AFMC Command News

My educational journey: The best thing since sliced bread?

  • Published
  • By Lt. Col. Billy D. Pruett, MD, MC, SFS
  • HQ AFMC/SGR
WRIGHT-PATTERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Ohio --  There was a guy at my high school who was a real know-it-all. Ever meet one of those? The kind of person you just can't teach anything? Some people call them punks; others say they're just immature and have some growing up to do. Well, right after our junior year, this guy quits. He figures he's learned all high school has to teach him, and he's not coming back. What he really wants to do is join the Air Force.

So down he goes to the local recruiter, only to learn that he has to have at least a G.E.D. to enlist. In fact, the year this took place was the last one in which the Air Force would accept G.E.D.'s. Now our hero's no dummy. He's able to pass the G.E.D. exam. So certificate in hand, he trots back down to the recruiter and enlists.

Well, lo and behold, once he's in the Air Force proper, he discovers that an education is a bigger deal than he thought. It seems everyone who doesn't have a degree already is working on one. The Chief he works for -- a man he truly admires -- has a master's degree. What?!? Isn't it only officers who have college degrees?

Now our hero has to rethink his entire educational strategy. In the meantime, he's enlisted in a career field that has him averaging 6 months out of the year TDY. He's married. And besides all that, who has the money to pay for classes? No one's handing out scholarships to high school dropouts, even if they do have a G.E.D.

Then our not-so-wet-behind-the ears Airman learns about the Community College of the Air Force, which gives you credit for training you've already been provided by the Air Force. Not only that, but with the help of the Base Education Office he learns about CLEP and DANTES testing, as well as programs which will subsidize tuition costs for evening or on-line classes. Next thing you know, voila! He's earned an associate's degree from CCAF.

Now I know what you're thinking. Big deal! How does that help? Well, a little further along in our story we find our reluctant scholar enrolling in a bachelor's degree program as a full-time student at one of his state's fine institutes for higher learning. This state university accepts practically all of his CCAF credits. In fact, they have a minor program which dovetails in very well with his CCAF degree. So, they essentially grant him the minor based on his CCAF credits. Wow!

But okay, I know some of you are still skeptical. Sure ... that's fine for a bachelor's degree at Podunk Land Grant University, but what about a graduate degree at a well-known school? How's Medical School at the University of Tennessee sound? Well, it sounded good enough for our protagonist, because that's exactly where he went next.

By now the truly skeptical among you are convinced that you've seen through my little ruse. You likely believe that this is a tale crafted from thin air by the Base Education Office staff, then spun by a senior officer, all to sell young Airmen on the fanciful notion that a CCAF degree is not a waste of time. You're not buying this Yugo, and you probably think that someone's Performance Report is riding on the number of enlisted troops I can sucker into signing up for CCAF.

And, you'd be wrong. The only suckers are the ones not taking advantage of this incredible benefit offered by the Air Force. The reason I know is because I'm the know-it-all hero from the story. I'm the one who didn't have enough sense to stay in high school, and slid in under the wire with my G.E.D. And guess what else? In June, I pin on O-6. High school drop-out, to E-1, to M.D., to O-6; and I doubt it would have been possible without the leg-up I received for CCAF.

So, best thing since sliced bread? Maybe, maybe not. But I'll tell you this: By earning my CCAF degree, I've certainly been able to put a lot of sliced bread on my family's table.