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...

Tech School Experience Part 1 (Leaving Lackland)

I am going to try my best to remember and share with you my experiences during tech school. I don't have a lot of experience writing stories so don't expect a literary masterpiece.

This story begins the evening of June 30th 2013. It was the day after graduating BMT, my flight was on base liberty where we were free to go around base but we couldn't leave base. Much of my flight was spending the day with their families but my family had to leave the night before so that they could drive back home in time for work on Monday. I was walking around base with some of my flight mates that also did not have their families there. It was a rainy day so we quickly walked to the mini-mall where we ate lunch at Subway. Afterword we made our way to the bus stop to take us to the BX, while there I bought a nice Casio G-Shock watch that I still wear. After that we went bowling on base for a few hours before returning to our dorm. That night was one of excitement, everyone knew the end of basic training was near and people were exchanging phone numbers and saying their goodbyes. Our wall lockers were packed up and our MTIs had us take all our bags except for what we needed to shave, brush our teeth, and get dressed in the morning downstairs to one of the classrooms. At that time our cell phones were returned to us also but we had to put them in our luggage and leave them downstair in the classroom where they would be locked up until we left in the morning. When we went back up to our dorm it looked so empty with all our stuff downstairs. As we made our way to bed that night we found it difficult to sleep like a kid on Christmas Eve excited for the next day. Beginning very early in the morning groups of newly minted Airmen work awoken to start their journey to their tech school. Depending on what base you were going to determined when you had to leave. Myself going to Sheppard AFB for tech school as a C17 crew chief was woken up around 3:30AM. Getting dressed quietly with only my flashlight for light was nothing new to me after all those night pulling midnight EC duty I was a pro at not waking up my fellow Airmen. As the Sheppard group made our way down the stairs leaving our dorm for the last time a sense a accomplishment overcame me, I had done it I was leaving basic training. We marched around the squadron one last time to the class room where our belonging were locked away. We retrieved our bags and lined up waiting for the bus that dropped us off here two months prior to pick us back up. After what seemed like eternity the bus came and took us to the processing center. When we got there we lined up and waited for our name to be called to board a charter bus. When my name was called I walked to the bus, put my bags in the lower cargo area and found my seat to freedom. Next came a six hour bus ride across Texas up to Sheppard. Now having free access to our phones the six hours went by in no time. After a quick stop in Dallas for lunch we arrived at Sheppard AFB in Wichita Falls, TX.

Listing to my iPhone for the first time in 2 months.