Getting Ready To Deploy

I'm sure a lot of you wondered what's happened over the past few months...and rightly so. Things have been pretty busy, but I've just been lazy in updating the site. Once our squadron returned from the States, our immediate focus shifted to preparing for our deployment to the desert in January. This not only included continued flight practice, but also a lot of paperwork. Medical and dental records need to be up to date, bills need to be payed and put on automatic payment, wills need to be written along with many other things. Most of our flight time has been focused on the close air support (CAS) since this is most of what we'll be doing while down range...supporting the Army and Marine soldiers on the ground. I'm a little anxious when I think about this being the real deal now and not just training. But, I've received the best training in the world and feel prepared to do the job God has given me in serving my country. He will take care of us down there.

The past four months haven't all been spent at work getting ready. I met a Christian girl from Germany who've I've been spending a lot of time getting to know. I also made it back to the U.S. over Thanksgiving weekend for my younger brother's wedding and a friend of mine from church and I have done some hiking in the Dolomite Mountains near here. It was great being home and seeing the family again during the wedding...I was able to see my new niece for the first time and my best friend's baby as well while home.


I also went on our squadron ski trip to Solden, Austria over a long weekend in November...a very cool town! The slopes are on a glacier and the runs were great. I skied the first day and then decided to snowboard for the first time the second. I enjoy snowboarding better than skiing, but I was very sore for a few days after even though I caught on pretty quickly. I'm going back to Austria later next week with my girlfriend and her friends from church in Germany...we've rented a chalet in the Alps, so I'm really looking forward to seeing what that's like! I'm also spending Christmas in Munich, andit'll be interesting for me to see what Christmas is like in a different country. Europe is a great place and there's so much to see! After Germany I'll return on the first of the New Year and finish up getting ready for the deployment. I hope to have a chance down range to update the site, but if not I'll fill in everyone one I'm back here in Italy.

More Pictures:
Hiking the Dolomites; Solden, Austria