Today's story goes back to mid-2003, when I was in technical training. If you already know the basic tenents of USAF tech school, you can skip the intro:
Air Force Tech Schools have groups of students which have been selected to act as leaders within the student community. They attend a short leadership training course, and wear a rope around their shoulder. There are three levels of ropes:
- Green Rope - A Green Rope is the lowest of the Airman Leaders. He may lead a flight (28 airmen) in formation and is in charge of the cleanup detail on one dormitory hallway.
- Yellow Rope - A Yellow Rope has displayed an ability to lead leaders and is charged with greater responsibility. He may lead a squadron (up to 8 flights) in formation and assign commands to the flight commanders (Green Ropes). A Yellow Rope is in charge of the cleanup detail on a full floor, overseeing the green ropes and their leadership abilities.
One Yellow Rope, dubbed "Senior Yellow", is assigned to train alongside the Red Rope, in preparations to replace him when he leaves.
- Red Rope - The Red Rope is the top dog of all student airmen. He supervises the yellow ropes directly, trains the Senior Yellow to replace him, and is in charge of cleanup detail for the entire dormitory (In my case, six floors plus common areas such as CQ). The Red Rope gets to stand up on the podium at Revilee and Retreat ceremonies with the Senior Yellow and all the MTLs (Blue Ropes), while the other ropes manage the formation itself.
- Blue Ropes - Permanent Party NCOs. These guys are stationed here, their permanent duty station. Needless to say, this is where the real chain of command starts; but it's fun to play along sometimes.
I was training for 2A3x3A, Tactical Aircraft Maintenance. Therefore, my tech school was at the 362nd Training Squadron, Sheppard Air Force Base, Witchita Falls, TX (362TRS, SAFB). Of my six months in training, I was a Green Rope for a month, Yellow Rope for three months (Two of them I was Senior Yellow), and Red Rope for two months.
Now that the background info is out of the way, I shall begin publishing some stories from my tech school days. Due to the length of this Entry, I'll be starting with a new one.