Finally another post! Graduation, Altus, and SERE

Alright I am going to make an attempt at getting this blog up to date, I know it has been forever since my last post and I know that most of you that used to read it have probably given up by now, but as I said in one of my first posts the main purpose of this blog is almost like a journal.  I want to write down some of the things that I am doing so I can remember them in the future.  I am just going to start writing about things that I remember so sorry if things are out of order or don’t make sense. So I graduated UPT on June 11 of last year (2010). I was at Columbus AFB, MS for Pilot Training. My Parents came out to graduation which was nice to see them since I hadn’t seen them in a while. I really enjoyed Mississippi, but let me tell you it is miserable in the summer. I am from Mesa, AZ, so I definitely know heat, but Mississippi is so humid it is ridiculous. I remember hitting the flight line in T-6’s in June of ’09. Our flight suits are long sleeve and then we had to wear G-suits, and parachute harnesses. We didn’t have A/C on the plane until we got the engines started. Let’s just say it didn’t take long to get very quick at my interior inspection and starting engines checklist. I can remember when my parents came to graduation I was pretty much sweaty the whole time. As a guard guy I had an added stress around graduation. The Guard Bureau for whatever reason said that I had to leave Mississippi the day after graduation and report to Ohio two day later (I was allotted two days drive time). This means I was busy packing up my entire house the last few days prior to graduation and trying to focus on my last check ride and get ready for my folks to come in town. The problem is that I am from Arizona and was hired into the Ohio Air National Guard. I didn’t have any family connections or anything in Ohio. I didn’t have a home or anything to go to in Ohio. Now you’re probably thinking alright dummy well why didn’t you just get an apartment in Ohio before finishing up in Mississippi. Great Idea! The only problem is that I knew I was going to be leaving to Altus, Ok (KC-135 initial qualification coarse) for five months just a few weeks after finishing in Mississippi. Altus is a TDY location meaning the Air Force doesn’t pay to move everything out there. Alright I know this story is getting boring so I’ll make it short. We just ended up renting a POD and having most of our stuff shipped to OHIO where it would sit for over 5 months waiting for us. We bought a little pull behind trailer and packed up the bare minimums and headed off for Oklahoma. Well actually there was about a month in between Mississippi and Oklahoma so we drove to AZ I dropped my wife and two little kids off with family and then I flew to Ohio for a couple of weeks to be with my unit. Then I flew back to Az picked up my little family and made the drive to Oklahoma.

Everyone that I had talked to about Altus always said it was going to be horrible. I actually didn’t mind it that much. I got there in July so at first it was pretty hot. We lived in a tiny little two bedroom apartment off base. We were on the second floor which wasn’t really fun. It was kind of funny though we used a little cot as our couch and literally had the bare minimums. We found a church there in Altus and made some friends. One guy that I had recently met at church was asking about where we were living and if we had furniture. I kind of half making fun of the situation joked about how we had a cot for a couch and within a few days I get a call from him that he was on his way over with a couch for us. He said it was someone’s from work that was going to take it to the dump. Now I have to say I was super thankful for his thoughtfulness, but this couch was the most hideous piece of junk ever. It used to be white leather, but was now a light brown color from probably being left out side and dogs making their way with it. It was gigantic too, so we ended up throwing half away and then cutting some of the cushions in half and throwing a sheet over it. Those were some good times. As far as the actual flying goes it is pretty crazy at Altus. The vast majority is done in the simulator.





Wow. So I wrote that post a couple of weeks ago with all intentions to post it right away. Obviously I didn’t and now it seems like such a long post about pretty much nothing that I can hardly read it myself. I do want to make more frequent blog posts because I have been doing some fun stuff and I want to remember it. So to wrap up what I was trying to say last post…….Altus was a good time. I brought my wife and two little kids. We stayed in a tiny little apartment off base. It was very hot at first and then it became very windy by the time I left. I only flew 5 actual flights in the jet the rest was all done in the simulator. Alright, that pretty much wraps up Altus, or as much as I feel like writing about it now. Maybe in the future I’ll come back and add some more about it.



So, I finished Altus the first part of December 2010. We made the drive from Altus, Oklahoma to Columbus Ohio with my wife and two kids. Lets just say portable DVD players are one of the best inventions ever, Definitely kept the kids busy. We arrived in the middle of the night in our little suburb home and slept on an air mattress in the middle of the floor in our empty new home. Maybe some other time I’ll tell you more about how we got our place in Columbus. It definitely was tricky. It is a HUD home that we got for a great deal, but I had to do everything from Altus. I found the place while visiting Ohio in between UPT and Altus and found a realtor to help me out. The process was full of hurdles from the get go being a HUD home and using a VA loan for our financing. I’ll save that story for later. I have to give my wife some props. She has been such a good sport about everything. I know it is not easy for her to leave family and friends to travel all over the country. It is especially difficult for her now that I am traveling a lot more and she is home alone with the kids a lot. She always keeps a good attitude though and I am so lucky to have her. Alright, back on topic. After spending about a month or so with my unit in Ohio I was off to Fairchild AFB in Spokane Washington to complete survival school, or SERE. Survive Evade Resist and Escape training is designed to train aircrew, and other military members that run a high risk of getting captured by the enemy, on skills needed to do exactly as the name implies, survive evade resist and escape if they find themselves downed in enemy territory. A lot of the training we received is classified, but I can tell you that it was one of the most diffucult/crazy/rewarding things I’ve ever done. Let’s just say 6 days in Northern Washington in the Winter with bare minimum equipment, no sleep, Snow everywhere, heavy packs, rugged terrain, snow shoes, and limited food and water is no joke.



After SERE I was back in Columbus for seasoning days; basically on the job training where I would fly anywhere from 2 to 3 times a week. I had a big long list of things that I had to accomplish before I would become fully mission qualified. On March 23, 2011, just over two years after starting the whole pilot training process, I finished everything I needed to accomplish and I became a fully qualified KC-135 co-pilot. That meant I was finally able to go on the road and do real world missions. My unit didn’t waste any time either. Since finishing Seasoning days I have been to Florida 3 different times, Tucson, AZ, California, Hawaii, Guam, Japan, and I am currently sitting on a jet over the Atlantic on my way home from a two week trip to Spain. I have had a great time, but I think this post is long enough for now. I will share the stories about these trips in the next post.