I'm leaving to go to MEPS this week to sign up in the DEP program, and hopefully ship out to boot camp 2 weeks following. I know I have more then a handful of odds against me, but is there any pointers or right directions anyone can pass along to help me out. I’m shooting for becoming a AST. Being a 22 year old female is there anything physical I can do to prepare myself? Living on the Gulf Coast I’ve spent most my life in the ocean and can swim very well. Also I’m going in as a non-rated person and signing up for six years. My recruiter told me that once completing Boot camp I will make a E-3 on the pay scale, and that I should put all air stations on my wish list. Once there to get my name put on a Airman school. Then work my butt off and after 4 months have my name put on the AST list. Is this the right way to go? Thanks in advance for anyone that can help.
I would say your gender is really irrelevant. The first female rescue swimmer graduated A-School 22 years ago this month and is now a LCDR and a pilot! (and to look at her, you would would think her to be very petite) You will need to do the same things any other perspective AST will have to do.
The rest of your stated plan seems well thought out.
I encourage you to run, swim, do some push ups pull ups and sit ups on regular basis. If your not already doing things that are phyiscal and fun...start. things like surfing or join a running group. Team sports that keep your heart rate up. I say this because these things will keep you in good shape, but you will do this as a by-product of having fun. When you get to the Airman program, then it will be time for buisness. And working out will be more regimented and a little more stressful. Stressing out now is not needed, nor is mundane exercise routines. You will get sick and tired of training if you get to "serious" now. So stay in shape but have fun doing it. One thing you can do is start working on holding your breath. during your swim workouts, try to work up to doing 4 25 yard underwater swims. with 90 seconds rest. You can shorten the lengths at first but work up to it. If that becomes easy, start knocking off 10 seconds of rest, working down to 60 seconds of rest.
The other advice which I think is just as, if not more important is start reading books on motivation and sports psychology. Read books on athletes whom have accomplished the seemingly impossible. Evander Holyfields autobiography is a good one. This will give you an idea on what I am talking about. Mental Strength is just a important as physical with AST "A" school.
As for your wish list... That's all up to you. I put down geographical locations I wanted to live in. Though the wait for A school was a bit longer than. So, quality of life was an important issue for me. I went to 378' cutter. It gave me an appreciation for the Sailors in Coast Guard. But every unit has it's rewards. And those rewards are up to you to notice. It's very easy to notice the bad in a unit...as it is with anything in life. This is another component of being mentally fit. Having a good additude and finding the best in every situation took me a long way. I also had got negative at times and was a huge liability for my Coast Guard Career. To be honest at one point it almost cost me my dream of being an AST. I had gotten so impatient with life and waiting for school I almost choose to go another rate. That would have been a fatal mistake.
And hang around the winners...if you lay with the dogs, you will get fleas.
Thanks Dog, My husband has been having me get up with him at 4am and run. Being that we live in Pensacola we both surf when the weather is alowing waves to form. If we are not surfing we are spending our time at the beach. I havent played any team sports in about 4 years when I playing soccer in High School. The holding my breath thing is something I will start working on this week when I get back from MEPS for my exam. Thanks again for all the advise. Im really looking forward to my life in the Coast Guard.
Mrs. Bush, I was thinking about a female that I went to school with that made it. I was thinking what seperated her from the other 2 that did not make it I went to school with. One thing she did not do was focus on the fact that she was a female and social prejudice that accompaines gender. She never used it as an excuse, nor did she try to use it to her advantage. She never tried to pull on the emotional heart strings of the instructors. Which I did witness in others. A strategy I also witnessed that blow up in their face.
The fact that she was a female never played a part in her mind good, bad or indifferent. She focused on the fact that she wanted to be an AST. And that's it. This was just my impression of her mental additude.
And she proved to me, that this job is hard to qualify for...for anyone. Not just females. But it's also possible for those who have the stuff, and desire it bad enough. No matter the details of whom they are.
I encourage you to run, swim, do some push ups pull ups and sit ups on regular basis. If your not already doing things that are phyiscal and fun...start. things like surfing or join a running group. Team sports that keep your heart rate up. I say this because these things will keep you in good shape, but you will do this as a by-product of having fun. When you get to the Airman program, then it will be time for buisness. And working out will be more regimented and a little more stressful. Stressing out now is not needed, nor is mundane exercise routines. You will get sick and tired of training if you get to "serious" now. So stay in shape but have fun doing it. One thing you can do is start working on holding your breath. during your swim workouts, try to work up to doing 4 25 yard underwater swims. with 90 seconds rest. You can shorten the lengths at first but work up to it. If that becomes easy, start knocking off 10 seconds of rest, working down to 60 seconds of rest.
The other advice which I think is just as, if not more important is start reading books on motivation and sports psychology. Read books on athletes whom have accomplished the seemingly impossible. Evander Holyfields autobiography is a good one. This will give you an idea on what I am talking about. Mental Strength is just a important as physical with AST "A" school.
As for your wish list... That's all up to you. I put down geographical locations I wanted to live in. Though the wait for A school was a bit longer than. So, quality of life was an important issue for me. I went to 378' cutter. It gave me an appreciation for the Sailors in Coast Guard. But every unit has it's rewards. And those rewards are up to you to notice. It's very easy to notice the bad in a unit...as it is with anything in life. This is another component of being mentally fit. Having a good additude and finding the best in every situation took me a long way. I also had got negative at times and was a huge liability for my Coast Guard Career. To be honest at one point it almost cost me my dream of being an AST. I had gotten so impatient with life and waiting for school I almost choose to go another rate. That would have been a fatal mistake.
And hang around the winners...if you lay with the dogs, you will get fleas.
Hats off on the book reading. Mrs. Bush try a Phil Jackson book (the basetkball coach) probably one of the most he uses more psychology coaching and techniques then anyone I've read before. I think what dog show is saying you have to put yourself in it visually seeing your self being succesfull is just as important than actually doing it. Because the first day you think to yourself "I think I might quit, is you actually already quitting". Now before Dog Show bites a chunk outta my ***, sure everyone at some point when they are overly stressed out will ask themselves if this is really for them, but its not thinking about quitting. See yourself doing it, knowing that no matter what you are capable of anything they ask you.
"If you fall off the horse, don't instantly jump back on and go after it again. First asses what you've done wrong, how you can fix it, then try again and if you fall again, get back up and figure out something else to fix"
