BWS - Basic Warfighting Skills

So, you've just spent the last 8 weeks flying 6,000' feet above the earth while staring inside at instruments.  Now, you get to do the exact opposite in BWS (Basic Warfighting Skills)!  BWS is all about route planning, recon, tactical flight, and flying anywhere from 20' to 200' AHO (Above the Highest Obstacle).  For me, it was the most fun flying I'd ever done and definitely the best part of flight school.  But, before you get to have all of that fun you have to do one more thing....MAPS!

Maps
The dreaded maps of BWS.  In reality, this paper map book that you have to make is not really needed.  You could literally print off maps that already have everything on them.  But, this is flight school and since that's how they did it before you, that's how you'll do it too.  You'll get around 30 maps that don't have any of the important info for BWS on them, and you'll have to add it.  And then you'll have to fold and glue the maps into a convenient little map book that you can reference while you fly.

Don't underestimate the time required to finish your map book.  I think I worked about 35-40 hours total on mine.  But then again, I'm somewhat of a perfectionist.  It takes around 1 hour per map to trace all of the required items on them, and then about about 4 hours to glue them and make a map book cover.

The first thing you need to do is cut and press all of your maps.  You have to cut off all of the borders of the maps, and press them so that they will fold correctly.  There are places that will do this for you in the surrounding area.  Two I know of are The Hangar and Velocity Squared.  I took mine to The Hangar and they did a really good job and turned it around in a day.

After that, you have to trace all of the required info onto them.  You'll use the AO Vanguard QITA (which is the quarterly update of hazards for the training area) to get the info that you need.  There are really 2 ways to accomplish tracing.  You can go to the Aviation Learning Center on post and do it there.  They have lighted map tables and 2 sets of all 30 maps with the hazards already drawn on.  They also have markers and other supplies if you need them.  The other option is to rent, buy or make a light table and buy traceable maps from Velocity Squared.  I tried both ways and I found the Aviation Learning Center to be much quicker, easier and cheaper.

Lastly, you have to fold them and glue them together and create a cover for your map book.  This part took longer than I thought it would.  But I had a friend come over and we did it together while drinking beer and listening to Taylor Swift manly music.

Make sure that you take the time to do them pretty well.  Your IP will know if you've missed information and it's the first impression that you'll make on your IP.  However, you will not use them again after BWS, so it's up to you.  If you fly UH60s, you'll need them, but I think I only used them 1 more time after BWS.


The Fun Part
Once you get all of your maps done and show up to the flight line, you'll meet your new IP.  Most of the BWS IPs are much more laid back than in primary or instruments.  On the first day, you'll go out to the stage field to get back into looking outside and learning the differences between the TH67 and OH58.  Everyday after that you'll fly a route to some RTs (Remote Training sites) and then to a local airport to refuel and swap seats with your stick buddy.  RTs are just fields that the Army leases from local farmers and residents.

Initially you will fly Low Level which is between 80' and 200' AHO.  During this part of training, you will plan routes to a couple of RTs and plot them on your map.  Your IP will fly and you will be the navigator.  You're job is to navigate based on ACPs (Air Control Point) and Checkpoints that you determined would be easy to find while you are flying.  In addition, you need to determine what airspeed your IP should fly so that you arrive within 1 minute of the time you calculated it would take during your planning.  Once you arrive at the RT, you will learn some different terrain flight maneuvers such as terrain flight decels, masking and unmasking, slope operations, and different types of takeoffs and landings. 

After a week or so, you will start flying at contour altitudes (25' to 80' AHO).  At this point, you will plan your routes based on the terrain in the area (which doesn't vary that much) so that you can remain more concealed.  Learning to read the terrain in lower Alabama takes a little while to get used to, but with a little practice it's not too hard.  This was my favorite part.  It's the reason I wanted to fly helicopters over airplanes.  You can't beat following rivers and low terrain, only 25' off the treetops, and then landing in somebody's field!

At the end of BWS you get to fly another solo flight after your check ride.  There's a solo exam and a 5 and 9 exam that you have to pass prior to the solo flight, but they're pretty easy.  The solo in BWS was probably one of my favorite flights in flight school.  It's just you and your stick buddy flying around Alabama, landing in farmer's fields and having a good time.

You'll still have daily questions that your IP will review, but depending on which flight you are in it will vary as to whether or not they are part of the daily brief.  In my flight, we just went over daily questions with our IP and our flight commander gave us different topics everyday that he would be going over on for the next day's daily brief.

To study for the oral portion of the checkride, all you really need to know is all of the acronyms from an acronym sheet that they will give you and how to apply them.  It's a couple of pages long, but on my checkride we went over almost every single one of them.  Of course, you still need to know regulations and publications as you will on every checkride (AR 95-1, FM 3-04.203, etc).  Another big thing that they will go over is your map preparation.  Make sure it is to the standard set out in the Terrain Flight Mission Planning Guide that they will give you, and that you have everything marked correctly.


Academics
One of the nice things about BWS is that you won't have academics every day.  You will have a few classes on how to operate the AMPS (Aviation Mission Planning System), and how to use the EDM (Electronic Data Manager) which is a big clunky moving map that you strap to your knee.  You will also have a Crew Coordination Class, Aviation Survivability Equipment, and a "Fires" class.  They are all very easy and don't count for much of your OML.


BWS involves a lot of planning.  I spent more time planning flights in BWS than I ever did before.  In the beginning I would spend 3-5 hours a night on route planning, plus doing daily questions and studying.  Every single day you need to figure out the route you are going to take, plan it on AMPS, and then transfer it to your map.  And putting the map together is a lot of work.  You have to draw your routes with ACPs every 5-20k, time tick marks on one side, and distance on the other.  You have to label all of you ACPs and then put "doghouses" on each leg which show the name of the next ACP, distance, direction, time, airspeed and altitude.  And you have to take time to do a photo recon of your RTs to make sure you know what you're looking for.  

Overall though, BWS is a lot of fun!  It'll probably be the most fun flying you've ever done and the solo is a blast.  The biggest thing that I wish I would have focused more on is PT!  After BWS you have a selection PT test and it is worth 100 points of your OML (about 1/6th).  [EDIT: Flight school is always changing, and as of July 2015, the PT test is worth much less on your OML].  I'll talk about that in the next post.  Until then, here's the best way I found to use the EDM: