So I know from talking to a few of our blog fans that you're severely disappointed in the lack of blog postings for the past couple months - well, I'm sorry, it's been a little hectic...
Starting way back in November about the time that Amber posted her last entry, I was revving up for my Assignment Night (November 21st) by flying just about everyday - I know, how exciting. But it was, I've waited for this night for a very long time. Flying has fascinated me for most of life and now my one of my dreams is being realized - how cool is that? Assignment night comes and I'm selected to fly the E-3 Sentry or AWACS out of Oklahoma City (there's a picture of it at the bottom of this post). Not my first choice, but not bad one by any means. It's mission is to act as an airborne air traffic control and direct fighter and bomber aircraft to areas of need/concern. When I tell people this most of them assume that b/c of it's mission or purpose it is a dangerous plane to plane. Yes, it is an aircraft that the enemy would love to shoot down, but it always has some sort of escort, is never really close to the front lines, and it could see an enemy aircraft long before it would ever see it. Pretty cool, huh? I've also heard great things about OKC.
Thanksgiving is the week after assignment night which was good and bad. Good because our families were able to meet our little Zaylee for the first time, it was the first time I've been home since January, and there was plenty of good food - we to 3 different Thanksgivings. It was bad because trying to drive 9hrs with a 2mo old baby takes forever with all the stops - I think it took around 12ish hours to get home. Talk about painful. For Christmas Amber made the drive to IN with Zaylee by herself, I called her when she was almost there and she sounded on the verge of having a nervous breakdown.
After Thanksgiving it was back to flying my butt off. I had 2wks to get 4 flights in but mother nature decided to play havoc on our flight schedule - we had 3 or 4 days where nobody could fly. It got soo bad (how bad did it get?), that we had 3 people have their final checkrides the day before graduation - Talk about pressure to pass their rides. To put it into perspective, class 09-02 (the class before mine) finished all their rides with a week to spare before graduation, which is the norm. Graduation comes on Dec 13th, everybody gets their Wings (pictured below), and everyone is gay and merry.
The day after graduation, Amber and I along with my mom and sister drove to Tuscaloosa, AL and bought a Toyota Highlander (also pictured below). I guess you could say we needed to upgrade to a bigger vehicle with that little baby around - and we would need it for all the baby presents we were giving at Christmas time. Which, by the way, is kind of funny the number of presents she is given since right now the most interesting thing to her is her fingers, the tv, and her mommy.
The Monday (Dec 15th) after graduation, we all get our orders. Some people in my class get dates like January 29th for combat survival, Feb 2nd for water survival, JUNE 30th for combat survival, etc... Did I make out so lucky? In simple terms, no. My dates were Dec 18th for water survival, Jan 5th for combat survival, and Feb 2nd to report to my next base. OH MY GOSH - I nearly freaked out. I only had two days to get my life in order before I leave for water survival and then I was to be in a wedding that Saturday - Dec 20. Talk about the Air Force pushing me up against a wall, I was the only one in my class with start dates this early. I spent the next two days working 8 or 9hrs straight just trying to get my orders, plane tickets, uniform items, etc.... And for all you who don't know, the Air Force has decreed it almost impossible for anyone to get paperwork done in an expeditious manner. I probably put more miles on my car those 2 days driving back and forth between buildings then I had the previous 2 weeks. During that mess I was able to to get overnight plane tickets from Spokane, WA (where water and combat survival training is) to Indianapolis, IN. - so I was still able to make it to the wedding, that was a big load off my shoulders.
At water survival they train us how to survive in the water after a plane has crashed in the ocean. This included several hours in the classroom learning about edible/inedible fish, rafts, radios, evasion, water procurement methods, first aid, etc... After the classroom we got into the pool and practiced everything we learned. It was pretty cool and fun: we practiced getting into/securing rafts, moving as group while floating in the water (just picture a bunch of people wearing life preserves hooked together by wrapping their legs around the person in front of them in one big line-yeah, it was funny), and water rescue by helicopter (also fun, they had a huge lift that could hoist each one of us up 20ft to a platform). The last day - the course only lasted 2 days - we went through 2 "realistic" scenarios where they had us perform everything we learned/practiced the day before. For each scenario they blacked out the pool by turning off the lights; used fog machines, strobe lights, and fire hoses to disorient you; and used a big crane to submerge a fake cockpit attached to it to simulate a plane crashing. Pretty awesome if you ask me. They really went out of their way to make it seem real.
So on Dec 19th I fly out of Spokane and arrive at Indianapolis the morning of the 20th. Amber picks me up and we drive to Connersville, IN for the wedding - our friends Nick Sochinski and Allison Haselwander were getting married. Great friends=good times.
On the 21st we drove back to Amber's parents' house and we spent the next week going to 5 different Christmas' - we ended up needing every last inch of space in our new car to pack it up, which was comparable to putting a jigsaw together.
Dec 28th was a great day. For Christmas this year Amber got me 2 tickets to see the Titans vs. Colts game up in Indy - Talk about AWESOME! It was a good game (Colts dominated) and a great date!
On the 29th we left to go back to Mississippi - again packing our new SUV was an adventure in and of itself. We had originally planned to stay in IN until the Jan 4th, but now that I was flying out of Columbus, MS on Jan 3rd, we decided we needed to get back early so I could take care of more paper work before the base shut down for New Years. Once back I got all my business taken care of and we got to help one of my classmates move - he was driving his family (2 baby boys and a dog) all the way to Utah, so he was leaving on New Years' Day.
I flew out of Columbus yesterday (Jan 3rd) and here I am in Spokane, WA where they have around 60in of snow (not even joking) and I'm going to be spending a little over a week hiking/camping/surviving it in - awesome. Well everyone, I'll let Amber update you on everything else - I'm pretty tired of typing.
God Bless
1 comment:
Finally a blog post!!!!!!!! Thank you!!Miss you guys!
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