Air Force Officer/Basic Training

[IonClaws]

Hello everyone,

So I'm not quite understanding the training one receives before receipt of the HPSP in the Air Force.

1) Do Commissioned Officers do any training at the Lackland Air Force base in San Antonio? Or is it all done in Montgomery, Alabama and no where else?

2) As far as PT goes, is it the same as the Lackland basic training?

3) Can CO's still receive special awards (Thunderbolt, Warhawk) for reaching certain physical requirements (pushups, situps, running)?

Thanks!

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[Barcu]

Hello everyone,

So I'm not quite understanding the training one receives before receipt of the HPSP in the Air Force.

1) Do Commissioned Officers do any training at the Lackland Air Force base in San Antonio? Or is it all done in Montgomery, Alabama and no where else?

2) As far as PT goes, is it the same as the Lackland basic training?

3) Can CO's still receive special awards (Thunderbolt, Warhawk) for reaching certain physical requirements (pushups, situps, running)?

Thanks!

1) It's all at Maxwell in AL.

2) Not sure what you mean by this. Like what we actually do or the standards? We are held to the same PT standards (including a baseline and final test). I think one of the biggest complaints from COT though was that it was not as physical as people were expecting/hoping. It's mostly classroom with some leadership exercises thrown in (which were pretty fun/challenging and required some physicality). There's no combatative or weapons training.

3) As far as I know, there are no special physical awards from COT except flight awards, which weren't individual and don't really mean anything beyond COT (except maybe Honor Flight, which includes both academic and physical and is noted in your record). The thing you can get as an individual is Distinguished Graduate, which takes into account both PT scores and academic scores.

Overall, they try and get you to feel like you are in the Air Force: they yell at you, march you around, uniform/room inspections, tight meals, etc. However, the training is only 5 weeks (though they want to make it 8), and they really can't fit everything in. Most of it is classroom/leadership experience.

It's really a leadership course and crash course in customs and curtesies of the military so you don't make a complete fool of yourself. If you want to do anything beyond that, you need additional training, which you will get at some point (or not).

 

[Barcu]

Oh, one thing I forgot to mention about PT, which may help.

We did have an established group PT program. Had to line up at 4:40am every morning to go to PT for about an hour every morning. It switched off days between Cardio (mostly track stuff) and Strength training (pushups, situps, other exercises).

 

[deuist]

When I went through COT 8 years ago, there was an athletic award as well as a 3-mile warriors' run on the flight line. The PT is otherwise pretty easy and OTS overall is way too short. We didn't do any weapons training or learn much else except how to salute and what the AF's rank structure is.

 

[Barcu]

When I went through COT 8 years ago, there was an athletic award as well as a 3-mile warriors' run on the flight line. The PT is otherwise pretty easy and OTS overall is way too short. We didn't do any weapons training or learn much else except how to salute and what the AF's rank structure is.

Now that you mention it, there may have been an athletic award at the awards ceremony... don't really remember but you saying that made me think of it.

And we still did do the warrior run which I enjoyed.

 

[Clutch34]

This may be a dumb question, but do male health professional commissioned officers coming in for training need to get their hair shaved off? If so, is it done at the base or do they do it prior to arriving?

 

[DocArmy]

This may be a dumb question, but do male health professional commissioned officers coming in for training need to get their hair shaved off? If so, is it done at the base or do they do it prior to arriving?

If you question is, "Will I be lined up and shaved while a TI and barber yell at me for being a hippie and everyone around me cries while they cradle the remains of their once lengthy locks?" The answer is no. Google Air Force grooming standards. If you hair is outside of the regulation, then you'll have to get a haircut. They will tell you to go get it cut at the barbershop. You're an adult and a future professional, so you probably shouldn't show up to COT rocking the Beiber mop top and sporting a wicked hipster stache.

That said, a few dudes showed up to BOLC this summer with a mop tops. They were told to get it taken care of on day one. It didn't make anyone think they were cool.

 

[Barcu]

This may be a dumb question, but do male health professional commissioned officers coming in for training need to get their hair shaved off? If so, is it done at the base or do they do it prior to arriving?

At COT, we did not need to shave our heads. We just needed to keep our hair within regulations.

Most people did end up shaving their head or getting a high and tight though. You are there for five weeks, so pretty much everyone needed to get a haircut at some point, and it was better to get something that would last you a while because haircuts were a time-consuming pain.

It can be done at the base, but I would recommend showing up with a haircut that will last you through the first week or two at least (again, in most cases you will need to get another one so you don't really need to show up with a completely shaven head). The first couple weeks were hectic and stressful by design, so needing to get a haircut just added to that. They would force you to miss a required class to get a haircut so it is better to show up ready.

As a general rule of thumb, everything will go much smoother the more you plan. Get a haircut. And if you have some help (recruiter, AF friend, etc) who can help you get your uniforms, that will help A TON. You can do it all when you get there, but it can be a real pain.

 

[Clutch34]

Thanks for your responses. I defintely do NOT have the Bieber mop top, but I will need to get a haircut come time for COT, if I get the HPSP scholarship. I personally don't want a buzz cut, but it is what it is I guess. Thanks again.