
is, they are not getting paid and they are not guaranteed to commission after
they graduate. At the end of a cadet’s sophomore year, they will compete for
an Enrollment Allocation to Field Training. Once a cadet has passed through
Field Training, that cadet is now contracted and will commission as a 2nd
Lieutenant in the Air Force after graduation. At our detachment, Field
Training Preparation consists of an extra Physical Training in addition to the
normal ones, and a Field Training Preparation class once a week in the early
morning.

So I went through the majority of spring semester in a state of sleep
deprivation. There were a few highlights in my spring though. In January I
took the Air Force Officer’s Qualifying Test. The AFOQT is a test that is
designed to determine an individual’s capabilities in different areas, and the
test combines into different scoring sections such as Quantitative, Verbal,
Navigator, and Pilot, to name a few. Passing scores are below 50, and while
there is no set pass/fail, the scores are used to determine potential job
paths. I scored a 91 on the Pilot’s portion, and that will be going up for
review when I apply for a Pilot Slot next semester in AFROTC. I also had the
opportunity to attend optional Flight 101 classes taught by my detachment
commander, a former F-111 and F-16 pilot. His classes focused on what
military pilot training consists of and basics – it was a good refresher for me
and it was also interesting to note the differences between military and civilian
flying.

I also worked with another cadet to coordinate with the local Civil Air Patrol to
arrange rides for cadets who had never been flying. Although I didn’t get the
chance to fly myself, it was rewarding to learn about the professional
interactions that are required to coordinate such an opportunity, and also to
work with cadets. I’m happiest at an airport, and it was great to be able to
share the joy of flight with cadets who had never flown before or who are also
interested in flying as their career field.

In late March, one early morning at PT, I broke my wrist - right around the
time that Enrollment Allocations were scheduled to come out. The detachment
sends cadet packages up to headquarters for review and waits to see how
many slots the detachment will be allocated. A cadet’s package consists of
their GPA, Physical Fitness Assessment scores, SAT/ACT scores, AFOQT
scores if applicable, and a commander’s rating that is given based on their
performance in the program. I was told that I needed surgery to correct the
injury, lest I suffer from early arthritis and if I healed incorrectly I would never
regain my full range of motion. It wasn’t a particularly happy time for me, as I
was worried that my injury would deter headquarters and my detachment’s
cadre from picking me to go to Field Training. The day after I got my
corrective surgery, my wingman let me know that cadre was letting the cadets
know who received a slot. So, groggy on painkillers, I made my way to the
detachment and my commander informed me that I was one of fourteen
cadets who received a slot. We dropped nineteen cadets during the year
before we even sent up packages to headquarters; and only fourteen of the
thirty cadets who competed for a slot were chosen.

So during the past two months since I received corrective surgery for my
wrist, I’ve been working on recuperating. I’ve hit some really low points in my
path to recovery – most notable being when the cast was removed and I tried
going through a preflight and start up checklist in my head and I realized I
was too weak to even prime the engine. I’ve been attending occupational
therapy though, and I’ve been flying regularly this May. My father has
returned to being a CFI, and he’s taken on the role as my flight instructor to
decrease costs. For, as I’ve heard joked about, if God had wanted man to fly
he would have given us more money, not wings.

Girls With Wings has been a constant reminder throughout my year that I
have something to work towards. Flying is not only fun (don’t get me wrong,
it is indeed a lot of fun) but it is also a lot of work. It takes work to achieve
anything worth having, and flying is one of those things. I’ve learned a lot
this year about communications failure (I’ve had radios fail at least three
times) and I’ve learned how to command a flight of cadets. I’ve learned about
the differences between civilian airport patterns and military aircraft patterns.
I’ve had the opportunity to share airspace with F-15s and F-16s and agonize
over my crosswind landings when they make taking off look so easy, like wind
doesn’t affect them at all – I was rather bummed about not nailing it until a
friend pointed out that in a Cessna-172, I weigh even less than their
payload. I’ve gone to the Tyndall AFB air show and marveled at the places
aviation can take you. I’ve studied my aviation books and I’ve studied my
Field Training Manual.

I am on the right track to achieve my dreams. I’m flying as often as I can this
summer, and I’m scheduled to attend Field Training (as soon as the doctor
signs off on my wrist) from July 14th to August 10th. And next year, I go up
for a Pilot Slot. If I receive one, I’ll be sent to military Pilot Training as soon
as I graduate from school. I have had so many people rooting for me this
year that I don’t even know how to thank them all. My detachment
commander has been pushing for me from the beginning and believes I have
a “fighter pilot attitude.” My mother has supported my dreams, even if she
doesn’t entirely understand them. My fellow cadets have helped motivate me
and push me to do better. My father has become my teacher and my best
advocate. And Girls With Wings has not only given me a means to fly, but
also provided a support group of females who understand the demands and
have succeeded in their dreams.

So I thank Girls With Wings again for providing me with the opportunity to fly
more, and to continue working towards my Private Pilot’s license and
eventually my ultimate dream of becoming a United States Air Force pilot.