 beautiful she's just beautiful what an incredible piece of machinery she'll do zero to a hundred in three seconds flat and I've got the keys in my pocket it's been a long hard haul getting here was it worth it was it really worth it I was pretty sure it would be that first day in Pensacola hey which way to Aviation Officer candidate school take a left at the wine check in the building 626 thanks Pensacola hey maybe I'll get my Tomcat today hmm didn't know they had marine stationed here hiya Sarge where do I check into fly this is gonna speak to me unless you're at the position of attention that is your heels are together your feet are at a 45 degree angle your thumbs are on your trousers seats your fingers are curled your shoulders are rolled back and your eyeballs are straight to the front hey wait a second I'll tell you what they're Kennedy you don't speak unless you're spoken to you don't do anything around here unless I tell you to do it you understand me yes sir what is your name I am John Macklin and I must be mistaking me for someone else doesn't he know I'm an aviation officer candidate yeah he knows it sir this candidate's name is you are not not enough now you're not not enough you will speak in a loud and distinct voice you got that yes sir I just told you what difference does it make how I talk Foxfire this is 201 have BLC failure request emergency landing over on the flight deck we have a Tomcat in trouble rigged the barricade rigged the barricade my name is Gunnery Sergeant Holt I'm your drill instructor for the next 14 weeks here at aviation officer candidate school you will obey orders quickly into the best of your ability and you will not question those orders at any time you will not question my orders at any time candidates they tell me I got to have a college education to fly then this neanderthal tells me I'm not supposed to ask questions what kind of crap is that turn in the wrong direction okay don't want eject eject eject hey lieutenant what happened listen when the air boss haulers punch out you don't ask questions turn around turn around and said turn around your eyeballs on me you pay attention candidates because I just spent 45 minutes explaining to you the proper way to do an office entry and all we're doing is screwing it up now I'm gonna show you one more time and you better get it right now when you approach my office here candidates you will approach it so that your right shoulder remains four inches from this bulkhead at all times you will march up here and you will halt so that your toes are online with the entrance way to my hatch get your eyeballs down there on my feet seated my toes are online with the entrance way to this hatch at this time what your uniform is squared away you have been sure that it is you will take one step forward you will halt and you will execute a right face get your eyeballs up here on me you better engage your little brain housing group and start thinking now what kind of Mickey Mouse precision is this what's all this nonsense got to do with flying at this time candidates flight quarters flight quarters man all flight quarters stations no see us lefty right left lefty right left you get three sets of whites and a share with it and four sets of cockies four sets of khakis for you working loose three sets of blues and your shoes get over here candidates get over here quickly hurry up hurry up if you don't have all date get your eyeballs down here now candidates when you're preparing for inspection you're going to be folding your skivvies and at all times candidates you will fold these skivvies exactly six inches by six inches is that understood yes I'm talking to change in detail here candidates they will be exact six inches oh wow this is ridiculous so it's a little off who cares six inches horizontally is that understood okay number two close it up a bit let's get it in a little time I tell you what you can is probably think you're ready for inspection but so far you have been and neither are you macklin neither are you look at this thing look at it macklin look at it and you probably think you did a good job huh but you did damn it this is degrading I came here to fly not to detail the soles of my shoes the top and the bottom sooner later it's going to come to you macklin sooner later it's going to come to you we're talking about attention to detail here macklin we're talking about the difference between life and death macklin attention to detail attention to detail petty officer Johnson did you notice the loose screw in the landing gear that's it how about taking care of it let's go sharp let's go human push it it wasn't that I was particularly dumb but it did take a while to catch on to what it's all about I mean there's no one is going to explain it to you like PT you wonder why the heavy emphasis on physical training well I guess you won't really understand it until you're strapped into a high performance aircraft only a guy in top shape can take this kind of punishment and you wonder why there's so much stress on teamwork sure we're all individuals we've been taught that from the cradle but here if one guy's in trouble hell we're all in trouble that's a tough point to get across but it's the backbone of aviation until we learn about teamwork well how about George macklin how about George macklin have you got any attention to detail no no your rack is screwed up I told you over and over again macklin when what's going up we're all screwed up we've got to learn to function as a team to help each other even if all we're allowed to offer at times is encouragement now don't get the idea that it's all sweat and marching we actually spend about half our time in class but you keep asking yourself if it's worth it I mean you gotta put up with an awful lot of crap sure if a guy wants to fly he can stay a civilian in three years he'd get maybe a few hundred hours in a Cessna if he could afford it but in the Navy you'll probably log up to a thousand hours in the same length of time and get paid for all of them plus getting the finest flight training and most advanced aircraft in the entire world and go ahead and lean back we'll hook your cokes for you tighten them down two hands each strap pat down your D-ring on the count of eject I want you to bring the face curtain down and bury it eject eject eject but you gotta hang in there because it's weeks of pure pressure before you even touch an aircraft now candidates at this time I've taught you inspection arms you are now standing at the position of port arms and it is at this what are you doing macklin what are you doing macklin why are you right ballin area macklin why are you right ballin area I guess you don't need to learn what I'm teaching you here I'll tell you what macklin you ain't got no concentration whatsoever no after a few weeks a strange thing happens without being aware of it tell you begin to get with the program it usually starts small like one of your roommates polishing everyone's shoes because he's good at it this one looks pretty squared away let's go work on your rack apple maybe a couple of other guys are making up all the racks because they do have a better job and you you're shining everyone's brass you don't even realize it but you're a team and in a weird perverse sort of way it starts being fun you've made up your mind that you're not going to let these guys grind you down here it comes lock it up and you begin to wonder what happened to the caveman you met the first day well I'll tell you what there macklin ten weeks ago this way and then finally you're ready for flight training the guys that chose to fly as navigators radar or electronics officers begin a basic course of naval flight officer training coming up coming up and on glide path on course the rest of us the guys that are going to be pilots we start primary flight training now whether you fly props jets or helicopters depends on your preference your individual performance and the needs of the service is it worth it well every man's got to decide for himself good morning sir congratulations as for me the answer is yes no not yes but hell yes