Like it or not, the information posted on this blog is already outdated. One of the things which surprised me about the officer corps is the level of flexibility an officer must have. At any given time you could be dropped into a situation with little to no information and be presented with a problem you must immediately solve. Officers are commonly called to a unit or a position which has not been formally established. An officer must always be ready. The purpose of OTS is to prepare you for these situations. The training course is structured to require you to make decisions, react to unknown variables, and enable clear thinking in the midst of chaos.
The application requirements for OTS are constantly changing. The rules for applying to OTS are determined by the Air Force Recruiting Service. They are the ones who receive the quotas and use the regulations to ensure they are filled. If they need to change the rules to make the process better or react to limitations, they are going to make the change. As an OTS applicant, you MUST stay in touch with these changes. I can give you as much advice as I want to on how I did things in 2015, but it will be up to you to compare my experience against the current guidelines to determine what is right for you.
The same applies to OTS. At OTS the cadets are constantly presented with new challenges and are required to adapt to situations and overcome the challenges based on existing limitations. The staff at OTS is no different. The staff is going to make changes to the course as they go to keep up with the evolving demands of the cadets. Additionally, the OTS staff itself changes from class to class. Due to these circumstances and the nature of human beings, everyone’s experience at OTS will be unique.
My original vision for this blog was to provide future OTS applicants with line by line instructions on how to submit an application. Due to the rapidly changing requirements, it is no longer feasible for me to do this. The farther time progresses from when I submitted, the more outdated my advice will become. That being said, some of my advice might be considered timeless. The responsibility will lie with you to discern the difference and apply it accordingly.
When I attended OTS my vision then evolved into providing current information about my experience and my perspective of the different training challenges. OTS forced me to forge some philosophical conclusions about how leadership applies to my life, and how my life can be used to benefit those around me. This blog is a product of some of those conclusions. My plan is to fully develop these conclusions for myself so I can lay them out in writing for you here.
I have several goals for this blog. From a practical sense, I hope you get useful information from my posts. I hope my posts can be used to provide you with both a perspective on what I went through or advice on specific major tasks. On a deeper level, my goal is to use my OTS experiences to explain my mindset while navigating the course. My ultimate goal in this is to help you develop leadership skills and conceptual understanding for yourself to a level beyond where I was at similar steps throughout the process. This will give your leadership development a head start and enable you to either display the understanding the selection board is looking for in your application, or be a more effective officer when you enter commissioned service.
Don’t worry, I still plan to continue posting about my experience about OTS. I also will make every attempt to keep the links and schedules updated, but will probably need your reminders. Many of you may think this is a useless post, but at least for me, it is not. I am passionate about helping others. I am also passionate about mentorship and leadership, and I truly care for you all. I want you to succeed and achieve what you have been called to achieve. I am honored at the thought of even playing a tiny role whatever your path may be. Thank you for reading and for your support. I appreciate any of your comments about this post.
rbrandon87
I just found out, unofficially, my class will be in July. Thanks again for this blog, even though there will no doubt be differences when I get there you've already provided a wealth of valuable advice no one else has before… At least none other that I've found.
airforceotsguy
You're welcome. That's nice you have time to prepare. Congrats on your selection and let me know if you have any specific questions I may be able to answer for you.
Joseph Alcorn
I found out this week I'm attending the April 25th convene. I just found your blog, it looks to be a great resource.
airforceotsguy
I'm glad you found the blog. I'm not sure what you mean by the April 25th convene, but let me know if you have any questions or if I can help in any way!
Unknown
Im attending in 2 weeks. Thanks for the info! If its anything like basic alot of this stuff will be learned by actually going though the motions.
airforceotsguy
Good luck! You are absolutely right they will teach you everything you need to know, well, at least give you the tools to figure it out for yourself. A lot of it doesn't make sense until you are on site.
Mike
Thanks for putting this blog together! It is going to help a lot of people. I wish that something like this had existed when I went through OTS seven years ago. Keep up the good work.
airforceotsguy
Thanks for leaving the comment! I hope so. I just hope I can continue to find the time to keep it going.
Mike
Definitely understand the time commitments of both an Air Force career and blogging. Either one will eat up whatever free time you have.
airforceotsguy
Thanks, it is definitely a challenege