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Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
New to the board
Hi! I've been lurking a bit the past couple days, but decided to come out and play. I'm looking forward to getting to know you all!
I'm A. DH is AD AF. No babies yet, but we have two dogs. :-)
We found out last week that DH was selected for pilot training and we found out today we'll be PCSing to Columbus AFB this summer. Anyone at Columbus now or been there recently? Any info about the area or pilot training in general from a spouse's point of view is appreciated. :-)
Re: New to the board
H did the 2nd part of his pilot training at Columbus. We weren't even dating (long distance) until about a month before he finished, so I can't speak from firsthand experience. But he has talked a lot about the poor folks with spouses during training. It was really hard on them to balance family with the requirements of school.
Columbus is really small, but there's a college town not too far away (Starkville) where he would go for dinner. Apparently there's a pretty good deli in Columbus. However, this, um, 8-9 years ago? Shits, I feel old now.
Anyway, welcome. Sorry about my non-help.
Hi!
MH is in Phase 3 of SUPT at Laughlin. I just wanted to offer an alternative perspective on having a family while at SUPT. One of the squadron commanders here said to me once that when he was in UPT he felt bad for everyone who was married and/or had kids while they were in UPT because it seemed like so much work to balance it all, but that looking back now in hindsight, they were the lucky ones because they had someone to share the highs and lows with, which makes the highs higher and the lows not so low.
But anyway, I'm Mel. I have a 12.5 month old DS and I SAH and do some editing on the side.
Hello!
H is also AD AF. He did his UPT at Vance AFB, in Oklahoma. But my H's BFF did his UPT at Columbus and FAIP'd so him, his wife and baby are still there for a couple more years. If you have questions about UPT in general I'd be happy to help. You can PM me. If you have questions about Columbus I can ask our friends or perhaps get you an email for them.
I will say I've heard people either love or hate the location. TBH I don't think any of the UPT locations are ideal. In general though, it will probably be a long year for both of you. Expect a lot of late nights studying. He wont be able to take any leave, but he will get gov't holidays off. H was able to take emergency leave when my Dad passed away but that was it. H found a couple people he enjoyed studying with which helped him a lot. hmm that is all I can think of at the moment. But again send any questions my way.
On an unrelated note, do you have pictures of your dogs?
Thanks for offering this. It is refreshing for me to hear something positive about spouses at UPT. Most of H's coworkers here were surprised that I was planning on PCSing with him, and some even told H it was a bad idea. Since we have been married for a while and living hundreds of miles away from our family for the past couple years, we are each other's main support system, and I am thinking it would be more stressful for us to be living separately.
I agree with you about the locations for UPT- I really didn't have a preference since they are all kinda in the middle of nowhere and I'm sure there are pros and cons to each. I keep reminding myself that we won't be there forever and it will be a new experience since I lived in the midwest until we moved to our current duty station(which I wasn't thrilled about before we got here, but have ended up liking).
Before H applied, we talked about what getting selected would mean in terms of his schedule each day, since it will be a big change for us. I think I am prepared for that part of it, and I have been thinking about going back to school myself, in an effort to keep myself busy if I can't find a job. I'm sure I'll have more questions as time goes on, so I'll be sure to track you down when that happens.
I'll get a picture of the dogs up as soon as I figure out how. :-)
I think I got it...?
*poof*
ETA: Sorry it's so big. How do I make it normal sized?
I'm sure I would have been an asset to H since I'm a darn good cook, but I still think it was good he got that done before we started dating.
It's not that I would demand attention and detract from his studies. It's that when he's with me he wants to spend more time with me than would be pragmatic. This has been an issue for him in his graduate programs, too. He's getting so much work done now on his TDY even though he's working 16 hour days just b/c he has nothing else to do when he's back in his room.
That's not to say you shouldn't go, but if your H is like mine, you might have to be proactive about making him actually ignore you to go study. Supporting him might look different than what you anticipated.
Thanks for offering this. It is refreshing for me to hear something positive about spouses at UPT. Most of H's coworkers here were surprised that I was planning on PCSing with him, and some even told H it was a bad idea. Since we have been married for a while and living hundreds of miles away from our family for the past couple years, we are each other's main support system, and I am thinking it would be more stressful for us to be living separately.
I agree with you about the locations for UPT- I really didn't have a preference since they are all kinda in the middle of nowhere and I'm sure there are pros and cons to each. I keep reminding myself that we won't be there forever and it will be a new experience since I lived in the midwest until we moved to our current duty station(which I wasn't thrilled about before we got here, but have ended up liking).
Before H applied, we talked about what getting selected would mean in terms of his schedule each day, since it will be a big change for us. I think I am prepared for that part of it, and I have been thinking about going back to school myself, in an effort to keep myself busy if I can't find a job. I'm sure I'll have more questions as time goes on, so I'll be sure to track you down when that happens.
I'll get a picture of the dogs up as soon as I figure out how. :-)
I would recommend saving school for when he is in UPT. If you can do online or if the college near Columbus offers your program then go for it! I know lots of spouses have a heard time finding things to do to keep them busy.
I will say that when H did his follow on training after UPT I did not join him. TBH we don't have children just a dog, like you, so I don't see the need for me to move all over if it's < year.
Hi. My name is Mary. All you need to know is that I'm awesome.
Welcome to the board.
67/200
Welcome!
My husband is AD Navy and went through flight school. I don't know the specifics of how the AF works, but I agree with the others who said it's a bit rough in regards to how much time you will be able to spend together. I felt like the whole 2ish years, I was mostly just around to make sure the house was still standing, cook, clean, etc etc while he focused on studying and flights.But, at least when he did get time off, I was right there to spend quality time with him.
Good luck you to you both!