Graduation Day

The day finally arrived- Mason's graduation from Undergraduate Pilot Training (UPT). The road to get here was a really long and difficult one, but we made it. I say we, because we both took this journey together. While there have certainly been ups and downs in the last year, I feel like Mason and I have grown even closer than ever before. It's the most amazing feeling in the world to see the person that you love be successful in their passions. As long as I've known Mason, he's wanted to fly. The Air Force National Guard was an option in high school, and then after 9-11 Mason decided he wanted a college degree, so he'd stick with commercial aviation. After flying freshman year in college, he decided that he wanted to fly jets and be in the Air Force, and so he joined ROTC. Now, years later, he has his commercial instructor ratings, and is now a winged Air Force pilot off to fly the B-52.

Life's path doesn't always take us where we thought we'd go, but Mason and I both feel that things happen for a reason. Friday night at the graduation ceremony, Retired 4-Star General Jumper, Chief of the Air Force, gave the speech, and said basically, there is no point in planning out your career in the Air Force. I think that makes total sense. Having goals is great, but planning will just set-up failure. Mason and I both came here, to ENJJPT, with the thoughts that he'd fly away with a jet assignment. As the course of pilot training continued over the months, less and less fighters were given out, and more and more variations were assigned. Initially we were disappointed about the B-52, but now we can't wait. We're looking forward to the lifestyle and new challenges. Through the whole journey, we're most happy to be together.

Our families were able to join us for the occasion, and we felt so blessed. Mason's mom and dad, and my parents and sister flew in on Thursday night for the occasion. Friday, Red Carpet Day, was so much fun. The families got to tour the flying portion of the base. Our families met Mason's instructors, and flight commander, got to see his flight rooms. We all took a bus out to the RSU where we could watch the T-38s take-off and land more closely. Families were given the opportunity to go out on the ramp and look inside a T-38, and we got to try on Mason's parachute and mask. (That was my favorite part- being hooked up to oxygen) After lunch, we toured the T-38 simulators, got to go to the Air Traffic Control Tower, see the radar station (RAPCON) and tour the inside of a B-52. What a challenge Mason has ahead of him!!!

Graduation began at 7pm , Friday night, and everyone looked smashing. After a year of flight suits it's fun to see the guys in their mess dress uniforms. It was especially nice for the Italians because they had just received their assignments that day and so it was nice that they all knew where they would be headed. During graduation, Mason was awarded a certificate of completion and his wings were pinned on. YAY! I'll admit I was misty-eyed. All the guys looked so happy and proud of their accomplishments. 14 months of hard work.

After the graduation ceremony, a reception was held at the Officer's Club. This was mostly a booze and schmooze, but we did get to watch the class video which was pretty hilarious (youtube link coming soon.) Overall, it was a great day/night. Mason's dad, and my family shipped out on Saturday morning and so we took Mason's mom up to the Wichita Mountains- great fun, but chilly.
For more pictures check out: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2024078&l=1d383&id=77800450

Taboo

Last week Mason and I had lots of nights out. We had a flight dinner on Thursday (hard to believe it was almost a week ago) and afterward went to a couple's house, with the flight, to play the game Taboo. For those of you who have never played, or heard of the game, the object is to get your team to guess a word on a card. There are five words below the main word and you can't say any of those words, or parts of the word itself. Words like, skyscraper, referee, etc...the funniest moment of the night was when one of the Italians pulled the card Dick Clark, starred at it for a moment and then passed because, "ah, no, this is a dirty word- I can not do." So hilarious! We'll really miss hanging out with the Italians.

Our friend Micah, from Iowa, rebuilt a tractor as a hobby while being down here for pilot training. As Mason has mentioned previously, I thought it was pretty sweet-since I have no mechanics abilities at all. Well, we were invited to a bonfire at the ranch where he works on his tractor- and I got to ride...it was AWESOME! Totally cooler than expected- and I was expecting a lot. Turns out, Mason has some skills, because he was able to change a flat tire that we got on the Highlander all by himself. The car was in the driveway, but I was pretty impressed that he just figured it out- after changing out his motorcycle battery the week prior...can anyone say Auto Mechanic in his retired life.

Saturday we attended an ugly sweater party at our friends Mike and Meg's, it was very fun. And some people's sweaters were pretty ugly! It was nice to be in the holiday spirit. We've got all our holiday decorations up and have been enjoying the lights and tree. So many people around here have fake trees, but Mason and I really like our small real tree (that smells so good) with the handmade tree skirt (thanks Aunt Karen).

Tomorrow all the family will be in town for Mason's graduation (Friday), we're looking forward to seeing everyone and showing them around. Hopefully it will not be too cold. We've finally hit below 50 temperatures. I'm sure we'll having another post after graduation, so happy holidays until then.

The Big Ugly Flying F___....

No, I don't mean me.... but I will be flying

the B-52H Stratofortress (aka "BUFF")

We had our assignment night on Friday and I found out that after I graduate from pilot training, I will be going to training for the B-52. As you can see from above, it's a bomber, and it's known for holding A LOT of bombs. It's one of our main planes with nuclear weapon capabilities and even though it was made in 1961, it's still one of the main weapon systems to get the job done. The Air Force figured that it would be too expensive to build a new bomber with its capabilities, so it just keeps getting upgraded over and over.

Here's the air force fact sheet -
http://www.af.mil/factsheets/factsheet.asp?id=83

As far as assignments go, you may recall a year ago that I said I did NOT want this plane and that it's just a big ugly whatever. Well....times at ENJJPT have changed. When Ellen and I first got here, the drop nights consisted of lots of fighters and a few bombers. If you were anywhere near the top half of the class, you were basically guaranteed an F-16 or F-15. Since then, the F-16s unit has gotten so overmanned and backed up that they only give out an F-16 once in a few months. The F-15C has been replaced by the F-22 so they've pretty much stopped handing those out. (And it's too early for the F-22s to be a real option for pilot training students). The A-10 is starting to get overmanned and they cancelled one of the next training classes so that's becoming even harder to get. The F-15E is still open, but because it's the only real fighter available to us, it's obviously hard to get. Since last year, they've always started ramping up the "special ops" forces in the war. So we've been introduced to the U-28, NSA (Non-Specific Aircraft), RC-12, and soon, the MC-12. All of those planes are basically turboprop planes that are made to go somewhat undercover and deliver small groups of troops to remote locations where other planes can't get in. Interesting mission but when it comes to the plane, I could basically be flying the same model at some civilian commuter job. And lastly, the UAV (or UAS - Unmanned Aerial Vehicle/System). UNMANNED, yikes!

So here's what our class got:
F-16
F-15E x3
B-52 x3
NSA x2
UAV x4

So as much as I was dissapointed not to get a fighter, I was damn glad that I didn't get an NSA or UAV. And without any B-1, A-10, or F-15C, if you weren't getting an F-15E, the B-52 is basically the next best thing. There was a lot of mixed emotions (with an emphasis on the frustrated dissapointed ones) going around the room, but overall the assignment night as a party was pretty succesful. Ellen volunteered to make ALL of the desserts and they were a huge hit. We used our class funds to buy food from a local BBQ place that everybody really liked since normally, assignment night classes get the crappy overpriced food from the O-club. Our theme was Merry Chuckmas (since we're the Chuck Norris patch class). We had a person from each flight face off, take five steps, chug their drink, and then draw against the other person. Whoever wins gets to find out their assigment first by crushing a paper-mache head of an IP (Instructor Pilot) that they chose. See below....



And of course, the pictures-
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2500422&l=fdcb9&id=1913937

Another highlight of the night was one of the guys in our class drove in his tractor that he had bought when he first moved here and completely restored on his own in a garage. He's a total farmboy from Iowa so it was pretty impressive to see his creation. Ellen had trouble deciding whether the tractor was cooler than my motorcycle, and I'd rather not say which won. And of course, our commander and other assorted "important people" made a fuss about how he parked it on the grass. The Air Force is always fussing about their grass...

Ellen also hosted an ENJJPT spouses meeting at our house the night before as it's tradition for the senior class spouse to host it. About 20-30 people showed up so it was a big hit. Needless to say, the kitchenaid mixer Ellen got for pre-Christmas has been putting in a lot of hours. Ellen has made a lot of freinds and connections through the group so we're already friends with a couple who's at B-52 training right now and another couple who will be moving there in January. "It's all about who you know" as they say.

In other news, my motorcycle has been throwing a tantrum with the cold (below 60 that is) weather. And that combined with me not riding it for a few weeks because I've been putting in such long days at pilot training, made it decide not to start up anymore. I tried so many times to get it going, that I eventually drained down the battery. So with the help of a guy in my flight who has a battery charger, I got out my mighty screwdriver (so to speak) and got the battery out. After a lot of trial and error, I got the thing recharged, put it back into the bike, and it started like a champ. So I took my victory ride today.

Yesterday, we had a good friend who I knew all the way back from Drill Team in CAP (Civil Air Patrol) come visit. Out of the 20 or so goofballs that I became really good friends with on Drill Team, a surprising number of them have ended up becoming soldiers and airmen in our military (watch out!). This gent is currently a 2nd Lieutenant in the Army and is going through artillary training up at Ft Sill, Oklahoma. So we got together, told old stories of stupid CAP shananagins and new stories of our crazy military shananagins like old farts do.

What's next, you ask?

Well, I still have to finish the Low-Level phase for pilot training. I've got 5 flights left before the checkride. We basically fly in formation, at 360 knots (6 miles/minute), 500 feet above the ground, using unreliable maps that we spend countless hours making on a crappy computer program, to get to a specific target in the deadlands of Texoma. It's pretty cool stuff but I think now, we're all really ready for pilot training to be done with. BUT, we are also supposed to get 3 four-ship formation rides before we graduate, so that will be a lot of fun- sort of a reward for all the many many, many crappy parts of pilot training. And in two weeks, December 19th, I GET MY WINGS!

Sometime around then, I'll also get my orders and figure out when we move to the B-52 training. But we do know the where part of it - Barksdale AFB at Shreveport, Louisiana. It's pretty much the same distance from Chicago, but about 5 hours East of where we are now at Sheppard AFB, TX. The training program is 6 months long and then after that, I'll either stay at Barksdale for my first tour or I'll go to the only other base where the B-52 is, at Minot AFB, North Dakota. Since the training classes are small (only about 6 people), they basically try to split it 50/50 as to who goes where (and you get a vote for where you want). I haven't been to either of those two states, so there might be some strategic vacationing to see which one we like better. We hope to also squeeze in a visit to Chicago sometime between graduation from pilot training and starting B-52 training at Barksdale.

So there ya go- I'm gonna be a bomber pilot, flying 10 hour missions and erasing entire villages off the map! Here's one more pic for dramatic effect...

Happy Thanksgiving

Well, it was only fair that if I got my Christmas present early, that Mason get his. Both of these, being gifts to share (hee hee). Mason got a brand new digital camera. I don't really know too much about it, except that it's awesome! Mason did weeks of research, and even after ordering he was still looking up more information. He loves his new camera. So much...that we even went out shopping on black Friday to look for some accessories (8gb chip etc...) The pictures are really nice quality, and we're looking forward to taking it on vacation at the end of December.

Thanksgiving was a big success around here. Micah, a guy in Mason's class brought his roomate Mat to dinner and the 4 of us haa great time. The spread was delicious if I do say so, and we played a fun game of Air Force Monopoly. It was really nice to be able to spend the holiday with friends since we weren't able to be with family. But we're very grateful to be seeing them next month.

We've been truly enjoying all the days off from school and work. Tomorrow will be a hard Monday to face. We've been setting up Christmas lights and decorations, so that they'll be up for my spouse meeting this week and we can enjoy them for 3 weeks, since we'll be out of town for Christmas and Hanukkah.

This is an extremely busy week and an exciting one. Lesson planning was exteremly hard this weekend, as all I could thing about was Friday night. Mason's assignment night. I just want to get through the school week and find out our destiny. Mason's got a week of night flights. Lucky for him, he doesn't even have to report in until 5pm...too bad, that's just when I get home from work...these weeks kinda suck, but hopefully it will go by fast. Keep Mason and the F15C in your prayers.
For more pics you can check out:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2023435&l=cc650&id=77800450

Life is Beautiful

Time goes by so fast. It seems like each weekend I say, I've got to post on the blog, and sure enough another weekend comes and goes before I finally get to the blog. Time these days seems to be whirling past us and we've hardly had a moment to catch our breath. This is our second holiday season in Wichita Falls, and while the weather has begun to turn more chilly (although today was a beautiful day) it still doesn't seem quite like the holidays. Stores have been playing Christmas music since the day after Halloween, and the trees are just now changing color, but I think the adult life combined with everything that's going on, has let the season seem to fly by. That and the season change here is not like Chicago.

This year, Mason and I decided that since we're going to California/Nevada for eight days after his graduation, that would be our official honeymoon since we never got on one after the wedding. We're very much looking forward to the vacation (our first official- on a plane trip) with no stress of pilot training or school really hanging over head. We also decided to treat ourselves this Christmas, which meant two large presents to share. I got a kitchen aid mixer today to help aid in all the holiday baking ahead of me, and Mason purchased a new fancy digital camera. We're both very EXCITED about our purchases!

Working backwards, Mason's assignment night is just around the corner. December 5th seems to come out of my mouth in some context everyday. It's just so scary to think about- that the last 14 months of hard work Mason's put into flying is about to come to some result. Mason will be moving on- but to what, we're not sure...Today we met with the whole class and the guys made paper mache heads which will contain their assignments. Assignment nights are hard to describe, but they usually have a theme. Ours happens to be "Merry Chuckmas" since the guys class patch was Chuck Norris. It should be interesting. Our class is one of the first to not have their assignment night at the Officer's Club, in awhile, but this means we are getting to have catered BBQ! Yum-o...I somehow decided that it would be nice of me to bake all of the dessert for the group of 400 people that will attend...not so smart, but I'll get a change to test out my mixer!

On the 4th I'm also hosting our ESSG spouse meeting. It's kinda like having all the most critical women at your house for a social, although no one would ever say anything mean in front of you. I think the goal is just going to be- clean house- for that evening. We're having some of the guys from Mason's flight over for Thanksgiving and it should be really nice and fun. I'm just looking forward to the break from work.

School has been very busy lately. It's progress report time, and the kids are starting to get winter break itch, and it seems like I'm sending home a child with lice, strep, or the stomach flu each day-- I love purel!

This weekend Mason and I mostly rested around the house and got work done. Mason PASSED his advanced formation ( a HUGE checkride) last week, and so now he's back to making those fun low-level formation maps. As a high point of the weekend, we won $109 at the casino tonight! So Awesome!

Bandy, a guy in Mason's flight got married last weekend in Dennison, TX, so 5 of us piled into someone's car and drove out there for a 7pm wedding. It was super fun, especially watching the two-step dancing at the reception. It's really amazing to watch. Sunday, we drove in the opposite direction to OKC, and got to see Coldplay in concert. It was AMAZING! Our seats were great and we just had a really great time.

All in all, life's good in the casa de Ellen & Mason

P4 and Halloween

This week was a long week full of completing report cards, holding parent-teacher conferences, and Halloween to top it all off. Thursday night was the P4 evening for spouses in our pilot training class. Only myself and my friend Alia, another spouse, were able to attend. It was GREAT! We met with the squadron commander and the director of operations for the 80th OSS (People who control flying etc...) and they told us all about the planes that could be assigned and where we could be stationed, and they really clarified more detailed questions that I had. It was so informative, and I could go on for days about it, but I'll spare you.

Friday, being Halloween, was CRAZY at school. My students were allowed to dress up, but getting them to work was a whole other story. At school I was a witch. All the female teachers went as withes...it was pretty cool, and a cheap costume ($3 for a hat and broom at Walmart). Our after school staff meeting (almost 4 hours long-boo) I was able to catch a quick nap before trick-or-treaters showed up at my door. Mason and I went to a friends party and it was pretty hilarious to see all the costumes. Again, with Mason and I in the spirit of cheap we were able to come up with a pretty sweet costume--the ocean, complete with a spray bottle of ocean mist. As the night went on the more drunk people got and the more Mason and I appreciated each others choice to not be drinkers.

Today we were able to take advantage of daylight savings, although it's depressing how early it gets dark out. It was a beautiful 80 degree day and we were able to get some things done around the house and we even won $18.00 at the casino--enough to cover the Chinese dinner Mason had been craving all week.

As a last note, time seems to be going so fast. This week Mason and I will be married for a year and a half. While many of my friends here in Texas my friend Samantha, who I met in 6th grade, just had a baby, and it makes me feel old. There are only 5 weeks left until Mason's assignment night and I can already feel the anxiety because it doesn't seem like a day goes by that it isn't mentioned by someone...I think I'll have to focus my energies on working out instead of dwelling on what's to come in our future.

Eagles and vipers and bones, oh my!

So... 1 year and two weeks, and I'm still in pilot training. Last week, I took my formation checkride and it went pretty bad. I passed the flying portion, but with 10 downgrades. But then I busted for the Emergency Procedures portion, which is a really bitter thing to bust for. It wasn't really that I didn't study enough or didn't know my sh-tuff. But my brain, my mouth, and the IP's ears, weren't all working together on the same page. I didn't complain or try to argue about any of it because there really isn't any point after the instructors make up their mind, but I went in the next for my ground eval and passed that. On the same note though, we've had about 7 guys from our flight take the checkride, and about 5 of them have busted on the first try. I don't really have much idea how the other flight is doing. So rough times in Mob flight.

To keep perspective, I have two checkrides left until I get my wings. Next will be advanced formation (which is the last checkride before assignment night, so sorta the last one that really counts for a lot). And after that will be low-level navigation (which is also flown in formation by the way).

Last Friday was the assignment night for the class ahead of us so everyone in our class (09-01) was real eager to see what was dropped. So here it is...

UAV x 3 (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle / Drone....BAD!!!)
RC-12 (I honestly don't even know what this prop plane does)
NSA (ditto)
F-22 (F-22, the newest bad-ass state of the art fighter jet we have)
F-15C (my dream jet, air-to-air, single seat)
F-15E x 2 (same design as the F-15C, but has a navigator in the back seat to help with dropping bombs)
F-16 x 2 (1 was Guard) (my number 2 choice, a sweet single seat fighter)
A-10 x 2 (1 was Guard) (low and slow, single seat attack plane)
T-6 (First Assignment Instructor tour in our newer UPT plane, which is a prop- yuck)
T-38 (First Assignment Instructor tour in the plane I'm flying now - not too bad)
B-1 (a pretty cool bomber)

So in general, it was a pretty good drop. There were three UAVs, which was sickening, but that pretty much replaced the handful of U-28s we were having in the drops before. (The U-28 is one of the many new reconnaissance special ops type propeller planes that they've been coming out with, in the same group as NSAs and RC-12s). The F-22 was half-expected, but it will be the last one to get dropped to fresh UPT students for a while since they're still only doing one class of F-22s a year or so (in other words, that will not be a possibility for my drop). The big surprise was the 1 F-15C and 1 F-16 (that wasn't a guard guy). We were told that those wouldn't be dropped at all for us in pilot training anymore because the pipeline is either full or just plane old done because the F-15C is getting replaced by the F-22. I haven't been able to figure out if the F-15C being dropped is a sign of their training unit still being open and more F-15Cs to come, or if it's just from someone who got it as an assignment before and then needed to be replaced. And no one knows for sure if the F-16s are over for us or not.

The bottom line for my assignment night is that there's no guarantees about anything (both for good and bad). Our assignment night is on Dec 5th so I'll post more when/if I find anything out.

I'm getting closer to the end, but everything still keeps getting more and more difficult. And with checkrides counting for so much of my assignment, it's hard not get demotivated after a big bust. But, I still have to saver every hour I get to fly the T-38, since it's a pretty kick butt jet when it comes down to it. Just look at all those enticing buttons!

Slow it down a little

I thought I would take a quick opportunity to write a blog note while I've got some chocolate chip banana muffins in the oven...teachers at school have begun to call me Betty Crocker ( a familiar nickname) since I frequently bake double batches for school and Mason's flight room. This fills my obsessive/passionate need to bake while dispersing the food elsewhere so Mason and I don't eat it. However, our friend Micah in Mason's flight seems to have befriended an elderly woman at church who gives him brownies to bring the flight room...we'll see how well they hold up to my muffins, and key lime cheesecake I'm sending in tomorrow.

The next two weeks are going to be extremely busy for Mason and me. Mason has afternoon/night flying so he reports in later but in turn gets home late. He's preparing for a checkride on Wednesday (keep your fingers crossed) and a phase test tomorrow. This will all be on formation. Once Mason completes his formation check ride, only 1 more major checkride before assignment night. Yikes! Last week Mason got to take his hero shot. Doesn't he look hot!

This was originally the week that Mason would be getting his assignment, but due to the crash in the spring we were pushed back to December. It's a little bittersweet, but we're excited to see what's in store this Friday for class 0808. With every assignment night, there is a spouse meeting, so that will be nice to look forward to on Thursday. It's fun to get together with just the girls sometimes. We'll also get to go on October 30th and learn more about what planes are available to our class and where these planes train and deploy to. Fun! Although, I must say I feel like my current house is really my home, and it will be strange to move somewhere else. But, I suppose with all military families you adapt to where you move. We've certainly adapted to living in Texas. (Although the beautiful weather is here.)

Next week is report card week and parent- conferneces. It's still strange to be the teacher and not the student at theses conferences. And at the end of the week, a teacher's meeting to cap it all off. Halloween will make the kids crazy, but I'm glad it's on a Friday so they can all get their energy out. It's interesting to meet so many families who are VERY opposed to Halloween, since I didn't really encounter that much when I was little. Maybe I just didn't pay attention. Sometimes I wonder if I was oblivious in school, but it seems like "these kids today" are all in each others business. Everyone knows whos on ADHD medicine, and who's parents are divorced and in jail, and everything...I don't think I ever paid attention to any of that when I was in school. Hmm...

This past weekend Mason and I went up to the Wichita Mountains in Lawton. I absolutely LOVE going up to the mountains. The wildlife and nature is so calming and peaceful. Sometimes I wish we had just brough books or something with us to sit and read or picnic at the top of the mountains. It's amazingly beautiful and peaceful. (Mason might not think so since I tend to kavetch sometimes.)

We climbed one peak and also stopped at the Holy City. This is a small "city" in the mountains that is designed to recreate the Jereuselum. I must say, while Mason and I aren't excatly religious, it was strange to us to see a group of adults hanging from nails on a cross pretending to be Jesus...I'm not sure that would make me feel closer to Him. After hiking for awhile we headed into a town called Medicine Park to check out a lake and some small shops. The shops were very tiny! Once you walked in you could see everything. The funniest thing of the day happened to be when we were in one of these shops looking at some ornaments when we heard the store owner talking to a man at her counter. She asked, "So Joe, is your daughter on birth control?" He replied, " my daughter doesn't have sex, she cooses abstinence..." well the conversation continued on for awhile and Mason and I and another biker couple we saw were just dying at the "openness" of people's public conversations.

Oh yeah- we also saw these lake houses, that were literally on the lake. They were houses to keep boats in. In all my boating years I never saw anything like it, but I thought Dad would get a kick out of it. We also saw the fanciest porta-potty ever.

Ah, Texoma at it's best.

The Perfect Weekend

Saturday, Mason and I went with our friend, Tim, Alia, and Ryan down to Alliance Airport in Fort Worth for the Alliance Air Show. Mason and I had a great time. It's reaffirming to see F15s and f16s flying and know that Mason can fly similar maneuvers in the T-38, but that he could also get one of those planes as his future aircraft. The Air Force Thunderbirds put on an awesome shoe anyways.

The rest of the weekend we mostly relaxed, and enjoyed our time off. Today I took of from school since I was still feeling a bit under the weather, and Mason was off for Columbus Day. We has an awesome day! The weather here is perfect in the 70s-low 80s, so it's great to be outdoors. We went to the casino and without spending a dime of our own-walked out with a little over $67.

Here are some more pics from the airshow: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2022060&l=37a57&id=77800450

Being sick blues...

(My class on pirate day)


Well, I finally caught my first disease from the little joys of my life. I've got a pretty bad chest cold accompanied with laryngitis. My kids thought it was pretty hilarious that I couldn't talk on Friday. Good thing they had a grammar test. Mason thinks this is a perfect opportunity to make fun of me, while enjoying the quiet...school has been going along pretty well; I can't believe it's already been 7 weeks! My class won the Reach for the Stars reading incentive program that we were participating in. My class brought in almost $500 from reading pledges. Thanks to everyone who supported me. I am especially excited because it means I won a day off from school. My class is now participating in a program called Book It! I'm excited about this, because I did it when I was in school. Basically if the students meet their reading goal they get a certificate to Pizza Hut who supplies a free pizza and other awards. I think I love teaching 3rd-5th grade the most because it's when children first learn to love independent reading. I've introduced the world of Judy Blume and Beverly Cleary to some of them, but others will never give up on Goosebumps or Junie B. Jones...

Mason's been super busy with pilot training , as usual. Last night on a walk he described it as so: "Remember the worst day of college where you had 5 exams to prepare for? It's like that everyday, with pop quizzes once in awhile too." So yeah, I think it's time to send in some brownies to the flight room. Mason's one ride away from his solo formation flight-yea! (a little scary though) and he should have a solo out and back this week.

The weather here has been FANTASTIC! I can say that I really enjoy Texas in October. The weather has been high 70s/low 80s and sunny with a gentle breeze. :-) Any of you Chicagoans are free to visit in the winter months.

Last week while cutting the grass Mason found a little baby bunny in our back yard. We decided to bring the baby bunny inside and make sure it was healthy...well, within a day we had a nice cage supplied with bunny food, alphalfa hay, and water. The bunny thought this was a step up from the bathtub. The bunny was getting pretty comfortable with our touch after a few days, but after a week she didn't make it. Maybe we killed her, that wouldn't be good...but she was a cute bunny, we'll miss her. Suonny Jr. was her name since the adult rabbit who frequents our backyard weeds is Sonny.

Last Friday, we hosted a teacher and family BBQ at our house. It was SO FUN! It was a great way to relax with co-workers after a long week of work. The one bad thing about leaving Texas will be leaving all the nice people we've met here.

A good end to a busy week (month...)

A recap of life in Phase III (T-38) of pilot training...
Our flight (Mob flight) got finished with our last contact checkride this week. I finished in the first wave of people to check, and I passed with 6 downgrades (a good score basically). We had a lot of people bust daily sorties because of miscellaneous reasons but I managed to get by with no busts (although some days I don't know why the instructor didn't bust me). During the contact phase, they had us doing instrument simulator profiles to get us started in that phase. So after I finished my contact checkride, I was already started well into the instrument phase. With that in mind, our IPs decided to push the 5 of us who had finished contact through our instrument rides so that we could get to the cross country and try to get the flight overall back on schedule (because of weather and an optomistic syllabus, we're always behind). The five of us students all planned out the flights to get us to Las Vegas (Nellis AFB) along with a bunch of back up routes. But for every reason in the book, things kept getting changed. And to narrow things down, there was the hurricane to the South and East. Also, finding destinations for the T-38 in the summer months is tricky because we require such a long runway.

So after a week of having a sim and flight each day (at least), we showed up Friday morning with a handful of shaky plans for getting out to Las Vegas. Thunderstorms started to pop up along our optimum route, so then we started looking at even more back up plans. A couple hours into it, and only 30 minutes before we were supposed to takeoff, 3 of the 5 pairs (student+IP) decided to drop out and just do a normal local sortie. For the other guy and me, our IPs were a lot more motivated to get us in the air and out to Nellis. So we drew up some plans really quick and stepped to the jet before anything else could change on us. Three legs later, we arrived safely at Nellis - completely exhausted. At each of our stopovers, we seemed to come up with completely new plans for the next leg. And with instrument flying, the exhaustion is more mental than physical because you're basically heads-down, staring at all the gages and you have a bag over the rear canopy where you sit so you can't just look outside and see where everything is.

So we got to Vegas, had a good weekend there, got no studying done, and the weather was perfect for our three hop back to Sheppard. So of course when we all showed up for work on Monday, the IPs saw that there were only two of us who had completed the cross country (and were therefor the only ones who could possibly go to checkrides at that point), we got thrown into the overdrive schedule. Me and the other guy flew everyday and did all the last simulators, AND we took the instrument phase test (we take a written test every phase to sort of go along with the checkride) AND we took the Air Force instrument refresher exam which is an annual requirement once you get wings. I passed the phase test with an 88 (needed an 85 to pass, yikes) and then I only got one question wrong on the other exam. So Thursday, I flew my last out&back instrument sortie (where we go to somewhere close enough to get in one flight with practice approaches, refuel, and then come home). I didn't finish debriefing until like 6pm and I was out the door at 6:10. And sure enough, the only flights available from the checkride people required that we be ready to go briefing at 6:30 am Friday. So we hustled and made all our phone calls to the places we were planning to, showed up, and got it done Friday morning.

And with all that, it turned out to be a great checkride. I made a few mistakes (judgement errors basically / not procedural), but that only cost me 2 downgrades, and I got an Outstanding overall so that was amazing. It was especially rewarding because this checkride is one of the scores that counts a little more towards our assignment in December. After two weeks of extreme business, I get to relax a little this weekend and say hello to Ellen who's been putting up with it for all this time.

Oh yeah- this week I also flew my Zoom & Boom ride. I accomplished one of my life goals and set a new personal aviation milestone
Fastest speed - Mach 1.11
Highest altitude that I've flown at - 41,000'

We had academics and briefings about supersonic flight so I had a pretty good expectation of how it would go. Unfortunately, you don't get to see the cool air bubble form as you break the sound barrier. And since you're in the jet and at the front end of the speed, you don't hear and sonic boom (that goes out and away from the jet). And really, you don't even feel any change in the controls. There's a little flickering on some of the gauges because of the airflow change, and then after Mach 1, the aircraft takes a lot more stick movement to get the jet to react. It also accelerates a lot quicker once you break through Mach .98-1.01 since that's where there's a lot of crazy aerodynamics happening. I won't be going supersonic in the T-38 anymore (not intentionally anyway) since this is just a special syllabus item. But now, I can say I have flown faster than the speed of sound. So boo ya.

Next up: Formation flying. Fun stuff, lots of procedures to learn, lots of concepts to visualize. And a whole lot less room for errors.

After formation is advanced formation (which is another phase that counts for a lot towards your assignment). Usually assignment night ends up being after everyone completes their advanced form checkrides, so that basically means 2 more checkrides until I find out my assignment. And then before graduation, we'll do low-level navigation (which is also in formation).

"This time- faster and funnier"

Is it December yet?

Lots has been going on lately. It seems like time is racing past! It seems like it should be December already! School has gotten off to a great start. I really enjoy my class. I have 22 students. They are all very loving, and so hilarious. I had a pretty rotten day yesterday, but I got through because I kept in mind what one of my students had told me. He came into school and as we were going into the classroom and he stopped and said, wow Mrs. Kehs, you look really beautiful today! Ah, children. Gotta love them. Today we started the first day of making paper mache globes. The kids loved it because we were doing hands on work, and they got to be all messy. Tomorrow we'll be painting, which I can just see now...one step at a time...

As many of you know, my class has been participating in a reading incentive program called Reach for the Stars sponsored by Usborne books. They are earning flat pledges for reading 300 minutes or more in two weeks. Almost all 22 of my students are participating. 50% of the money they earn goes towards books that they get to pick out and take home. The other 50% goes to our classroom. Last year we brought in over $600 in just my classroom. We're hoping to bring in $1000 this year. I'm joining my students and have been reading to get pledges. Even scrooge Kehs pledged $5.oo. Thanks to everyone who's been supporting me!

Mason has been so busy and stressed lately. He promised to write an in-depth post this weekend. But a few of his highlights: he spent last weekend flying to and from Las Vegas for a cross country. He flew supersonic this week, (a life goal of his), and he's got his T-38 Instrument Checkride this Friday. A busy time! Once instrument phase is over he'll be on to formation--very fun, but again, stressful.

Meanwhile, I baked a yummy looking cake for the boys tomorrow. We're still on the path to getting junk food out of the house, mainly sweets. It's hard when I love to bake so much. I've been trying to put my efforts towards cooking though. Next week we're having some teachers from my school over for dinner, and the week after is Rosh Hashananah, so there will be lots of baking for sure.

As for some fun family news, today is my Dad's b-day, exciting, but he informed me he had a great day on the boat. Mason's sister's due date was September 5th, but the baby likes his/her home so much she/he is still camping out. We're very excited to meet our new little niece or nephew.

I'm not allowed to comment on the photos, but take a wild guess of who's the pilot in command for most of them. :-D

Habitat for Humanity

Every training class here at ENJJPT does a community service project before the students graduate, and this weekend Mason's class helped Habitat for Humanity build a house. From 8am-12pm yesterday Mason's class got the entire frame of a house built and even one side put up. I got to go, and I had an amazing time. It was such a rewarding experience to help build someone's house. The woman who was moving into the house was there, and other families in the neighborhood who were getting houses, and they were all so appreciative. In order to get a HFH house, they must put in 300 hours themselves. I think we'd all say we had a great time yesterday!

For more pictures, you can look here: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2021202&l=17db5&id=77800450

Good News

Last Friday Mason passed his T-38 Contact Checkride--WAHOO!!! Because of the good mood this put him in, we were able to go down to Dallas for the day on Saturday and we went to the Dallas Zoo and PF Changs for dinner-YUM! The zoo was really nice, and the weather didn't start getting too hot until the afternoon when were were winding down our visit. We spent the most time with the gibbons, which we learned were actually part of the ape family, not monkey. Maosn and I also discussed that if there was ever a case for evolution, he'd be it. The rest of the weekend, we took easy and took advantage of not having to think too much about school or flying. Mason had a touch of a cold on Sunday but fortunately a nap seemed to cure him of his symptoms.

Yesterday we were wery fortunate to get a touch of Gustav our way and we had a GORGEOUS 75 degree day, a little gloomy, but the break in temperaure was worth it. I think a full moon must be approaching however, because my kids were acting crazy today. The fourth graders are reading the book Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing. The main character's father works for a company called Juicy-O, so yesterday and today they were in teams and had to make their own fruit juice, and then have teachers taste test, we also made graphs about our favorite juices. It was pretty fun, but messy. Today in Texas HIstory class with my 3rd and 4th graders we learned some songs about America and Texas. I taught them the "Star-Spangled Banner," we listened to "America the Beautiful," and we sung "Deep in the Heart of Texas." I posted a video from the class, the boys with their dances and twangs were pretty hilarious, but impressive. Texas idol anyone?

1st Day of School

The first day of school went really well. In short, 21/27 students showed up (I'm happy about that) and I had no crying students. I'm pretty exhausted, so this is a short post, but I had to put up my first day of school pictures. Don't we look great at 6:45am!?!

2 cameras, 4 chargers, 20 batteries...

...and none that are charged! Mason and I went mini golfing the other night, and while we thought this would be a good opportunity to take some blog pictures, lo and behold, out batteries were dead and the spares were in the car. (I'm sure my Dad is shaking his head at that one). Mason and I enjoyed a pleasant evening in Wichita Falls going to The Plex, which has mini gold, bumper cars, go carts, arcade etc...but we just stuck to mini golf. It seemed like the teen hang out, and we wondered if we looked old to them, and while we tried to guess their ages, we hoped they didn't think we were old. Mason and I don't feel old, but often wonder how others perceive us...although tonight we were out to dinner and the waitress commented that we were out on a school night, and asked if we had school tomorrow. Mason pointed at me and said, she does. When we revealed that I was a teacher, the waitress laughed and simply said I didn't look old enough.

I can't believe that I start my second year teaching tomorrow. I'm sure another blog post will follow soon after. I'm really excited, and a lot less nervous than last year. The only thing I'm a little concerned with is having enough seats, since my roster was up to 27 last I checked. It will all work out though. I didn't have to do much work this weekend which was nice, so I did a lot of cleaning the house. Yesterday we went to a BBQ at a friends house. They are moving to Louisiana next week, Phil will be flying B52s. We also attended our friends son's first birthday party, that was pretty fun, although we left before cake. :-(

Mason studied most of the day today, and we ran to the casino tonight, but didn't end up with much. The casino trip was followed by a visit to Walmart, where we saw far too many people we knew. Normally when I want to buy something, I have to make my case to Mason, explaining why I want the item, why it's most cost effective and mostly why I can't do with out the item...well this must have rubbed off on him, when he started telling me that he needs a new pair of shorts. He first started by saying he thought he could buy some because he bought his last pair of shorts in 2004! His blue shorts were now almost purple (the only ones that fit), two pairs of jean shorts must have been bought to small, and never fit, a pair of green pants had holes in the crotch, and his only other jean shorts are covered in paint, and he said I'm embarrassed when he goes out with me. So, I told him, to go ahead, he could even buy two pairs, AND the black socks he had been talking about, but alas, he only got the one pair of shorts. Oh, practical Mason....

Meanwhile, despite small shorts, we have been eating healthy, and working out every day, so we're both ~6 pounds lighter than last Saturday. Go us!

Crazy Times

Tomorrow is parent orientation at school, and I must say compared to last school year, I'm very calm going into this year. Mason might disagree, but I've tried to get a good start on my planning this summer, and with regular insomnia I was able to plan out the first 9 weeks of school. I'm hoping this in turn will eliminate much of the stress I felt last year, starting teaching a month in to school. On Friday afternoon, Mason and I ran some errands and I took him to see my classroom, he was pretty impressed (I think). It looks pretty cool and I've had lots of the parents complement me on it. I'm excited to start off the school year; so far I have 26 in my class but that can always change. It will be nice to see familiar faces tomorrow evening and meet my new students. I think that I might treat myself to a manicure tomorrow before the orientation, but only if I can hit the gym first.

I've really committed to sticking to a weight loss/exercise plan, and am determined once and for all to lose this access baggage! Mason and I went to the gym both days this weekend, and I ate very healthy. We'll see how I can make it through the week. My goal is to work out a minimum of 30 minutes each day. Mason thinks I'm crazy going around writing motivational things on our bathroom mirrors with dry erase markers, but whatever works, I say. Some other women from work and I have formed a support group for each other, and the accountability will be good for us. Mason is a good one to have at home as well.

Last week, Mason didn't get to fly too much, once he soloed they pushed a few other guys ahead who hadn't soloed yet, and we had some rain...but, he's scheduled to fly tomorrow. The flight is on informal release now, which unlike it's name, is actually a good thing. The guys can leave once the 2nd set of flights steps to their jets, so if Mason doesn't have to fly he can leave earlier. This hopefully will give him some more time to study at home and workout. Today he studied a bit, and cut his hair. When I commented that he was getting quite a few grey hairs, his only comment was, "gee, I wonder who could have caused those..." (can you believe it!)

We had a lucky run at the casino last week. Mason won $34. That was a big winning. We tried a new restaurant in town, since Thursday has become our new date night; unfortunately the place wasn't very good. Oh well. Friday and Saturday night we went to our friends house to play Wii Rock Band. Mason wasn't too excited to go at first, but then I had to drag him home at 12:30am. I must say, it was pretty fun, I never got to try the guitar, but the drums and singing was fun. Mason even sang!!! He said it was a once in 5 year event so I shouldn't get used to it. Too bad...We had a good time hanging out with our friends.

We were quite jealous/sad that we couldn't be in Chicago this weekend for the annual Air and Water Show, but from all the reports, it seems like it was really cool! Two of the IPs in Mason's flight flew T-38s in the show. Mason tried to convince them to let him ride in the backseat, but they didn't go for it. Someday Mason can be in his own air show, but for now 4 solos, and 3 dual rides before his first checkride! Wow!

Oh yes, as for a weather update, we had an amazing upper-70s weekend! It was perfect!

T-38 Solo!

Today, I had my first solo in T-38! We had a couple guys in our flight scheduled to solo in the morning but the weather wasn't cooperating, so nobody solo'd in the first line of jets. I flew dual and we were in and out of clouds the whole time. Then it started to clear up in the afternoon and the weather status changed to allow solos in the pattern only (as opposed to unrestricted where solos can go out to the practice areas and do acro). So with the probability of bad weather tomorrow, our flight launched 4 initial solos and the other flight in our class launched a few of theres. So the 6 or 7 of us all stepped out and did laps in the traffic pattern practicing our landings. It was a solid ride, nothing scary, nothing broke, no emergencies. It was cool too since the clouds were only 500 feet above us or so and there were small showers all over the place. You could see the rain showers, all only a mile or so around, so we all were basically flying in between the cylinders of rain and picking up so rain here and there along the way. I even got to fly through a rainbow. It didn't really look like much as I went through it, but the thought of it was pretty neat.

In the T-38 phase, there's a lot more solo rides. Unfortunately, there's less rides overall before the first checkride. So I've only got about 4 solos and 4 dual rides to get ready to take my contact checkride. Every flight is short since the jet burns fuel so much (flights over 1:15 or so are pretty rare). And when weather is bad, we get even more restrictions, so there's no time to take a lap in the practice area and think about what you're doing or talk about the maneuver you just screwed up. You step out with a compact plan, execute it as best you can with lots of flexing here and there to make it all work out (ATC, weather, and everything else always changes things), and then you rush back home and debrief the whole thing for an hour.

Unlike the solos in T-37, we'll eventually get the chance to do solo instrument flights in the T-38 (fly through the clouds and shoot instrument approaches down to other airports). I've down that in civilian flying, but it's a lot different when you're going 5 miles a minute. Everyone in our flight has been pretty stressed out in this first contact/visual flying stage with a handful of busted flights (Unsatisfactory). "Emergencies" also seem a lot more prevalent these days. I guess it's just because we're all flying so much and so the odds just work out that way, but you can never let your guard down. Pretty much all of the emergencies have been calm low-threat situations where something just isn't quite working the way it's supposed to. But every day has its potential. And we always train for the emergency to hit in the worst weather, when you're probably solo, and have no fuel left to play around with. I've been lucky so far with getting good jets and having relatively decent performance out of myself, but I'm still just trying to keep up in the jet. Next step, in a couple weeks, checkride.

On a side note, our last assignment night here at Sheppard brought TWO F-22 drops. There's still a lot of U-28s and NSAs (which suck). And although having F-22s dropped to fresh 2nd LTs is cool, our class has a feeling that there won't be any for us since they only drop them in spurts of 3 classes or so and that puts us just past the timeline. So I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the F-15C drops come back since their training units have been getting back in gear lately.

And it's HOT! I have no idea how high the temperature gets when the canopy is closed and I've got my flight suit, G suit, parachute, and helmet on, but I sweat buckets every day. Texas sucks!

Is it Saturday yet?

Well, no big news for this post. I've gotten about a third of the way through my lesson planning for the first quarter of school. I'm excited about this, because my plans should take me through the end of October, although trying to lesson plan during the school year never works out as well. Check out my (still in development) class website at http://mrskehs.tripod.com (*you probably want to turn the pop up blocker on). I used this site last year, but am starting to make changes or this year. I found out that I will for sure be teaching 3rd/4th homeroom, 3rd-5th Reading/Language Arts, and Texas History...that should be interesting.

Mason is busy in pilot ville. He hasn't flown for two days, but is back to the flight line tomorrow. I think he's looking forward to the weekend again. I know I am, and I'm not working these days. Tomorrow night (Friday) there is an assignment night, so that will be fun with all the rumors lately. There's news that an F22 might be dropped which would be awesome! (for those guys, anyways)

It's official...

...I am now a permanently certified Texas teacher (well at least until 2014) YEA!!!!

It is HOT HOT HOT

Again, another weekend FLEW by. I can't believe it's the last week in July; it seems like the time is flying by. Hopefully once school starts the school year will wiz into December. I think that Mason and I are both equally anxious/nervous about his assignment in December, but we're both recognizing that there is a long road to travel before we get there. Mainly for Mason, but it takes a lot on my part too. I think we've really had to work on our relationship, since with the military comes a lot of give and take; but I think that's we're both really growing and maturing in our relationship together and in our personal lives. Sometimes the military life (schedule) is really hard but I'm really glad that I have Mason to share my life with. I'm really glad that we were brought together, and we have this life together. Despite my (our) grumblings about this or that we're extremely fortunate to have all that we do.


Friday night, Mason and I were able to (finally) spend some quality time with each other. As I mentioned in previous blogs, Mason wasn't getting home until around 9:45pm every night, so this made it hard to have any time together. We had a nice dinner at Olive Garden, and headed up to the casino. We walked away $8.00 richer so that was a plus. Sadly to say Saturday was mostly slept away...I think we both caught up on some much needed sleep. Today we both worked on work. We had friends for a BBQ and they brought their 3 week old baby, so cute. Mason and I both chuckled when our friend Mike came in and said, "when I saw you walking out to the BBQ with a big plate of meat, I was so happy..."

When we weren't dozing off, we were hiding out in the air conditioning. Walking across the street to the mailbox was enough time in the heat for us. The temperature continues to be boiling hot...the thermometer read 110 degrees today in our backyard (not in direct sunlight.) I know that I comment on this almost every post, but I really just didn't really believe that it could get this hot in somewhere that wasn't a desert. I guess... We're just trying to stay cool...

Mason's still on late goes this week which is okay, but therefore means that the two weeks following will bring early early goes. (report time 6am)---wakeup is usually an hour prior. Yikes! I've been doing some lesson planning although not as much as I'd like. Tuesday I have to go into school so that might remind me that I need to get moving on the school work. Other than that, our house is spic and span and I've been playing around with different hairdos. I really don't know how people spend so much time on their hair; I'm lucky if I usually have my hair dry and up in a ponytail when I leave for school, let alone a perfect hair do...ah well...

Randoms

A random middle of the night (4am) post.

1. Here are some photos of us, most have been put up on here already though

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2019827&l=af427&id=77800450

2. The military housing office recently changed their name from GMH (general military housing) to Balfour Beatty Communities...while most people didn't really care about this the recent neighborhood name change has brought up some discussion. We went from Capehart housing, to freedom estates...let's just say we like that as much as freedom fries.

3. Mason has the busiest day tomorrow- keep your fingers crossed he does well. Schedule for the day includes:
8am-PFT (physical training test_
8:55am-morning brief & standup
EPQ (emergency procedures quiz, in which they were told to study EVERYTHING)
11am- EP simulator ride
1430-Instrument flight
possible academics

The perks to this 12 hour day...it's Friday so he'll have the weekend ( or part of it) to recover.

4. I am (obviously) still bit by the insomnia bug. I've been catching up on sleep between 5am-1pm, so at least that's something.

5. It's still FREAKIN' hot here!!! 104 this week and weekend. Mason is pushing for an Alaskan move next...we'll see about that.

I love va-cay

I went to see the new "Mamma Mia" movie with my friend Kim today...it was great! It was the perfect chick-flick. Anyone who likes ABBA, Meryl Streep or Pierce Brosnan with no shirt on should defiantly go see the movie. I really enjoyed it. It's one of those, feel good movies. There's actually several movies on my to-see list, but I'm not sure how many I'll actually get to. Apparently I was so far behind, a movie I though was in theaters now (Becoming Jane) was actually released almost a year ago...oh well...

Mason had an exhausting day at pilot training. I feel bad that I can't take some of the work load off, or sleep some extra hours for him, but I try to do what I can on the home front. Mason didn't have to report until noon, but that resulted in him getting home at 9:30pm. Tomorrow he'll have more of a 10am-9pm day. Flying in the morning and having a simulator ride is as exhausting as two flights, he tells me. I trust that Mason is an excellent pilot, and each day he gets more and more confident, but I feel more "concerned" or worrisome when he flys the T38. I think that part of my worry is that there are way more T38 crashes. The crash that happened here a few months ago is still lingering. The crash happened on the student pilots 4th flight; Mason has his 4th flight tomorrow. I imagine I'll be more calm once I know he's safely landed. Meanwhile, Mason is scheduled to fly every day this week unless weather precludes it. The weather forecasts show 100+ all week.

While the weather here has been hot, we're fortunate to be in our house. Friends of ours who moved to Corpus Christi to fly T-44s, just got moved into their house and now have to evacuate due to the hurricane. They are hoping that nothing will be destroyed and that they can return to their home in time for her baby to be born, (she's due August 1st). Friends of ours just had twins...we are keeping all our friends with newborns in our thoughts and prayers.

As one of my personal achievements; I passed my third Texas Educators exams...so I've submitted my application for my "permanent" Texas teaching license. It's cool that I have two states down, and many states accept IL and TX licenses.

My next personal achievement will be overcoming insomnia...I've been bitten by the bug again, and although I'm not sleeping much during the day, I certainly am awake at night. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to focus on school planning. It's amazing how much time one person can waste surfing the net.

Light the burners baby, it's back to 12 hour training days!

I don't remember the last time I (Mason) posted so here's a quick recap-

I passed the centrifuge so I was good to go for pulling Gs in the T-38. We had a few weeks of academics that were boring, but yet still overwhelming. And last week, we hit the flight line! I got my dollar ride and then my second ride in the T-38 last week. In short, it's freakin amazing.

New aviation milestones:
Personal top speed: 500 kts
Most Gs pulled (in the centrifuge): 7.5 (That's like 1600 pounds of Mason!)
First time flying a pressurized aircraft
First time flying a jet with afterburners (sweet!)
First time flying an aircraft with tandem seating (one in front of the other)
First time flying an aircraft with a HUD (Head Up Display)
First time flying with a G-suit

It's a ton of new stuff to learn so I'm struggling to keep up on all the studying. But getting to fly this jet is a huge honor. Below, one Mason Kehs (Cadet Third Class at the time I believe), about 4 years ago, having only my private pilot license, standing in front of a T-38 visiting Champaign's airport.

And now... it's mine!

Everything in the plane happens a lot faster so it's hard to keep up. By the time you get into the training areas to do your practice, you've only 20 or 30 minutes of fuel to work with. The flights only last just over an hour and every minute is just one thing after another. It's difficult to get used to flying a "high-performance fighter-type aircraft" but it's a blast since every turn is treated like it should be a max-performance turn. There's no more floating around at 30 degrees of bank. If you're flying North and need to go South, you roll sideways, pull to the "tickle", roll right side up, and you're done. Wearing a G-suit is a little strange too but it's a good reminder to do your strain as the G load is increasing. Otherwise, you get so focussed on the parameters of whatever maneuver you're doing, you forget that you need to take care of breathing. The syllabus is pretty fast-paced so I've only got another 9 rides or so until I solo. And after that, the pressure just keeps on going. There's 5 phases in the T-38: Contact (basic aircraft handling, visual maneuvers), Instruments (flying in the clouds and shooting approaches into other airports), Formation (the basics of flying with another T-38), Advanced Formation (taking things to another level with more complex maneuvering), and Low level (two T-38s in formation, 500 feet above the ground, 400 knots, WAHOO!)

So that's all the good news, the bad news is that the stakes are pretty high around ENJJPT lately. After we finished the T-37 phase, we had one member of our class get retracked to T-44s at Corpus Christi, TX (which is the trainer for C-130s). It was pretty unheard of for that to happen, particularly here at ENJJPT. But then this weekend, we found out one of the two guys who had washed back a class during the T-37 phase is now also getting sent to the T-44. So that makes two classes in a row to have someone get sent there. It's definitely not a horrible fate to fly the C-130 (especially when compared the UAVs and U-28s), but it's just a hard turn for all of us here at ENJJPT who come in with big dreams of fighter this and fighter that. I'm trying to not get caught up with the assignments too much and just focus on the task at hand. All in all, I just feel really good about getting to fly the T-38 and I'm trying my hardest not to mess that up.

On the lighter side of life, Ellen finished knitting her hat

So now she's back to the needles to start her scarf. By the time she finishes that, maybe we'll actually be living somewhere where it gets colder than 50 degrees in the winter...

Back to studying now, if no later, I'll post again when I do my contact checkride. Keep your fingers crossed!