A few recent highlights

A few things I've been up to lately:

1. Averaged 4-5 flights a week, at around 4-5 hours each. Longest flight so far has been 7 hours straight.

2. Spent an evening watching a band on a USO tour. Band was nothing special, but were decent, and made for a fun evening. The drummer is also the drummer for System of a Down if you know who they are.

3. Trying not to eat too much. Occasional boredom is the worst thing here when not working, and I do love eating. It's sometimes hard not to eat 3 really big meals a day, as they're always available at the all-you-can-eat chow halls. So far I'm winning the war and have lost about 10 pounds, but it's a constant battle.

4. Talking to Michelle and the kids. Having internet access here has been awesome, as I've been able to Skype with Michelle most days. It's been a little bit harder to find time now that I'm flying regularly, but hopefully soon I'll get internet in my room. Haven't talked to Wesley as much, now that he's in SCHOOL! Missing his first day was the first real missed milestone and was not fun to deal with personally.

Here are a couple pictures of me before my very first flight here.

What I've Been Doing The Last Few Weeks

When you're a pilot and you join a new unit, there's a process you have to go through called RL (Readiness Level) Progression. Basically, you have to prove to the Instructor Pilots (IP's) in the new unit that you are capable of performing all of the maneuvers you might be required to perform in a mission, so while you're going through RL Progression you fly only with IP's and during flights you go through all basic maneuvers. This would include different kinds of landings/takeoffs (rolling landing, single engine landings, minimum power takeoffs, etc), practicing emergency procedures, and doing things like operating radios. You could compare RL Progression to being on a sort of probation. So that's what I've been doing since I got here in Kirkuk.

Unfortunately, progressing me has not been a priority for the unit. The IP's are all mission pilots as well, so they have only been able to fly me when there are no missions and when we have the aircraft and mechanics available. It's been kind of a slow process and somewhat frustrating. If I'm going to leave my family to get deployed, I don't want to be just sitting around doing nothing, which I have been doing a lot of through this process, having flown maybe once a week on average, for only an hour or two at a time.

The good news is, as of this week I'm officially RL1, which means I'm done with the RL Progression. Over the last 3 days I have flown 3 missions and racked up a whopping 16 hours of flight time, which is more than the whole month that it took me to progress. Because eligibility for civilian (or military, for that matter) flying jobs are predominantly based on flying hours, accruing a ton of hours was one of my goals for this deployment. With that in mind, this is a trend that I hope continues!

Goodnight Moon

I have a thing for the moon...and the stars too, really. I first realized my love for the night sky at age 13 when I visited Haiti for the first time. Being a city girl, I had never before experienced darkness of such intensity. I remember lying on the ground, gazing up at a multitude of stars I had never seen. If there is anything I love more than a starry night, it is a full moon. Perfectly round piercing brightness that penetrates my soul. There is a feeling of connectedness. We are all under the same moon. On nights like these, I look up and imagine Marc seeing the same moon. The distance loses some of its power. I love you to the moon and back, Babe!