Happy Halloween

Batman and I

Kristen and I were reminiscing about our last Halloween the other day.  We had a great night.  We had some friends over to our house (and their dogs).  We just sat in our driveway at Laughlin AFB handing out candy all night.  The weather was perfect.  They were a descent amount of kids all night.  It was awesome!

Some crazy truck I saw while waiting for the bus... what is this stuff we buy?

 Another week has come and gone over here. I can almost see the light at the end of the tunnel.

So I was sent an email from my commander a few days ago telling me to come and see him because he has my departure date.  Yes!  I was so pumped up.  It was late in the day and the commander had already left for the day so I figured that I'd see him the next day first thing.

Well, next morning I went there bright eyed and bushy tailed to find out when I'm going home.  He asked me if I had heard about the RIF's?  I told him yes.  He told me that he sent that email out before he knew about the RIF's and that now my date had changed.  Darn!  Long story short with this..., I still expect to be on a rotator home towards the end of November.

What's a RIF?  It's a Reduction In Force.  See, the Air Force every now and then realizes that we have too many people (more than our contract to the taxpayers) so we have to get rid of some.  They first say what commissioning years will be affected.  Then they ask for volunteers.  It's usually people past their 12th year, but not to their 15th year in the military.  The reasoning is that pilots sign up for 10 years, but usually end up at around 12 after some tricky Air Force math.  And at 15 years in Uncle Sam owes you a retirement check for the rest of your life.  So the AF says thanks for your time, commitment and dedication....., now see ya'!  It sucks.  Well, two pilots here in my deployed squadron got RIF'd.  So they'll be on the next rotator out of here.  And basically pushed me two people further down the list.  Aghhh.  But I shouldn't complain.  Those two dudes have it the worst.  That would be a crappy email to get while you're deployed.

I'm still P-9 while I type this blog.  But I expect to be P-7 tomorrow.  I hope to only have two more "deployed" blogs after this one!  Woop woop..., get up for it!

The weather has been so nice over here lately.  High's in the 70's and lows in the 50's, with zero rain, but the dust still lingers.

I now have 129 combat flying sorties and 637.3 combat flying hours.  I want 140 sorties before I leave.  I'm pretty sure that I'll get it.  They usually make us stop flying six days before our rotator.  I'm guessing that I'll have 15 more flights..., so I'll make it!  That will up my air medals to 7.  I'm going to look like a Mexican general for my sisters wedding in May... Haha.

Congrats to Brooke AKA: Diva on getting homecoming queen.  I'm so proud!

Wonderful H20

This van is bullet-proof!

Fun week.  I have now flown a total of over 600 combat hours on 124 combat sorties.  I also recieved the co-pilot of the month award for last month in my squadron.  It doesn't really mean anything, except that it looks good on paper.  But it makes me feel really good to get it!  That really has made my deployment so far.  Haha.  It's really funny, but I really wanted to get that while I was here.  I try my best to be the best co-pilot I can be over here.  I usually go above and beyond to help my mission commander every mission by lightening the work load for him.  I'm glad that I got noticed.  I also volunteered for stuff and did a few extra things around the squadron.  Agghhhh..., it's just a good feeling.

Mustache van!

I flew all week with an F-15 pilot as my Mission Commander who was the F-15 demo pilot at airshows for two years of his life.  That's pretty cool.  I asked him all kinds of stuff about his past experiences.  He has lived the coolest fighter pilot lifestyle during his career.  It's so cool all of the different types of pilots I fly with over here.  This is a great experience.

There she is....Big Sexy....a C-5 from Dover AFB. I'll be flying her in no time!

I thought that I'd give yall a little insight into the water situation over here.  When I first got here it was a shock, but now it seems normal to me (seeing bottled water with non-English writing on the label).

See, you can't drink the tap water over here.  In fact, we don't even have real plumbing over here to drink "tap" water from.  All of our water is potted water trucked in from some far off place.  I know it's nowhere near here since I live in the middle of the desert!  So these jingle trucks, that's what we call the ornately decorated vehicles that bring the potted water by the truck load to the base.  We use the water for faucets, showers, toilets and cleaning.  Since we can't drink the water, for health concerns we have to drink bottled water.  And I'm guessing to keep our options open, and to always have a fall back if something were to happen to one of our water sources, we have at least three different bottled water suppliers.  So there are pallets of bottled water all over the place here on base.  It's literally everywhere you look.

Over the past few weeks I have been taking pictures of the different types of water I drink over here.  I'll present them in order of the nastiest tasting to the best tasting.  Although the water flavoring masks the bad taste all of the time anyway.  But I usually take one sip of pure "Haji" water before I add the flavoring just to give it a taste.

First is Dibba water.  This stuff taste like backwash.  Yeah..., disgusting.  In fact, one shipment of this we were told not to drink because it posed a health risk.  So now everyone is scared of the Dibba water.  The ironic part about this is that it's the most abundant bottled water on base.  Yuck!  Let's just say that if I was really really thirsty, I still might drink this crap.

The next is Alain. This stuff has been giving Dibba a run for its money lately.  It tastes just as bad.  The only thing that Alain has going for it is that it's in a square bottle.  Which ups it's cool points.  I mean, Fiji water is in a square bottle and that stuff costs $3.00 a bottle so that must mean it's cool.  At any rate, this water gets my second to last vote.

Crystal is the next least worst. Haha.  This is new water to us here as of just a week or so ago.  So I've only been able to try it a few times so far.  Don't let the name fool you.  I did at first.  I was thinking..., ooohhh, "CRYSTAL"..., that sounds exxxxppppesive...!  But, it tastes like your dogs water bowl after she's had a few licks in it.  So, it's not that great.  Maybe it'll grow on me...., just maybe.

Second to the best is Nestle.  This is the only American looking water here.  This tastes like the cheap water that you would find in your local Wal-Mart back in the states.  It's not the best stuff..., but over here, this stuff is great!  This water makes you feel like you are opening something nice because it has an extra plastic wrapper on top of the cap that you have to open first.  To some this may seen like extra needless work, but to me this is like a little added security that lets me know that no one else has been into my bottle of H2O.  Rumor on the street is that we are getting rid of this water because they upped their contracted price and we can find cheaper water.  So it looks like I might be saying goodbye to Nestle.

My, and everyones favorite water.............. Kinley!  Yaaayyy!!!  Haha.  This stuff is bottled by Coca-Cola bottling so you know it's good.  This is the water that goes the fastest on base.  It tastes like regular ole' water.  Mybe that's why we all like it so much.  Or maybe because it says Coca-Cola it makes us all feel a little warm fuzzy on the inside.  Either way, this stuff is the best!

Some asshole ran into the back of Kristen's car while she was @ work this week and just left.  Yup, hit and run..., bummer.  She just got her bumper fixed a little over a month ago from when she backed into a pole!  haha.  What luck..., or should I say un-luck.  Keep your head up baby.  Try to park a little farther away and walk.  Haha.  I love you.

Here's a screenshot of my laptop while I was talking to my girls (Kristen and Dallas) this week.

It was my sisters birthday this week.  Happy Birthday Mia!

I'm still P-9.  I'm not sure when I'll go down again (STS), but I still think that I'll be coming home towards the end of November.  Till next week... See ya'

P-10 tomorrow!

So one more week is down.

This photo looks almost exactly like where I fly at!  Pretty huh..?!

I feel like I've been counting down for too long.  Haha.  Maybe I should have started a little later.  But, oh well.  I think I have somewhere between 32 and 45 days left here as of today.  I am still P-11, but I'll be P-10 tomorrow!  I'm expecting to be P-9 by the next blog.  I'm starting to get really excited about going home though!

I've been flying with a few new pilot dudes here.  I'm just a co-pilot, but the new mission commanders that I fly with are taking my words as gospel!  It's so cool.  I love being the old salty experienced dude here.  It's fun.  And the weather is getting so nice.  It's a lot less dusty and the temperatures have been great.  So my daily "work" has been very pleasurable as of late.

Kristen attended a surprise birthday party last night for her real good friend Kim, who was also proposed to, and said yes at the party.  Kristen knew about it all and has been running around like crazy for the past few weeks helping put together the invites, decoration, food and presents.  It sounded like Kristen had a good time.

I got a ton of mail this week.  I got a package from Kristen, my Mom, my Dad and my Aunt Telle.  Thanks everyone for all of the sent love.  I shared some of them with the squadron and parts of them I kept.

This is a screen shot of me Skypeing with Dallas.

I don't have any pictures from what I've been doing.  So I'll have to try harder to take some for next week.

Late add..., I showed up to work today and there was two FINI flights yesterday!  I'm now P-9!!!  SINGLE DIGITS!!!!

P-11

This blog is one day late because I had a LONG work day yesterday.  It was of the 14 hour type.  And I wasn't in the mood to try and get connected to the internet and wait for images to upload..., I wanted some sleep!

Well, another week is behind me here in The Sand Box.  I have been in country for 161 days now.  As I see it, I have about 40 days left here give or take 7 days), but that's just my guess so we'll see.

This week has been pretty nice.  The weather is getting colder.  The high today is 81.  Also, the rainy season is starting.  It hasn't rained on us yet (no, I haven't seen rain in over 5 months).  But now some clouds are starting to form on a daily basis, and not the puffy white ones. The greyish cumulonimbus variety...., the bad ones.  So we've been having our weather radar on lately and been dodging icing.  Which is pretty tough to do when you're supposed to stay in one area, haha. It can get challenging.

This is a dust storm rolling in from left to right (taken from high up)

 I've noticed something pretty cool over the past couple of weeks.  I have been being asked a lot of questions by the MC's (Mission Commanders..., AKA, highest ranking dude in the airplane) lately.  They trust me and I'm an now an "experienced" co-pilot over here.  I've kind of seen it all by this point.  Which is a pretty good feeling.

I know Kristen will like these!

Kristen pre-ordered the new iPhone 4S this week!  Yayyyy!  She NEEDS a new phone.  She's still rocking the iPhone 3G.  Not the 3GS and not the 4...., she's got the throw back!

I'm P-11 now!  It looks like one pilot may go home this week... Not to much else is going on over here.  I'm just in a good rhythm and count every day.  It's bad to do that but I'm getting really excited. Till next week... See ya!

STILL P-14......

Sunset in the sand box

So..., I realized that I've been flying a lot.  I flew the most sorties out of any other co-pilot last month.  I flew 27 of 30 days.  Pretty cool!  I have 107 total sorties so far on this deployment and 514.1 combat hours!  I'm a flying machine!

Some HH-60's flying in the dust

I also realized that I made a big mistake....Oops.  I started sending thank you cards for every package that I received over here.  But on the thank you cards I wouldn't write my full return address (sometimes).  Which is stupid but sometime I would just write my name..., and that's all.  Haha.  I know..., stupid.  And then, on some of them, I would write my entire return address.  Yeah..., just totally optional..., I didn't have a rhyme or reason to my stupidity.  But this week I got a card returned to me in the mail.  It was returned because I didn't have the correct address.  So.......... at this point I don't know who I sent them to and which ones I sent with no return address if I had the wrong address.  So if you received one..., that's awesome.  And if you didn't....., then I either forgot who I mailed one to and you were one of the unlucky ones or it was sent back to me.....neither you or me will never know the truth.  But both are plausible at this point.  I'm an idiot.  Sorry.

This was an escort for a medical chopper

I don't know what kind of plane this is or what country....but it was pretty cool

 I am still P-14, but not for long.  I'm dropping one number tomorrow and then should be dropping 2 more numbers in a few days.  My calculations tell me that I have another 50 days left till I'm back in the good ole U.S. of A. (just think of it as 7 more blogs...) Haha.  I am below two months now!  So that's good.  Haha.

Dallas with some photoshop

This is Dallas with no photoshop.... she's really this cute!

Not too much to write about this week.... sorry.  Hopefully I get back on the horse next week.  Happy Birthday Mama Oddo! Go SAINTS and TIGERS!!!!! I miss and love you Kristen!

P-14

Good week....

Me in front of some blown up tank (Russian?)

Well, on the 20th DATD was repealed.  It was a lot of anticipation for nothing.  There was no gay troops running around base with rainbow flags or anything crazy.  It was just a normal day as it should have been.  Some people were talking..., but just gossip sort of stuff.  The war is still going on.  No changes to report so that's good.  I'm proud to serve with anyone who signs on the same dotted line that I signed.  Black, brown, yellow, white, fat, skinny, gay, straight, Christian, Jewish or Muslim.... I don't care.  We all catch bullets the same way.  I was raised better than to treat people who are different than me different than I would treat anyone else.  Brothers in arms.

I also flew my 100th combat sortie this week.  I flew it with my commander.  Which is scary all in itself but I was up for it!  Good times!

My crew and I before a mission

And, this week I've had some really good flights!  Good as then I've been flying the exact missions that this plane is meant for and I've been trained for.  We say that we do three things here on the MC-12.... FIND-FIX-FINISH.  And this week I did all three a few times.  It feel good to brief a mission, execute it just as its drawn up, and land back at base an accomplished man!  Good times!

Jet noise in the morning......

My commander also gave me some news about going home.....kinda.  He basically told me it'll be sometime in November.  Haha.  That's about it.  We're expecting 7 new pilots to get here in October.  That'll bring me to P-7 by 31 Oct.  Then there is supposed to be 25 pilots getting here in November..... So, basically once the seventh one gets here they I'm free to leave.

As of today my tracker agrees and says that's I'll become P-0 on 12 November and be heading home soon after...!!!  Maybe so....I tell you what though....my completely made up tracker/guesser is working well (I think).

My buddy Vipul is on the far left

And the insanity begins.......!

Future throw up

Ready..........Ready.............Hack!

My buddy Vipul was involved in a crossfit competition this week and he asked me to tag along to take video and cheer him on.  Crossfit is a phenomenon that has swept the country planet.  Its where you basically use your own body weight to exercise with most of the time.  And the other time use crude weights (tires, boxes) to do other stuff.  And you work out really hard and really fast.  I've never done it yet.  But A LOT of people in the military are into it.

Anyway, this week my buddy Vipul decided to do a sponsored crossfit competition.  The contest was do a series of crossfit exercises and eat four donuts.  Do more exercises, then eat more donuts.  Then even more exercises.... then eat four more donuts!  haha.  And the first one finished wins, or loses depending on how you see it.  The competition was so funny!  I saw a lot of throw up.  Vipul stopped at 8 1/2 donuts.  He was about to puke.  Good times.  Good memories.

Oh...., I got a package from my mom and one from my Aunt Cathy.  Thanks yall!  I kept some and shared the rest.  It was all good stuff!  

Kristen put blush on Dallas this week......Oh geeez

Kristen has been staying VERY busy back at home with work.....damn girl slow down!  Haha.  I miss you and I love you baby!

My cousins supporting me with their own mustaches..... Haha!

P-15!!!!

Picture taken from my 'secret' cigar smoke spot during sunset

My mind is in a lot better place this week.  Last week was a little bad.  Just frustrating.  I felt like I was giving my 100% and wasn't getting recognized while everyone else was giving 75%...  I haven't been recognized yet (I want a monthly award before I leave here)... But I think I'll just deal with it for now.  It's not as an important time in my career to be recognized.  And some people really NEED the recognition to get a promotion or job assignment coming up.  And I don't.  I'm just a young Lieutenant and don't have to worry about that kind of stuff yet.... thankfully.  Bottom line.... I'm all good.

I put all of my cards under the top bunk of my bed.  I have a TON of cards!! I'll run out of room soon!!

I got a package from Mr. Dennis this week. It was Julio's chips and salsa!  Haha.  I haven't eaten any of it yet.  But the next time that I go schedule (my desk job) I'll take it up there with me.  I'm so lucky to have a great family that sends me cards and care packages.  I think I get the most..., or at least top three in the squadron.  And in a squadron of 200 that's saying a lot!  I'm loved!

UXO.... right next to the showers!!!

One day this week after walking to dinner with my crew we were  quickly stopped by MP's (Military Police) who shouted at us to 'STOP" and "GO AROUND", as we just walked in our camps gate.  We were totally confused at the time.  But soon got the scoop.  While digging a new trench, about 1 1/2' down the TCN's (Third County Nationals..., who do most of the work here) found a UXO (Unexploded Ordinance)!!!  haha.  No shit!  I've walked right over it many times...., as have countless others in the past 10 or so years.  See, the Soviets left here in the 80's.  And as they were leaving they left a nice present of over 1.5 million land mines.  All different types too!  They left unexploded bombs, mortars, pressure plates etc....  Our base hospital helps out more locals than military.  Crazy huh?  It's mostly kids that set them off while playing..., which is sad.  So there's a bunch of them that we end up finding all the time here on base. Scary but kinda cool at the same time.

Riding the "nice" bus

I hitchhiked a ride on a bus from another squadron this week.  It was so nice!  I wish we had something like this!!!  Of course..., it was a guard bus.  Meaning, it was owned by the National Guard..., not active duty.  They always get nice things.  I can't wait to go guard once my 10 year commitment is up!!!  They have it made!

Look at that landing... don't let 'em spill the coffee in the back.

I've flown 443.7 hours on 93 sorties since I've been deployed.  And 11 of those have been in the past 11 days!!!  Yeah, I flew the past 11 straight days.  Usually you get a day off at day 5, 6 or maybe 7.  But we're a little short on pilots right now so we've been going 8 or nine lately.  But after my 9th, someone got sick and I was put in to replace them.  Then the very next day the commander fell out of his flight due to a meeting and I was asked to fill in for him.  So that's how I ended up flying 11 in a row.  In every other airframe in the AF you fly one day and then you're off for one day.  But now us!  We're in demand!  I even fly a King Air on my iPhone before I go to sleep.... I know..., ridiculous!

Ramazan is over!!!  So we can wear our PT's again!  Yaaayyy!!!

As of today I'm P-15.  And tomorrow I'll be P-14!!!  Yaaaayyy!!!  My tracker says that I'll be back in the States on day 192.  So I'll make my 180 days for sure at this point. Which is awesome!  But you can't make me happy at this point.  If I go home early, I'll be mad.  And if I go home late..., I'll be mad.

Till next week!  See ya'!