I contacted a Navy recruiter a few weeks back and told him my plans of pursuing psychology in the military. I have been told “you can’t” more than I care to admit, but it’s how I handled it that has made all the difference in the world. I would venture to guess that we’ve all been told the word can’t. They want to see a person that goes after what they want, and jump on opportunities that others are too afraid to pursue. In the real world, most people don’t care. There are people that assume that opportunities will come knocking if they get that fancy degree, or go to the right ivy-league school. If you are happy sitting on your butt, eating Cheetos and thinking your going to learn something, you better reevaluate your expectations. They always looking for ways to learn new things and improve themselves. Check yourself.įighter pilots tend to be opportunistic. Because guess what, when you’re in the military you are representing the United States government, and they take that very seriously… whether that be out on the town, or in combat over Afghanistan. Those things are not excuses for bad behavior. Now, we all know that we have our “moments”, maybe we are experiencing relationships problems, our beloved dog just kicked the bucket, or we didn’t sleep the last few days due to a late night out at the bar. Fighter pilots can’t just fly off the handle or flip out at the O Club if he gets shot down by a pretty girl. These folks have to trust themselves and trust in their abilities and training, because second-guessing those things could mean the difference between life and death. You can’t strap yourself into your ejection seat and be unsure of yourself. Ok, ok, in all reality, people that fly jets have to possess an extreme level of confidence because they HAVE TO.

Take it one step at a time and remember the greater goal.Ĭome on, if you fly a jet, this is pretty obvious. You will ALWAYS face challenges, and once you crush one, there will be another ready to attack.įor every challenge you defeat, someone else will hit that challenge and will subsequently drop out of the race. They bust their butts, study hard, and don’t let obstacles get in their way. The people that get these selective positions know what they want and go after it. I mean really, who gets an F-18 slot after screwing off in flight school and not studying? No one, that’s who! Plain and simple fighter pilots have a level of drive that the average person does not.

Us fighter pilot