RJ Robiskie's favorite part of family vacations growing up probably doesn't match what would qualify as other peoples' favorite part. His was going to the airport.

"I always wanted to be a pilot growing up," Robiskie said. "I got into the plane, looked to my left as I walked in, looked in the cockpit. When I came to the Coast Guard Academy, I came here in my mind wanting to go to flight school."

Robiskie, a senior linebacker and captain of the Coast Guard football team, found out on March 5, Billet Night at the academy, that he would, in fact, be headed for flight school, a destination to which only about 20 cadets from each graduating class are appointed.

Joining him will be fellow Coast Guard football players Scott Pierce, a tight end and fellow captain; Miguel Moroles, a wide receiver; and Chris Hicks, a defensive back.

All newly commissioned Coast Guard ensigns with a flight school assignment report to Naval Air Station, Pensacola, Florida. After that basic training, the prospective pilots report to Coast Guard Aviation Training Center in Mobile, Alabama, to learn to fly Coast Guard aircraft.

For outgoing Coast Guard football coach Bill George, who retired at the end of last season but is still a member of the academy's faculty until June 30, it was his first Billet Night.

He was struck by the electricity in the air for the annual event at Leamy Hall, where cadets, soon to go their separate ways geographically while all still serving the Coast Guard, leapt in the air and threw their arms around each other with joy after learning of their destinations, a culmination of four years of work.

"I would say this," George said. "The one thing that Billet Night makes you realize is that the young people here are here for a major reason of serving as an officer in the Coast Guard. You realize there's another thing on their mind. I think it's a big, personal thing."

George, of course, knew that Robiskie and Pierce, two of the football team's captains for his final season, aspired to attend flight school. He already recognized them as leaders.

"They're tremendous (football) captains, they're going to be tremendous in the Coast Guard," George said. "I'm glad they got the path they chose. "I absolutely hate to fly, but if had to fly, I'd rather fly with RJ and Scott Pierce.

"I want to tell you, there's not a person, there's not a graduating senior you couldn't put the world in the palm of their hand," George said. "I wouldn't have a problem with any of them doing anything. I can't tell you how impressed I am."

Selection for flight school, according to the Coast Guard Academy web site, is based on grades and military performance while at the academy, score on the flight aptitude test taken as a senior and results of the flight physical exam taken before graduation.

Robiskie, who spoke this week by telephone from his home in Murrieta, California, spent time at Air Station Mobile last summer. There, he got the chance to train in both helicopters, called rotary-wing aircrafts, and in an HC-144 Ocean Sentry or fixed-wing aircraft.

"Being in control, it's not like driving at all," Robiskie said. "It was a pretty exhilarating feeling ... once you got to a certain altitude and only for a minute or two. I've always been interested in aviation. It's not your everyday 9-5 job."

Pierce has also had the opportunity to fly, both in an MH60 Jayhawk helicopter in Cape Cod as part of a pilot shadow program and in a C130 in Elizabeth City, North Carolina, the summer before his junior year. He called the experience "one of the coolest things."

Robiskie believes that the Coast Guard takes cadets who have the "complete package" into account when assigning flight school, not just grades. Robiskie was the executive officer for the academy's Alpha Company during the first semester of this school year, for instance, and is now a company liaison.

"It's more your sports, seeing how you are as a person, how you react in a situation," Robiskie said.

The first class cadets, the seniors, gather on Billet Night, unsure of what may come. The commanding officers of many of the Coast Guard's cutters attend to greet their new charges. Cadets are announced in groups, with suspense building as the night passes.

Robiskie, Hicks and Pierce sat close to one another and counted the number of flight school billets passed down, worrying that with each one their chances of earning one became narrower.

"We've kind of been working for this the past three-and-a-half years," Robiskie said. "Leading up to it, I tried my best not to think about it. That day, March 5, you kind of just think about it all day. Waiting to hear your name called, that moment. I saw the list I was called with and I knew the rest were flight school applicants. A moment of euphoria."

"A million things," Pierce said from his home in Columbus, Ohio, asked what went through his mind. "Almost like, it felt good all the work we put in paid off in getting the first choice. And I'm going to do something I know I'm going to love."

Pierce, who follows both parents, Willie and Annie, into the Coast Guard, said his original dream growing up was to play in the NFL. After that, he felt a call toward aviation.

"A super cool job," Pierce said. "What a cool way to do it than to serve your country and hopefully save some lives someday. I'm pretty honored to get flight school."

Said Robiskie: "A lot of us have never been to the places we're about to go. We're leaving with a degree, a commission and a job. We have a lot of things to look forward to. Coming to Coast Guard Academy, it's opened up so many opportunities I never even fathomed when I was in high school. I never thought I'd be where I'm at today."

v.fulkerson@theday.com