I commissioned into the Air Force from ROTC in 2000, so my experience in the ranks would be similar to his fictional cadet’s. I can’t speak authoritatively about life at the Academy – his best bet is to find a grad and ask. I can tell him about promotions and decorations, though.
The cadet would commission in late May of 2004, and it’s a matter of public record who spoke at her graduation/commissioning ceremony. Each class has its own motto, its own ring, and several other fraternal winks-and-nods, but the ceremonies are generally all alike. Fly-by from the Thunderbirds, graduation, then commissioning. Hats in the air. Huzzah.
She would go to her first assignment or possibly straight to her first school (if she pursued a Master’s in a technical field she’d go to AFIT, and I can give more details on that if you want 'em). First school could be four weeks or twelve weeks or more, depending on whether it’s something simple or complicated. I learned Acquisition and Contracting, and went to Lackland AFB for four weeks with a mix of lieutenants from all over the place. Maintenance, Intelligence, and Space-and-Missile schools take longer. Pilot training takes years and is a whole other ball game.
After first training, she’d get assigned to Aerospace Basic Course in Montgomery AL, which would also last for four weeks and would be a microcosm of the Academy. Lots of the academic material would be familiar from her junior and senior courses; lots of the leadership material would also be a re-hash of basic principles of leadership. The big benefit to ABC is that a good training report from ABC would be a big help to getting her on the short list for SOS, which in turn gets you on the short list for Major, etc, etc. ABC would also be a networking opportunity, and she might end up in a “flight” (group of 20 cadets who spend the entire training cycle together) with someone from her base or unit. Given the relatively low housing allowance for lieutenants, she’d probably find a roommate and go halves on a 2BR townhouse or apartment.
Two years to the day after commissioning, she would make first lieutenant, and the increase in housing allowance might prompt her to move – or pocket the difference and live well. Her roommate might also make 1LT, and they might host a party. It’s traditional to spend your first month’s raise on the party, so when several captains go in together you can have a big bash. The jump to 1LT is not nearly as nice, and the party would probably resemble a football Sunday at a frat house – some beer, some chips, lots of people.
In May of 2006 she’d be finishing up her first tour, preparing to PCS, and might receive an Air Force Achievement Medal (for a significant single achievement) or an Air Force Commendation Medal (for an entire tour marked by excellence). For reference, in my first unit, I saw lieutenants in my class receive about 30 Achievement Medals, and maybe two or three Commendation Medals. Something like 10-30% of lieutenants did not receive a medal at all. For being in the Air Force during Operation Enduring Freedom or Operation Iraqi Freedom, she would receive a National Defense Service Medal, but having been a USAFA cadet she would probably already have one, so she’d get an oak-leaf cluster on it. She would probably have her marksmanship ribbon (from the Academy) and might have jump wings.
On arrival to her next station (May/June 06), she’d still be a first lieutenant, but she’d probably be assigned under a more senior captain who was due to leave within 18 months or so. The idea would be that she’d spend a year as his deputy and then take over his job, and then just before she left, she’d get a 1LT of her own to help out. In May of 2008 she’d get her promotion to Captain and throw a big damn party. She would be irritated that housing prices had continued to accelerate out of her price range, and might be elated to have missed the housing bubble. After her Captain promotion buying a house might begin to make sense.
Shortly after making captain she’d be urged to start doing academic work to qualify for Squadron Officer’s School (SOS). Within a year of making captain she’d send her first application for SOS, and her boss (and her boss’s boss) would decide how to prioritize her application among the other captains in her unit. If she was her unit’s number-one pick she’d have personal attention from the commander ensuring that her application was the best in the pile. Her unit might get up to four “slots” to allocate. If she missed the cut her first year, she could either complete the course by correspondence or apply to go in residence the next year.
SOS is like ABC: five weeks in Montgomery, studying leadership, learning Air Force doctrine and strategy, and working with a flight of ~20 junior captains. You learn as much from your classmates as you do from the curriculum. It’s routine to run into old Academy buddies, people from your first tour, people you know from ABC, or people you know from your first training. Networking, beer, social nights out on the town in Montgomery – these are all normal. The academic tests are much more challenging, though.
By the time she returned from SOS she’d be working on a Master’s in something (anything!) because it’s an unspoken prerequisite for making Major. If she had already gotten one doing night classes during her first tour, she’d gripe that pilots didn’t need one to make Major – mostly because pilots in her class would go straight from pilot training to Iraq, Afghanistan, Japan, or Europe.
You can express a preference for regions (“North”, “Midwest”) or bases (“Wright-Patterson”, “Cheyenne Mt”) or slots (“Billet CG-292”).