Colorado Springs week 1 ops

I've been working for the 314 OSS (operations support squadron), but 3 weeks ago I was "pimped out" as my CC (commander) put it to the 29 WPS (weapons squadron). It is an advanced course for C-130 pilots that teaches them to fly the aircraft to its limits, pushing it to the edge and holding it there, so everyone here is highspeed, and somehow I'm thrown in the mix just hangin out, graspin on to every piece of info I can. I have learned a ton though, they all go out of their way to explain stuff (when time permits)
One of the coolest things so far out here at C Springs has been riding in the bubble. In the cockpit there is a hatch that opens up, or can be completely removed/replaced with a bubble that sticks up head n shoulders above the top of the aircraft. Its purpose is to allow the crew to look behind the aircraft and at the engines, but I used it for a sweet action view of the low-level flight. I could see the individual bars on cattle guards and the ears on the cattle pin back as we buzzed overhead.
Another sweet action time was going out to the landing zones with the Combat Controllers. They are beasts of the AF, trained in meteorology, air traffic control, small group tactics, airborne/HALO qualified, they work out 24/7, and covering 20 kilometers in 24 hours with 100 lbs packs is an average day in the office for them. I walked out in the hanger one day to the beginning of Black Hawk Down, where these huge monsters have their gear spread out preparing for a simulated jump where they will use overland routes to observe then take an airfield at night, setting up there OP (observation points) where they can call in the C-130s to land. Its ridiculous, I thought this stuff was made up in movies! Anyway I DROVE to the LZ (landing zone) and got to watch them turn a dirt strip into a usable airport where they called in winds and graded landings, as the Herks simulated an extremely fast off load of troops. We were literally 30 yards off the strip, getting sand-blasted by their prop-wash. We also saw some antelope, prairie dogs, and the biggest coyotes I've ever seen, all in all, an A+ day.

I'm in Colorado Springs with my squadron. While they do some training I get to tag along and soak up as much knowledge as I can. I have the day off today, so I'm gonna rent a car and do some driving/hiking around the mountains. Its really pretty here but rediculously dry, no green grass, and the few trees that are here, are short n pathetic lookin. Hopefully over the next few days I'll be able to catch up on what the AF has been doin for me to date, specificly the past week.

How does this work?

I'm new to this whole blogging thing, but I want to start keeping up with some of the cool stuff I'm doing in the AF. Hopefully I'll get the hang of it.