Robbie Robinette:  

Life I joined the Army my senior year (‘77) with a guarantee to attend helicopter pilot training (of course if I washed out the Army could have done anything to me, can you say infantry?) I started training in January '78, and graduated as an Army Warrant Officer Aviator (Pilot) in February '79. I spent a year flying Hueys in the Korean Buffer Zone, then came home to Fort Hood, Texas (90 miles northwest of Austin) and flew the OH-58 Kiowa (Bell Jet Ranger). I earned a spot on the United States Helicopter Team in May of '81, and went to Pietrokov Trebanalski, Poland to compete with the Russians, East Germans, Poles, and a variety of western European nations. Our team won the individual and team world championships. The team was featured in the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum for a couple of years afterward. I got out of the Army in January '82 as a Chief Warrant Officer and started working toward a degree and a commission in the Air Force. I graduated from the University of Texas with Special Honors in Psychology in May '85 and was commissioned a Second Lieutenant. I started Air Force pilot training at Sheppard Air Force Base, near Wichita Falls, Texas in January '86. I did well enough to get my second choice aircraft, an F-15 Eagle. I went to Fighter Lead-In Training at Holloman AFB, NM in February '87, then F-15 training at Luke AFB, AZ in May. About 3/4 of the way through Eagle training I discovered I had a g-tolerance problem. The F-15 has so much power that it can pull 9 g's for minutes at a time. I couldn't keep my blood pressure high enough to keep from "graying out" (blood drains from your eye's receptors). I never lost consciousness (black out) but you can't shoot down an enemy aircraft if you can't see it. After the initial disappointment of leaving the F-15 I settled into flying the C-141 Starl...Expand for more