Posts Tagged ‘USAF’

• Training

  Date: 2010.08.25 | Category: Flying!, work | Response: 0

  We’re entrenched in academics and its all fairly standard stuff. For the past week they’ve constantly reminded the new airmen that if they fail, they’ll RTP (return to parent). There is no reclassification and there are no second chances. We actually had an airman come talk to my class about failing – he was headed home as soon as his paperwork was processed. Home to what?

  Why wouldn’t you simply put in the required time? I’m putting my time in – the standard for me is perfection. I’m doing my damnedest but I know if I had to I’ve still got a little more in me. I’ve got 48 hours prior to my first test and I’ve got 80% of the book memorized. I think I’ll manage this test with little difficulty.

  Our training hasn’t been exactly easy – we’ve had a hard time staying awake and we’ve had a hard time staying in class as the schedule is designed. The homework, on the other hand, is a piece of cake. We’ve had an issue over the past two days that has pulled our instructor out of the class for extended periods of time. Earlier this afternoon one of our class members left. An airman decided that aircrew and subsequently the Air Force was not for him. He’ll be returning to parent as soon as the paperwork is processed. I don’t know what his reasons were but some people aren’t cut out for the military. I think that he was one of those people that simply knew that he couldn’t cut it. In the end, he saved uncle Sam a couple hundred thousand dollars by raising the white flag.

• The cassette tape effect

  Date: 2010.03.30 | Category: desert, work | Response: 0

  In the first of many instances of dating myself, I’m using a metaphor for cassette tapes as my post title. What in the world is he going to be talking about? Read on intrepid explorer of the internet.

  Years ago I had a cassette player and I would listen to tapes for hours on end. For quite some time I borrowed my parents but one year I received my own – it was an upgraded model and had an auto reverse. I would listen to the same tapes repeatedly until the material started to warp. After a while the batteries would wear down and everything would start to get comically funny as the motors would run out of juice. The tape would slow down until it eventually stopped.

  Time feels like that cassette player on its last bit of juice – it is dragging. We’ve powered through most of our work and I’m digging for something to keep me occupied. Yes, I still have a little bit to go in each of my classes but its hard to study without break throughout the day. I need something to break up the monotony. We joke about it all the time and we’re sure that a bunch of work will be dumped upon us at any moment. I’m waiting for that moment – I’m waiting for those batteries in my cassette player to be replaced…. still waiting….. and waiting…

• Routine

  Date: 2010.01.31 | Category: desert, rants | Response: 0

  We all have routines that guide us through our day. My routine at home is far different from the one that I have when I deploy. My routine on the weekend is far different than what I have on weekdays. One constant always remains regardless of the situation – I attempt to adhere to my routine all of the time.

  I’ve been “out of the pocket” for the past few days and my routine has been absolutely destroyed. I have been waking up two hours later, not working out (don’t have the necessary shoes – At Balad you can walk in and workout in the shoes you are wearing as long as we aren’t in mudcon. At Sather you must carry your gym shoes with you – I only have one pair of tennis shoes with me so I can hardly carry a second pair. Sure, I have my boots and I thought about wearing them in and changing but I also have a transportation issue. Here, unlike Balad, I can’t walk everywhere. In fact, its almost a three mile trip from where we are staying to the rest of the base. ), eating terribly (I don’t have any motivation without working out), and generally accomplishing nothing. We finished our required tasks yesterday and have been waiting ever since to find transportation back “home”. We’ve been all over the “camp victory base complex” and we’ve almost gotten good at the navigation.

  I did get to take a tour of the “Victory over America” Palace. Saddam thought that since he was still in power after the gulf war that he should be a victor – so, he built a new palace for himself. This palace, unlike some of the others, was left unfinished when the war started. Our boys in the sky did a little renovation with a couple of 500lb JDAMs. I took a BUNCH of pictures. I’ll have to upload them at some point in the future.

  I can only hope I can resume my routine tomorrow. Sure, its not exciting but it’s what gets me through my day and makes the time fly by.

• This isn’t the Hilton

  Date: 2010.01.20 | Category: desert | Response: 2

  This place isn’t the Hilton, Sheraton, or Best Western. Think of it as a scattered Motel 6… that sublets your room to other people.

  I wish were sleeping in tents. Really, I wish we had tents instead of containerized housing units. First and foremost, I could have some privacy as its fairly easy to segment off a section of a room so that it is yours. This space belongs to you day or night. There is nobody else sleeping in there when you have your day off. You don’t feel bad when you need to go into your room and grab something. The guy that works nights (and who happens to be sleeping) is by far the lightest sleeper I have ever come across. I sleep through almost everything – people banging around in the room, lights getting turned on, controlled detonations by EOD, and fighter jets screaming down the runway.

  Sure, the heating/cooling system in a tent isn’t entirely optimal but the tent does have the opportunity to breath a little. The night sleeper likes to turn off the air during the day and get the room nice and cozy… and he likes to make it smell like warm human ass. That smell you notice from the unwashed masses at your local dollar store or Walmart – yep, that’s the smell I’m talking about.

  Oh well, at least they feed me well and the only thing I have to complain about it a slightly smelly light sleeper.

  I’m doing a slightly different job this time around and everything has been new for me – new is good – new is distracting. I’m working in the inspection section so if it comes in or goes out of the bomb dump I get my hands on it. We are the nexus of the bomb dump.

  The term bomb dump sounds terrible to people that directly dissect the words. Its not like a garbage dump where things are left randomly. We have a collection of warehouses, pads, revetments, and buildings where assets are stored in a neat and orderly fashion. We don’t have a death wish so we keep things clean and we make sure that not too much of explosive A gets next to explosive B. If explosive A should catch on fire we could have an extremely bad day.

  Unrelated note – ever Google your name? Found this old article from the base paper. A few spots down I found another link. I don’t live a particularly private life – not many people from my generation do either.

• We’re gonna be busy as hell

  Date: 2008.06.13 | Category: Life as we know it | Response: 1

  This is going to be a taxing weekend. I get out of work early to eat dinner with Jessica’s family (who recently joked that I might as well call them in-laws – you can draw whatever conclusion you wish from that remark) prior to her graduation ceremony from Bates (technical school) where she is working on a Biotechnology associates degree. She gets to walk today but she still has about 6 weeks left of school. She should be done with the biology portion in the next week or two but she has a few other classes to finish up the degree. I’ve been quite unhappy with the way she describes how the program is ran. I often feel that they are just jerking the students around and delaying classes and projects so they can eek out more tuition. She hasn’t been paying the tuition but her parents have – and I’m sure they hope it reaps large dividends.

  Directly – and I mean directly – after her graduation she’s off to the edge of Ranier National park for Jenny’s (her best friend) wedding. She’ll play the role of bridesmaid for the event. She’ll miss the rehearsal but she’s had some experience in the role so I’m sure she’ll be fine winging it. I’ll leave Saturday afternoon to head to the ceremony. I’ll have to leave afterwards as I am on standby on this three day weekend. Why a three day weekend? My base (home of the 62AW) has recently gone 62 days without a DUI and Monday has been declared a “down” day. It’s not really a down day because they’ve scheduled work for the flight line and I have a part to deliver so that it can get done. So, its not a three day weekend for everyone.

  Sunday will probably spent at her parents house for fathers day. They’ve (her parents) tried to coerce her into preparing dinner – she’s thinking about ribs – and I’m thinking that it sounds like an excellent idea.

  The next two weekends are surprisingly empty of plans but after that we’ve got the 4th, then two weeks of nothing, and then a camping trip to somewhere near a massive salty body of water. Its going to be a busy summer and this weekend is going to be one of the busiest.

• I’m so glad to be home

  Date: 2008.05.12 | Category: Life as we know it, desert | Response: 0

  While I haven’t yet reached the west coast I have arrived in America and its quite nice to be back. I’m still rocking the same clothes that I’ve been wearing for the past 60 or so hours. Traveling via military channels seldom goes without a hitch and I had quite a few.

  I was scheduled to leave Iraq on a nice and roomy C-17. We got to the terminal 8 hours before our plane was scheduled to depart (standard procedure). We got on the buses when the time came for us to depart but were turned around halfway to the plane – our original mission time had been scrubbed due to a sand storm. It dashed our hopes of leaving on time. We waited for 4 hours after our plane was supposed to depart in hopes that the skies would clear – the didn’t. They sent us back to the housing area and told us that we should come back 12 hours later. A few hours after we got back they told us that our flight would be leaving in 6 hours – a full 6 hours early wahoo! It turns out that they lied – we ended up waiting 14 hours at the terminal for our plane to leave.

  While there we experienced the ubiquitous indirect fire attack (they were shooting mortars at us). I was asleep on one of the benches as EVERYONE else in the room hit the deck and covered their heads when the klaxon alarms went off. I didn’t move and inch. I woke up a few hours later and laughed as they told me about what had happened. I laughed because its funny – really – it is. I guess you have to be a complete and total cynic to laugh at sleeping through a mortar attack. Truth is, I’ve slept through dozens of them and was fine. They can’t aim and the base is HUGE! The odds of probability were on my side.

  So – eventually we got stuck on a C-130. I’ve got to say – worst plane ride ever. Most of you have been crammed into economy seats – these seats economy look like first class. In order to cram us all in we had to be creative. The plane had seats along the outside wall of the plane and seats in the center facing out – while seated you were facing someone else. In order to make the fit we had to alternate legs – your leg, the person across from you, your leg, another person across from you – I have a video that I’ll upload later when I have time (and I’m not paying for internet by the hour).

  We got to Al Udeid (in Qatar) and we scheduled to come back to the terminal in 14 hours to catch our flight. We were supposed to meet up at 5PM. The time came near and we were told that we weren’t going to leave as planned. We were told to meet again at 5AM. We got to the terminal at about 0530 expecting to leave around noon. The airplane gods are a vengeful bunch and delayed our plane – again. Our departure time slipped an additional 3 hours. Oh joy!

  I’m finally home and thats the important part – and – I’m only hours away from seeing my girl. I can’t wait.

• Wonderful Deutchland

  Date: 2008.05.11 | Category: Life as we know it | Response: 0

  Well, I’m halfway home and I’m trying to type this out on a keyboard that was made for germans… das ist nicht so gut.

  I’m in Leipzig at the moment and I’ve only got a 8 hour flight ahead of me before I get to my connecting flights in the states. All in all, I’ve had over 36 hours of delays while I have tried to make my way home. The delays ate up my free time in Baltimore but its no big deal – I’m going to get home soon.

• You should read this

  Date: 2008.05.01 | Category: ahh the news, links! | Response: 0

  I’m not in the mood to write a full post so I’m going to give you a file and a couple of links. First off is the best appeal to an Article 15 punishment that I’ve ever seen. Its well worth the read – I had a feeling that I wasn’t the only sarcastic ass in the Air Force.

  Next up is an writer that looks at our nation and its productivity if we completely eliminated obesity. Its more editorial than fact but she does bring the work of a few economists into the mix. Its an interesting read thats worth checking out.

  Last is an article about corn and how it is and isn’t impacting the cost of food and gasoline in our country. For some reason, as an Iowa native, I feel compelled to write about corn whenever I get a chance. My home state only stands in the spotlight once in a great while. Most Americans only hear about Iowa once every four years during the Caucus. It’s a shame that most of them are still unable to point it out on a map.

• The status of Iraq

  Date: 2008.04.09 | Category: ahh the news, desert | Response: 0

  The current situation in Iraq has been under intense scrutiny and debate for some time. We find it ever more in the spotlight as the democrats and republicans use it against each other for political gain. General Petraeus recently gave testimony to the Armed Services Committee and provided them with this slide. I haven’t had a chance to read through the transcript and frankly I don’t care – what concerns me is the information in the slide.

• Slide 2 – Attacks have evened out – to levels we were experiencing in Oct 2004
• Slide 3 – Deaths, both military and civilian, are at levels close to those of Jan 2006
• Slide 4 – Ethno-sectarian violence in Baghdad is at the lowest levels since May 2006 (the limit of the chart we are given)
• Slide 5 – High level attacks roughly match the levels found from May 2006
• Slide 7 – We are on pace to discover and clear 30-40% more weapons than any time in the past
• Slide 8 – Insurgent strongholds have shrunk considerably since December 2006.
• Slide 10 – Most of the nation is under or will be under Iraqi provincial control by the end of 2008
• Slide 11 – The Iraqi police and Army forces should be have significantly more operational Battalions by the end of 2008

The slide does paint a rosy picture – but – as we all know – its not that rosy. The Iraqis really need to man up and take this country over. The longer they squabble over power the more detrimental it will be to their long term prosperity. The charts do not give the entire picture as they only provide a limited time line. We’ve been here for 5 years – I want to see the charts for the entire time on the ground.

Unfortunately, the US military presence will continue until the politicians can come to an agreement. Even after the government begins to function and corruption decreases (which I hope it will) the Iraqis will continue to rely on the US military to do things they cannot – Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR), Combat Search and Rescue, Logistical Support, and Air power.

As bad as I want to see our guys out of the fight – things could fall apart quickly without our help. I just don’t think they are ready despite continued progress – I wonder how longs its going to be before we are done. Waiting sucks – it really does. Its a shame we can’t get the Iraqi government to subcontract our role in their country. How cool would that be? Don’t let them pay us – have them pay Black water, KBR, or whomever they wish. They could regulate and control the situation to their desire until their own military and police forces can handle the country as a whole.

• Death to Bluecoat pt 2

  Date: 2008.04.06 | Category: Series of tubes, desert | Response: 0

  BlueCoat, the web filter ran by the USAF, has caused me much aggravation since my arrival at Balad. I am not the only one that is feeling pain – everyone else is affected by this poorly written web filter. Recently, I discovered a way to circumvent the filter – RSS feeds. Techically, I’m accessing the site information without breaking the terms of service because I am not accessing the site or any restricted content – including all images hosted on that server that could potentially corrupt me (I think the only reason the filter exists is to 1. save bandwidth, 2. block porn, 3. prevent idiots from downloading viruses). RSS stands for really simple syndication – really, I’m not kidding at all. Its the summarized content of a website that is delivered without all of the extra advertising, images, and themes of the full website. You get the good part of the website without all of the crap that slows down your browsing experience. RSS feeds are read and displayed by readers that can be web or desktop based.

  Google – the company that does almost everything – well, they haven’t figured out how to build an electric car that runs for a 1000 miles on a single charge… yet – has a free reader that is quite simple to use. Simply register, subscribe to the websites of your choosing, and read away. The reader allows you to view all feeds or just those that have been recently updated. I’ve added a RSS link that you can see to your right – right below the Askimet spam count. Click on the link and you can easily add my feed to the reader of your choice. You’ll never miss another gripping update – ever – you can rest easily now.

  So – Screw you BlueCoat – I’m going to get my news one way or another.