Last post on US soil

I have to make this quick. My world is spinning 1,000,000 miles an hour right now.  I'll have more time when I'm in the desert.  Right now the more time I spend on this the less I have with Kristen.  And no offense..., but I'd rather spend it with her. 

OK..., my flying/deploying stuff first.....

I had my checkride on Monday.  I passed, Q1 (grade), its the best you can get.  I say it like it's awesome but you're expected to get a Q1 all the time so I guess its not that big of a deal.  My next flight will be downrange in the sandbox.  Which is awesome!  Also, something to think about, my first non-graded flight will be in the combat zone.  I don't think to many people can say that.

At first I was scheduled to deploy on the 26th of Apr, Tuesday, but I couldn't make the flight.  Then I was scheduled to deploy on 5 May.  But then today I was told I am leaving on 2 May.  Crazy that it keeps changing but I think this one will stick.  So I'm taking 2/3 days off.  My mom and Paw came to visit today.  I am driving back to New Orleans to see my dad and hang out with Dallas and Kristen for a few days.  I'll miss them the most.

Kristen always has an animal somewhere close by

Me and Matthew (future brother-in-law)...

We went to New Orleans last weekend for a day and a half.  We drove to Baton Rouge to visit my Paw, Aunt and cousins on Saturday.  We saw Kristen's family on Easter in the early afternoon and then my dads side of the family in the afternoon.  It was pretty emotional when we left.  That sucked.  I kind of like just slipping out the back door and leave for 6-9 months rather than do all that again.

The rest of this blog is not in exact chronological order....I just didn't have time to put it all together.

Relaxing with the wifey.....

Dallas cooling off @ the lake

Dallas was allowed to come to BDubs with us one night on the patio.  It was really nice of the manager to allow it.  She got petted by everyone leaving.

SPOILED!

Dallas likes to visit us in Mississippi because she gets her own bed.

I saw this truck right in front of the hotel when I left one day..... ouch.  Click on this sentence to see a video of me driving by it....kinda boring....OK, really boring.  Just click on this sentence if you want to be bored for a few seconds.

Kristen's dad took Bryce fishing.

This is me telling Dallas bye.  I thought that this would be my last goodbye to her before the deployment but it's not going to be!  I'll see her tomorrow again!

This is my my Mom and Paw visiting us today.  It was awesome that they OK'ed us going out to the jet and taking pictures in front of it.  That's my baby.  It'll be me and her everyday for the next 6 to 9.  Got any questions about the plane or the mission....?  I did too.  Google it.  Haha.

More ducks

 Last weekend Kristen was in New Orleans and she went to a crawfish boil.  It looks like Dallas had a good time.

So, this week I've flown twice.  Just three more flights left now till I'm done here!  I'm not sure what day will be my last here in the States just yet. I'm guessing it'll be either the 26th or the 28th of this month.  Wow...., that's coming up quickly!

It was too windy to fly but not too windy to sit at the lake.

On Monday the person on my crew who was DNIF (Duty Not Including Flying) went to the doctor and got off DNIF status.  So I was scheduled to fly on Tuesday!  Yes, finally we'll be able to get out of the slump and get some more flights under our belt.  We were on flight 8 of 12.  The winds were to crazy and we decided that the training would not be worth fighting the winds all day so we cancelled.  But it was nice enough to go to the lake and feed the ducks bread!

Here come the ducks once they saw we have bread

The next day, Wednesday, we briefed again for ride 8.  Right before we stepped to the jet one of our instructors said that he was feeling sick.  So we got cancelled again.......day two in a row.  But it was nice enough to go to the lake and feed the ducks bread!   

Click on this sentence to see a duck eat bread from Kristens hand. 

Click on this sentence to see the meanest duck at Bonita Lakes.

The following day, Thursday, we briefed again for ride 8.  Our plane was stolen from us because we were the lowest ride priority on the schedule and another plane broke.  So they took our jet to fill their line.  Aaagghhhhhh....  But it was nice enough to go to the lake and feed the ducks bread!

The following day, Friday, I was called at 10am by my mission commander and told that our flight was going to be cancelled because of weather.  Aaagghhhhhh x 2!  But this one I saw coming.  The weather was BAD!  There was a bunch of tornados spun from this very storm that rolled through here.  One even as close as Jackson, MS!  We didn't go to the lake.  I'm sure the ducks ate....don't worry.

Click on this sentence to see what we were watching outside our hotel window.

Kristen and I wanted to leave so bad that day to go back home and get Dallas.  But I didn't want to drive three hours home just to drive three hours back all in the same day.... that would suck....plus the weather was bad.  So we waited till the ATIS (flying schedule) came out around 6pm.  For some strange reason I was not on the Saturday flying schedule!  So we jumped on the chance to drive back and pick up Dallas.  The weather was not the greatest but I drove careful.  We ate at Carreta's Mexican Restaurant when we got home.....it was AWESOME!

Click here to see the dogs telling us hello when we got to Kristen's parents house.

I seriously spent almost five hours adding and organizing music in iTunes getting ready for my deployment.... I'm almost ready!!!

Dallas on the drive back to Mississippi

She was so tired

We drove back to Mississippi on Saturday.  I flew today, Sunday.  It was my ride 9!  Just three left!!!  Actually it's two left and then my first official Air Force check ride!  Which is pretty nerve racking all in itself.  I'll find out for sure when I'm leaving sometime during this week.  I'm hoping to get a few free days between my checkride and my departure to go back to New Orleans and hang out with the fam for Easter.

 

Today when I was done flying I picked up Subway and met Kristen out at the Lake with Dallas.  It's so nice out there.

I got an email from one of my buddies who was in my class, finished over here on time a week ago, and has been downrange playing in the sand for four days now.  He told me a few things to look forward to, or not so forward to in the very near future.  It will take a few days to get there because of changing planes and such.  When he got there the rooms we are supposed to stay in are full and they put all of us in a large tent (sleeps 200) in bunk beds (that sucks).  The bathrooms are 50 meters away......., in the sand. No internet in the tent. Oh well...., sounds like fun so far.  I'm sure I'll get used to it and it will be an experience of a lifetime!

Till next week.....

Five rides left!!!

Another good for almost nothing week here as far as flying goes.

The one person on my crew that was sick got better (good news) so I was looking forward to getting back on the schedule ASAP.  We were put back on the schedule for Tuesday.  Yaayy!  But when we started to brief someone asked if this ride could be a proficiency ride.  Like a freebie ride that does not count but just lets us get our feet wet again in the jet.  AAAuuuuggggghhhh.  I DID NOT WANT A PROFICIENCY RIDE! I just want to get this training over with fast so I can serve my time overseas and get back.  Out of the eight of us pilots that went through this training there are only three of us left over here.  And we all started on the same time.

So we were scheduled for our real ride 7 (of 12) the next night, Wednesday.  And we flew it!!!!!!  Haha.  Yeahhh!!!  Haha.  Finally I had a little more progress with the schedule around here.  We were on the schedule for Thursday too!  Yes, finally I'll be moving ahead.  But.......... (doom, doom, doom), drama strikes again.  Another person in my crew got sick, like ER sick,  So were were cancelled for our Thursday night flight and not put on the schedule for Friday either.  And now the new norm is to not fly on weekends here (which would normally be awesome, but right now I don't think so).  Sooooo, I haven't flown since Wednesday, and only have one more counted flight under my belt since a week ago.  I'm on the schedule for tomorrow but it's an 80% chance of rain (we can't do our mission in the weather). Darn.  Hopefully this week my flying/schedule luck will get better.

We went to the lake a few times this week just to hang out.  Mostly to feed the ducks and never to jog, haha.  The lake here is so nice!  Click on this sentence for a video of ducks following Kristen.

On Thursday night ($.60 boneless wings night at B-Dubs) I got a few people to come eat at B-Dubs.  Click on this sentence to see our waitress balance a beer.  My Army buddy showed up again and asked me and another buddy of mine if we wanted to go of the Chinook the next day.  I knew I wasn't flying the MC-12 the next day so we said yes.  Of course...., it was AWESOME, again!  We did some LZ (landing zone practice) and a quazi low level.  The LZ stuff was so cool.  They fit this giant helo in the tiniest places with almost no wiggle room.  Click on this sentence to see the helo clip some trees (36 seconds into it).  Click on this sentence to see me riding in the back of the Chinook.

Friday night we drove to New Orleans with my old flight school classmate and fellow MC-12 pilot Mike to party.  He's leaving to go to the sandbox on Monday so we wanted to have a good sendoff.  Another friend from pilot training, Trey drove down from C-130 training in Little Rock, AR to send Mike off too.

We went to R&O's seafood on Friday night and Mike got to peel his first crawfish.  We ate so much food that night.

My beautiful wife and I

Kristen and her mom

Matt, Mia and me

Me, Mike and Trey

On Saturday we (Kristen and I, Mrs. Denys, Trey and Mike) went to the French Quarter Festival.  It is my favorite festival in New Orleans.  Although I think it might be getting a little bit to big.  It's starting to look like Jazz Fest to me, which sucks, because that means it's being taken over by tourists.  But it was still AWESOME!  We listened to music for a while, walked around and ate.  Mia and Matt came out to visit also.  It was nice to see everyone out there.  I saw all kinds of old friends out there.  Kristen and her mom left in the afternoon.  We walked around the festival again and Mia and Matt met up with us again.  We hung out on the balcony at the BBC where it was 3 for 1 drinks!  We left Mia and Matt to go walking around Bourbon.  It was such a pretty day, click here to see how pretty it was.  Click here to see how pretty it was #2.  Great food, great music, great weather, great people......., good times!

Hand Grenades

Mike rode a mechanical whale..., yes, a mechanical whale

Trey almost got hit by a streetcar

We went in some many clubs!  We stayed out all night.  We totally forgot to eat dinner so at 3am we ate Crystal burgers at the end of Bourbon.  Click on this sentence to see Mike get thrown off the whale.

It was nice for Trey to drive down and it was nice to send off Mike properly.  My send off will be in about three weeks.  I don't think we'll have a beer fest for me though.

Quick trip back to the N.O.

So....... In the way of flying since the last blog.......NOTHING has happened!  I have not flown in seven straight days!  Arggghhhhh..  It's so aggravating living out of a hotel room in Meridian, MS expecting to be rushed through this program to get you "down range" soon, but instead just sit around your hotel room everyday NOT FLYING.

I kept saying that we would take a quick trip back to New Orleans so that I could see Dallas (I was missing her). But everyday I would wuss out .  See, the flying schedule comes out every evening for the next day schedule.  It leaves little planning room since I have to wait till six pm everyday before I can make plans for the next day.  I kept getting antsy to pull the trigger and just go a few days in a row, but on Wednesday afternoon we did it.

Dallas was pumped up to see us.  And I wasn't on the schedule for Thursday so the gamble paid off!  On Thursday Kristen and I went to visit my grandparents, it was nice.  They're so cute.  Then we went to Archbishop Rummel, my old high school, to buy a t-shirt that I can take a picture with while in the desert.  While I was there I ran into Coach Boh, my old defensive line coach.  He was great to talk to.  He led me to my old head football coach, Coach Roth.  We talked for a while and he gave me a "Rummel Football" t-shirt to bring over there also.  He's so cool.

Kristen and I first met each other at Rummel under the gym while seniors in high school.  We decided to take a picture at that same spot while we were there.  We're so cheesy.

On the way back to Kristen's parents house I called for Friday's flying schedule and found out that I was on, and flying at 1930 (7:30pm for you non-military type).  So the next morning, Friday we packed up the car and drove back to Meridian, MS, with Dallas! Haha.  Yeah, we decided to take Dallas back for one night with us since we knew Kristen would be headed back to New Orleans to watch the VooDoo play (arena football).

Click on this sentence to see Dallas finding me on the trail
Click on this sentence to see a duck who used to be a dog in a previous life

Dallas had a whole queen bed all to herself

On Friday we took Dallas to the park and fed the ducks then we went on a four and half mile trail walk.  It was awesome!  She was a trooper and walked the whole time.  She's awesome. My flight on Friday got cancelled because on the instructors in the back got sick.  So driving back to Meridian earlier that day was a waste.

Kristen with Bryce

 Kristen drove out of here yesterday with Dallas to go to the VooDoo game back in New Orleans.

On my way to the squadron yesterday I had all of my windows down and at a stoplight.  I started getting pelted with sand on the right side of my face.  I thought that someone was throwing it at me at first.  I heard a lady screaming next to me.  I was so confused.  I held my hands over my face and ducked down.  It only lasted a few seconds and then it stopped.  When I took my hands from my mouth and nose I saw a dust devil (small tornado made out of sand) just off the left side of the car.  That was awesome!  There was sand everywhere!!! In my hair, down my uniform, and EVERYWHERE in my car.  AWESOMENESS!  I guess that's what I'll have to get used to down range. Haha.  The car was already hairy from Dallas and now there's sand everywhere.  Hertz is going to love me when I bring it back.

Mike eating a "blazin" wing

DONE

I was supposed to fly yesterday also but that flight got cancelled too because one of the backseat instructors (again) forgot/didn't know that he was on the schedule.  So I called up some of my buddies here and asked if they wanted to go to B-Dubs for some beer and wings....in that order.  And we did.  Good times.  Actually, everything was good until my buddy Chris ordered the Blazin' wings which is the hottest flavor that they have for us.  Yes, he said that he ordered them for the table.  We all ate one.  They were so freekin' hot!!!  Easily the hottest thing I've ever eaten in my life.

Kristen's coming back today, without Dallas :(  I am on the schedule again for tonight too.......so I could actually fly tonight.  There's about a 50/50 chance that it'll happen the ways things have been happening around here. Haha.

Well, only six flight left then I'm off to the sand box.  I could be done by this coming Saturday!  Although that'll never happen over here.  I'm expecting to be done flying in two, out-process here in two and a half, and be on a rotator to the desert in three and a half weeks.

Also, I heard a nasty rumor yesterday that all of the MC-12 deployments will be extended 90 days.  That'll push my return back till late January 2012......that'll suck.  Some dudes over here are pumped up about it......., not me......, yet.  It's all a rumor though.  So no need for me to get all worked up about it.