Cadet "Pilot" Roach?

As many people already know, Eric is participating at Arizona State in the Air Force ROTC program.  This is a full academic commitment for the duration of the undergraduate studies of the student.  Essentially, upon graduation from the university, with successful completion of any ROTC program the student commissions in the military as an officer with a 4 year contract.  With the Air Force the student will commission as a Second Lieutenant.  This is quite an accomplishment.  There are only 3 ways to become an officer in the Air Force: 1)Attend the Air Force Academy in Colorado instead of a regular university; 2)Participate in the ROTC program at a university; or 3)Apply and be accepted to the Officers Training School. 

Choosing the life as a military personnel is not the easiest and not everyone can cut it, that is for sure.  Even participating in the ROTC program weeds out a lot of people who just weren't meant to be military.  At ASU alone, with a student population of over 70,000, only about 120 are involved in the Air Force ROTC, and each year only between 20-30 students make it through all 4 years of training to commission as an officer upon graduation..  Like I said, not for everyone.

Eric said that he leaned towards doing military even back when he was in high school.  Upon returning home from the mission, in his 2nd semester at ASU he joined the ROTC program, and found that he fit right in with the strict schedule and expectations placed upon him. 

This past summer Eric was in Alabama and Mississippi for about 4 weeks at Field Training, which is essentially the boot camp for officers.  He excelled and was award the Distinguished Graduate award; very very prestigious and hard to obtain!  Upon his return, his superior officers were asking him about his plans and what areas he would be interested in working upon commissioning.  He told them of a couple of jobs, including Logistics and Force Support, which had caught his eye and he was kind of leaning towards one of those.  In response his Captain told him that he should not aim so low, and that with all of his accomplishments and high scores in multiple areas, Eric would be a viable candidate for being a pilot.  A pilot?!?!  Wow, not really something Eric had perceived as being achievable for his future.  His captain continued to tell him that people who apply but aren't selected to be pilots become those other positions.  Eric should not sell himself so short when the possibility could be a reality for him.  With the encouragement of his superior officers Eric began to re-think his plans for his future in the Air Force.

At the start of the fall semester of 2012, Eric turned a complete 180 and decided that trying to be selected as a pilot was the position that most appealed to him and that he was going to apply for the position.  Considering that Eric had already done most of the hard work up to this point (taking Air Force aptitude tests, excelling at Field Training, having a good GPA, receiving high ranking marks from his Superior Officers for going above and beyond), all Eric had left to do was to take a test of basic aviation skills and get passing marks on his physical examination and then his application would be complete.  By December all things were completed and now it was time for us to wait to hear.

To be selected as a pilot is a very very difficult thing to accomplish.  I mean, hello, he is in the "Air Force", air as in flying.  So, pretty much a majority of the people want to be pilots.  That is what Air Force is known for.  Eric didn't know what his chances really were for being selected to be a pilot.  He explained it to me that the Air Force determines each year how many "slots" are available for pilots.  They then have to pull every application from every pilot candidate from around the U.S. (from all the ROTC programs at every other university, the Air Force Academy, and the Officers Training School).  Then the slots are assigned based upon the highest scores and going down from there until every slot has been filled.  So, once all things have been calculated, if your score isn't in the top percentage, you don't get selected.  It wasn't just a competition between the other cadets at ASU, but every other applicant from around the country.  Talk about tough competition.

Well, on Valentine's Day, Eric's commanding officers received the official word of which of the ASU applicants had been selected.  Out of the 14 cadets that had applied, 10 were selected to become pilots... and Eric was one of them!  Eric received a pilot's slot!!!  He did it, all his hard work paid off and he has proven that he is one of the best in the United State Air Force (almost)!! 

Now, although we want to start the celebrations, we have to hold back for one more confirmation that this is indeed where Heavenly Father wants for Eric to serve in the military.  I say this because there is the chance the Eric will be disqualified from being a pilot due to medical reasons.  In May Eric will have to fly to Ohio to an Air Force base there for a couple of days for a rigorous physical examination.  They are going to do very intensive tests to determine if Eric is capable physically, mentally, psychologically, and any other "lly" there is of being a pilot.  There have been a number of cadets who have received their pilot's slots who have had them taken away after this medical exam because they were disqualified, and given other positions in the Air Force.  They will be very thorough and intense in these tests.  Needless to say, we are elated at the news of him receiving the pilot's slot, but we are trying not to get our hopes up too much should perhaps it not work out.  We are going to have the trust and faith that whatever is right for Eric and our family will work out as it needs to.  If this means not being a pilot, then so be it.  Eric will excel and do his very best no matter what position he serves in within the Air Force.

With any luck, come end of May we will have even more reason to celebrate with him passing the physical exam.  And if not, well he has until then to wear the flight suit and look the part.  He does look very nice in it, if I do say so myself.