Ft Rucker Alabama...

About 65 of us from our battallion were sent here on the 23rd of May, to take part in an aviation training exercise(ATX). 30 pilots and other staff personnel are going through the planning and execution process as we simulate flying in Iraq. There are people here from the 108th BN, the people we're replacing in Balad. We're getting some great info on what to expect from living quarters, showers, etc., to all the battlefield intel I can't talk about right now. They will fly with us for about a week to show us the in's and out's of our area of operations. We will basically get new info every day to help us plan our missions, so we can avoid the small arms fire, and the larger and more deadly weapons as well. The preparations to go fly have changed dramatically over the years. You've heard me mention the extra gear we are wearing, well there's also a great deal of computer planning we do. All of our routes, landing zones, personnel to pickup, and last known enemy info is all plotted out before we leave. The more we do this planning both here and at Ft Sill, it boosts our confidence in our ability to get the mission done safely.
I forgot to mention, we are also flying these routes in a simulator. It's a non motion sim, it looks like an aircarft on the inside, but it never moves. We wear a special "virtual reality " helmet...it's heavy, and causes headaches. If you turn your head too fast, you can start to feel ill. No one has been sick yet, but there are sik sacks in the cockpit just in case. The normal sim we fly is a larger full motion sim that lifts up about 15 ft on hydraulics that allow it to turn and bank while we see images on the the 3 window screens. The terrain we see in the sim here is identical to Iraq. Many of the routes we'll fly there, we are flying here in the sim.

Before we left for Ol' Alabamie, we all recieved our final RFI at Sill...rapid fielding issue. It was anything but, it took about 7hrs to get issued yet another duffle bag, and all kinds of cool camping stuff. I mean tactcal battlefield gear. Backpacks, new kevlar helmet, 4 more uniforms, other neat stuff that is mostly for the ground troops, but you know Uncle Sugar...he loves all of us soldiers so everybody gets the same stuff. The only problem now is, we had to bring it back to our already overcrowded rooms...now we have even more crap piled up to the ceiling... Oh boy!

When we get back to Sill on the 3rd, we'll go back to reverse cycle again, for more nvg training, and applying what we learned here. We have a big Battalion size xercise to complete as we slowly draw near to the end of our training in OK.

NVG gunnery - we completed the majority of our crew chief door gunnery, and I'll send some pics for my son to post....they're a little blurry, but it was the best my camera would focus thru the goggles. I have a video from another guy I'll try to let you see that. Pretty cool watching the tracers (phosphorous coated bullet that burns brightly, visible day or night). 1 bullet in 5 is a tracer...helps you see where you are shooting, to hit the target better.

Forgot to tell you that there are a lot of folks training at Sill besides us... Marines are here learning artillery, I've seen soldiers from all over the world here too. Kind of ineresting. Accept at meal time...those darn Marines...eat all the food. Just kidding, they all salute me like crazy, and look like they'll drop and give me 20 if I asked them to. I've had some conversations with a number of them... I really have enjoyed talking to people from all over. You meet some neat folks if you take the time to say hi. Anybody who knows me, knows I'm not afraid to talk to anyone... I should mention our food is pretty darn good at Sill. We have civ contractors who run the place, and with another aviation bn here (medevac) getting ready to deploy, they feed about 650 folks every meal in about 2hrs. They're really busy, and most of us say thanks...
I hear it's been a little cool at home, but as you might geuss it's real "toasty" down here...not bad when I compare it to August in Kuwait and the rough adjustment that's going to be.
I forgot to tell you when we were through with our first day of training here in Al, I actually got to change into civilian clothes and go out to eat... Yahoo!! Yippee!! I'm suprised you didn't hear me scream for joy when I got to go to the Walmart here in Enterprise... Tears rolled down my cheeks as the semi toothless senior citizen with tobacco stained clothes said "how ya'll do'in tonite?" I almost gave him a big hug...

Well, I need to mosey on I've got some flight planning to do for the sim tommorrow. I miss everyone, and am so glad that part one is almost done...(ask my daughter Stef about the 3 part journey).. Some days are rather difficult, but time is moving right along... I will take a moment on Mon (Mem Day) and remember the brave people who lost their lives in WW2 to secure the freedoms and democracy we have today. We are blessed to have a couple in my church at home who both served... He was at Omaha beach, and she was a Rosie the riveter at an aircarft manufacturing plant in ST Paul. (Our old guard hangar).
God Bless you all, and be alert at home...everyone should pay attention, there are still people who want to do us harm, simply because we're westerners... Thanks.

Reverse cycle...

That's what we call it when we are working from 2pm to 4am. I flew 4 nights in a row from 12-0230...boy that was rough. Fun flying the area, we have simulated missions both on and off the reservation, to other airports. All while wearing NVG's, but very tiring. The goggles are pretty cool, it's amazing how we get used to them. While hovering over people to hook up a sling load, or hovering into hot gas (refueling while the aircraft is still running), I peak under the goggles, and it's pitch black, can't see a thing! Amazing technology!
Speaking of technology, did you know if you left click on the photos in my blog they are enlarged for easier viewing? I found that out by accident the other day...nicer to see some of the photos up close...

Back to goggles...it would be a little easier to stay caught up on rest if we werent' tied to a bus schedule. I miss breakfast now, and have to be ready to get on the bus by 1120 for lunch. I've planned on getting a catnap in the afternoon before heading out to the hangar to begin flight planning duties, but then something else comes up, more training, a meeting or whatever. So I have to get on another bus to go to a quick supper (relatively speaking), then back to the flight line. Time goes by kind of fast like this, but you get pretty wiped out, and then you get a reset day to reset your duty and flight hours clock. So, today is a reset day, and tommorrow we start flying the training tables for the door gunnery at one of the ranges. I've been imagining what it's going to be like flying under goggles, navigating, talking on the radios, and watching out for individuals popping up from anywhere trying to do us harm... I'm sure we'll learn how to look for them, we do everything in the "crawl, walk, run modes". Right now, some of the things we have to look forward too are a bit overwhelming...
We did get to do some daytime flying , to learn some combat flight manuevers...to help us get out of the way, or to better engage some targets. Kind of fun, wacky steep turns, and banks. We'll be out trying it under goggles next week to get that task signed off. We also had to take a couple written tests on aircraft limitations, and emergency procedures... Have'nt seen the scores yet, but I think I did pretty well.

Remember that hike we did in our second week up that rocky hill near here? Well we had company PT (everyone has to be there), one of our female pilots is a fitness instructor back at home, so she lead us through a 30 min routine (nonstop) of abs and shoulders out in the grass, then the Cpt said we're we're all going for a run up "Mt Syrabachi"...that rock and cactus covered hill about a half a mile from here. I thought "oh boy". There were about 20 of us, the rest were flying. We took off, at a slow pace, and of course the 20yr olds jumped out in front. I was in the last 5... I kept going, thinking I wanted to try to make it up the hill without walking, but that was unrealistic for me, so took small steps and just kept going. Pretty soon I was passing people and was almost half way up the hill. It had already been about a mile or so, and I was pooped. I did stop twice on the hill for a few paces to catch my breath. I started up again, and realized if I kept it up, I could pass up the Cpt (32yrs old), as he was walikng a bit too. So I did, and as I passed him I gasped and said, " the only person we should try to beat is the Company Commander Sir"...and I got to the top. I touched the pole at the top, and started down the backside. Of course, it's easier to run downhill, even if you are tripping over small boulders, rock, cactus, and watching for rattlesnakes. I realized now that I was in the front third of the group, and I got motivated to see how well I could do. I caught up to the "fitness chic" who beat IPods, I prefer to run with a thing called "My God"...I would try to recite special bible verses to keep me focused. So now, it's been about 2.5 mi and about a mile to go. I could see where we would finish, but was running out of gas. As I began to ponder the wisdom of telling your commander that you had to beat him, there were footsteps coming up behind me... I was near death (or so I thought) and I slowed to a walk, and sure enough, geuss who passed me? My Cpt(I hate it when he does that!). So now am I goung to suffer the embarassment of not beating him? No, I had to suck it in, and sprint to catch him, but I did pass him again...I wound up 3rd, and he was 4th. The winners were a couple of those 20yr old rabbits. I was thankful I finished as well as I did.

Not much for DNR notes this time, no pics, not much to see in the middle of the night, or I don't have the proper equip to shoot it. I did see a coyote one evening after supper on the busride to the barracks. Oh the mosquitos are nice...after my run this a.m. I was walking back, almost cooled down, and a guy told me I had some skeeters on me. I looked, and I had 3 on my arms, never heard them, felt them, and they were all large and full of my donated fluids. Pretty messy, and very sneaky...
Well, with any group this size, as I have said before, there are some problems that develop. One individual decided he didn't want to go with us anymore, and he quit showing up for duty. He was an E-6, now he's busted to E-4 (lower pay), and guess what, he's still going to Iraq....not too smart. One of the pilots from another state got into an argument with our Bn Seargent Major(highest rank enlisted we have), and then the Col, and now he's been taken off flight duties for a while and reassigned to desk work. Things get serious when your unit is going to the battlefield, and everyone is needed to do their jobs, and stay motivated.
We heard from one of the pilots in Iraq now, they're looking forward to seeing us about Aug 1. They take their CH47 Chinooks and head back to St. Paul about Aug 14th.

I need to go, got a meeting about our gunnery flight for Saturday. Thanks to all who leave comments, I love to read them...should have said that a while back. I will send a couple more photos to post, too. I love my family, and miss them a bunch...and I am blessed with a lot of wonderful friends. Thank you. Be careful at home, and be alert. We're all in this together. I'm here, to help keep it safe where you are.

Okie monsoons

It's been raining here pretty much every nite for the past 6 nites...we've had to cancel our nvg training due to severe weather. This area has had 20" of rain so far this year, when I hear they normally have 10 for the year. Thank goodness we finished up most of the range fire for now...
I was suppoosed to fly tonite, but that got pushed back a day because of last nites storms. There have been tornados in the area, and I hear Kansas lost a town to one lately?
Watershed management - boy I'd like to have the folks from my fisheries office down here to help write a better plan for these streams on post... There is curb and gutter, but no underground drainage to give relief to the rainfall...a half inch of rain turns these small 1" deep, 10" wide stream into a raging torrent, 3-4' deep and 40' wide. Very flashy, 5 hrs later, its back to normal. I paused once or twice on a run to see if I could find any fish in these streams before the rains began, and I have yet to see anything... Maybe I should go to the MWR(moral, welfare and recreation dept) office and see if I could sign out a stream backpack electrofishing unit to do a little science while I'm here? Nah, they'd frown on that...

More DNR notes - that bird I told you about last time, the OK state bird? Is a Scissortail flycatcher, not a swallowtail, like I said...sorry, got the name mixed up. I went to the library here to check on another bird I photo'd, a Mississippi Kite...a hawk like bird, gray in color, and not a resident here, but a spring visitor. What's cool about digital cams, is even though I zoomed in as far as I could for the pic, while it's in the camera, I can zoom in even more to chek for details...pretty cool. I'm working on a way to save the zoomed photo too...
Hey, there about 8 Canada Geese on the parade field in front of our barracks...the only ones in Oklahoma...we all know the rest live in Minnesota(oh boy!)

More army stuff? Yes, we've had our 2nd anthrax shot so far, 4 more to go in the series... It's a little pianful, leaves a small knot in your arm. The gals that give it are good...you can't even tell you've been poked, then about a minute later it starts to burn for a spell... No one's had any problems, and no one's complaining too bad. We had some chemical training in the helicopters, we all had to do a preflight inspection, startup and shutdown, and once around the traffic pattern while wearing full chem suit(over the usual body armor and flt vest), and gas mask...that's a pic of me suited up, it's not Darth Vader, it's yours truly. Apparently, some time ago in Iraq, the news reported the insurgency had xploded some chlorine gas along with an IED. So we are just taking precautions I guess.
Do you konow what a FOB is? It's a forward operating base in Iraq... There are many of them ,and we will fly lots of missions to resupply them, pick up people, equip etc. There is a new FOB built here at the north end of the reservation, and we will stay there for about 10 days. It looks just like the ones overseas. We'll get alot more training in clearing rooms and buildings, and some combative training(hand to hand one on one) as well. We also have to start our door gunner training program soon. We have a bunch of new folks that want to fly and shoot back, they will be key to our survival. So, naturally I'm out recruiting all the deer hunters I can find, anybody who got in trouble for shooting sparrows as a kid, etc. They all have to pass a lesser grade flt physical, and will have flt gear like the rest of us in the aircraft. Should be interesting.
We had some Instructors here from Ft Rucker Al, the hdqtrs for Army Aviation. They were here to tell of some of the latest tactics employed there for helicopters, and they demonstrated some new evasive manuevers we may need that are more aggressive than we're used to. Sounds like fun......Top Gun baby!!

I mentioned a while back about a large group of people like this, and always a few with colds, flu etc. Well, last week was my turn...I had a cold, just felt miserable enough to wiping the nose and blowing alot. No place to retreat to like at home, only my small twin bunk next to the door. It got better ea day, and I got to fly once too... Doing much better now. We're all still working on our running programs, I'm running about 2.4 mile each day, and still maintaining the pushups and situps...no word on a final test date.
Because we fly only nites now, we are on whats known as reverse cycle...we don't report for duty until about 2p.m. then we get back from nvg flights usually by 0200(2a.m.) Then we rest for the next day. Takes a couple days to make the switchover, so I start tomorrow, and hopefully fly fri nite(dodging storms?).
Never ceases to amaze me about the great technology we have these days... In the evenings you look outside and see at least a couple soldiers on every floor talking on cell phones to loved ones. Not to mention the others on laptops in their rooms... Everyone sharing their day with someone at home, and missing our loved ones. Thanks for the support, and I'll keep praying for everyone at home. See ya...

Getting hotter here.....

The temps are slowly rising every day. It's getting very uncomfortable as we do our field training with our body armor, and other gear on. Yesterday we were going thru a review of our basic soldier skills, first aid, radio commo, how to properly employ claymore mines, and of course how to throw hand grenades. (hopefully as aircrew members we won't have to use that skill, and if we do, things have gone to heck in a hand basket) By the end of the day, we were beat ...even when we drink lots of water, it's still tough to make it...I can't imagine what the other soldiers are doing to survive on the battlefield. They are telling us that we can xpect to see 150 degrees in Kuwait when we arrive in august... (don't worry, it's dry heat). After we get back from the long day in the field, and we are feeling like dead meat, we still have to find time to do laundry..... there's only a couple machines on ea floor, so we have to wait for a turn. Kind of a pain in the butt when you're xhausted...... at least it's free. They did install 20 new washers and dryers, but you have to go outside to a different building, in proper uniform, oh, brother what a pain........
We are all a little tired of a rehash of basic training all over again, and of course, missing all our loved ones. Sure do miss TV and the news..... there's a big TV in the dayroom, but usually 15 or more people around, can't here what's being said, and then it's set on the lousy NBA finals(which really don't start til august, and I'm a hockey fan! )
We had our first classes on Arabic the other day.... imagine a room with 160 people in it all repeating words and phrases over and over again. We weren't even given a handout, but they promised we would all get the proper pocket training guide before we leave. We'll get a bunch more training in Kuwait. All I can remember right now is yes and no in arabic......although we did cover all the handy phrases we may need like, addressing the elder of the group, where are the rifles, do you have any bombs, and the ever popular, which way did they go? We also were shown some of the do's and don'ts in the culture as well, hand signals that are o.k. at home are not o.k. in Iraq.
My son Adam is putting up some different pics to show you, one of which is the OK state bird, the Swallowtailed Flycatcher, a pretty bird, long graceful tail, that it uses to manuever and turn(being a pilot, we're big on manuevering flight)... I stalked it and got fairly close, thanks to a zoom lens . (dnr nature note)
Those of you who saw our aviation units' flight patch, is a play on words about being a clown, having those fun qualities, and do you have it in you? Well, those who selected it chose Krusty the clown from Simpson's (wouldn't have been my choice). So, we had a photo op with Col Krusty the clown, a really bad dude, wicked with a gun...
I was scheduled to fly last fri afternoon, and we were still in language class at 11:50, when our first Sgt came in and read of the crews of the flights and we all left early... I thought we were just getting out early to get a bite to eat, then go fly. We got outside and were told we had a search and rescue to perform, I thought it was a test, kind of a training drill. We had to run back to our barracks, change into flt siuts, then get to the airfield. We got there found out which aircraft to fly, got briefed, and made a hasty departure. I was lucky, they only needed one aircraft, and they chose mine. We took off, accelerated to about 150kts, got there in about 8 minutes, met three police officers, and started searching over this small lake. Apparenly a retired Gen had gone fishing the nite before, didn't return home, and they found his overturned boat the next a.m. We spent about 2 hrs hovering in a search pattern, and we were credited with finding his baseball cap. No other signs, water clarity was poor, about 15 in(fisheries geuss), and strong winds that day. We continued the search by xpanding our area back and forth for a couple miles around the lake. Very open country, saw buffalo and elk, and turkey vultures, and that was it. After close to 3 hrs we had to break off for fuel. By now the local law enf had 4 boats, divers, drag hooks, etc. They even brought out the light set for nite operations. Not sure what happened. It was great to get a chance to help. Sun aft I was in the commisary and heard the checkout lady ask someone if they ever found the man, and no one knew.
We are supposed to start flying a little more now, maybe even go on reverse cycle(meaning we are off in the day and work only at nite, for nite vision gogle use, so our bodies can acclimate to being out way after dark and still fly safe)
I forgot to mention for our call signs, our crewchiefs got real creative and selected a list of clown names for us to use...... some were rather risque, for a family and friend kind of blog, I geuss thats to be xpected in the military. So far we have Bozo the clown, Eyore the clown, he's kind of sad once in a while, anyway, we have the whole range of possibilities..... what did I get? They were kind to me and let me be "Deadeye the clown".... thanks to my shooting scores at the range. Could have been alot worse...
I need to go, have a test in the morning.....emergency procedures in the aircraft. I love my family, and miss them alot. I wish I could accelerate time, but I have to pull myself back and take each one, one day at a time..... and remember to leave it in Gods' hands. Thanks.

Lots goin' on.....

Well we are still busy, getting tasks marked off our list.....we finally finished up at the ranges, both the pistol and rifle. I am fortunate to have done pretty well, I scored 47 out of 47 with the pistol, and 30 of 40 with the rifle....officailly qualified with both. I think I got the highest score with the handgun, and one of a handful of folks to shoot in the 30's with the rifle. That was a tough course with the M4 rifle, all pop up targets from 50meters(53yds) to 300 meters(330yds) with just open sights(no scope). I was nervous but got by my first attempt. passing was 23, and many folks had to shoot 3,4,5 times to get qualified. We had 4 days of ranges, 2 of which were 18 hrs long shooting both day and nite modes. We were wiped out. Glad thats behind us.
We also had a day of land navigation where we were in teams of 4 with a map and compass, and had to find 5 waypoints by hiking crosscountry, about 5 mi. Being the DNR guy I am, I naturally had to be out front, following the headings called out by "compass boy" in the back. I was giving the guided nature tour, telling my buddies what plants and animals I could identify, hoping to finally see a rattlesnake(they warned us alot), ....never did see one, found a van that had washed downstream from the hiway, and we found all our points, They had to rush me along, seems "nature boy" here had forgot there was a time limit, and we had to hustle up to make it in. Turns out we made it in 2:20, the limit was 3hrs. There were a couple teams (washington) that didn't get done on time.
Previously, we had made a short 3.5 mi hike in lite gear up into the hills to sort of get used to the warmth, our boots and forced marching again. When we have had a couple hrs off, we have to run errands, get uniform stuff, items at the px(military walmart), and a haircut. Now most of the soldiers are getting nearly shaved heads, whereas I am not a fan of the skinhead look. I've had some difficulty xplaining my need for a trim, and not to look like Mr. Clean, on our bathroom cleanser. So far, the one lady was from Cambodia, very interesting family history, and the next lady was a local Commanche tribal member, and I mentioned I was part Native American myself born in Idaho,....didn't seem to matter much, she took off more than I wanted on the sides, but left enough on top to feel o.k. about the whole xperience.....last thing I wanted to do was start some intertribal battle over a haircut ....... We'll see who I get next week.
Speaking of meeting some interesting people, I've really enjoyed getting to know our fellow soldiers from HI. One of the other 6 in my room is named Clarence, and he is from Oahu. He's also a CW4, couple years older than me, and has very similar interests. He flew Cobras like I did, some -58 time , and has a couple civilian jobs like me....only he surfs, and I waterski and play hockey. He's an FAA flight examiner, and flys allover checking airline pilots, etc. I'm learning some pretty cool things so far about HI. Another guy is from Alaska, here to augment WA as they were short of pilots. He's a State Trooper from King Salmon, flies a R44 helicopter(small piston eng type), and has a bunch of interesting tales of being a bush pilot..... he drops in on unsuspecting violaters, issues a citation, then he's off somewhere else..... never has any officers on the ground for backup....pretty risky. We were in the commisary(cub foods) yesterday, I asked him about shopping in AK. His eyes were kind of big,(don't think he'd seen a store that large before), and he said, "see that 5lb bag of potatoes for 1.39? $15.00 in AK.....those apples? $4.00 for just one....(by now he'd called for cleanup in aisle 7, as I had fainted). I guess be grateful for what we have....he also said he'll land, buy his food, the produce goes with him in the aircraft, and he mails the rest home..... takes about 4 days. My, my,my.
I need to get to bed soon, have to get up at 5 and run some more.....I said earlier, this takes me a while to figure out what I want to tell you all, laugh at it, correct the spelling, think about all those I love and miss. It is tough understanding the way they do things in the army, I'm so grateful to be a proud member of the Guard.......I thought these anal retentive people all died off by now(last time I saw them was 37yrs ago!) Must be their descendents......
Anyway, we are starting to fly this week, no more army stuff til june. So back to studying aviation and nite vision goggle things. I hope to get to fly again by the end of the week. Things are looking up a little, ...I just keep telling myself it's an "endurance test", and I plan on making it to the end, only with God's help. I'll keep praying for you all, and stay safe at home...... Thanks.