Early last month, Nick left Keesler AFB and is now located in Wichita Falls, TX at Sheppard AFB and in his last cycle of classes.  This course will run all the way to July 9th and focuses on the specific systems on the aircraft he will be working on.

His address until then is:
Amn Nicholas E Holpuch
0484
527 I Ave. Box A0246
Sheppard AFB, TX 76311-9999

Not long after he left Keesler, I received a hand-signed letter of appreciation from the Base Commander, Lt. Col. William Hamant recognizing Nick’s volunteer time in their tutoring program.  Once he got established at Sheppard, he did not find a similar program but he has instead devoted his time to staffing the phones on Friday & Saturday nights for the Airmen Against Drunk Driving program.  He receives calls from airmen who need a ride back to base from town and contacts drivers for the program to pick them up.  The hours are a bit late – 10:30 pm to 2:30 am – but he drew a second shift class schedule, so he’s now grown accustomed to being up late anyway.  His classes don’t finish until 11:30 pm all week long, so he’s been able to stay awake on the phones.

Also last month, he got his orders for his first duty station.  He will be going to Kadena Air Base in Okinawa, Japan!  Kadena is the hub of airpower in the Pacific arena.  He was the only airman in his class to get an international assignment.  He’s looking forward to going to Japan.  His other desired location was Germany, but there will be time for that later.  His assignment is for 3 years there and he will get 30 days leave per year.

But first he has to get through this class down in Texas.  He says it’s hot there and there’s nothing to do.  He did have a buddy take him out for a ride last weekend.  He phoned home briefly with this revelation… “Cars don’t rust in Texas!”  He had come upon a trio of 68 Cougars all looking quite interesting.  Wish he had sent a photo.

He has no restrictions on mail he can receive now, so feel free to send him a card or letter or whatever.

–The entry below was originally published on March 2, 2009–

Nick graduated from Basic Military Training (BMT) on Friday, Jan. 2nd in the first class to complete the newly revamped Air Force training program (“boot camp” to us civilians). The new program is an 8 week program instead of the former 6 weeks. He was in a graduating class of 726 Airmen and was one of 24 Honor Graduates. It was easy to see the confidence he gained during training and the respect he was paid by his classmates. In addition to attaining Honor Graduate, he also received a ribbon for Marksmanship with an M-16. His unit was part of the field band for his class, so he was even able to play a tuba. Charlie & I attended the graduation ceremonies at Lackland AFB in San Antonio and it was wonderful to see him again. We even got him to chew his food by the end of our visit.

In addition to being the first group to complete the new 8 week training program, his class was also the first to experience the new field training program known by the fitting acronym, “BEAST.” Basic Expeditionary Airman Skills Training is a week-long experience meant to be a full-scale simulation of the sights, sounds, smells and challenges of a deployment both physically and emotionally. It takes place off-base at a remote 80 acre annex location. The 700 trainees are split into 4 zones, each consisting of 3 groups functioning as units. Nick was assigned a Zone Leadership role.

Given his background and previous leadership training in both scouts and as drum major at DHS, he had his zone encampment fully set up and functioning, beginning their field exercises by the end of the first day. The other 3 zones were not as successful. Consequently, Nick was called into the Command tent on Tuesday afternoon to be quizzed on the success of his zone. By the end of the week, he had been asked for a report and analysis of the field experience as well as his critique of the manuals and training materials provided. He submitted his 30 page report the following Monday. His comments ranged from errors in the manual to recommendations regarding hydration and a lot of information to assist with the scheduling of the activities that need to be completed and how to make sure everyone knows where they need to be and when. At graduation, we were aware that his report was still sitting on his MTI’s desk. (there’s a point to this… you have to keep reading) “Boot Camp” officially ended at midnight on Jan. 4th. At 12:01 am on the 5, they were out of the dorms and on the sidewalk. By 1 am he was loaded in a bus to Biloxi, Mississippi where his first technical training school is located at Keesler AFB. This first school is basic electronics but is required no matter what you may (think) you already know. He finishes this school this week and will be transferring to Sheppard AFB in Wichita Falls, TX on Wednesday for his advanced electronics course where he will learn the specifics about the navigation and communication systems of the B-2 bomber, his ship of choice. He attained Top Grad honors at this school and kept himself busy by volunteering as a student tutor. As a bonus, he had all 4 wisdom teeth removed on the 23rd of January.

The military is a “people mill” and every week there are new airmen arriving from Lackland (where all BMT is conducted). This week, one of his buddies from boot camp was talking with a newly arrived airman, sharing their experiences at BMT. Amazingly, Nick’s name came up in the conversation – and it was brought up by the new airman as he was telling about his BEAST week. The Air Force has reprinted the field training manual used for BEAST week… and Nick’s name appears on the cover!! Nick would love to see a copy of this, as he never got any type of feedback from his report last seen at graduation collecting dust on a desk. His comments have made a difference for every airman going through training.

He assures me that mail is still very special and much appreciated. It’s also no longer limited to paper only. I sent him a cheesecake his first week and last week he got caramel brownies, so anything you want to send him is fine. He will be located at Sheppard until early July. He has requested German, Japan and Tampa as his top choices for his first duty assignment. He probably won’t know where he’ll be going until late June. I will distribute his new address as soon as I have it.