New Job

We've been flying fairly consistently and am happy to say we put a major dent in the war on terror the other night. AFN (the armed forces network) is the sole source of life here for a lot of people so when our TV went down right before college football saturday the General called out his A-Team. Needless to say it is now up and running, and since we are on a night schedule we've been able to watch a few games.

Since we've been flying more than others, the guys working the office jobs jumped on our flight to stay current, which meant I got to learn more about how the guys in the back operate. It was pretty awesome, dad I'm gonna blow you away with tie-down knowledge. We ran out of seats at one point so Mike & I rode in the hummer which provided one of the softest rides I've had, extra suspension and noise muffling. Thanks to an unfortunate 24 hour bug that has been ravaging its way though our crew I also got to sit in the spotters seat. There have been copious amounts of Imodium passed around and the 50 yard dash to our bathroom has gotten pretty exciting. Luckily the DFac has soup, baked potatoes, and 7up.

Thanksgiving

My first major holiday overseas was a good one. We have made pretty good friends with a Sgt that runs the DFac and we were excited we didn't fly today and got to be there to see all of his hard work. Its amazing how much hard work and how much of a difference individuals can make. He and his battalion are from Hawaii, so his wife sent up some street signs and other decorations to make the place feel at home for them. Half the DFac was Hawaiian, half was traditional thanksgiving, they had ice sculptors (how they did this blows my mind), a cornucopia filled with fruit and lays, a giant mayflower ship they served eggnog from, workers dressed up as indians, pilgrims, elves, and reindeer, a gingerbread city, all the traditional food (which was pretty good), and what blew my mind the most, they had baked several large pieces of bread to the shape of the Hawaiian islands and laid them out on a blue table cloth. Our AC is also from Hawaii so he gave us a geography lesson and showed us where all the cool spots were. It was great to see everyone so happy all from a few individuals hard work. I went with peach cobbler for desert in honor of missing hamburger-ala-foil last night at deer camp.

Great Day topped off with a late night work out and mid-night breakfast, trying to get ourselves adjusted to an evening/night flying schedule.

Dare to Dream

Whenever I was getting tired of flight school I dreamed of days like yesterday, knowing it would be awesome when I got here, it probably tops the previous "best day yet." I started writing a play-by-play and realized it really wasn't that exciting and there wasn't anything specific, but the culmination of a satisfying day of flying knowing we did what we came here to do, did it well, and made it back in time for supper and an Aaron Tippin concert. HA!

So I'll try to make of list of the all the little things that combined into one awesome day:

Tasty omelet w/ everything & biscuit, iced vanilla coffee drink

gotta keep breakfast light on flight days & like to get the hyper energy going early

Briefings, flight prep, and pre-flight were quick & smooth

I guess it doesn't take many repetitions to get to the point where it runs well

Instead of valeting Cols to meetings we were moving actual important stuff. A couple of guys who rode back with us said they had been stuck there with those goods and were gonna get to go home now. Typically we move either people, pallets, or rolling stock: hummers or anything on wheels (which this was) which tend to be the most time consuming. We put some good tunes over the interphone speakers and started rolling like a fluid team, even the FAST team we carry for security pitched in. I don't know why it was so much fun but I was in the best mood, Dad u would've been blown away by the backing skills of this driver (with direction from our loads) and the expert tie down job.

I'm becoming more proficient with my descents and landings which is always exciting

I grabbed a twist ice-cream cone on my way to the Aaron Tippin concert, that dude is awesome, classic red-neck country singer that loves the US and has been doing USO tours since I was born.

Riding the high, we took the bus on a ride around base exploring the far side of the runway. We were back in highschool, cruising and listening to music was a great end to the day, until we found ourselves on a pitch back stretch with no idea where it was going. Everyone got quiet and all at once each person said "umm.... I think we might need to turn around"

Fear

U wanna talk about real fear, there is a flock of ravens that move silently around base stalking weary joggers and unsuspecting hammock loungers. I feel like I'm in a Lord of the Rings movie. I was lounging in our "tanning bed" atop the barriers the other day and I watched their tactics first hand. I've seen them before, but this provided a unique vantage point. There are prolly 45-50 of them and without a sound they leap frog there way across a landscape picking it to pieces. Never fear though, I am ever vigilant with regards to all avian matters.

Still loving flying, still learning tons every sortie, just wish we could do more of it, we were pretty consistent doing every other day there for a week, which was perfect, but it has slowed back down.

Bravo

We have been flying a lot more these past few days. We were "sitting bravo" yesterday. not the primary crew, but supposed to be ready to go within an hours notice of when we are "alerted" A Lt. Col had assured us the previous night there was 0% chance of being alerted, which should of made us more suspicious. Regardless we treated it like a day off: sleeping in, going for a run, watching some office, working out, lounging and enjoying social time at supper. Enjoying my twist cone on the way out the door brought the news it was time to party. It is interesting to see how each person handles the news. Some reply with an indifferent "well I wasn't doing anything anyway" some angry they have to reverse the downhill mental spiral toward bed they had already begun, and some giddy to the point of dropping their ice-cream. Eventually all settle into the professional crew we are, or strive to be each flight, and I think we were tonight.

Apparently the Army REALLY wanted these 15 or so troops moved, there were several higher ranks on board and we held short for 10 minutes or so waiting for a General to decide if he wanted to go or not. On the way back in they had activated some sectors around base allowing the Army copters to do the work they do, combined with visibility below minimums left us circling looking for options. Much preferring our own hooches, we passed on CQ's suggestion to divert and instead took the chance at the low visibility. Once again my AC's experience showed, as he gave us a play by play of what to expect. The sky was perfectly clear with just a finger nail of new moon and the NVGs revealed multiple shooting stars and a blacked out convoy, we could see airfields further out than usual and each town had its own green halo glow from fog. So to say visibility is what would keep us from landing was strange but sure enough right as we touched down everything disappeared and you could barely make out our own wingtips. The fog was ridiculously thick but maybe only 50' deep. Yet another great learning experience and beautiful night flight.

ps: the other night we flew to Kuwait which becomes a highlight when you have enough time to run to the mid-night diner for REAL milk!!!!!! See facebook for pics of that base during the day.

Church was awesome again, the prayers for our tone-defness were much appreciated and felt, either the hymns were more in our range, we brought our A-game, or I wasn't paying attention to it, either way it was a huge blessing.

We've been playing a lot of Risk (the game of global domination) and the testosterone packed competition is about to boil over, Mom we need the Un-game ASAP (not really please don't send that, we'd prolly smash it under the 85 lbs weight) Speaking of, after smashing all kinds of fruit we have been inundated with flies. We each have one of those sticky tapes outside our door, last count we had 83 on ours and the other two look just as full, 15 on the one in the room. When its not ur turn at Risk you are on fly killing duty, we prolly average 75 kills a game.

WX update: desert winter is kicking in, without scientific measurements i'd say the after noon is "broken office air conditioner warm" dry heat in the day to "don't won't to go outside to pee because its too cold" nights.

Also - I have received several very thoughtful comments in response to blogs on here, but in my lack of know how I haven't been able to send thank yous, but please know I really appreciate all the support and would love email addresses to personally thank you.

Another Day Another Cinnamon Roll

This post is going to be pretty boring, more for my own personal memories.

Currently I'm going through several personal philosophical debates: at what water temperature does no shower become worse than a cold shower? although the sound of crickets while you walk to the showers makes it worth it. should I just go ahead shave my head? would it look good with the incoming mustache? these are weighing very heavy on my mind, inputs would be much appreciated.

Food is still the much anticipated highlight of my day, I don't know if I've talked about it yet, but ITS AWESOME. Favorites I'm rotating through include various kinds of fish/shrimp/crab, philly cheese steak, every way you can serve chicken, including buffalo wings, bbq brisket, ceasar salad, choose your own ingredients short order stir fry, kiwi, bread pudding, blue berry cobbler, carrot cake, pecan pie, cookies n cream milkshakes, french toast, short order omelets, the biscuits are good, but the gravy has much to be desired. I have been told by several people that the south DFAC where we eat is the best they've ever seen.

Music is also something that can completely change the day. We are getting more and more proficient so my AC has started letting us put music on over the PA on the plane while we are on/off loading cargo/pax. Its fun searching each other's ipods putting on random songs, today's hits included "I can feel it coming in the air tonight" and "run around sue". And I enjoy runs so much more just as time to get out and listen to any music I want.

Another highlight has been seeing tons of different army aircraft i never even knew existed, and some I knew about but have never seen, including all the UAVs.

Like I said not much to report, the flight went well: WAIT I forgot, since today was payday we treated ourselves to Cinnabon (ya its rough over here), definitely a noteworthy highlight. Aw man and how could I forget, Mandy's box came with "the office" in it, we all rejoiced and immediately put it in for a couple episodes. We are much in debt, thank you very much.

Ok, so to revisit the previous day which rocked the house (or at least the hooch I live in). I skipped breakfast and slept in but made it to church on time. The base is so large it is divided into 3 sections: North, South, and Main (creative I know) and each section actually has its own gym, DFAC (dining facility), and Chapel. So the South Chapel or "Wings Chapel" since its for all the aviation people, is pretty small. It was a definite security blanket/comfort to be in church and you can tell it is a great relief for individuals with major prayer requests. The Chaplains were very warm and friendly and delivered a great message. Obviously it is a very like minded audience sharing common experiences so the message was very targeted and applicable. It was from Phil 2 and reminded me how important it is for me to be serving the rest of my crew. I know that is why I am here and a major way to show these guys Christ's love, but as with most military crews they are pretty rough and hard to love sometimes, but we are all. The music was more humorous for me. Most everyone took it very serious and you could tell were deep in worship, and the music leaders were doing what they could with what they had, but none of us are the best singers, resulting in a very quiet audience. So I couldn't help but notice the Spanish accent coming through the leader's words and for some reason I wanted to bust out laughing. Regardless it was a much welcome way to start the morning/week.

Later in the afternoon we created a sweet action gladiator game, that looking back at it now is really hard to explain unless you want to come out here and play. Needless to say it was awesome. That evening a much anticipated USO sponsored concert came to town with DJ Scribble (not as good as DJ Juicy J) and Naughty by Nature (an early 90's rap trio with at least 2 songs I know). I think its very respectable of individuals who support the USO with tours like this and I partially feel bad for artists like NbN who back in the day could get an entire stadium on their feet cheering but now struggle to keep the attention of 200+ so I felt it was the least I could do to add to the party. It was difficult to find the balance in representing an AF flying officer but also needing to bring the funk. So I started out bobbing and singing along, waving my hand if told to by NbN, but the next thing I knew I was line dancing with a group of black ladies, I blinked and I was on stage singing "HIP HOP HOORAY, HO, HO, HAY". My crew had a great time, but don't believe I'm from Arkansas anymore. All in All it was an awesome day, better than today because I lost at Global Domination (the game of Risk).

2 even better days

So just when I didn't think it could get any better, Iraq steps it up another notch. Yesterday was an awesome day of flight. I don't think I could ever get tired of showing up, getting briefed on what we supposed to do, and doing it. No lengthy planning and going through excessive lengths to fly. Just show up and get-r-done. The longer we are here the more I'm realizing this is a pretty big deal. Not so much what we are doing but what we are paving the road for, once it is up and running they won't even be using 130s but still. My crew is just another pawn in the massive chess game, but its a pretty cool pawn that all the Generals want to see in action. So we picked up a 2 star in Baghdad who rode with us as we dropped off some rockets and pax (passengers). My AC let me have the plane for a few legs and I got my first 2 combat landings! The general said I did an a great job saving the one he saw, which felt like winning the "most improved" award, who really needs someone telling them they were stunk, but got better. (it was pretty sloppy on the short final but I touched down smooth) either way it was awesome.

Along the way we didn't like the way one of our engine gages was looking so we came back and switched to the spare. It was amazing to see everyone flow together to switch planes so quickly. Maintenance, crew chiefs, ATOC (the guys moving our cargo), another crew, everybody working to get the job done. So we got back out of there and by the end of the day we had our first NVG (night vision goggles) sortie out of the way as well. I never cease to be amazed by the power of NVGs and how beautiful it is. I'm pretty sure I've talked about it before, so I'll just hit the highlights. There are a lot more lights around Iraq than I expected, oil fires can be seen forever and a day away, and more wildlife has been spotted thanks to their help, two jack rabbits (I also just saw to mice outside). I found the big dipper, followed it to the north star, then to the little dipper. Who knew Iraq even copied our stars, those cheaters.

Well I'm getting tired and this post is pretty long so I'll have to write about the previous day tomorrow. I'll throw out a teezer, it included church, gladiatorial games, as well as a Naughty by Nature concert.

Best Day Ever

Today was probably one the best days off to date and definitely deserves chronicling: After sleeping in till 11 I was reminded in Psalms 139:9 that even if I live on the Eastern horizon (which is where this is to me) God's hand will lead me and hold onto me. HCSB

We hit up a lunch for breakfast. While there, the shirt (our first sergeant) found us to drop off some mail - DAD'S HOLSTER ARRIVED - it was much anticipated and filled my afternoon with lots of reconfiguring to find the sexiest way to wear it. On the trek back from lunch we found more wildlife to include ants and a crazy beetle (sounds exciting right? but thats all thats here) WE THOUGHT - someone spotted a lizard and of course we all took off in chase. we encircled our prey and I laid an ambush while Bryson flushed him my way. I scooped him up and luckily Bryson had an empty gatorade bottle to use as a transportation device until we could construct a terrarium in an 9x11 cookie pan complete with swimming pool, dirt field and bouldering center for cover. He seems pretty happy and we supplied him with several flies, some still live after being stunned by rubber-band shots.

Next came canasta in which Bryson & I set a new world team record with a base of 2800 points, THATS RIGHT 2800 base. It was mind blowing, with a high like that I had to go for a sunset run. We finished off the evening with a little Office watching, back & bi's work out, sea food supper, and there was plenty of hot water in the shower.

It was a great day, so busy we didn't even get time to smash all the stuff we had collected!!!

"Mini Herc" Test Period

I was keeping up on my AF news today and as I read this article I thought to myself "Hey self this article is talking about what you are doing" If I haven't given an accurate description of what we are doing, here it is.

"A formal test is taking place from October through December in Iraq to gather information on this new Air Force mission."

The guard unit I am here with is one of those getting the C-27 and we are working out the kinks with the C-130 until then.

http://www.military.com/news/article/air-force-news/mini-herc-set-to-join-air-force-fleet.html?ESRC=airforce-a.nl

Day to Day

Well the day to day pace is starting to set in as things get squared away and everyone settles in to their job. We've flown a couple of times, I love it, everything about it, hopefully its not just the newness of it all. All of the annoying things you usually have to back home is taken care of by someone else. All we do is show up, get briefed and do our thing. We moved some troops around base hopping all over northern Iraq with a pallet or two thrown in every now and then. Its revolutionary to these guys how quickly we can get them down the road, which is hilarious. We are the red-headed step child of the AF, the tortuous in a race of hares that don't nap. But when you are at an army base with nothing but Helos and convoys you become Speed Racer.

I'm feeling a lot more confident with my job with every minute but always have more to learn than I already know. My AC (aircraft commander) is probably the most experienced guy here, not the most flight hours, but the most hours here in the past 4 years, so I'm pretty set. He gives us a play by play of what to expect and look for at each stop, as well as his thought process for every decision, which is really making up for the below average flight time we're getting.

I'm having a good time, but learning down time while waiting to be alerted is much more dangerous than de-pantsing a big army guy. We found an 85 lbs dumbbell and started dropping it from our "tanning bed" onto stuff we scavenged up, which escalated through rocks, water bottles, shaken up cokes, bananas, insect spray bottles and a bike helmet, but were called off when we picked up the fire extinguisher. Then we had balancing competitions on our makeshift ladder.

Halloween was uneventful since we had to go to bed early for an early flight. I did go for a run right after dark, road lit from a full moon, and the massive burn pit which with the addition of choppers whooping overhead gave a pretty good halloween mood. Don't worry, apparently there are no ware-jackels...