A Return from Absence

Well, it's been a few months since I have even had time to think about this blog. I thought that when I graduated, I would have even more time for things like writing on this blog. I guess it just tells you how different things can be from how you imagine them. Since my last blog, I completed UPT about a week before I "dropped" and found out that I will be moving to Japan to fly the KC-135 at Kadena. I'm really excited about the assignment as it was my first choice aircraft and my second choice location (after hawaii). After that I had UPT graduation. That was a really nice time for me as my parents, two of my uncles, and one of my aunts came out for the event. I hadn't seen my parents in about a year and a half, which was a bit too long. Laughlin did a nice job of making it a worthwhile event for everyone that attended.

The weekend after, Mom and I flew out to visit my Uncle, Aunt and cousin for a few days. It had been about 10 years since I had seen them! It was nice to be able to use of the leave I had been accumulating over the past year and a half.

Two days after returning from a really nice visit with my relatives, I went out to Washington State (Spokane area) for a month of water survival and wilderness survival training. The young enlisted two-stripers where nothing short of grizzly mountain men, yet, donning the same uniform that the rest of the Air Force wore. They were very skilled at making mountain men/women out of us. It was cold, wet and at sometimes, just outright miserable. By the time I left that state, there was over 2 feet of snow on the ground and over a month later, my big toes are still numb from the wet and cold conditions.

After that I've undertaken the monumental task of out-processing my current base for the next one, in Japan. There are multiple checklists that had to be accomlished and it seems like the base leadership is always looking for ways to keep us busy on top of all this paperwork. The difficult part is that I'm actually not going to Japan right away. I'll be doing a TDY (temporary duty for the non-military types) en route to Japan. I'll be up in Altus, Oklahoma for 5 months learning how to fly the best that is the KC-135. From what I've heard, it will not be like UPT at all and is much more of a "big boy" program in a sense that they don't make you sit in the classroom for 12 hours a day and study. It's a much more relaxed pace as well. Even though Oklahoma isn't the most exciting place, I've got the attitude that if I can make a blast out of Del Rio, I can make any other location a blast too, some places just need a little more work put into them than other locations.

Well, I hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas and New Years! I will try to keep writing in this when I get the chance as well as add some photos from christmas and some of the other said events.