Air Force Reserves - MacDill AFB, FL

May 15th was my last day in the active duty Air Force and May 16th was my first day in the Air Force Reserve.  The process of transitioning from active duty directly into the Reserves is called PALACE FRONT.

Based on aircraft maintenance school starting the end of August at SMAT, I essentially had June and July to accomplish my 36 days of Reserve time for the year.  The Reserve position I have is called an Individual Mobilization Augmentee (IMA) position, which is highly flexible - I just have to complete my 36 days / yr sometime within the fiscal year whenever it works for me.  When applying to PMA, I asked if they would consider my request to continue in the Reserves and they were gracious to allow this.  Some of the benefits are:

• Cheaper medical / dental insurance
• Retaining a portion of Air Force retirement at 60
• Flexible work schedule (36 days can be completed together, or at separate times)
• Ability to continue serving the country
• The Reserves pays for my travel to / from work

As an IMA I am finished flying and will be doing staff (desk) work.  Fighter pilot staff positions are difficult to find, but God allowed me to find one at MacDill AFB in Tampa, FL. We are in Tampa currently for my 36 days for FY15. 

Lana and I drove from Michigan to Florida, stopping in Tennessee and South Carolina on our way.  We spent two days in Tennessee at Fairhaven Ministries to relax in the Appalachian Mountains as a family.  We've been living out of our suitcases since early April and needed some time together.  We then spent three days in Sumter, SC meeting our new renters, visiting with church friends from Harmony Church, and some Christian neighbors we had when living there.  We were able to share our missionary story with many of them and some are now missions partners of ours - we didn't go there with this goal in mind, but God continues to provide as He has been!

New Shingles

The first week of June we tore off the shingles on my parents old house and put new ones on.  It had been about 20 years since the last ones were put on, so it was time.  My brother Kyle, friends Kendall and Travis, my Dad and I did all the work and completed it in four days.  Lana even used the nail gun once...for photo purposes. ;-)

ATP & MEI Ratings

Towards the end of May I flew to Texas for a week to fly a twin engine Piper Seneca.  A friend of mine who used to fly F-16s has this plane and is a certified flight instructor (CFI).  As Lana and I were wrapping up our time in Germany, I was looking for a flight school to get my airline transport pilot (ATP) license and multi-engine instructor (MEI) license.  The Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) has military equivalency options for some ratings based on military flying training.  In order to get these ratings I had to take a knowledge test and practical test.  Once the knowledge test is complete, there's a 24 month window to complete the practical test and I had to complete them this summer with aircraft mechanics school starting in August.

Although the ATP and MEI are not required to serve with Pacific Mission Aviation (PMA) , it made sense to get them while I had the opportunity.  The MEI will come in handy to train PMA pilots who do not have much multi-engine time since 4 of the 6 airplanes they currently have are twin engine.

Flying a propeller aircraft is A LOT different than the F-16.  The lack of thrust and slower speeds are a given, but controlling RPM, manifold pressure, and fuel mixture are a bit of an art.  The instrument layout is different as well, but it didn't take too long to get the hang of it.  The 10.8 hours of training / checkride time will be a benefit as I transition to propeller aircraft.

My friend and I did the training in Corpus Christi, TX and then flew the airplane up near Houston, TX to meet the check pilot.  After 3.5 hrs of flying I was ATP and MEI checkride complete!  Thank you God for good weather and Air Force training that gave me the opportunity to get these ratings.

Centerville Christian Fellowship - A God Story!

One of the many amazing God stories in our mission journey includes Centerville Christian Fellowship (CCF), which is now our sending church.  As most of you know, Lana and I have transitioned into the Air Force Reserves.  When looking for a Reserve job, I had a phone interview with a Lt Colonel in Hawaii this past December.  Soon after the interview started he asked why we were looking at Hawaii, and I shared briefly about how God had called us to serve in aviation with PMA.  He responded with, "That's great, I have a Mission Aviation Fellowship (MAF) calendar hanging on my office wall and think that's great what you are going to do."  The "interview" was essentially a conversation about missionary aviation!

Part of the conversation also involved him telling me he had an Air Force Academy classmate who is a grandson of Nate Saint, one of the five MAF pilots killed by the Wadani Indians in Ecuador back in the 1950s.  He is currently stationed at Nellis Air Force Base, and I was going to a conference at Nellis in January.  So, I found him on the Air Force global email list and we were having dinner a few weeks later.  During the conversation about our missions journey, I was asked if Lana and I had a home sending church.  I said no because we've been moving all over the world the last 12 years in the Air Force.  I wrote a prayer request down in my journal on 23 Jan 15 God would allow us to find a sending church.

Six weeks later I received a Facebook message from a guy I went to high school with, Erik Spohr.  He had seen something we posted on Facebook about missions and wanted to let us know he was praying for us and thought there might be something he and his church to support us with.  I had NO idea he was a pastor of a church about 20 minutes from where two of my brothers live!  I shared how amazing that was because we had been praying for a sending church since January.  He responded that since January he and the elders of the church had been praying God would raise up a family within the church for missions or that God would send them a missionary couple to partner with!!!!  Instant goosebumps and tears filled our eyes as we messaged back and forth - only Jesus Christ could write a story like that!

On 24 May, Lana and I had the privilege of sharing our story with CCF with many of my family in the audience.  The service was closed by another prayerful sendoff by our new sending church and we're very excited to move into missions with the CCF community by our side!  

SOLI GLORIA DEO!

Liam Time!

One of the best things about my Air Force transition is more family time, especially with Liam.  He and I have had some great times together from his first time fishing, first baseball game, flying in a small airplane to St. Louis, and playing around on the farm.  He even gives me a kiss without having the threaten him with the "tickle monster" and returns a "I love you too" every now and then.  Proud to be Liam's Dad (Lilli's and Luis' too of course)!