Any advice regarding basic, AIT, and life beyond as a 15T?

I’ve been a 15T for almost 10 years. It’s a very rewarding job. I just hit my 1000 hours of flight time as a crew chief. Best job in the Army in my opinion.

I was in your shoes around 3.5 years ago. I joined at 30 and selected an Aviation MOS (15Y) with the intention on learning something about Rotary-wing Aircraft prior to dropping my packet.

You probably won't enjoy BCT as much as the young bloods since you're joining up with a lot of civilian life and work experience under your belt. Nothing will make sense and you'll probably get frustrated by the lack of common sense from everyone around you. "Hurry up and wait" is a popular saying that is very true when it comes to training in the Army. The best advice I can give you for BCT is do NOT volunteer for anything, keep your mouth shut and don't give the Drill Sargeants a reason to call you out. Right time, right place, right uniform.

Your AIT will take place at Fort Useles-err, Eustis. I don't know how long 15T AIT is, I want to say between 12-18 weeks. Don't believe anything anyone says about AIT being relaxed, because it is not. Drill Sargeants were brought back to Eustis about 3 years ago due to the BS the students kept getting in trouble with, so it's a lot like a BCT environment. You can "phase up" by meeting certain criteria that will grant you additional freedom such as sleeping in, wearing civilian clothes, not having to march to the dfac in a formation and leaving post to get some R&R (weekends only). It is well worth the effort if you value your sanity. Do not rely on anyone to do the right thing for you. Take care of yourself before anyone else. It sounds selfish, but trust me you'll save yourself a headache later on.

As far as the training goes, you'll spend a lot of time in a classroom environment learning about all of the major systems such as Hydro, electronics, navigation, etc which will be accompanied by hands on training inside of the hangar. You'll have a very basic understanding of how things works, but it honestly will not translate to practical application once you get to your first unit. It's only meant to familiarize you with the airframe.

When you eventually leave AIT and head for your first unit, you'll probably jump right into maintenance and spend most of your time working with other soldiers who have decent experience and know what they are doing. This is where you will gain most of your experience and become familiar with the Blackhawk. I can't say much beyond that because I wasn't a Tango.

Personally, I waited about 6-8 months after arriving to my unit to start working on my WOFT packet, but there is no reason to wait. Start putting it together as soon as you can. It'll probably take you a while to piece everything together and you'll still be a Tango working on Blackhawks in the meantime. In any case, you'll have a lot more experience than 90% of the candidates that come through WOCS for Flight since they come from all over the Army and not just Aviation.

The first things you'll want to do is schedule a SIFT test with your local education center (only need to pass once and the score is good for life) and get a flight physical started at your local clinic. That way if anything medically comes up that can keep you from flying, you'll know sooner than later and save yourself wasted effort. After that it's all about filling out paperwork, getting LOR's, having your packet signed off and then finding out when the next board is to submit your packet. Realistically you're at least 9 months out before you graduate AIT and head to your first unit (assuming Active Duty).

- The age cutoff for flight has recently changed from 33 back down to 32. Which means your packet needs to be submitted to the board prior to your 32nd birthday. This however, only saves you from having to submit an age waiver when it is all said and done. So don't fret it too much.
- Don't feel bad about joining with specific goals in mind. Like I said before, take care of yourself first and foremost because no one cares about your career as much as you do.

I've only briefly touched on the things you're going to expect in BCT, AIT and beyond. Any further or more specific questions don't hesitate to reach out.

Thank you to everyone that responded! I have been in almost a year and a half and have also successfully submitted my application to WOCS. I will find out shortly after the board convenes in July!