Baseball & F-16s

Imagine you don’t know what baseball is. You’re going to learn by studying the rulebook, reading about each player’s responsibilities, and be tested on how they all work together for a game. One more thing: you can’t watch what a baseball game looks like until you figure it all out.

This baseball analogy popped into my head Thursday after digging through web-based manuals, maps, and diagrams for a two-day in-class project. I had to locate more than a hundred pieces of data about the simulated adversary, many of which were interconnected, and depending on the accuracy, could mess up the entire conclusion (it sounds like me doing algebra). And hypothetically, an F-16 pilot’s well-being depends on the work quality.

Again, ask a European to explain why you "tag up" on a fly ball in baseball.

My class instructors are amused by us students and our apparent talent at looking too deeply into some items and not giving enough attention to others. But don’t worry, I started with kind of an ugly but passing grade and improved it after the first corrections (Yes Mrs. Hobbs & Mrs. Wilharm, I DID my corrections!). We get a full chance to ask questions Friday morning. My number one goal for that time: figure out how and why many of my educated guesses were correct. Wish me luck!

Check out this video clip to see the kind of mission we are supporting as we train [click here]. Can you imagine any of these pilots asking Mr. Kiel to brief them on their mission? Yikes! This humbling experience has already taught me volumes about being a better teacher when I return home. That’s not a rip on my instructors, but a comment on how it feels to spend all your effort and not fully understand everything. It’s going to be good to learn the answers today. Have a great Friday Shattuckians! HF1

A sample F-16CJ Wild Weasel [U.S. Air Force photo]