Published: September 24, 2008 11:43 pm         

Vance AFB student chronicles intense pilot training program

The intense, 13-month pilot training program at Vance Air Force Base has been described as “drinking from a fire hose,” because of the amount information students have to absorb in a short amount of time.

Nobody who hasn’t been through Joint Specialized Undergraduate Pilot Training knows what some 400 students at Vance every year go through.

One Vance student has spent the past year trying to change that.

2nd Lt. James Justice has chronicled the ups and downs of pilot training in a blog posted on the Vance public Web site (www.vance.af.mil) and published regularly in the base newspaper, The Scoop, under the heading “JSUPT Journal.”

Before Justice began his pilot training, he was assigned for a time to the Vance Public Affairs Office. Just before his training began, he was approached by Capt. Tony Wickman, then the base PA chief, about doing a regular blog on the trials and triumphs of pilot training.

“I was excited to do it,” Justice said. “I had the opportunity to write some things while I was over here in PA. I was excited about starting pilot training, so the two things went together well.”

Readers shared in Justice’s journey in his 35 blog entries, the first of which appeared in September 2007. He covered every aspect of pilot training, from a session in the altitude chamber, through academics and finally into the cockpit of first a T-6, then a T-1 and, finally, to the cusp of graduation.

In his blog entries, Justice didn’t shy away from reporting on his failures, as well as his successes.

“I felt it was important that the good go in with the bad, for it to be an accurate depiction of pilot training,” Justice said. “When stuff went wrong I’d write about that, too.”

The most recent entry was the most important, detailing Justice’s final check ride in the T-1. He failed his initial ride, necessitating he take a makeup, or 89, ride.

“This was the biggest ride of the past year,” he wrote. “Today I’d earn my wings or go home with nothing.”

Happily for Justice, he passed his 89 ride and will receive his wings during Friday morning’s graduation ceremony for class 08-15.

Given the time constraints facing every JSUPT student, Justice said he had to devote an hour or so on the weekends to writing his blog entries.

“Obviously, during the week I didn’t have time,” Justice said. “It either got done on the weekends or it didn’t get done.”

His classmates, Justice said, were supportive of his journalistic efforts, as were his instructors.

“I think everyone seemed to like it,” Justice said. “Any ribbing I got was good-natured.”

Justice said he got positive feedback from other people on base, as well.

“A lot of people enjoyed reading it,” he said, “especially the guys who are just starting pilot training. They kind of get an idea what they’re about to get into. It also presents a window into that world for the people who aren’t over on the flight line, what it’s like for a student pilot.”

2nd Lt. Agneta Murnan, Vance’s current Public Affairs chief, said since her office began using Web tracking software in April, Justice’s blog has consistently ranked in the top 10 items viewed on the Vance public Web site, and often was in the top five.

Putting his thoughts down in his blog, Justice said, helped him review events of his busy weeks.

“The whole week can be kind of a blur, almost,” he said. “The blog presented an opportunity for me to look back at what actually happened.”

Justice’s final blog entry will cover today’s graduation ceremony.

“That would be a shame to write about a year of pilot training and not cover graduation,” Justice said.

He has been assigned to fly KC-135s at Kadena Air Base, Japan. He will go through follow-on training at Altus AFB before reporting to his next duty station. But, he says, his blogging days likely are over.

“I’m sure I’ll be busy with training at the next place,” he said.