Eamon Murray wanted to fly and set his sights a career as a U.S. Air Force pilot. To qualify for the Colorado Springs, Colo., U.S. Air Force Academy, he was held to a higher academic and physical standards than the average university applicant. The mean SAT verbal and math scores are 637 and 658, respectively, and applicants must pass a candidate fitness assessment, consisting of a basketball throw, cadence pull-ups, shuttle run, modified sit-ups, push-ups and one-mile run. Like all military academy applicants, he also needed a nomination from a member of Congress.
As an honor student at Somerset High School in Somerset, Mass., he was active in sports including football, wrestling and running track for Somerset High, and was accepted to the Academy his senior year. He headed to the Academy in late summer 1998 and thrived in the competitive environment. He achieved a successful collegiate career on the U.S.A.F.A. boxing team. When a misdiagnosed heart condition kept Capt. Murray from pilot school, he pressed onward and graduated with a degree in general engineering.
Currently a Fort Collins, Colo.-stationed Missile Combat Crew Commander/Instructor, he spends several days a month on nuclear alert duty. Most of Capt. Murray's work is classified in the TOP SECRET spectrum or higher, but he shared what he could of his insights about his U.S. Air Force education and career with MiliatarySchools.com prior to shipping out to Thule, Greenland, in Fall 2007.
I decided to go to the United States Air Force Academy during my junior year of high school in hopes of getting to fly. I'm not flying, having lost my pilot qualification due to misdiagnosis of a heart condition during my senior year at the Academy.
I'm now a Missile Combat Crew Commander/Instructor going on one or two three-day long nuclear alerts per month. A nuclear alert consists of three days at a remote location where a three-person crew rotates so that each person spends about 16 hours below ground in the Launch Control Center, where he/she has command and control of 10-50 Minuteman III Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles (ICBM) and is in control of security and maintenance for those missiles, and eight hours above ground in “crew rest” status (sleeping, eating, working out, or accomplishing paperwork). When not on alert, I train the rest of the crew force in the Missile Procedures Trainer (this does for us what a flight simulator does for pilots), and develop training products for monthly classroom training. I have been assigned to Thule ABS, Greenland starting this fall.
The Academy prepared me to perform under pressure. After that, success is determined by having the opportunity to excel and then performing when the opportunity arises. For the most part, I have succeeded when the opportunity to excel has presented itself.
The job isn't much fun, but the people I work with make it bearable.
The late Gen. George S. Patton Jr., U.S.A.; the late Capt. Derek Argel, U.S.A.F.; U.SA.F.A. class of ‘01; the late Col. James Murray, U.S.A.F.
My greatest success is that most of my former deputies have become top notch commanders or instructors themselves.
Perfection is the standard. We have monthly testing, and if your scores are below 99 percent annual average, you pretty much have no shot at the better jobs.
In the military, we don't really have success versus failure in the corporate sense. Success and failure are dependent on the individual's point of view. We can't make our stock go up or sell more units than a competitor. ICBMs are insurance policies that allow our guys overseas to operate without concern that they will be nuked. So success is theoretical in that every day that we do not have a nuclear war is a success for the ICBM community.
I graduated from the USAFA in 2002. I wish I would have known that I wouldn't be flying. Had I known this, I'd have gone to West Point and joined the Army.
If you do not want to fly, think twice about going to the Academy. The experience is great, but the fun you miss out on by not going to a state university may outweigh the fact that it says USAFA on your resume. Also, expect your GPA at the Academy to be approximately 1.0 lower than it would be at a state university for the same amount of work.
If you want to fly, your best shot is to go to the USAFA. Otherwise, it doesn't really matter.
Show leadership in the community (volunteering), be involved at the school (band, sports, etc.), get very good grades. Being an Eagle/Gold Scout is also a huge bonus.
Getting a master's degree is a must for advancement past the rank of captain. Throughout your career, you will also be expected to complete Professional Development classes like the Air & Space Basic Course (ASBC), Squadron Officer School (SOS), Air Command and Staff College (ACSC), etc. (see the U.S. Air Force Air University Fact Sheet).
The Air Force revolves around the pilots. Everyone else is a second-class citizen. Other jobs are too numerous to name.
The Air Force is downsizing, and probably will be downsizing for the foreseeable future.
There are bonuses for some things, like flight pay, deployment pay, housing allowance depending on location, etc., but all officers of the same rank and time in service make the same base pay.
We are fighting two wars.
Do your job well, and the rest will take care of itself.
