How long are you waiting to class up for API?

[Uncle Fester]

No point in worrying about it. Just going off the trends from my time instructin' there - you're coming aboard at the busiest time of the year for A-Pool (the USNA and ROTC kids all start showing up in July). You'll most likely be pooled for a few months. Don't sweat it, enjoy the paid time off, stay out of trouble and be ready for the PRT when you class up.

CountryHood sucks. Despite what you may read in some blogs, there's no merit to living in a shanty. I'm certain there's lots of students looking for roomies, and you can actually stack up more cheddar that way than living in a shithole on your own. My advice is to plan on camping at the Q for a week or two and look for roomie openings.

 

[Kilo411]

Thanks for the reply,

I'm not worried per se, I'm asking mainly so I can have an idea of what to tell the leasing office.. for now I'll say 6+ months. The reason I'm even concerned about that(as opposed to just saying "fuck it - military clause") is because I'm an SNA and my roommate is going to be SNFO, and I've heard of one roommate being stuck with the bill when the other has to leave earlier(which is going to be the case) since that situation is not specifically covered in the clause. I just want a general timeline so I can try to work out a more "detailed" contract with the landlord to cover both of our asses.

As far as countryhood goes, I should have mentioned that I have a roommate. I'm really only paying 500-600 a month(1100 two ways plus minor fees). I actually thought it looked nice from the pictures, this isn't the case? Anyways, I'm thinking of finding something on perdido key.. you have any recommendations? (I realize this is getting off topic, I just don't want to make yet another "where should I live" thread).

Edit: Just got the blog reference.. hahaha

 

[Uncle Fester]

Well, there's plenty of instructors who bought houses and then got orders after the housing bubble burst and had to rent them out. You're more likely to be able to work out something with one of them than the slumlords who run most of the P'cola apartment complexes. Or see those condo towers in Perdido? They were also just being finished when the market took a dump, and they're mostly vacant. Deals to be had.

Point is: you're hardly the first flight student in this situation. Studs are the mainstay of the Pensacola economy, and anyone who does rental property there knows how to deal with them. If you're in a house and one of you has to move...find a new roommate or talk to the landlord. Hell, during API I shared a house with two roomies and none of our names were on the lease. It'd just been a revolving series of TRACOM students for years, and as long as the landlord got the rent and we didn't trash the place, he didn't much care.

This is pretty much your last chance in life to be relatively carefree with your housing situation, so don't nuke it, son.

But in general, there's no need to live in a cardboard apartment estate when there's better (and often cheaper) opportunities. Check the rentals in Military By Owner for a start.

 

[shutout39]

A few things:
Uncle Fester is right, there are plenty of deals on Perdido right now and more places open up every day. Its beautiful over here. There is a housing building by the front gate with volunteer realtors who can help you find a good place not on any of those sites. Also, don't put your SNFO roommate on the lease, or just don't live with him. He is going to be in Pcola for 2 years, you'll be here for a few months. Which brings me to my next point: the wait.

Yes you have heard right about the pool - I am in one of the "swim groups". I checked in May 31 and I will be here until November 9. Basically the pool is getting shut down for 6 weeks in Oct/Nov and they needed guys with up chits already to do the physical portion of API now and the academic portion later when the pool was closed. The reason being they are behind schedule on pilot production so they can't afford to go 6 weeks without pumping new guys out. I don't mind getting paid to live where many people come to vacation when my only obligation is show up in PT gear for 1-2 hours, 3 days a week - but that's just me.

For you though, there are still 10 API classes this fiscal year (one per week until Oct 1). If you show up now with a PPL, you will probably be in one of those classes. If you need to do IFS, don't plan on doing API until December-ish.

 

[robertdm27]

I will be checking into NASC early September and was hoping for an update on what the wait is right now. I have heard from one guy out there now that I will class up for API fast and another one told me next year. I dont have a PPL so I will also need to do IFS. I am staying at a buddies house when I move out there but if the wait is going to be long I might just get my own place. Thanks.

 

[ac2NASTY]

I just checked in yesterday and was told to expect an API class up date in early/mid November. No PPL so IFS for me. They told us we shouldn't have to worry about doing any early pool work and should be among the first few classes to continue the "normal" schedule of API after the pool is opened back up. Sounds like you'll be checking in a few weeks after me so perhaps a mid-December API class up. However, I have no idea how/if the upcoming holiday season will impact classing up. I'd plan on a Dec date but be ready for a Jan date also.

 

[robertdm27]

Thanks for the heads up ac2nasty. I guess I will just have to get out there and play it by ear. I'm putting all my stuff in storage here in Jax until I figure everything out. Hopefully they let me swing back this way before primary.

 

[NTXRockr]

I checked in July 6, sat in A-Pool for roughly a month while knocking out the NAMI, Anthro and Gear Issue visits, and then another two weeks before I was assigned to the Swim Buffer class. However, I ended up having a hamstring issue that flared back up during the PRT and swimming, and have been in Med Hold for over two weeks now. I'm starting physical therapy tomorrow morning but it'll be at least 2-4 weeks before I'm possibly back up ready to go, and was just told that there are no more Swim Buffer classes to be filled...so for those of us left in limbo that were in swim but are temporarily out it's sounding like we'll be fitted into the normal API classes for the swim portions only. Problem is there's only so many extra spots they can put us in (as opposed to half or whole classes just for buffers) so it may be a couple buffers at a time to filter through the classes until we're done.

The other kicker...I'm needing IFS as well, and was called up to start last week. However, was told that I won't start IFS until I finish swim, so it looks like it'll be a LONG time until I'm classing up for API. My guesstimation is I'm out for a month (October), take a month to swim AFTER they finish repairs (mid-November to Christmas), a month of IFS after holiday stand down (January) and hopefully classing up for API early February. Crazy thing is that I was roughly ONE HOUR short of completing my PPL checkride back in February before OCS, so in all honesty I'm probably going out to a 141 school or find a local CFI (or anyone in A/B-Pool with CFI that wants to go fly?) and knock it out before the new year...had thought I'd let Navy pay for my recurrent flight time but I dunno now, will have to wait and see. Long story short, I'm getting plenty of time to spend with the wife and kid, get a tan, and get my body back in shape before getting into the pipeline.

 

[cameron172]

Checked in last week. Even though I have my PPL, they can't squeeze anymore people through before the pool closes, so we're expecting to class up after Christmas.

 

[NTXRockr]

That's correct, they basically told everyone to find a hobby until January. I luckily got classed up into IFS, but after one week I had a shocker I waited for since June - I was validated out of IFS since I have about 70 hours and am ready for checkride. SO...now I'm back to waiting in A-Pool with the rest of the gang, so it looks like I'll be knocking out my PPL and maybe flying a little while waiting to work on my instrument rating or something.

 

[OhTheHumidity]

Expect another 150 new guys between dec 13th and jan 12th. Any idea what the current wait time is for guys who are already validated and what they can expect to be doing while waiting to class up to API (besides medical and basic check in)?

 

[cameron172]

Expect another 150 new guys between dec 13th and jan 12th. Any idea what the current wait time is for guys who are already validated and what they can expect to be doing while waiting to class up to API (besides medical and basic check in)?

This is from the API director...they're classing up non-swimbuffers starting Jan 7th, but the first few classes are only going to be 15 or so people (including Marines/Coasties) because of the pool situation. There's people who have been sitting in A-pool since August, so it'll probably take a few months to get the backup of Ensigns cleared out. There's plenty of volunteer opportunities if you wish but daily muster at 6:45 and GMT once a month is all I've been doing since I got here in September.

EDIT: I just realized you're a Marine. I have no clue what they do or how their version of A-pool works. This is from the Navy side.

 

[jtmedli]

There's plenty of volunteer opportunities if you wish but daily muster at 6:45 and GMT once a month is all I've been doing since I got here in September.

Oh the horror. I remember those days. I slept on the couch and went to the 'Bama a lot. Must be terrible.

 

[cameron172]

"Shall I drink at 'Bama, Seville, McGuire's, or the Woodshed?" The most challenging dilemma I face these days.

 

[jtmedli]

"Shall I drink at 'Bama, Seville, McGuire's, or the Woodshed?" The most challenging dilemma I face these days.

Not sure if I should envy you or be glad that I have my wings and I'm not back in your shoes again.