Four Sheppard Airmen selected for OTS

  • Published
  • By Dan Hawkins
  • 82nd Training Wing Public Affairs
SHEPPARD AIR FORCE BASE, Texas --  Four active-duty enlisted Team Sheppard members were selected for commissioning by the 12OT01 rated Basic Officer Training board.


Three of the soon-to-be officers are from the 362nd Training Squadron. Tech. Sgt. Richard Olsen, Tech. Sgt. Jose Torres and Staff Sgt. Matthew Peltier all received the good news from their commander on Feb. 23.


Senior Airmen Christian Belo of the 82nd Aerospace Medicine Squadron was also selected. A bioenvironmental engineer who graduated from the University of Phoenix, Belo's application was his first to Officer Training School.


"My group and squadron commander called me to the Heritage Center to give an air quality briefing," Belo said. "After I gave the entire briefing, they told me about being selected for OTS. My wife was there...she set it all up. It was very exciting."


All three selectees from the 362 TRS attended Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, obtaining degrees in Professional Aeronautics and were first-time applicants for OTS.


Olsen, an F-16 instructor supervisor, has been at Sheppard for just over three years. After working diligently both professionally and academically over the course of his eight year career, he was still blown away by his selection for pilot training.


"It was amazing," Olsen said. "It's been a lifelong goal of mine since I was a kid...it's a highly competitive (position) to achieve and be accepted into."


Torres, with 10 years of service in the Air Force and two and a half years at Sheppard, is an instructor for the F-16 Mission Ready Airmen (crew chiefs) course.


While on leave, Torres found about his selection to be a pilot when he received a phone call from his commander, Lt. Col. Reggie Christianson.


"My commander gave me a call...he got me pretty good," said Torres. "At first he told me I didn't make it, then he told me I did. That phone call, when it came, was just remarkable."


The pride shown by his family left Torres at a loss for words.


"Everybody is just speechless," Torres said. "I think my wife was more excited about it than me honestly."


Peltier, an A-10 maintenance instructor, has six years in service and was selected for navigator training. He began thinking about crossing over into the officer ranks during his first deployment.


"I was at Bagram (Afghanistan) back in 2007 when I first gave it some thought," Peltier said. "I saw all the aircraft taking off and coming back every day on their sorties and wanted to be flying."


Giving up nights and weekends to obtain his college degree was well worth it to Peltier.


"Don't let anybody tell you it can't be done," Peltier said. "Just keep pursuing your goals and it can happen."


The board, which convened Jan. 23 - 27 at Randolph Air Force Base, Texas, was precedent-setting in the fact that all 30 active-duty enlisted personnel who applied for the board were selected.


With the three selections from the 362 TRS, the "Crew Dawgs" accounted for 10 percent of the rated officer selections from across the entire Air Force.


Col. Willie Holt, 82nd Training Group commander, was thrilled by the selections.


"To have 10 percent of the total number of selections from the entire Air Force is pretty neat," Holt said. "It 's indicative of the type of people we have."


Overall, Sheppard accounted for 13 percent of rated selections service-wide with four of the 30 selectees.