Im back "home"!

I flew on another C-5 simulator.  This time it was with a Lt. Col.  He said that it was the closest he's ever been to flying the C-5 solo....Haha.  That's him basically telling me that I don't exist.

It's great to be back familiar surroundings again.

This past week has been a whirlwind of me being all over the place!

I was going crazy my last few days at Dover to get everything done and ready for my deployment.  It's tough to do when half of the base (it seems) is either flying on a mission or already left for Christmas break.  Haha.  It was so funny walking in to empty offices all last week.  Oh well,  I got MOST of the things that I needed done accomplished.

Boy do I have a funny story to tell everyone.  I had a bit of an ordeal when I bought my plane tickets online.  Its hard to explain my screw up in a few words but just know that I got my cities mixed up.  I wanted to leave from Philadelphia to New Orleans, but I actually bought tickets out of Baltimore.

I Dover on the afternoon of Thursday, 23 Dec, to sleep in Philly (where I thought I was catching my plane).  I sent a status update on Facebook telling everyone that I was going to be in Philly for the night and if anyone was around that I wanted to hang out and maybe see some of the sights in Philly the next morning until I had to catch my plane.  My buddy Tom called me up and told me he was in Philly at his parents house.  He told me to come over for dinner and took me to a bar/grill later.  It was real nice and hospitable.  I drove back to the Navy base, where I was staying for the night, took a shower and laid in bed.  I decided to check my email to check the time of my departing flight the next day.  Ha! I saw on the email from Southwest that I booked a plane out of Baltimore and not Philly!  Haha.  I'm an idiot.  I just drove an hour and a half to Philly, partied with a buddy and am now sleeping in a Navy base hotel......., in Philly!  It was to funny!  I had to  cancel our plans for the next day and drive to baltimore instead to catch my flight.

On top of that I had already made parking reservations at the Philly airport and now there was no more parking at Baltimore for "regular" price.  So I basically got price gouged by PARK N FLY.  I think that they're terrorists by the way for doing that to Americans.

I finally made it home and saw Kristen.

Christmas was nice.  We've had a long few days seeing everyone and going to different shindigs...., and it's not over just yet.  But I don't care, it's just nice to see family and friends and hang around my old stomping ground.

We got to hang out with my buddy Julio who is in the Navy and about to leave on a boat for eight months to kill some pirates of the coast of Somolia.  Got get 'em buddy!

I also got to hang out with my buddy Brandon at his bar...., yes his bar.  He owns it.  And Abita Amber is on tap!

Kristen and her cousins on Christmas Day.

I ate dinner with my mom and Bill the next day.

My new *brother (*on 5 May 2012)!

One side of my family.

It's snowing here too!

Well this week has been very productive for me.  I am knocking out a bunch of the classes and qualifications that I have to have done before I deploy.

 I got my new squadron patches on Monday!  They're blue.

I went to the doctors office to give them back some paperwork that I've been holding on to for the past month and they kindly escorted me to the immunization office to get my typhoid, hep b and anthrax shot!  I should have kept a lower profile for sure!

My leave was approved!  So that means I'll be with Kristen, and back home, for Christmas!  I took two weeks off!  How awesome is that.  I had 33 1/2 days of leave, so I figured..., aw what the heck..., I can burn through 14 of them.  Haha.  When I get back from my deployment I am going to have a bunch again anyway.

 It started snowing this week.  I thought that since God put me through a blizzard and then non stop snow for 28 days in a row very recently that he would spare me for a while...., I guess not.  I thought that people in New Orleans sucked at driving in the snow because it only snows there every 10 years or so..., but nope..., they suck here too (including me)!  Haha.

Yesterday, my family had their Christmas get together...........

 Kristen went for us.  I went to the shoppette and bought some of Boston's finest and watched some college football. 

I had another ride in the C-5 sim today.  That thing is awesome!  It's huge and the sim is a full motion sim!  It feels so real!

Monday I'll qualify in the M-9 pistol.
Tuesday I'll qualify in the M-4 rifle..... so that'll be a lot of fun for sure!
Wednesday I I'll take an instruments test
Thursday I'll get a dentist and doctor appointments.
Friday I'm flying home to see Kristen family and friends!

I'm back in Dover!

It doesn't feel quite like home over here...., but it feels a lot more like home than Spakane, WA!

I finished up my two day water survival class there on Friday.  It was pretty intense.  It's amazing how realistic a pool can become.  They really make you think that you're in an airplane crash in Antartica.

It's held in the base pool.  They kick out everyone there and take out the swimming lanes.  They load us in a mock airplane fuselage that can be remotely dunked and rolled in to the pool (which is pretty scary all in itself).  Before they dunk you you get strapped in, they turn out all the lights, they smoke the room, turn on a really loud soundtrack of a thunderstorm and strobe lights for lightning effect.  It is really scary actually!  When we egress the "airplane" we inflate our vests, link up and swim to our 20 man life raft.  Of course the whole the the instructors are firing fire hoses at us.  It basically sucks.  And the instructors half filled our life rafts with ice water (which was probably the worst thing of all).  Then we basically get in and demonstrate that we know how "live and survive" in the ocean environment.  It was really crappy while I was there, but like almost all of my training..., I'm really happy that I received it now that it's all over.

 We also got fake rescued by a helicopter.  Now obviously in the pictures and video you are wondering, why didn't the helo just land?.  Haha.  I was asking the same questions when I was out there.  But we were training on how to use the hoist.  People did it after Katrina with zero training so I'm not so sure that this training was all that necessary.  But it was really fun none the less.

I flew back through Salt Lake City, UT on Saturday.  That place looks really pretty and Kristen and I ned to go back there one day for a little sight seeing!

I am now back in Dover.  I went to work today for the first time.  It's kinda funny calling it "work" because I belong to the 9th Airlift squadron (c-5's) but I don't know how to fly a C-5.  Haha.  I'm the only pilot here on this base that can't fly with my squadron.  So I pretty much don't fit in over here just yet.  I'm part of a new pilot (excuse the pun) program where they send me to my base first..., then send us off for training.  So my squadron does not know what to do with me.  It's so entertaining to talk to people over here.  They're all interested to hear about my situation straight from my mouth.

But, I do still have a lot of stuff to do around here.  I have a long list of pre-deployment stuff that I have to get done so it's not like I'm sitting on my butt.  It's just funny that I really don't report to anyone.  If I didn't show up one day no one would even know.  It's a big boy program over here though and I have a lot of stuff to keep me busy so I HAVE to show up every day.  Also because I'm trying to get done with my pre-deployment stuff before Christmas so that I can take leave and be back in New Orleans for Christmas.

My new start date for my training in Atlanta is 10 Jan.  After that starts its going to be another round of training for a few months before my deployment.  So exciting!

So for now please just say some prayers that I get all my stuff done in time to take off for Christmas.

I'm back!!!

I know, I know... It's been way too long...!

So I made it to Fairchild AFB on 14 Nov. It was very cold and rainy when I got here (@ 11:30pm).

I started class the next day.  I was so tired, and a little scared, to be honest for fear of the unknown.  Everything is kept secret over here.  It is because some of the training is classified and some of the training is better if you don't know what to expect next.

With that said I can't really get in to detail of the specifics.  But lets just say it was the best and the worst training I've ever done.  The Air Force has been doing this training for over 40 years now and they are really good at it.  I feel very comfortable and prepared after this training if I am ever in a downed aircraft or POW environment.

It is so cold over here.  I spent six days and five nights in the wilderness.  It got down to -17, static temperature, on two nights.  Which is really cold when you're in a sleeping bag in a tent!
I graduated SERE on 3 Dec and am not starting water survival (a two day class) till tomorrow, 9 Dec.  So I had a good five days "off" in Spokane.  I flew up Kristen to Seattle and I went and met her.  We had a mini vacation.....it was PERFECT!  We needed it.  Kristen is so awesome to put up with all of this moving around and training.  It was nice to just hang out with her.  It was my first time having an "off" day since last Christmas......sweet!

Th "Duck" (it's an old WWII landing craft)

This is us driving out of the bay with another "Duck driving in to the bay.

Its hard to see, because our camera sucks, but the green trimmed house on the water is the "Sleepless in Seattle" house

Santa went to the Seattle Seahawks game

Our first full day there we took the Duck tour around the city to see some of the sights.  It was a lot of fun.  Totally worth it!  Our tour guide was Bob La Blah.  He was hilarious.

Kristen and I by the market

Kristen @ the Needle

I can see our house (hotel) from here!!!

 

 The second day we went to the Space Needle.  It was really nice.  It was built in 1962 and it still is awesome!

This kid stole Kristen's seat so I had to race him. The kid brought a knife to a gun fight.

Butterfly exhibit.

I was soooooo excited to tour Boeing!

Future first female president

 The next day we went to the science museum and the Boeing factory.

 

 

 

 

 The next day we went to aquarium and a harbor cruise around the bay.

 

 The public market over there is awesome!

Dallas is getting ready for Christmas.

I'm getting ready for Christmas too!