Last weekend, I was cleaning out my office and stumbled upon some old Air Force pilot training, pictures, and memorabilia. It is highly emotional to relive such a stressful time in my life.
I entered Air Force pilot training at Columbus Air Force Base, Columbus Mississippi. The Air Force Base was nested in a town that seemed 50 years behind the times. There were beautiful antebellum; Gilded Age and Victorian style mansions but also literally a dirt road that went through the middle of town.
As I started my training, everyone understood approximately 30% to 35% of us would not make it to the end of this intense year long program. Many will “wash-out.”
At the beginning of class, I think we all began to size each other up to try to determine who would make it and who would likely wash out. Deep inside me, there was a nervousness that I would also be a “wash-out.” I don’t know why I had such insecurity. However, this insecurity drove me to work at levels that revealed new capabilities within myself.
This insecurity was not unique to myself. I believe we all felt it to some extent. For as much as it felt like we were competing, we also all had at least one thing in common in that this was an experience unlike anything any of us had gone through before as we were broken down and built back up. This built a unique sense of camaraderie and a foundation for lasting friendships.
There were stressful times along with times of intense boisterousness and humor. For instance, every Friday we would go to the Officer’s Club to drink a little too much beer and have laughs and jokes about the previous week. Who messed up…who had intel…what was the simulator check ride like? This time was truly valuable and created some of the more entertaining memories.
Columbus AFB was behind the times as I mentioned before. For instance, the Air Force would drive buses of students from the local women’s college (Mississippi University of Women, MUW) to the officer’s club to provide opportunities to socialize with the many single pilot trainees. I was already married, so I usually acted as the kindhearted-yet-unavailable wingman.
Additionally, Columbus had huge cotton fields right outside the south gate. A constant reminder of what took place during the recent history of this rural, depressed southern town.
In the entire program, we had very little time off. However, we did get a five day stretch of no commitments right before we transitioned to T 38 talon training.
A couple of the single guys decided to make a trip to Fort Walton Beach, Florida. They wanted me to come along. I never thought my wife would give the stamp of approval, but
Kelly allowed me to go to Florida to burn all my stress and be a good wingman to my three single friends.
Upon arrival, we purchased a battery powered blender, alcohol, and drink mixers, which made us very popular on the beach.
At night, I went out to nightclubs with my single friends. Scott Phillips, BIG DOG, was from Missouri could talk his way into and out of anything. To attract a few single ladies, he was describing us as Top Gun characters. He gave us all names that stuck. He compared me to Iceman in the famous Top Gun movie. He asked, “you remember Top Gun and Iceman? This is Icepick” … and it stuck. For the remainder of AF pilot training students and instructors all called me Icepick.
Many other people got nicknames/callsigns for various reasons. For instance, my good friend John Soldner got the nickname “Speedo.” Not for obvious flight reasons, but because we started a rumor that he consistently wore a small speedo swim swimsuit to the beach on our Fort Walton trip. In reality, we all wore surfer-board shorts. John took this all in good humor and we finished training as close friends.
That name stuck as many of them did. The instructors had a lot of fun calling us by our nicknames/call signs.
Two of my other favorite stories regarding nicknames go as follows.
A guy named Dave Hyre suddenly became “Gunfer” just because we thought it was cool to condense Dave’s last name – meaning Gunfer hire (gun for hire), like a hired assassin.
Another one of our classmates and probably one of the funniest people I knew was a guy named Joel Megginson, freshly from the university of Georgia. He was lucky enough to get two nicknames, but one that really stuck. He was one of the first students to have an introductory flight in the T 37 jet. When you arrive at the airplane, you’re expected to walk around, inspect the plane, check controls, and determine if there is any damage that could affect the flight worthiness of the aircraft.
In his nervousness of inspecting the aircraft for the first time, Joel walked into the pitot tube. One of the most important devices on an airplane. A pitot tube is essential to measuring the aircraft’s airspeed. It does this by measuring the relationship between total pressure and static pressure, known as dynamic pressure. By comparing the pressure of the air moving into the tube to the pressure of the surrounding “still” air, it provides critical data for pilots to maintain safe flight. This system, called a pitot-static system, is vital for controlling the aircraft during takeoff, flight, and landing. So, Joel walks straight into the pitot tube, snapping it clean off the plane. This resulted in him being unable to fly the plane. He had to either file for a new airplane or be delayed to the next day.
So, forever more, Joel was known as “Pitot”. Also, Mega Man was his second nickname, likely because that name was too cool and natural to his given name, Megginson.
Lessons Learned
- Insecurity can be fuel if you can channel it into preparation and persistence.
- Camaraderie eases the burden – shared laughter can balance intense pressure.
Questions for Reflection
- When has insecurity in your own life driven you to discover new strengths?
- Who has helped ease your stress through humor or camaraderie?
- Where in your life could trust (given or received) help you grow stronger?
