my life

Squadron Officer School.

I took leave last Monday to finish writing a paper on the use of humor in Holocaust literature (most specifically, Maus, by Art Spiegelman) that I haven't yet finished, and while I was working, I got a call from our personnel section asking if I would be interested in being a fill-in for the SOS class that had just started that day. I said yes--very interested. He said he'd call me back if they needed me. So I went back to my paper which I haven't yet finished. I received no calls that afternoon or evening, so I figured they must have filled all their slots. No worries. I'm a new captain, so there wasn't much chance I'd get a slot, anyway.

Here's how it works, see. Squadron Officer School is for captains between four and seven years of (commissioned) service. It is required PME* if you ever want to be promoted. It is offered in correspondence form, as well as in-residence. The standard wisdom/expectation of promotion boards is that you sign up for the correspondence course the day you pin on captain, then complete that course within a year (although you're given 18 months to finish, by course standards). Regardless of your progress/completion of the correspondence course, you vie for and attend the course in-residence if at all possible.

* Professional Military Education.

SOS in-residence is similar to OTS*. It's intense, requires a great deal of flight coordination and off-duty activities, and the schedule is intentionally tight. Even if you live in town, you get a room on base for convenience. It's that tight.

* Officer Training School.

So I was up at 0500 AM in the morning with the roosters to pull crew commander Tuesday morning, having not yet finished my paper. I'd emailed a copy of my progress and thoughts to my work account, in the event I got a few minutes, but without high hopes of getting them. Dayshift crew commander invariably has about 5 times the amount of work the crew commander can handle, anyway. But...you never know.

I got to work and began reviewing the morning briefings, then giving them, keeping the logs, etc. Time's flying. At about 1000, I got a call from the same man from our personnel section asking me if I was still interested in the slot at SOS. I said yesofcourse, and he asked when I could come over and talk with him, get my instructions, and be gone. I said I could do the first immediately, but now that I was on crew, I'd have to find someone to cover the desk before I left. *sigh*

In the orderly room, I saw the list of possible fill-ins. Of the 12 or so of us eligible, eight or nine had simply said they weren't interested.

What?! This is required for promotion, almost certainly*. To get an assigned slot, you have to beat out competing captains in your major command for the handful of slots given them, and the competition is stiff. Usually, the ranking captains get the available slots. Some people never score a slot. Also, with the ops tempo the way it is, you never know when you'll be sent to Iraq or Afghanistan, and won't have another opportunity to do SOS in-residence, even if you're selected. So here we are, across town from where the class is held, and we're simply handed three slots (this time) to fill with any available and willing captain--and they're refusing it.

* Unless you have the luck to single-handedly storm a hill under heavy fire.

I don't get it.

I was additionally motivated to tackle it now, because I have this correspondence course hanging over my head. Since I'm still very busy with graduate school, I don't have time to wedge in correspondence course work, but I still had to meet the completion deadline like everyone else. The best solution was to get the course in-residence now, because once I have it in-residence, I can cancel the correspondence course, having completed the requirement.

The only snag is that my current semester isn't over yet. I still had three more class meetings (5:45 - 7:45pm, Tuesdays and Thursdays), a paper to write, and a final to prepare for. SOS doesn't plan for you to have any extracurricular activities while doing the in-residence school. As a matter of fact, they don't plan for you to be able to read all the required reading yourself. The whole thing is designed to force you to work with your flight as a team to accomplish the mission (graduation). The way the military does this is pile on the requirements so you have to share responsibilities.

Plus, I was a day and a half late arriving, so I already had catch-up to do.

My flight has been very understanding and supportive, I must say. However, between working on my paper and homework for SOS, I didn't sleep much all week. Friday night and Saturday, I slept quite a bit. I feel much better now.

I still have a paper to finish (I may have mentioned this). If I get the chance, I'll even study for the test a bit, too. I'm not counting on it, though. But after Tuesday evening (final), I'm home free. Nothing but SOS for the next four weeks.* How hard can that be?

* Well, the fall semester starts during the final week of SOS, but the start of the semester isn't demanding; only the end.

And yesterday was my 38th birthday. I did housework, slept, worked on SOS homework, slept, and went to the gym. It was a good day.

Y'all take care. I'll be back when time permits.

d