WING TIPS

When I was a new freshman cadet at the Air Force Academy, we had to carry a small book called Contrails with us at all times. It was a book of knowledge on the Air Force and the Academy and was packed with a bevy of miscellaneous things. Most of the material was in regular type, and we were required to know that information intimately so we could discuss it thoroughly when called upon by an upperclassman.

But some of the information was in bold type, referred to as ‘boldface,’ and that material had to be memorized word for word. During the first two weeks of the first semester, we had to report to our element sergeant, a junior cadet, and recite and have checked off as completely memorized all 27 boldface items.

A Total Waste of Time

Well, I was taking 21 ½ semester credits, and I wasn’t a gifted student. This was the normal load. At most civilian colleges, the average load was 15-semester credits. I was also playing intercollegiate football, and at a U.S. service academy, there are many other military duties to perform. I thought having to memorize the boldface, with all the other more important things I had to do, was a total waste of my time. But that was the program, so we did what we had to do to get through it.

Five years later, now an Academy graduate, I was in jet pilot training in South Georgia. On the first day on the flight line, my instructor-pilot gave me this thick yellow book. He said, “Lieutenant, this is your in-flight checklist. Everything in the normal type you’ll need to be familiar with and know where it is in case you have one of those problems while flying. But some of the information is in boldface, and that information you’ll need to know word for word. Those are your critical action emergency procedures, and if you have one of those problems, you won’t have time to refer to the checklist.” I thought to myself, “Déjà all over again.”

Three Strikes, You’re Out

He went on to say that we would be tested orally and by a written quiz each week on those emergency procedures. If we made a mistake on either, we failed, and if we failed three times, we were out of the program. There were twenty-four student pilots in my section. A year later, twelve of us got our silver wings. Seven of the twelve who washed out of the program did so because they didn’t have the discipline to learn the critical action boldface.

I was the only Academy graduate in my pilot training class. I realized that what I thought was a total waste of time with Contrails was the AF Academy teaching me excellence and preparing me to become an Air Force pilot.

Three Takeaways

1. You never know how what you are going through in the present is preparing you for later-on in your career or your life.
2. The specifics of what you are going through in the present is usually not as important as the process or experience of going through it. It’s having lived the experience that prepares you for the future.
3. And that is why you do everything you do to the very best of your ability. That’s why you perform even small tasks, or things you think are a waste of time, with excellence.

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A QUOTE TO CONSIDER

“There is no 80%, 90%, or even a 99% score. You either get it 100% correct, or you fail. If you fail once, that’s a strike against you. If you fail three times, just like in baseball, you’re out of here. You’ll never fly an Air Force jet.”

-Captain Larry Struthers, Instructor-Pilot