We just had four years of ROTC where we saluted basically everybody we saw except for enlisted,
and now we're being saluted all over base.
It's a little strange.
The interest in the Navy definitely came later in high school.
I always admired my parents' stories of everywhere they've been around the world, so they were
a huge influence in me wanting to join the Navy.
In ROTC I knew that I wanted to be a pilot all four years is what I was aiming for.
I am the first pilot in our family.
Everybody’s really excited about what I’m doing.
Right now I’m in Aviation Preflight Indoctrination which is six weeks of academics and survival
training.
Yesterday I had engines class.
Basically we learn about all the different types of engines that we could be flying someday.
Having an engineering degree a lot of the information was familiar, but it’s not so
much how an engine works, but what you do wrong that makes an engine not work is what
will stick with us the most.
After that we had navigation class.
Understanding where you’re at and where you want to go, that’s navigation.
I am Major Chad Swan, call sign Swannee, because that’s the only one that stuck after 18
years.
Everybody in the aviation community has their call sign.
It’s a huge part of the culture.
It’s usually after you get your wings and you get to a squadron, then everybody just
tries to make fun of you in some way and come up with a creative call sign.
I think the aviation community is definitely unique within the Navy.
Everybody works really hard and we take flying and safety very seriously, but we also have
a good time.
To finish Aviation Preflight Indoctrination we have to pass six tests and we have to get
through the survival training.
For the survival training we learn how to swim through the water if the surface is on
fire, if there’s debris on fire, teach us how to conserve our energy, how to float,
you know, waiting for rescue to come.
Today’s challenge is a mile swim in flight suit.
So we put flight suits on and it’s to simulate if were you crash in the ocean, or in any
body of water, and you had to swim to safety.
That’s one thing that we get tested on.
I love swimming.
I was on the swim team in high school so I’m not nervous.
I’m actually really excited for it.
I remember we were about halfway through and I was thinking if only…if I didn’t have
this flight suit on right now I would have been done already so it really slows you down.
I’m focused on, you know, the engines test tomorrow and then the navigation test next
week, but once in a while especially when we’re, you know, watching all these videos
in class of flying and everything it makes me really anxious to just be done with all
this training and finally get into a squadron and finally be out there in the fleet.
We’re at Naval Air Station Corpus Christi, Texas and we’re standing on the flight line
where all the T-34s are parked.
Right now I’m in the third stage of naval flight training called primary.
The first thing that you do when you get here is another series of ground school where you
learn basically all the systems in the T-34.
You have this overload of information and understanding everything and how to actually
fly the plane and all the different maneuvers.
At first it’s like everything’s hard and then you get used to it and you practice.
On a day that you are scheduled to fly you have a scheduled brief time where just you
and the instructor that you're going to be flying with have certain discussion items
which are all laid out on this curriculum that we have.
And then you go fly and then afterwards you come back and it's called a de-brief an he
tells you what you did well, what you did wrong.
It does feel like your still in school, but it also is…feels like it is your job.
We are getting paid, we are active duty, but we're also in training, and we're students
still.
I mean we're not in a classroom, we're out in the sky flying so it's 100 percent better.
So yesterday was my third solo, my third time ever flying the T-34 by myself.
It's a little nerve-racking, but it's also really exciting and I think I flew better
by myself than I did with
the instructors because you're more relaxed, you don't have someone in the back seat like
constantly judging and grading you.
Once everything starts to click and you finally start flying well it becomes a lot more fun
and it's really exciting to fly.
Primary on average takes about six months and after we're done flying the T-34 we actually
find out what we'll be flying for the Navy.
You can put in a preference, but it's based on what the Navy needs at that time that you
finish primary.
I go back and forth everyday what I want to fly.
Most of the time I want jets because I figure when else can I have the opportunity to fly
a jet in my lifetime, but part of me also really likes search and rescue which makes
we want to fly helicopters.
I'm not really sure exactly which one I want, but I think I'd honestly be happy flying anything
for the Navy.