COT 10-04 nurse to 10-05

[midinphx]

I am in week 1 of COT. I have some ideas you may want to jump on. Since they were major challenges this week.

Get your uniforms complete!! Get you name tapes and rank sewn on your ABU's at all costs. Do up the buttons and get strings off. Wear your boots!!! I wore mine hiking a couple times and still my feet are bruised.

Get yourself some kind of portable web link device. Mine is from sprint. It costs $60 a month. Money well spent. No one else can get online barely.

Bring a printer, extra ink, paper, scissors, tape, etc. Be prepared.

There have been some really amazing challenges already and there are more to come!!

[carolinapooh, BSN, RN]

I've completed COT and unless you're desperate for something to do to kill time, I wouldn't bother. As a prior enlisted member of the USAF, I personally have a couple I'd recommend:

Amazon.com: Beyond the Wild Blue: A History of the U.S. Air Force, 1947-2007 (9780312358112): Walter J. Boyne: Books by Walter J. Boyne

Amazon.com: The Cold War and Beyond: Chronology of the United

Amazon.com: Hap Arnold and the Evolution of American Airpower (9781560989493): Dik Alan Daso, Richard Overy: Books

Amazon.com: Hap: The Story of the U.S. Air Force and the Man Who Built It: General Henry H. Arnold (9780670360697): Thomas M. Coffey: Books by Thomas Coffey

Anything about the Doolittle Raid, the WASPs, or Billy Mitchell:

Amazon.com: Billy Mitchell: Crusader for Air Power (Midland Books: No. 180) (9780253201805): Alfred F. Hurley: Books - this man was court-martialed for testifying as to the usefulness of air power in war and the need for a separate Air Force after an incident involving the Navy dirgible the SHENANDOAH and loss of sea planes in Hawaii - in 1925, after WWI. (Essentially he told the inquiry board - and a few others - that the future of warfare was air power and they essentially thought he was nuts.) He was more than ahead of his time. There was a movie made about this with Gary Cooper called THE COURT MARTIAL OF BILLY MITCHELL, and I recommend that as well. It puts the creation of our AF in perspective and to a time before 1947.

The WASPs - or the Womens Airforce Service Pilots (their insignia, Fifinella, as designed by the famous Walt Disney is up in my avatar) flew planes (bombers, fighters, anything that flew) from base to base and from the factories to bases since all the available men were off fighting the war. They flew for very little pay and NO BENEFITS. Some of you may have heard of a woman named Jackie Cochran, a famous early female aviator and the "commander" of the WASPs - she and Hap Arnold went to Congress after WWII to lobby not only for the creation of the USAF, but for the inclusion of women for equal pay and with equal bennies. They weren't successful for many years, but the girls among us (across the services - the Army had WACs and the Navy had WAVEs) owe our stripes and bars to Jackie and her fellow crusaders.

The surviving WASPs were JUST RECOGNIZED and properly awarded for their service by President Barack Obama either late last year or earlier this year, I can't remember which.

And for women's (and NURSES!!) military history in general, check out WE BAND OF ANGELS, the story of the military nurses captured and held by the Japanese at Bataan in WWII. Oh, and keep Kleenex handy.

[carolinapooh, BSN, RN]

There's also an Air Force Officer's handbook and an Air Force Wives handbook, which you can find on Amazon as well. Some of these books are also available for Kindle.

Wanted to add: Billy Mitchell was no saint, but it's interesting to read about the picture he painted of the need for air supremacy (even if he was a bit egotistical and a bit of a drama boy about the whole thing) eighty-five years ago. It's almost creepy, in a way - because he was very nearly dead-on.

[Weneferd]

Thank you. I have We Band of Angels and Beyond the Wild Blue. The second is a really heavy read, whew. I appreciate every thing related to military customs. I am starting from ground zero. I love to learn and I'm excited. I'll look into your recommendations. You are so helpful. I hope I get to help you someday!!!

[carolinapooh, BSN, RN]

Thank you. I have We Band of Angels and Beyond the Wild Blue. The second is a really heavy read, whew. I appreciate every thing related to military customs. I am starting from ground zero. I love to learn and I'm excited. I'll look into your recommendations. You are so helpful. I hope I get to help you someday!!!

Thanks! If you're a military newbie get your paws on that AF Officer's Handbook. It's a bit more concrete than the OIs they want you to read in COT and it's very well written.

[carolinapooh, BSN, RN]

Oh, yeah - and I forgot about THIRTY SECONDS OVER TOKYO, about the Doolittle raid - the part where they show how they worked out (and attempted and re-attempted MULTIPLE times) how to get B25s (called Mitchells - for old Billy! - the only US aircraft named for a person) to land and take off from the aircraft carriers of the 1940s is amazing.

Especially with some quick research on B25s and what they WEREN'T capable of!

(Also worth noting is, while some Hollywood license was taken, the movie was made in 1944, so the slang of the era, the way of speaking, and the fact that everyone had a cigarette in their mouths is more accurate than today's PEARL HARBOR - though I do love that movie.)

Sorry - I'm running off at the mouth now - too much of a history nut!

[midinphx, BSN]

bump to top....

[luvbug080688]

question:

for graduation, is there a max number of people that you're allowed to have come?

[carolinapooh, BSN, RN]

It depends on if it's inside or outside and how big your class is.

The BOT classes are pretty big, and when one of them graduated while I was there we had torrential rains for three days before. They got stuck in the auditorium and were told only two people per grad could come. Our class was tiny - only 106 people - and it was gorgeous the day we graduated (we actually got sunburned on the field and it was November). So we were outside on the parade grounds in bleacher-type seating.

I don't know about summer surge classes - they're often over three hundred people - but my guess is if you're on the parade grounds space isn't an issue. There's a lot of seating.

[carolinapooh, BSN, RN]

It's a bit dark (I took this with my iPhone) but this is what the parade grounds look like at COT.

[midinphx, BSN]

Pooh,

I'm the commander of airman at our graduation parade on Friday. I am the one front and center yelling the commands! I've always been in the back or the formation and never been a part of the parade, so it's really an honor. BUT.... I have 5 pages of lines to learn!! lol.

We have AEF this week then I'm out of here on Friday. So excited!

[carolinapooh, BSN, RN]

You'll be fine. You'll have it down by graduation. Wear plenty of sunscreen since you'll be on the parade field for a couple of hours at a clip (we got fried down there in November so it will be even worse now).

[Travelcrazy]

Congrats Mid! Wow! That flew by. Have fun at graduation!