Blazing Forward

Good afternoon all,

I've gotten into the habit of counting down my time left here: Just finished week 3 of TFOT (week 4 of BOT). It has been quite a remarkable week, one where I was continuously thinking I was going to be sent home. Every week we have an "individual morale" memo due where we promote the accolades of 2 of our fellow cadets and throw 2 of our fellow cadets under the bus. Being an unacclimated sleep-deprived taciturn non-prior, I think I was somewhere near (or at) the bottom of my flight's list. My flight commander, Maj Mask, calls me to his cubicle yells at me for failing, threatens dis-enrollment, puts me on SMS, and then tells me I'm going to be flight leader next week. One of the days around then something clicked; before then (and since then) I've averaged ~5.7 hours of sleep a night, but since "it" clicked I don't feel tired throughout the entirety of the day after less than 6 hours of sleep. So for the last ~7 days I've been up at 0430 leading a flight of 14 people (16 in total, minus 1 for myself, and minus 1 more for Cadet Smith who is a Squadron Officer this week and seldom falling in with my flight) until 1830 or there about. There are more meetings, emails, and middle-management than I can shake a stick at most nights, so sleep gets put off until 2230 or so. Anyway, it has been a strong, fast, and novel week as I've followed through on being the flight leader. The two flight leaders before me have been great helpers. Our flight commander (the Major) will often say "help each other, but don't carry each other. You understand the difference?" Almost everyone agrees and he goes on... I still don't know where the line is drawn. Next week looks like the most interesting one in the curriculum so far. M-9 Pistol qualifications on Tuesday, and the opportunity to earn marksmanship with it; I'll be delivering my first PowerPoint presentation here on Wednesday; some all-day leadership course called BELPS on Thursday; Friday sounds dull, but it might not be; and then Saturday morning has a trip to the Tuskegee Airmen Museum nearby.

No idea when I'll write next, but today marks exactly 1 month here (19 Jan to 19 Feb) and just over a month (33 days) until I get out! Miss you all lots!!