Nope, Dead end road here.

Just kidding. I made it my goal at age 14 to get a C-17 slot. I met with a family friend [mentor], made a plan and started working toward it...and it worked. I started on my PPL at 15. Enlisted as a crew chief in the AF Reserve to work on C-17s one month after my 18th birthday. I worked on my four year degree in between my military commitments (one weekend a month...it wasn't that tough...). After four years at Central Washington University in their aviation program and five years in the reserve, I had earned a diploma, commercial/Instrument certificate and a and with those items I applied to the local squadrons. I got an interview with all three mostly because I pestered them so much. I was selected by one of them and now eight months later I am headed to OTS at the age of 23 with five years prior service under my belt. I have my C-17 slot waiting for me if I make it through UPT at Laughlin in October.

I, along with McElheranL set my goal to be a pilot at a very young age. Honestly, I can't even remember when I made the decision to want to fly. I guess you could say that it was a lifelong goal of mine. I enlisted in the Colorado Air National Guard before I even graduated high school and have been working fuel systems on the F-16 for going on 8 years. I was attending Colorado State University and working towards my Bachelors Degree in Construction Management. One summer, I was working at an internship with a homebuilder and flying after work to attain my private pilot's license. Once I had my degree, AFOQT and PCSM scores (VERY poor AFOQT scores. Made up for them with my PCSM) and my PPL, I flooded the country with my applications. I had the C-17 as my first choice, but I realized that beggars can't be choosers, so I also applied for KC-10, C-5 and KC-135 slots. I did it the hard way, making phone calls and talking to the appropriate people. In most cases, I had to call the base operators and try to find the numbers to the squadron chief pilots. I assume that a lot of these squadrons admired my tenacity, because at least 7 of them invited me out for an interview. (I actually was one of the competing airmen for McElheranL's position) On the 5th and 6th interview, all of the hard work paid off, as I was offered a slot from the 709th AS at Dover AFB, DE (C-5) and Andrews AFB, MD. (KC-135) I never thought that I would have the opportunity to actually turn a job DOWN.