Flying Pigs!
Friday, February 29, 2008
Midtour
There's a peace over here that you just can't get back home. Sitting out on picnic benches, smoking a cigar tonight with Josh (a habit I've picked up lately, mostly out of boredom) I realized this. At home, even in the most relaxing moments, I'm always thinking about what needs to be done. What's going on tomorrow, what's happening at work, what's going on next weekend, what bills need to be paid, does the car need gas, are we out of cheese.... Not here. You wake up, go to work, workout, eat, come home, go sleep. If something didn't get done today, it'll be there tomorrow. There's always tomorrow. Besides plain laziness, that's one reason I've neglected this blog so catastrophically. I didn't write anything today. There's always tomorrow. Oops.
We're just pass the halfway point for this deployment. Seven and a half months down. Another seven and a half to go. Easy time. Things are so routine, so constant at this point, weeks are days, months are weeks. To say time flies is an understatement. And I have a feeling the next half will be even quicker.
Yeah, life isn't too bad. Considering. I think the hardest point so far was Christmas time. Being away from family and friends got to me more than I was expecting. Caught me off guard. The support from everyone back home was amazing, but it sort of fueled the loneliness. I couldn't except the fact that the holidays were going on without me. It ate at me nearly everyday from about mid November through about the end of football season.
But it's passed and I've been nursing this fantastic mood for almost two months now. Sort of like I've finally excepted the lot I've been dealt. I'm thriving on my routines now. I'll switch from flying Days to Nights and back every few weeks. The flying has been easy and fun. The new job I have, as Operations Officer, has me (gulp) excited to go to work each day. I enjoy attacking and breaking down each mission we have, figuring out the best way to get it done, and passing it off to the crews to execute. The crews are so accustom to the pace and work cycle, so able to plan, brief and fly without much effort, so able to balance the routines without becoming complacent, and adapt to curveball here and there. Our aircraft maintainers have simply been amazing. The other day 7 of our 8 aircraft flew, all in one day, and the 8th could have if needed. Anyone familiar with aviation maintenance, especially helicopters, would tell you that is pretty impressive.
So where does it go from here. Well, I'm eyeing my June R&R like that one good cookie after dinner. You know it's there. You know at some point you're just going get up and eat it, you just trying to wait until the last possible moment. It'll come, it's just a matter of when. Haley and I haven't really decided wholeheartedly on an exact destination, but we know it's going to be neat. I vowed early on that I wasn't coming back to the US. I was going to take the 18 days and go somewhere fantastic. Somewhere I'd always look back on remember. Right now Thailand leads by a nose over Europe, with Australia/New Zealand sort of the Huckabeeing along, refusing to drop out despite its slim chances. If you ask me, half the fun is trying to decide where to go. Now that I've written this, watch me come home like a little weeny instead of going some place exotic.
Well, my mom told me if I wasn't going write on the blog anymore I should just say so. Naw, I'm not ready to throw the towel in just yet. Don't hold your breathe waiting for posts, but it's my travesty of a web log, do with what I please. There's plenty of other crap to look at on the internet besides this, so I don't feel too bad about stringing y'all along.
Happy Leap Day everyone. Of all the years to add an extra day to the calender...
We're just pass the halfway point for this deployment. Seven and a half months down. Another seven and a half to go. Easy time. Things are so routine, so constant at this point, weeks are days, months are weeks. To say time flies is an understatement. And I have a feeling the next half will be even quicker.
Yeah, life isn't too bad. Considering. I think the hardest point so far was Christmas time. Being away from family and friends got to me more than I was expecting. Caught me off guard. The support from everyone back home was amazing, but it sort of fueled the loneliness. I couldn't except the fact that the holidays were going on without me. It ate at me nearly everyday from about mid November through about the end of football season.
But it's passed and I've been nursing this fantastic mood for almost two months now. Sort of like I've finally excepted the lot I've been dealt. I'm thriving on my routines now. I'll switch from flying Days to Nights and back every few weeks. The flying has been easy and fun. The new job I have, as Operations Officer, has me (gulp) excited to go to work each day. I enjoy attacking and breaking down each mission we have, figuring out the best way to get it done, and passing it off to the crews to execute. The crews are so accustom to the pace and work cycle, so able to plan, brief and fly without much effort, so able to balance the routines without becoming complacent, and adapt to curveball here and there. Our aircraft maintainers have simply been amazing. The other day 7 of our 8 aircraft flew, all in one day, and the 8th could have if needed. Anyone familiar with aviation maintenance, especially helicopters, would tell you that is pretty impressive.
So where does it go from here. Well, I'm eyeing my June R&R like that one good cookie after dinner. You know it's there. You know at some point you're just going get up and eat it, you just trying to wait until the last possible moment. It'll come, it's just a matter of when. Haley and I haven't really decided wholeheartedly on an exact destination, but we know it's going to be neat. I vowed early on that I wasn't coming back to the US. I was going to take the 18 days and go somewhere fantastic. Somewhere I'd always look back on remember. Right now Thailand leads by a nose over Europe, with Australia/New Zealand sort of the Huckabeeing along, refusing to drop out despite its slim chances. If you ask me, half the fun is trying to decide where to go. Now that I've written this, watch me come home like a little weeny instead of going some place exotic.
Well, my mom told me if I wasn't going write on the blog anymore I should just say so. Naw, I'm not ready to throw the towel in just yet. Don't hold your breathe waiting for posts, but it's my travesty of a web log, do with what I please. There's plenty of other crap to look at on the internet besides this, so I don't feel too bad about stringing y'all along.
Happy Leap Day everyone. Of all the years to add an extra day to the calender...
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