Fucked Friday

[Ensign Steve]

Holy shit. It's 6:30, it's Friday. I'm on my way to a party I've been looking forward to all week. I should be giddy as all getout, but I'm not. What a shit day.

We took a 4-hour performance exam this afternoon in class. They call it the 'widowmaker' because it's harder than hell and if you fail it, you automatically wash back. I passed the test, no problem, and it's smooth sailing for me from here to graduation. Unfortunately, half the class didn't make it. Why is it that all the dickheads get to stay in, and all the cool people are out?! My buddy Hernandez, a 5-foot-tall Puerto Rican thug who I party with every weekend, was crying, you guys. Crying! Do you know how much it hurts to see a 5-foot-tall Puerto Rican thug who you party with every weekend cry?! I thought I was going to be sick. My buddy 'Spoon, who I swap Family Guy jokes with non-stop, is out. And Joey, the birthday-girl whose party I'm going to tonight, failed. Talk about buzzkill. Happy Birthday, Joey!

Well, I better motor if I'm going to get to this party. Have a good weekend, y'all.

[viscousmemories]

That really sucks, JD. Sorry to hear about your classmates but congratulations to you.

[Scotty]

Yeah yeah, it is hell when you are so much smarter than your classmates that you can party every weekend and still pass a hard test without needing much study time.

Smarty pants. :cool:

-Scott

[Petra]

Hey, congrats on the pass, JD.

You realise that those who didn't pass are going to blame you for partying with them every weekend?

Must be a hell of a test, and a hell of an important test, if it had 5ft tall Puerto Rican thugs crying. :(

So, what happens to those who failed? I didn't quite understand "wash back" - what does that mean? That they are out of the military now? Poor buggers.


BTW, your avatar is a beautiful picture of you, JD. Stunning.

[viscousmemories]

My guess is it means they have to start their training over. That was the threat in Army basic training, anyway. Fail and you have to do it all over again.

[Dingfod]

My guess is it means they have to start their training over. That was the threat in Army basic training, anyway. Fail and you have to do it all over again.Boy, that would suck.

[wade-w]

My guess is it means they have to start their training over. That was the threat in Army basic training, anyway. Fail and you have to do it all over again.

Yeah, they did the same thing in Navy basic. It wasn't just a threat either; it happened to a couple of people in my training company.

This is the Air Force equivalent of what we called A school (I'm not sure what you Army people called this), not basic, so it may be different. But the "back" in "wash back" makes me think this is the same deal. In Navy A schools, though, if you fail (or "wash out of") your A school it's even worse: you get sent to the fleet as an unrated deck hand. This means you have no specialty, and get assigned to do all the shitty, unskilled manual labor on a ship.

[Ensign Steve]

My guess is it means they have to start their training over. That was the threat in Army basic training, anyway. Fail and you have to do it all over again.

Yeah, they did the same thing in Navy basic. It wasn't just a threat either; it happened to a couple of people in my training company.

This is the Air Force equivalent of what we called A school (I'm not sure what you Army people called this), not basic, so it may be different. But the "back" in "wash back" makes me think this is the same deal. In Navy A schools, though, if you fail (or "wash out of") your A school it's even worse: you get sent to the fleet as an unrated deck hand. This means you have no specialty, and get assigned to do all the shitty, unskilled manual labor on a ship.

Yeah, you guys got about the gist of it. You get one wash back, and if you fail again you wash out and end up in security forces or civil engineering or something equally shitty. And it's not just a threat, it happens a lot. My field has very high wash back and wash out rates. It's a small consolation that it was only everybody's first failure yesterday. Those who were taking it the second time passed, yay for them, even though they're mostly dickheads.

[Ensign Steve]

BTW, your avatar is a beautiful picture of you, JD. Stunning.

Thank you, Luna, you are a sweetheart. :)

Update: The party ended up being a blast, despite my misgivings. I and the birthday-girl and all others are sufficiently hung over this morning. :drunk:

[Shake]

Maybe it's just your field, ES, or maybe they've changed the rules. I seem to remember that you were allowed to fail 2 sections (or the same one twice) before getting involuntarily retrained. We had people washing into and out of our class. I don't remember anyone that I knew well washing out completely.

The choices aren't always quite so bleak if you do wash out of a particular school, though. We had a guy show up at my last base who'd washed out of an interpreter school. He'd been going for Chinese, but couldn't pass some aspect of it (I forget whether it was written or verbal), and ended up in my field (avionics technician), which he was fair at. But it beat being a cop or handing out basketballs at the gym (Services).

Also, Jen, if things haven't changed dramatically, you'll get your tech school rehashed once you get on active duty in the form of CDCs (Career Development Courses). The CDCs are, as I just said, basically a rehash of your tech training, which you have to pass to obtain your next skill level (apprentice, journeyman, etc.). If you fail to pass those, you can also be retrained or booted. We had a kid who was smart enough to do the work (mostly) and could fix a TV or VCR, but just couldn't pass his CDCs. He failed twice and got booted. After the first failure, they give you the option to retrain rather than run the risk of getting discharged. How he got through the tech school in the first place is beyond me ... he had trouble reading, they found out nearly too late.

Anyway, congrats on passing your test!