T-1's baby!!!!

 Well.. if you haven't guessed already....I got the T-1!!!  I'm pretty pumped about it.  It's a funny thing.  It's kinda hard to explain this whole plane selection thing to outsiders....but I'll try.  See we have a choice out of four planes to choose from out of T-6s.

 1. T-38: Most everyone on the outside would think that the obvious selection out of T-6s would be T-38s right?  I mean they are the fast "cool" planes that you see in the movies.  The planes that you can get out of the 38 are fighters and bombers.  Sweet!  Bombers could really see some action one day.  But fighters...?  Nope.  We are in the war on terror.  How many terrorists have fighter planes...NONE!  We (USA) just have these planes (fighters) as a deterrent now for other countries.  I mean....there will never be another "dogfight" in the skies again.  The F-22 can kill other fighters from over 50 miles away!  Those guys usually finish pilot training, go off to a basic fighter course, then go learn how to fly their fighter.  Then they train and practice just once or twice a week their whole career.  And their sortie durations are one to one and a half hours.  Crappy life if you ask me.  While the heavy guys are delivering supplies, carrying soldiers, and bad guys where they need to be.  The heavies are winning the war and the fighters are just burning circles in the skies.  Back in the 80s and 90s..., this was where the best of the best would track in phase III.  But now the tops guys usually go to helicopters and then the next guys usually go to T-44s.  The war has changed the game up.  Fighters and the way that they were designed to fight a war will probably never happen again.  Heavies are getting the JOB done everyday!

2. T-44:  The T-44 is a cool plane.  If you get to fly this you move to Corpus Christi, TX to a Navy base and fly with them.  The big downside from this plane is that you can only get one kind of plane from this track.....C-130s.  Now I really like C-130s, but I'm not sure if that's what I would want to get myself "stuck" with right now.

3. UH-1:  This is the helicopter track.  I have no desire to fly anything this ugly.  Mother nature actually repels them from the ground once the engines start...that's how ugly they are.  Haha. The end.

4.. T-1:  This is the heavy track.  This is basically everything else.  There are soooooo many planes that you can get from T-1s.  You can get any cargo, transport or refueling plane.  And you can also get all of the NSA (Non Standard Airplanes.....Special Ops type of stuff) out of T-1s.  Unlike the T-38s as soon as you are done with your training....you'll be out there doing the mission!  As a 1st Lieutenant!  In the fighter aircraft they just train their whole career for the fight that never comes.  T-1s baby!

The T-1 is nice!  If you were a multi-millionaire then you might buy this plane.  It has two jet engines and has up to six seats in the back.  It has A LOT of buttons, really cool displays, weather radar, a lavatory and bathroom, and a cup holder for the pilot!  I mean....c'mon.  This thing is going to be sweet!

 I've had three days now in my new squadron, the 86th.   I really like it so far.  They treat us like adults.  They say that we have already proved that we can fly...., they're just here now to help us refine ourselves.  Sweet!  I have academics for about 3 weeks now and then i get to strap in the jet.  So kinda boring over here for the next couple of weeks..., just a lot of reading a studying my new jet.

Last night we had our track party.  It is basically like a end of T-6 party and a goodbye to our fellow classmates who'll be moving away from Laughlin to go to UH-1s or T-44s.

We started out at the campgrounds here on base BBQing and drinking and ended up at a classmates house drinking and dancing and then finally at IHOP.  It was so much fun.....as always!

We'll miss the four guys that have to leave to go to their next airframe.  But I know that's what they wanted and I'm sure we'll see them somewhere else in the world someday.  This Air Force is a small world.

Kristen and I purchased a Rainbow vacuum cleaner a few weeks ago.  If you have never heard about them then this paragraph may seen silly.  This is the worlds best vacuum!  period.  And it has a 25 year warranty on it.  Pretty nice.

Kristen's mom and my mom both own a Rainbow..., so we were kinda destine to get one one day.  Haha.  Kristen vacuums everyday......seriously.......everyday.  So we saved up a little each paycheck to get one.  She loves it!  She was so proud she took some pictures of it and asked me to post them.  How much is it...?  Here's the kicker.....$2,000.00.  Yeah.., kinda ridiculous.

 This has been my busiest flying week so far here.  I flew twice everyday except Wednesday, which I only flew once.  My whole flight is done with T-6s except for two of us.  I have my final checkride on Monday morning.  I can't wait.  I feel well prepared for it so I'm not nervous.  It's actually really sad.  I'll miss this plane.  It was awesome!  I mean..., I'm not sure if I'll ever fly a plane where I can fly inverted and pull 7 G's ever again.  It has been a really fun ride so far.

Tuesday at 1830 (6:30pm for you non-military type) is when I'll find out what plane I am going to next.  And if it is a T-1 or T-38 I'll start the very next day here on base.  If it's a T-44 or a UH-1 we'll have to move first and then start that training.  No matter what I get I'll be happy with it so no worries.

This is not me.

Today we had a party thrown by our class sponsors.  We have a liquor store as our sponsor as well as a few other businesses of none of which I can remember right now.  I mean come on..., the liquor store sponsor is the only one that really matters anyway.

 This is me.... not my hat though.

 This is a funny dude in my class.  He brought his Rambo belt....., and his MASSIVE earmuffs......., and of course his murdered out shotgun with an attatched flashlight.... Haha.!

Today they invited us to their ranch to shoot clay discs and then eat BBQ.  Kristen and I went there with Dallas.....but it was pretty boring.  Only one person could shoot at a time and there are like 30 of us, plus wives and girlfriends.  Kristen or I are not that big on guns so it didn't seem to appealing to "get in line".  But it was kinda cool watching others shoot.  Dallas was sooooo scared the whole time.  It was cute.  We were hungry but there was no sign of food around so we decided to leave and head over the the marina at the lake and tan.  We got a bag of Cheetos and a couple cans of Coke to hold us over. Haha.

 Can you see me in Kristen's sunglasses...?

 The lake was so awesome.  The water was still a little to cold to go for a comfortable dip and it was really windy there so we just sat out and tanned.....and of course took pictures.  Dallas was scared of the water at first.

PS. Kristen's dad let us use his old camera a couple of months ago.  And we just started to figure it out so these pictures are from that camera....it takes some clear pictures!

Oh.  Here is a link to a video of our peanut butter and duct tape prank on one of my flightmates from last week. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B1bX8kuXI2A  .  We put peanut butter and duct tape around his wallet to teach him a lesson not to leave it out.  Haha.

Track select night pushed back

Let me start off with the biggest news I guess..., My track select date has been moved back from this Friday 23 April, to Tuesday 27 April due to bad weather this past week.  I have 10 flights left in the T-6!  All of them are formation so that's fun.  Wish me luck and keep me in your prayers.

In the military we use our ID cards to get on base and sign into computers.  You pretty much need them on your person all the time.  A joke that always gets played out is when someone leaves their CAC (Common Access Card) in a computer or on a desk.  That person is screwed.  If you forget it as you are walking out of the door to go fly thats really bad news because now your CAC is left alone for at least two hours! A lot of bad things can happen to your CAC in two hours.  Usually we just put clear a perfectly cut piece of clear tape over the computer chip that way the next time they go to use it the computer won't read it.  Or we tape it to the ceiling, freeze it in a cup of water, or just hide it.  Its always fun and games if you forget your CAC.  This week one of my flightmates forgot his CAC and wallet.......it was bad!  We wrapped his wallet in duct tape, then covered that in peanut butter, and then covered it in more duct tape.  It was pretty funny watching his undo our mess. Haha.

 We soaked and planted our puzzle.  Yes you read that correctly.  We soaked our puzzle pieces for 24 hours and then planted them in a pot.  Hopefully soon we'll see some flowers or something.  Maybe it'll grow another puzzle.

We love Blue Monster in our flight room.  It's all the energy with none of the sugar......Amazing!

  I bought a frame this week and put some velcro on it so I have somewhere to put all my patches.  I saw someone else with this idea and I liked it.  It came out pretty nice.  I have a few more patches but ran out of velcro.

Last night was another drop night.  Those are always fun.  We went with our neighbors.

 Today I was cutting the grass and I cut a snakes head off.  Yea, a snake was in our backyard!  I HATE snakes! I thought that we just had to worry about wild deer, skunks and scorpions.....not SNAKES!  Damn!

Today we drove to Uvadle, TX (1hr 15min away) just to go to a Taco Bell.  Is that ridiculous?  apparently we don't think so.  Haha.  It was pretty good.  It's funny, we live right next to Mexico, we have great local authentic Mexican food, yet we drive over an hour for Mexican fast food. We have problems.

Pray for good weather.

BTW. 16 Apr was this blogs one year anniversary!!!  Yaayyyy!!!!  I have made 56 posts to date.  So that's a little better than one a week.  Not too shabby.  I can't believe that I even have enough to say every week.  Thanks to everyone that reads the blog every week.  A a special thanks to everyone that posts comments.  I check everyday for comments on here.  Some weeks I feel like I'm having a conversation with myself if there are no comments down here.  So thanks for everyone for the comments.  Ans now I'm just rambling on and on so I'll stop typing. 


OK...., now I will.

Del Rio ain't so bad

Just two weeks left of T-6s!!!  On 23 Apr is my track select.  I filled out my "dream sheet" sheet this week.  In order, I put T-1, T-44, T-38 and finally UH-1's.  I'm 90% sure I'll get T-1s, so no worries here.

This week I had both of my low level flights.  They were soooooo awesome!!!  Basically the military has published low level routes where we fly 500 above the ground and make our way to a "target".  And they just go random places.....some in the middle of no where (over drug lord houses) and some in really cool places (valleys/populated places).  One of mine this week took me over I-10.  And it just so happened that there was a turn in the low level route there.  I hammed it up for the traffic on I-10 for that turn.  I banked it up to 90 degrees and pulled till I felt the blood rushing out of my head.  It was awesome!  I'm sure just a few 18 wheeler drivers saw me but who cares.... it was my own little "buzz the tower" moment.

I have 10 flying days left in T-6's and I have 11 more flights.  They don't like you to finish "on time"...., they like for the students to finish to finish with a few days for a fudge factor so I fully expect to be double turning (flying twice a day) to the max extent possible for the remainder of T-6s.  The first guy in my class finished up on Friday.....lucky bastard.

 This weekend Kristen and I volunteered at Laughlin's adventure race.  We should have done it.........but we didn't. No excuses.  It was a 7 mile run, 25 mile bike and 2 mile raft kind of race.  Teams of 4-8 people.  We were stationed at the raft exit.  Our job was to make sure no one drowned or dragged their rafts on the rocks while running to the finish line (you had to carry your raft with you to the finish).  Everyone was so tired...it was funny.  Peoples ores were braking.  Haha.  They were paddling with their hands!  Then we picked up a lot of trash...ate free BBQ from Applebee's.  The lake was so beautiful.  And where we were stationed was a nice little spot located on our base's private marina.  Kristen and I are going back there next week for some much needed sun!  If you squint your eyes and drink a lot of beer.....it kinda looks like your are on a vacation in Hawaii!

Kristen already signed up to sub this week...so stories they are a coming.

PS. Also, I've added another video to youtube.  This is a tour of our house here on base.  I've been meaning to do this for some time.  I know everyone can't come and visit, but now at least you can see what it's kinda like over here.  Not bad I promise.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QabK3otxkZQ