Wings and Rudders and Flaps, Oh My!

Hello again from Texas! Carissa and I can gladly say we're now less than 50 days from seeing each other again. Seems like such a hurdle now a days. I have to remind myself that I'm in a much better position than my former Army buddies, who have the possibility of being sent away from their families for up to 18 months at a time.

The Electrical & Environmental (ELEN) course I'm in down here is going pretty well. I'm keeping my test scores high, which is keeping my attitude positive. My goal is to graduate top of my class...so far I'm on track with a 98% avg. (plus I have to show all of those young whipper snappers that I'm smarter than them, haha. Can't let them out do their Staff Sergeant)

Since my last post I was very fortunate to have Carissa come down and visit for several days. It was like a breath of fresh air, a reminder that I married my best friend. I'm the luckiest guy in the world to have someone support me like she does, and to treat me so well.

This is right after I picked her up in Dallas. Think we're happy to see each other?!

That weekend we ended up going wine tasting at the local winery. It was surprisingly great wine. I didn't think Texas had the capacity for good wine since the beer selection has been so poor. We might even bring a few bottles of wine to enjoy on the drive home.

We did some other driving around and exploring and really enjoyed ourselves. It was nice to just be together and relax. Something we hadn't been able to do for a while.

Fast forwarding to the first weekend in October, Sheppard AFB had an open house and air show. Did someone say air show?! I was there and armed with my camera. Perspective of my excitement: When I was 11 years old my Dad surprised me with a trip to Brunswick NAS for an air show. We saw the Blue Angels, an F-117 bombing demo (in the height of it's service life - around the time of the first Gulf War), an F-16, A-10, and P-3 demo and countless other aircraft on static and flying display. It was that very day which started my love and fascination for aircraft. And here I am today getting into the guts of them. Thanks Dad!

Here's a small squadron of T-38s with pilots from the NATO fighter training school here on base. The engines were fired up and they were getting ready to taxi for a formation flight over the crowd to start the show. (notice the large tail in the background?! Don't worry, I won't leave that one out.)


There were lots of aircraft on static display, which really gives you an opportunity to appreciate how large/small they are. Here's a German AF designed/owned Panavia "Tornado" (also flown by the UK, Italians and Royal Saudi AF. It has variable sweep wings and is a multi-role fighter aircraft that is still in heavy use. (long flight from Germany to Texas!)


Here's the old and new versions of the T-6 "Texan". The newer one is part of the NATO training school here on base. They have upgraded it a lot over the years to keep up with technology and fuel efficiency. The NATO pilots start out on this airframe before they can move on to the T-38 during their 14 month school. (and I thought 5 months was long!)


Here's a couple that I don't know what they are. The first is Czeck built I think, and the second is built by the British Aerospace Engineering (BAE) super-giant. I'm just not sure exactly what models the aircraft are.


There was a great flying demonstration of WWII era aircraft. Lots of them were US aircraft, but there was a Japanese "Zero" there to prove that it was much less capable than our P-51D "Mustang". Most of my pictures of these planes were taken while they were on the ground.


And then, there was a demonstration put on by a C-17 from Travis AFB. Not the most impressive C-17 demo I've seen. They left out the short field landing and backing up after landing. That's ok though, it was still nice to see one again. After the demo I showed a few of my classmates around on an Altus AFB C-17 that was on static display. I explained to them what I knew about the aircraft, which is still fairly limited. That will change in the next few years :).

Fun fact: the C-17 tail is 55 feet off the ground. There's actually a small passage way through the vertical stabilizer to allow an ELEN mechanic (my future trained capacity) to fix/change the light on the top of the empinage (tail). I bet there's a nice view from up there :).

This one's for Kyle and Jenna: two one-seater F-15 "Eagles" from the Oregon Air National Guard came to be on static display. These are the planes that intercepted the float plane which was in the Air Force One air space a few months back when the President was in Seattle. They have a top speed of around mach 2.5 (1,900 mph).

(the tail flash says Portland, OR)

Kyanne & Ryan sent me a cool postcard a week or so ago with a JN-4 "Jenny" WWI training aircraft on it. Ironically I saw one at the airshow. It's one of only 4 left in flying condition in the world. Between 1916 and 1920 there were a few hundred JN-4s at Sheppard AFB (then it was Call Aviation Field). Very interesting to see a piece of history like this still flying!


An F-16C (which is a one seater, the F-16D is a two seater) came to put on a demonstration, and then complete a heritage flight with a WWII aircraft that's 45 years its elder. The demo was amazing. Incredible to see it fly by the crowd at 650mph and then climb straight into the sky. What a fun ride that must be!


And to finish the show, the Canadian Snowbirds put on a demonstration. I have to admit, I was impressed with the quality of the show. They fly 9 jets together in formation. Their jet of choice is the CT-114, a Canadian trainer jet. Not a very capable aircraft, but it's stable and smooth which allows them to fly in cool formations like these:

This next formation was cool. Two of them flew on top of each other with two other Snowbirds "threading the needle", which means they were rolling over the smoke trails of the two stationary jets. It was really cool to see. I haven't seen the Blue Angels or Thunderbirds do a stunt like it.

And one last formation before they came down to land.

Now, back to studying so I can graduate and get out of this state. I think oil was the only thing to keep people here. Not a very pretty state, that's for sure! Take care everyone! -Chris

Lessons learned

Living alone has definitely been an adjustment because I've never done it before.
I've listed a few things learned since becoming Queen of my own castle.

1. I can leave my shoes wherever I want and nobody will nag.

2. I can sprawl, sleep diagonally, hoard all the blankets or barrel roll through the bed because I have it all to myself. Unless I get scared, then I share with the dog (who likes his own pillow thankyouverymuch).

3. Spontaneous dance moves happen. Especially to 90's pop music with my favorite dance partner, the vacuum.

4. Singing in the shower is just as fun as everyone says.

5. My time management skills amaze even myself. I've also learned that if little things slip through the cracks my life will in fact go on.

6. Ice cream stays in the freezer. My chocolate stash is untouched. If I haven't finished it, it's still in there. My mental inventory stays accurate (I might be in trouble. Bear knows where the peanut butter lives now, I see him eyeballing it time to time).

7. My spider murdering skills are getting better. It only takes half a roll of paper towels now.

8. Talking to yourself is just crazy. Talking to the animals is normal.

9. If you are going to be home after dark, leave a light on for yourself - it's scary at night!

10. There's no shame in watching trashy tv, especially after a long day.

11. I'm living a more fast paced life then ever so staying healthy is important. I take my multivitamin every night and justify my wine and dark chocolate as 'antioxidants'

12. There's nobody to tell me when to go to bed. I guess that's part of being a big girl.

13. Want cereal for dinner? No one to argue! Leftover cold chicken casserole for breakfast? Who's going to know!

14. Never underestimate the mood-changing power of your favorite song (of the moment) on full blast belted out into a hairbrush microphone. (playing it over and over on repeat is also acceptable)

15. I don't have to finish my dinner before dessert. I call it leaving 'leftovers for lunches'

16. There's no such thing as girl jobs and guy jobs around the house when you're alone. I'm a housekeeper, landscaper, handyman and chef all rolled into one.

17. If I don't want to do the dishes, laundry or whatever - no big deal as long as I can stand the mess. It's not going anywhere.

18. What happens in the house stays in the house. Nobody is here to witness and laugh my clumsiness. There is in fact nobody to witness the 'I hope nobody saw that' moments.

19. It's ok to just be alone. Being busy every minute of the day is not necessary. It's also ok to pace the house with no purpose or just sit on the couch and stare into space. Welcome and treasure downtime.

20. And most importantly. Always have something to immediately look forward to - no matter how small or big... it helps pass the time. Currently on the radar - I'm going grocery shopping tomorrow and picking up some more ice cream sandwiches. Hey, it's the little things that get you through life.

I've also noticed that the coffee doesn't make itself, my lunch doesn't magically appear in my lunchbox and the grass grows much faster than I knew. Also - dog poop is gross.

We're over the halfway point...
The stats as of tonight -
75 days since Chris left :(
53 days until I fly to Texas on a husband retrieval mission (and I'm done with school! Whoo hoo!)
60 days until Chris graduates
76 days until we're pulling in the driveway and Chris is HOME!

But who's counting?

A side note - another lesson learned. Don't trust blogger to save your blogs. I wrote and wrote about my visit to Texas, but blogger ate it :(

Tech School - 1-1/2 months in

Hello from Texas! I must admit, I'm a fish out of water down here, almost literally. It's been over 100F each day for the entire time I've been down here, with the max temp around 114F. Tech School is full of very interesting and challenging information to learn, and I'm certainly up to the challenge. I guess I don't have a choice :).

I'll give you a tour of the base (the parts that are remotely interesting) to give you an idea of what I see and where I'm living. First off, here's my building/room. Nicer accommodations than I've had in the Army, so certainly no complaints here. I'm living in a housing complex for only prior service students. We don't have to live with those coming straight from Basic Training. The maturity level around the area I'm living is a perk, for sure.

There are lots of static display aircraft on base for me to drool over. Since I'm the one writing the blog, I've decided to give you some mild Air Force aircraft education. Starting off first with the 4 aircraft on each corner of the parade field, right across the street from my building:

F-15 Eagle - Still one of the most powerful aircraft in the world, when considering both thrust and armament. That's amazing since it came to life in the 70's.

T-37A - Training aircraft that use to be flown at Sheppard, but has since been retired because they're expensive to maintain. Aka, the "Tweet" because of it's high pitch engine noise.


T-38 Talon - Current use as a trainer aircraft at Sheppard for NATO fighter pilot school. A similar version of this airframe, called the F-5 Tiger, is still being used by some Air Forces around the world. It was used in Top Gun to portray Russian MiGs, but it doesn't look anything like a MiG.


F-16 Fighting Falcon (also called the Thunderbird) - Currently the airframe of choice for the famed Air Force demonstration team "The Thunderbirds". Also from the 70's era and designed by Lockheed Martin. The Air Force desired a single engine fighter which was less expensive to maintain than the F-15, and here it is.

There are other aircraft placed on display around the base. Here are the majority. I may have missed one or two. It was over 100F when I was walking around taking the pictures, so I was in a hurry to get back into the air conditioning, haha.

F-111 Aardvark - The first operational variable sweep wing fighter in the USAF arsenal. Its primary mission during the cold war era was for ready response in case of a nuclear attack/counter attack.


F-100 Super Sabre - The first Air Force plane capable of supersonic speed at level flight. One of the last fighters the USAF had in which the jet engine intake was also the nose of the aircraft.

F-105 Thunderchief - Highly successful in the Vietnam War for taking on enemy missile batteries while traveling at high speeds and low altitude. The first to be nicknamed the "Wild Weasel". Bonus points for who can tell me the next plane in the USAF arsenal that was called the Wild Weasel.


F-102A Delta Dagger - Was used primarily as a fighter in the 60's, but spent much time in the Vietnam War escorting B-52's and F-105's on their bombing missions. Only one F-102A was shot down by a North Vietnamese MiG-21 during the war.

B-52 Stratofortress - The most successful and long-lived bomber the USAF has ever had. It was first introduced in 1955 and is still successfully flying missions today in the form of the series B-52H.


F-4D Phantom II - This highly successful aircraft was used from the 1960's through the first Gulf War. One of my co-workers was a navigator (back seater) in this aircraft. I asked him one day about the challenges of that job, and he said (jokingly) it wasn't hard to hold the stick with the carrot on the end of it to lead the pilot around.


F-104 Starfighter - Nicknamed the "missile with a man in it" for its high performance capabilities during its operational period (introduced in 1954 and last flown by the Italian AF in 2004).

My classes are held in a large structure that acts as three hangars and two floors of classrooms. This will be the only building I'll be in for the duration. (below)

Here's a picture of me learning how to safety wire an electrical connector. We do this to prevent electrical components from coming loose or apart during flight, caused by constant vibration.

So far I've learned the topics of Aircraft Fundamentals, Aircraft Documentation/Discrepancy Reporting, DC Power Fundamentals/Troubleshooting, and now we're in the middle of AC Power Fundamentals/Troubleshooting. In a few weeks I'll be able to get hands on with the nose gear of an F-16, the electronics systems in a C-130, and then start working on the F-15 and F-16 to finish out the course. I'm looking forward to the hands on portion. It's not something I'm allowed to do at my regular job.

Here's a picture of me and my new friend, Keith Stone (from the Keystone Light commercials):


I wouldn't have been able to attend this training and remain focused, leaving all of my responsibilities in WA, without the support of my amazing wife. She's doing an incredible job of holding down the fort at home. Thank you Carissa for your juggling act with the car problems, our two crazy pets, taking care of the house, and balancing school and clinicals (and doing very well in both). I know I wouldn't be able to handle all of that by myself. When I get home I'll take on a lot of the chores so she can hang up her super woman cape for a while.

Until next time, enjoy the rest of your summer! See you all soon (I hope!). - Chris

Now that we're currently playing military family our date nights no longer consist of beach walks, movies or bar hops. Our relationship revolves around text messages, letters and skype dates. I consider myself lucky if we can both find corresponding times in our busy schedules for a quick skype visit. I'm even more lucky if I get a visit from a special guest like tonight's appearance from Nun Walker. Good thing I was on my best behavior.

Anybody out there??

Long time no post...

I guess my excuse this time is live has been crazy busy. I little out of hand at times, but we're getting by. When I decided to go back to school we understood it would be a difficult road full of sacrifices for the next year. Little did we know it was going to be this challenging and rocky of a road, maybe it's better we did not though, sometimes ignorance IS really bliss.

I guess I don't even know where to start blogging since it's been so long. I guess I'll just sort through my camera and see what I can find.

In May we FINALLY finished (what we thought was finished) our Ford saga... We received the keys to our brand new 2011 Escape. Identical to the old, a little lighter color, a few more frills and (best part) a working transmission. Yay.

You can see the old evil Escape in the background...

Our "gift" to ourselves with our tax return was to rip the carpet out of the bedroom and put down some hard floor (major driver of this project - allergies and pets). I was more than happy to see the carpet go, tan carpet and animals (or someone as clumsy as me) is just a bad bad combo.

Before

For some reason I don't have an after photo?? Stay tuned on that one...

Chris and I treated the family to a David Letterman performance at McChord as part of his Tour for the Troops. I think it's safe to say we all had a great time.

Chris requested a trip to Long Beach before he left, as usual the coast did not disappoint.

With Chris' upcoming departure in July we tried to squeeze in some visits to local sites. We took a tour of Bloedel Reserve on Bainbridge and it was worth the trip! It's crazy to think that there are gardens that beautiful and well cared for right in our backyard.

A trip to the Seattle Aquarium, followed by dinner and a Sounders game.
What a life for these guys:

Hard to believe he takes me anywhere!

We celebrated Father's Day and JoAnn's birthday

I built myself a raised bed (I'm eating fresh veggies like a King right now) with a little help from Chris.

And extended the flower bed down the side of the house (room for my rhubarb and blueberries!)

Jennie flew out to visit and we had a great time of wine tasting, birthday celebrating, Sounders game and hanging out.

All this excitement wore Chris out so he caught a snooze on the ferry ride home.

We visited another beautiful garden about a half mile from our house, yet again amazing people can make such beauty when our yard looks like... uh... we won't go there...
This plant was taller than me!

Our last outing before Chris left was to Port Townsend, one of our happy places. The town is so relaxing, you can always find a good bite to eat and it's close, but still feels like a get away. We pretty much ate our way through town starting at our favorite restaurant (with homemade pie!), via the local microbrewery and creamery for fresh cheeses. Yum! On the way home we stopped by the Port Townsend Airport to check out the airplanes there for the fly in. (I'll let you guess who's idea that was). There was a gorgeous vintage Air Force plane there, shiny!

After all the fun we'd been having the day we've been preparing for and dreading had arrived, my Airman was leaving for five months. Chris was all packed and ready. I tried to get myself into this duffel, but it just wasn't working out. Bear thinks he's going though.

It was a sad and emotional day and after saying goodbye in the morning I headed down to the Naval Hospital for one of my last clinical days. It was good to be there, surrounded by people who understand the military way of life.

So while Chris has been gone I've been attempting to be Super Woman all while perfecting the art of being in two places at once. You never know how much a team a marriage is until half the team is 2000 miles away! Between class in Renton, wrapping up round 1 and 2 of clinicals in Bremerton, living in Kingston, staying in Auburn, juggling the dog (shout out to all the single mom's - wow.) and prepping for my next round of clinicals in Gig Harbor it's been exhausting (now you can see why on the lack of blogging). I've considered selling the house because it seems as though I just live out of my car these days... With that said, it's safe to say I miss Chris. But don't worry, Team Walks will be reunited for a visit in September. I'm flying down for (almost) a week to spend some time with him and check out his new stomping grounds. After that, another few months apart (throw in more clinicals and a national certification exam to keep me busy) and we're through this chapter in our lives. I graduate from Surg Tech school the day before Thanksgiving and Thanksgiving morning I have a one way ticket to Dallas to go retrieve my husband. I'll spend a week at Sheppard AFB while Chris finishes classes, attend his graduation and then we embark on a two week journey home (via grand canyon, Vegas, Disneyland, San Fran to meet the new baby and Mt Hood for a wedding). I've warned Chris he better be prepared, I've already been practicing my football style tackle hugs for when he comes to get me at the airport :)

So two days after Chris left my summer break started... nice timing. Rather than sit around and pout at home I jumped on a plane and made my annual visit to San Fran to see Eileen, Ben AND the baby on the way! It was a perfect trip full of sleeping in, relaxing and eating (the baby caused that one :)

Eileen flew back with me for time with her family and a baby shower! Fun! Here's mom and a pregnant Eileen.

That about wraps up the excitement. As of now I'm just trying to keep life under control as a one man show!

And it wouldn't be right to write a blog without making tribute to my wonderful Grandma. Such a strong and inspirational woman full of life and love. I treasure every chance I got to spend with her. She is very much missed and remembered daily.

I'm sure she's up there baking up a storm right now so everyone that enters the pearly gates is issued a loaf of zucchini bread :)