DJ, you appear to know more than the average poster but somewhat less than WWW. Belongins shows the right attitude and your age difference (as well as your proud boast of a status) confirms it. We know you're happy to be starting the course but two years down the line is where you need to look... The guys through the course you speak of might just get 500hrs on type before things really start to kick off in the winter, but they would have started in 2006, the good old days. They might have no option but to hold for easy anyway (do you want to be shipped out to the pacific on completing?) Take senior advice and stay out of denial. You will hear more rumours about the pool/jobs etc than you will ever forget - advice from cadets is notoriously blinkered/rose-tinted by that 319 around the corner. You'll see what I mean when you get there.