First Couple of Days

We've been here a couple days now, its been a crazy blur of briefings and studying up for our first flight (which has been delayed twice now). I think they want to ease us in before giving us the real deal. The briefings included ur standard "wash your hands" brief and "keep your pt shirt tucked in/don't wear black socks with your tennis shoes/always wear your reflective belt" stuff vitally important when at war. My favorite was "don't let us catch you throwing a bottle over the fence with a $20 in it, in hopes the locals will throw back a bottle of heroin" which apparently happens. We did however have more of the "half-time" briefings mentioned in an earlier post, so now I'm really ready to tackle somebody.

Its amazing, in my very short career I'm already running into guys out here I haven't seen in a couple years, friends from UPT and my previous deployment (small AF) We also got to see the crews we are replacing. It’s a good feeling to get to see friends you work with, and know they get to go home now to see their families. Also cool is that they have already done all the recon on the base. They let us know which showers have the best pressure, which bathrooms actually flush, and which chow-halls have the best options vs least crowded. I'm still sticking with the "bad showers" so half way through I can upgrade, its the little things... The previous crews also left behind any games they made to include corn-hole, hillbilly golf (ladder toss), and a driving range into camo netting. Also, my crew has already learned canasta, and PIT is becoming a crowd favorite. I think we'll be able to fill down time.

I tried up loading pics, but the internet connection is lame sauce, sorry. It is really pretty here.

On the Road Again

I don't remember it being this bad last time, but our schedule going over this trip has really messed with my head. Six months ago I spent the shortest day of the year farther north than I ever had. This time, 2 days after the longest day I was even further north. We never saw darkness as we flew through the night. 0200 landing in Iceland for gas was a bright dusk, the sun set and rose again within two hours. How are you supposed to sleep in your hammock with that kind of light - COME ON! Another great feature of the herk, room to put up hammocks in the back, just have to know where the hot/cold spots are cuz air doesn't move around much. Its also been fun to see the same places in the early summer compared to last winter, amazing the difference. Romania didn't look so bad this time, maybe since I was in the capital this time (geography quiz for the day) On a scale from 1 to 10, 10 being a standard bombed out, eastern block, formerly communist country, I'd give it a 7.2 compared to last time's 9.2

Descending into Afghanland was beautiful I woke up in one of those confused states and I swore we were back in CO. After I straightened my head & climbed down out of my hammock I didn't have time to find my IBA (interceptor body armor) so I just sat between two really big guys. Very uneventful and safe mom.

Its Go Time

Well I know its been awhile, but writing about working in the scheduling office isn’t as exciting as you may think. The long anticipated time has come, we’re on the road again. This time on our way to an all expense paid two month stay on the western edge of the world’s tallest mountains. The highest in AFland is over 24,000ft, yesterday flying here ATC cleared us up to 23,000 but I had to bashfully admit, “Denver Center, Teton 37 here, I don’t think we’ll be able to make that today, we can give you 21 though.” Turbo props do have their limits compared to jet engines, but I prefer to emphasize the opportunity this presents for excellent sight seeing as we weave our way through valleys.

Everyone is excited and chomping at the bits to be there and get going. Two weeks ago we received a briefing getting us ready for what to expect. Things learned from the crews we’re replacing and differences from what we would expect to be normal desert ops. Apparently Iraq and Afghanistan are two different places… WHO KNEW? While Iraq has a well-established infrastructure with 12,000’ runways you can see popping out of the sand 20 miles away, afland doesn’t. Instead you have trails etched out along pre-existing goat trails leading to 4,000’ dirt strips surrounded by aforementioned peaks. And with the lack of infrastructure comes the need for more airdrops to resupply troops moving into the backcountry. You combine these needs and have a herk’s sweetest dream and why it was built, an airdrop platform/cargo plane that can land on short dirt strips.

I came out of the brief with the same feeling I had after the half time “brief” from coach Mann against Clarksville my senior year. He let me know what I was doin wrong, what I was gonna do to fix it. It was a strange mix of encouragement behind a stern mask of “get your butt in gear” we had (have) the skills, just have to put them in gear. I came out pumped up and ready to tackle somebody, but that is slightly frowned on in a professional office. I’m REALLY looking forward to the next couple months.

Bad Ideas

So I've had a few bad ideas as of late I wanted to document for future reference, if need be.

Hypothermia/Frost Bite: A few weeks ago when snowshoeing at the yurt (both GREAT ideas) we were looking to fill up our water bottles. We studied the maps and made our way to the spot where, if there was non-frozen water to be found, it would be. It definitely looked like a snow covered stream, so poking through to solid ice with my stick, I VERY CAUTIOUSLY stepped onto the ice, stomping several times with increasingly more force until I felt confident to walk out. I made it a good 6 feet, "I think we're good" and sure enough the very next second as Kari put o

ne foot on the ice we both sank past our knees. Kari responded better than I could ever coach someone to, and within 15 minutes we had a fire going in the sun, warming/drying/laughing. But a lesser survival expert could have very easily found the

mselves in a bad situation.

Blistered Feet: I've been reading a lot about the benefits of barefoot running (crazy sounding I know but if you really wanna know i'd love to explain) well, obviously it was way too cold in CO to try it out, but Georgia was perfect! So I set out ignoring the first rule 1. START SMALL, admittedly because I thought this was written for pansies, I'm a redneck from AR, I can take it. About a mile out, distracted by the beautiful spring weather with all its blooms, I didn't notice the blisters forming on every toe and pad. Walking the mile back with blood squishing up between my toes I definitely noticed. A lesser redneck would never run barefoot again, we'll see.

Sun burns: Unknowingly I found myself on the eve of the last ski day at Steamboat which is "crazy dress up day" Without an awesome outfit like Laura's kilt or

a football uniform, I opted for the only thing I had, a pair of swim trunks, and my black bear hat. I HATE putti

ng stuff on my skin, sunscreen, bug repellent, lotion, anything. Needless to say I had some pretty awesome burn lines the next day. A lesser skier would've busted and had road rash

to add to sunburn.

Dehydration: Traveling so much lately has distracted me somewhat from my running regiment for my first marathon. I've only been doing the saturday long runs, with out the small inner week runs. I completed 18 miles fairly easily then missed 2 weeks all together. Yesterday was a good 30 degrees warmer than any of my runs to date, I pre-placed some gatorade, but it wasn't enough. Only 13 miles in I found myself bonking. I took a few walking breaks, but who can let a cute run pass without a bit of rejuvenating effort. This happened enough times to completely drain me, I started cramping/tightening up and in one of the girl induced sprints I tweaked something in my right hammy, even making walking a pain. This is the closest I have ever been to passing out from what I think was dehydration, it was terrible, I laid down next to a lake cuz I thought it would be a peaceful place to die. I was pretty confident in the marathon 2 weeks ago, I wouldn't say I'm panicking (because I don't believe in panicking) but I'm pretty concerned... (lesser comment TBD after May 9)

1st 1st Impression

While I haven't been gone that long (I was home over Christmas) I've only spent about 10 days south of the Mason Dixon Line since I moved to Fort Collins last July. So spending this week in Atlanta in the heart of spring was an awesome culture reshock, and the first time I've ever visited the south from another area.

We rolled in about 10:30 Sunday evening first noticing the perfect temperature and abundance of tanned skin and pretty smiles. Driving to our hotel, I realized how much I missed cruising with the windows down feeling the coolness as you pass over creeks and the sweet smell of spring buds. Next stopping for food we quickly realized we had jumped from a 3% African American city to a 55% city. Mind it was 11:00 Easter Night, and this place was packed! What the heck was going on? But the BBQ and sweet tea soon made it all common sense, why wouldn't everyone be here.

Anyway, our car reminded us the need to crack your windows, then we received a lesson in the amount of pollen spreading in early spring. It was fun to see how much coverage we could get INSIDE the car from a 1 inch gap in the window, also neat to see hand prints on the car where oil collected more pollen. Standing under an oak with the sun angle just right it looked like it was raining. We couldn't stop commenting on how green it was, the perfect temp, the sweet smells, the dog woods, bradford pears, and red-buds all in bloom, how inviting a little pond looked for fishing. (2 of us are from AR, and a third is a redneck) I've also noticed I don't have to constantly force drink water to keep from becoming like dried beef jerky, but it also takes twice as long to dry off.

I think I saw a couple tears today while discussing what time we were flying back and the fact that they just got a couple inches of snow the other night...

Ode to the Mighty Herk-a-lerc

Oh mighty Herk,

You are more perfect than a spork,

You soar far above the clouds if they are low,

With strong tailwinds no one calls you slow,

You are awesome for adventures,

But not for those with dentures,

Oh mighty Herc.

I bet most of you didn't know I am an amazing poet, my sis rubs off on me from time to time.

I've been meaning to do this for awhile now, but it keeps slipping my mind. The C-130 is seriously one of the coolest planes in the AF's inventory. Funny thing about it, I distinctly remember on casual (waiting for flight school) returning from my first C-130 ride, calling dad and saying I still didn't know what I want to fly, but it wasn't the herk. By the time I left my mind had definitely changed and became my top choice. (you can read a previous post about how that happened. The C-130 is by no means the poster child of the AF, but it definitely is the workhorse along with the newer more luxurious C-17. And you wouldn't think so, but the 40 year older herk is FAR more gas efficient.

This past week I got to go Norfolk VA, Gitmo Cuba, St. Croix and back again, with a really fun crew, on a routine run to deliver supplies, mail, etc. Apparently this was a very common thing before the wars kicked off, but since then we have been pre-occupied. As we were making the return jump to VA I laughed and realized I needed to document how awesome the trip was. I'll try to be unbiased as well though.

I'll start with the obvious niceties of the plane that make it the ultimate roadtripper:

- it has a small oven, so toasted sandwiches, pizzas, and cookies are common

- we have water heaters, but usually prefer the cool drinks from the cooler

- after all that you'll be happy to know we have a sit down toilet

- we have 2 crew bunks, but can put in more litters for more nappers, we take turns for napping

- we can put music over the interphone

- we can bring our own ride by loading up a truck

- there are regular plug ins so guitar hero has been played in the back on longer trips (it was monopoly on the lap-top this trip)

To be unbiased: (with the secret pro behind the con)

- the auto-pilot is pretty shady so flyer beware (we actually get to FLY the plane)

- we couldn't climb above 30K because we didn't have necessary equipment, most of the time we can't climb above 24K the plane just can't take it

- we have 4 huge speed brakes called propellers, in strong winds we barely move

- we can't refuel in flight (the last three combine to mean we get to make more stops, seeing more of the world and stay over night in St. Croix)

- in the back you are either freezing or sweating depending on the location of your seat (both warm and cold blooded people are happy)

- we don't have fancy computers to communicate over the ocean, so we make hourly position reports to verify we are still there (you get to say hello to lots of different people)

- no fancy computers for navigation and systems monitoring (we carry a larger crew to party with, always a pro)

We also flew a retired family from VA to WY to go skiing (space A). It was funny to bring the kids up front and see them very unimpressed with the flight deck. Even more funny to hear them screaming in the back as we practiced a rapid descent into an assault landing.

Good first day back

I know I still need to chronicle the adventure that was making it home in time for Christmas, but for now I just wanted the thank God for the beauty of this place and for the joy of fellowship with solid Christian friends. We were getting a thin fresh coat of snow last night as I went to bed so the drive this morning was gorgeous. Just like the post-cards of sparkling frost covered hardwoods and white-tipped evergreens that look more blue than green. The sun was starting to come up and put its first rays on the tops of the mountains giving them a pink glow. The antelope were still somehow surviving the plains, but the buffalo must have been hiding from the snow. Then tonight I got to eat a made from scratch dinner and play games with a couple of really solid believers I work with and one of their wives. Its amazing what a blessing it is and how much joy it brings to be able to instantly connect with people, have that much in common, and build a friendship around that kind of foundation. I came home on a strange high, it was a good day.