Tech School Experience Part 2 (Sheppard AFB)

Picking up the story where I left off, the bus arrived at Sheppard AFB. My bus first pulled up to a brand new looking building and before I got my hopes up the bus driver started calling out training squadrons that were to get off the bus and did not call my squadron. The bus then drove a few more minutes before arriving at the oldest looking building on base it looked like it was left over from WWII. That was when the bus driver called my squadron, so I got off the bus and got my bags from under the bus. Me and about a dozen other airmen had gotten off with me among them was my best friend from BMT who had spent the last two months sleeping in the bunk above me. We lined up with our bags and paperwork under the direction of two student leaders that had come outside to meet us. This was my first interaction with what are know as "ropes". In Air Force tech school the way they have the chain of command structured is they appoint student leaders like they do in BMT. Except where in BMT they have four "element leaders" who report to the "dorm chief" who reports to the MTI. In tech school they have "green ropes" named because they are given a green colored rope to wear around their left shoulder. "Green ropes" are given the job of leading small groups of Airmen. Above them are "yellow ropes" and above them are "red ropes". "Red ropes" report to the Military Training Leaders (MTL) which is like the MTI in basic training, they are a NCO (Non-Commissioned Officer) responsible for order and discipline among the Airmen throughout training. MTLs wear a dark blue rope and are referred to as "blue ropes"

Stock picture of a "green rope"

U.S. Air Force photo by (Kemberly Groue)

This image is a work of an U.S. military or Department of Defense employee, taken or made during the course of the person's official duties. As a work of the U.S. federal government, the image is in the public domain.

So after spending about four hours in processing at Sheppard, filling out paperwork and watching countless briefings I was given my room key and took my bags up to my room.

I spent just over one month at Sheppard learning "Aircraft Maintenance Fundamentals" commonly referred to in tech school as "fundies". All crew chiefs go to Sheppard for "fundies" before they go to their airframe specific tech school know as "follow on training". Some airframes like the C-130 and KC-135 have their follow on training at Sheppard so they stay there for months but for me being a C-17 crew chief I got to go to McChord AFB for my follow on training and only had to be at Sheppard fundies. About Sheppard, it is had its ups and downs. For one it is located in Wichita Falls, TX which is in the middle of nowhere. Its about two hours North-West of Dallas near the Oklahoma border, its basically southern Oklahoma. The best part for me was the people I was stationed there with, I was there with many good friends from BMT and several friends I met at Sheppard. I was there for 4th of July weekend but I was so new that I wasn't allowed off base yet so me and my friends caught up on every movie we missed while in BMT and we explored our new base, on foot because none us had car with us in Texas. That was one problem with Sheppard, I was there in July and August and it was at least 80 every day I was there some days it got above 100. When I was allowed to go off base me and my friends took the bus to the Sikes Center Mall in Wichita Falls. The mall is modest, not a huge mall but pretty good considering the remoteness of the location. It's air conditioned so that is a big plus. During my time at Sheppard I visited the mall and the surrounding area a few times. We went to the movie theater there (better than the one on base), we got a pedicure (amazing after BMT destroyed my feet), we shopped and window-shopped at many stores we remembered from back home such as: Best Buy, Walmart, Aeropostale, American Eagle, Hollister, Game Stop, F.Y.E, Buckle. And after eating BMT food for two months we ate a just about every restarunt in Wichita Falls including: Olive Garden, Logan's Roadhouse, On the Border, Buffalo Wild Wings, Cinnabon, Taco Bell, Whataburger, McDonalds, Burger King, Sonic.

Whataburger in Wichita Falls, TX

On base the thing to do on the weekends was to go to the mini-mall buy a bunch of booze and black and milds and go to this one acre park on base called "central park" which is the only place on base where you can drink except for the bar which is right across the street. Friday nights at central park were pretty fun, that hot dry Texas night all the stars out and a 6-pack of beer. It was like a giant party with 200 or so people in this little park playing music drinking and smoking. Then when you got tired of that you would catch a cab to D&Ds this super stereotypical country bar. Like if you were to imagine what a country bar in rural Texas would be like that is D&Ds. Loud country music, wooden dance floor, cheap American beer, everybody is wearing Wranglers and cowboy hats, and its Texas so you can still smoke in bars so the whole place is full of a haze of Marlboro smoke. I have a great story about one night at D&Ds but I don't think its appropriate for internet audiences but if you ever meet me ask me about it.

While I was in fundies I was taught basic aircraft maintenance like how to read a job guide and how to safety wire fasteners together. On August 9th, 2013 I graduated fundies and was given orders to report to McChord AFB for follow on training. After the weekend I left Sheppard on Wednesday August 14th, 2013. I packed all of belongings into 4 bags and took a cab from the squadron where I was living at to the passenger terminal of Wichita Falls Municipal Airport. Sheppard AFB and Wichita Falls Municipal Airport are the same airport they use the same runways the public passenger terminal is just on the other side of the runways from the Air Force Base. So after a short cab ride to the terminal I boarded a small plane to Dallas International Airport where I connected to Seattle. After a 4 hour flight from Dallas I landed in Seattle for the first time in my life.

To be continued...