Squadron Trip To Austria

The weekend before Lana and I left Italy we were able to take part in our squadron's ski trip to Austria. It was another chance for us to hit the slopes for some good snowboarding and hang out with the friends we had made during our time in Italy. Some of the ladies in the squadron made arrangements for us all to stay in a nice pensione/gasthof in a town close to Salzburg called Kirchdorf. This is close to the well known ski town of Kitzbühel where we spent all of Saturday enjoying the snow. I've said it before, but it's great snowboarding with Lana...we both enjoy the mountains and she's really good!

After a day on the slopes, it was back to the gasthof to clean up for our squadron Christmas dinner. Some of us were a little annoyed we had to dress up after a day of snowboarding, but the evening was nice. It was also my farewell dinner...kind of a sad moment for Lana and I as we didn't want to be leaving. But, such is the military life and it was time to move on. Our squadron commander said a few words about Lana and I before giving us a chance to say some things. I wanted to say more than just, "Flying is awesome, I've enjoying being in the 510th, keep working hard, etc." Even though all of that is true there is more to life than flying fighter jets. I may not always be the best example of this, but it's true. I wanted to point out the fact everything in my life has been a blessing from God from flying the F-16 to meeting Lana in Europe, God is in control! It's why Psalm 31:14-15a is at the top of my blog...our times are in His hands.

Sunday morning Lana and I said some last goodbyes before driving to meet her grandparents 30 min away from where we were staying. Our car was packed full of things we didn't have the Air Force ship, and the plan was to have her grandparents take it to their place so Lana could pick it up later after getting settled back in Munich. Lana also went with them because she had a flight to L.A. the next day. After eating lunch together, we parted ways and I started the drive back to Aviano. This time it was shorter for me to drive to Innsbruck and then south back to Italy through Cortina. To make a long story short, my trip took much longer than normal due to my route being closed due to snow. After about a 7hr 30min (usually 5) drive I was back in Sacile. The next day I finished my the last of my paperwork at the base and flew to Munich the next. Flying from Venice for the last time was strange, but I was eager to see and travel Asia during my time at Kunsan.

Lana and I are in the US now with my family enjoying the Christmas season. The last time we were all together was at our wedding about 15 months ago! HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

More Pictures:

Kitzbuhel, Austria

Leaving Italy...On To Korea

Tomorrow morning I catch a flight into Munich to meet up with Lana on our way to the USA for my sister's wedding and Christmas. I'm officially finished here at Aviano having completed my final outprocessing paperwork about an hour ago. We're both excited at what the future holds and look forward to flying and traveling around eastern Asia over the next year.

Last Wednesday I had what fighter squadrons call a fini flight. It's the last flight a pilot has in the squadron before moving on to another. I was scheduled for an ACM fini, but due to weather we had a flex to something different. It was strange stepping to the jet and flying what I knew would be my last fight with the Buzzards...the time has flown by, literally! After the flight my squadron mates taped me up and sprayed me down with a bunch of water in standard fighter pilot tradition. I came away with only a couple scrapes from the wrestling match which took place just prior, which is more than a couple of my attackers could say.

Another fighter squadron tradition is to put a pilot's name on a jet canopy along with the dedicated crew chief's (maintenance chief) name. My name was put on tail 443, and just today did I get out to the flight line to get a quick picture before leaving. Many ask if it's the jet I always fly, and the answer is no; we fly whichever jets maintenance has ready for us.

Well, the plan tonight is to get a quick workout in and then enjoy a nice Italian meal one last time before leaving. I'm not sure how Korean food is, but I'm pretty sure I won't enjoy it as much as the local Italian pasta and pizza. I'll be to Korea in early Jan ready to start the next phase in my Air Force career with the 35th Fighter Squadron Pantons! Push it up!

Thanksgiving Weekend

On Thanksgiving day I joined some friends from the church/squadron to enjoy the standard meal with turkey, stuffing and mashed potatoes. In all there were about 30 people, so I actually felt somewhat at home with the large crowd. Many times back home we have 30-40 people at my Grandma's place for the holidays. Lunch started soon after 12:00, and there was a lot of great food. I actually did a decent job as pacing myself this year and didn't eat too much.
Around 2:30 I was ready to hit the road to Zermatt, Switzerland. A few of us had rented a station wagon for the weekend, which was already packed with our clothes and snowboards. We felt a little bad for leaving the party so quickly, but the drive takes about 6 hours and we didn't want to drive through the mountains too late at night. The weather forecast had also called for snow, so the pass could've been difficult. Lana's flight schedule had changed last minuet, so unfortunately she wasn't able to enjoy the tirp over the weekend. She left for a flight to San Fransisco and wouldn't be back until Sunday morning. She's a great snowboarder, and I really missed her on the slopes!

We arrived at our hotel, Gasthof Weisshorn, around 10 and called it a night so we'd be ready to hit the slopes early the next morning. Lana had found this gasthof on the internet in the middle of Zermatt and close to the main ski lift....a perfect location. Friday wasn't the best snowboarding due to bad weather and winds, but we enjoyed being on the snow again after the summer. At noon we had lunch at an apres ski on the mountain and finished the day around mid afternoon.

Saturday was much better! The weather had cleared up and the view of the Matterhorn and other parts of the Alps was...well, just take a look at the pictures. What an amazing Creation! We bought an international ski pass for the day and were able to take advantage of both the Swiss and Italian snow. Both sides of the mountains were great, but I actually thought the Italian side was a little better for snowboarding. The bad weather from the day before had brought over a foot of new powder. We spent the whole day up there and were back in Zermatt around 4 o'clock...time for a shower and nap before getting dinner.

That evening we enjoyed cheese and beef fondue, similar to what Lana and I had eaten our last time to Switzerland. The next morning we hit the road about 11 and arrived back in Sacile by 5. I'm thankful I was able to see Zermatt again before leaving Italy, and now Lana and I are planning a couple more snowboard trips before I leave Europe...how I wish the Air Force would let me stay here! We'll be snowboarding in Austria on the squadron ski trip the middle of December and we're planning Austria over the new year as well.

Ok, the moving compay will probably be here in a little bit to pack my things destined for Korea and I need to make sure they're in order. By the 5th, our apartment will be completely empty and we'll either be staying with friends or in base billeting until we leave...I only have one more flight left here at Aviano, crazy!

More Pictures:

Zermatt, Switzerland

Packing Up

Last weekend, Lana and I spent most of the time packing our things in preparation for the movers who will be here on 2 December to load our household goods onto a truck. Thankfully we don't have too much, and it will definitely easy the stress of moving. We have three separate areas of things around our apartment...one is headed to Korea with me, one is headed to Munich with Lana and the other back to the USA to a storage house in Virginia.. It will stay there until I get an assignment out of Korea and will be shipped to the new location.

I don't remember if I mentioned it previously or not, but Lana and I bought an apartment in Munich for her to live in while I'm in Korea. My assignment is what they call "unaccompanied" which means I can't bring a family...the base doesn't have the facilities (big hospital, school, etc.) to support families. Lana can come to visit me for up to 30 days at a time, and with her Lufthansa job we plan to see each other every month. She can actually work a flight Munich direct to Seoul, so I hope to take advantage of a free night's stay in a nice hotel downtown. Since the government pays for Lana to have a place in Munich, we decided it would be a good investment to buy rather than continue to give our money away in rent to pay someone else's mortgage. After I leave Korea, Lana will move out and her mom will continue to rent the apartment from us.

I have two fly days left here at Aviano before we hit the road. One is early next week before the movers come and the other the week after before our squadron ski trip to Austria. The second week of December I also have to do a refresher course in both water survival and combat survival training. I did both of these after I finished pilot training back in early 2005, and they're good for four years. We will eventually finish up the paperwork and leave Italy by mid December...time flies! We're looking forward to being in the US for my sister's wedding and Christmas with family before I head off to Korea.

The picture above is of the mountains just to the north of the base, which I took today. We had our first big snowfall of the year a couple days ago and we're all gearing up to hit the slopes for some good snowboarding. I'm leaving tomorrow again for Zermatt, Switzerland to enjoy the Thanksgiving day weekend snowboarding with friends, but sadly Lana had to fly to San Fransisco and won't be there. We'll be back together Sunday to finish packing the last of our things as we get ready for the week ahead. I hope everyone has a happy Thanksgiving and great Christmas season...there's a God who provides and was born to save the world from sin!

Amsterdam, Netherlands & Altitude Chamber

A few posts ago I wrote, "I have to go to Amsterdam, Netherlands the weekend of 15 Nov to attend training in the altitude chamber. If you remember way back to a post of mine in early 2004, we did altitude training in the beginning of pilot training; it's required every three years, and I have to get it done before moving to Korea." Aviano doesn't have an altitude chamber, and the nearest one is at Soesterberg Air Base in the Netherlands, which is about 45-50 minuets southeast of Amsterdam. Lana and I flew out early Saturday morning and enjoyed Saturday afternoon looking at art works from famous painters, one of them being Rembrandt. We also went by Anne Frank's house, where her family hid from the Germans during WWII before being captured and taken to a concentration camp. From there we found a theater and watched the new James Bond movie, Solace of Quantum. By the time it finished, we grabbed a quick dinner and called it a night.

Sunday morning we did a Google search for an Evangelical Church in town and found one a short tram ride away. The service was in English and Dutch and encouraging to worship with Christians from another culture. After church, we wanted to get out to enjoy the nice weather, so I went for a run in a park near our hotel while Lana walked. At mid afternoon, we took a boat tour through the city and then went to an Indian restaurant for dinner...great food...so good we went back the following night after the altitude chamber!

Monday, I drove to Soesterberg for the altitude chamber with another guy from our squadron who needed to update his currency. While sitting in the cafeteria, in walked my good friend Matt Chapman from officers training school...the same one I visited during my cross-country to Britain. We hadn't coordinated anything prior; small world we live in. Tuesday morning I caught an early flight back to Italy ready to finish out the week of flying.

Before Lana and I leave Italy, we have more plans to travel and snowboard. Over Thanksgiving weekend we're going back to Zermatt, Switzerland and then the weekend before we leave we're going on our squadrons ski trip to Tirol, Austria. Only 23 more days left! Oh yeah, November is "no hair November" in a fighter squadron.

More Pictures:

Amsterdam, Netherlands

Tactical Leadership Program (TLP)

The NATO Tactical Leadership Program (TLP) is a multi-national flying course for fighter jets. It takes place at Florennes Air Base, Belgium and is designed to train and teach the pilots who attend about the tactics and capabilities of other allies within NATO. If needed in the future, it will be very important to understand each other's capabilities in order to operate effectively together in war. At the completion of the course, we are qualified mission commanders with the training needed to lead a large force of fighters effectively into war. There is much to learn still, but we have the baseline tools to do so.

Each day of flying at TLP, the mass weather and training rules brief started sharply at 0800. Once complete, the air tasking order (ATO) for the day would be passed out with the specifics of what the "General's" objectives were for a successful mission. On the ATO one of the pilots would be tasked as the mission commander for the day and it would specify the location of the targets. A mission commander has the overall responsibility to coordinate "blue" air-to-air fighters, air-to-ground fighters, tankers, AWACS and other assets to come up with a plan to strike a target in "bad guy land" without getting shot down by "red air" fighters or surface-to-air missile sites. "Blue" and "red" is used in reference to "friendly" and "enemy" forces either in the air or on the ground. During TLP, there were 15 flights scheduled for the month of which we only flew 12 due to weather, birds (yeah, it's migratory season) etc. These flights use airspace in Britain, the Netherlands, Germany and France. So, in addition to quickly planning a safe mission each morning, there were different airspace rules to followed specific to each country. In general, regardless of the target, the plans basically boiled down to the air-to-air fighters pushing first to shoot the "red air" threat followed by the air-to-ground fighters following once it was safe to do so and bomb their target. Once the planning was complete, we would go fly a mission early in the afternoon and then spend until about 2000 that night debriefing lessons we had learned. Since we were busy the whole day, a few days a week Chris and I would go to the gym at 0630 for a quick workout before breakfast and then head over to the TLP operations building.

In our TLP class we had British F-3 and G-4 Tornados, French F-1 Mirages, Spanish F-1 Mirages, F-18 Hornets and Harriers, Italian Eurofighters (from Grosseto where I had flown before on a previous cross-country), Greek F-16s and our F-16s. Thankfully our squadron commander and director of operations let us take two of our new CCIP jets to the training. Operating on the Link 16 with other nations and the AWACS provided a lot of good learning for both us as we're getting used to the new "toys." It was a great experience for the two of us and really increased my overall understanding of how we and our allies would integrate to accomplish a mission during war time. After the last fight on 2 Oct, we had a TLP graduation and officially became mission commanders.

As you already saw in my last post, the weekend were free to travel. In addition to Brugge and Paris, I did some site seeing the other two weekends in Belgium. The third weekend I went with some British and French guys to Reims, France. Reims is in the Champagne region of northwestern France. One of the French pilots has a friend in the business and we were able to tour his small winery over the weekend. It's quite an intensive process, which takes years to complete depending on the type of Champagne. Reims is also well known because it was the town the new kings went to to receive their crown. The fourth weekend Chris and I went to Bastogne, Belgium...where the famous Battle of the Buldge took place. The 101st Airborne fought the Germans for the better part of month here during WWII, with most of the fighting taking place in the Ardennes Forest nearby. If you've seen the Band of Brothers series, it gives a great depiction of what the 101st went through...real heroes of WWII. We visited a museum and also drove out into the forest where the 101st airborne fought to see what remains of the foxholes they dug for protection and to stay warm. We also drove a little further down the road to Luxembourg to see the WWII memorial there. It's sobering to see so many white crosses in one graveyard.

On 3 Oct Chris and I took off and flew back to Aviano after a month of successful training. Sadly, Lana and I now have only about three weeks left here in Italy. Our last day here is 16 Dec and the movers are already coming to pick up our things the first week of December. As much as we don't want to leave, we know God has more in store for us over the year ahead. We're already talking about plans to visit Australia, New Zealand, Thailand and Vietnam while I'm stationed in Korea. Fly safe...check six!

More Pictures:
TLP; Bastogne, Belgium

Brugge, Belgium & Paris, France

As mentioned in my last post, Lana and I planned to do some traveling while in Belgium for my TLP flying course and we did. I flew in with my F-16 on 3 Oct and Lana flew from Munich to Brussels the same day. After dropping my things off at the dorm room on base and packing a bag for the weekend, the other pilot who flew to Belgium with me for TLP, Chris, drove me to the Charleroi train station. I was in Brussels about 50 minuets later where I met Lana before we caught a train on to Brugge for the weekend where we would spend our anniversary on 6 Oct.

Brugge is a very nice town in the northwestern part of Belgium and is referred to as the "Venice of the North." Lana had done some research on the internet and found us a nice hotel in the city center for a couple of nights. Brugge used to be a very rich city during the Medieval times as it was a main port of the North Sea. It's great because it was essentially untouched by the world wars, and most of the old buildings and churches are still intact. One of the old churches in town had Michelangelo's Madonna status in it...one of his only works outside of Italy. As in Venice, there are many small canals throughout the town and we took a boat trip while there. We both thought Brugge was the perfect place for our 1st anniversary!

After a week of flying at TLP, Lana and I took the bullet train from Charleroi to Paris for the weekend leaving on Saturday morning...we reached our goal of making it to Paris before leaving Italy. Again, Lana did a good job and found us a nice hotel close to the center, near the Paris Opera House. We both had been to Paris quite a few years ago, but it was great to travel there together. While in Paris we saw the Paris Opera House, the Louvre, Notre Dame, the Eiffel Tower, the Arch de Triumph and the Basilique du Sacré Cœur among other smaller things. Paris is another one of those great cities that wasn't destroyed during WWII, and has many great places to see. We went to the top of the Eiffel Tower on Saturday night to watch the sun set before going out for a nice dinner that evening. Sunday morning I went for a run and my route took me by the Opera and through the gardens at the Louvre...a great venue to say the least! After getting cleaned up, Lana and I went to a church we found on the internet to worship with some French people. It was cool worshiping the same God with others from a different culture.

Lana and I have seen so much in our lives before and since we've been married...it would be interesting to see a map of the places we've been. To add to our list, I have to go to Amsterdam, Netherlands the weekend of 15 Nov to attend training in the altitude chamber. If you remember way back to a post of mine in early 2004, we did altitude training then as well; it's required every three years, and I have to get it done before moving to Korea. So, soon I'll explain how TLP went and about our time in Amsterdam. Enjoy!

More Pictures:

Brugge, Belgium; Paris, France

Videos:

Campia Turzii, Romania

The 510th FS returned from Campia Turzii, Romania earlier this month after a two week TDY at Viper-Lance 2008. The F-16 is refered to as the Viper and the Mig-21 and the Lancer. Our reasons for going to Romania were basically the same those for going to Spain...Italy doesn't have a bombing range and we have a certain amount of bombing training to accomplish each year. During our two weeks, I had a chance to drop 1x500# LGB inert and 1x500# dumb bomb. Romania actually has better airspace for training as well since there aren't as many restrictions. The low level airspace (where we fly 500 ft and 500 kts) was also great and took us through some very scenic areas of Romania...big mountain valleys and lakes were common along the route of flight.

In addition to our air-to-ground training, we were able to train air-to-air with the Mig-21s the Romanians have at the base. The Mig-21 is an old Russian jet from the 60s, but has been modified over the years to keep it up to date. However, when you dogfight a Mig-21 in the F-16...there's no chance. The F-16 is much superior to the Mig-21 in that area. During our two weeks there I was able to do BFM with a Mig-21 and also get a ride in the backseat. Getting a ride in such an old Russian jet is something cool to say I've had the chance to do.

Romania is still a very poor country. It was common to see multiple horse and buddies on our way to/from work. You can still see the aftereffects Communism has had on their economy and the infrastructure. Our squadron (the fliers and maintenance together) decided to help renovate a local "YMCA" type place for young kids in the local community. The staff and kids were very appreciative and it was nice to give to a place when we have some much. Our location in the country didn't really give us the chance to do much in the evenings either, so most of use went running after work before grabbing some dinner. One of the weekends some took a trip to Dracula's Castle, but most of use relaxed around the hotel.

Well, here in a few days I'll be flying to Florennes AB, Belgium to start a month of TLP! Lana is planning to visit a couple of times so we can take a trip to Brugge, Belgium for our 1st anniversary and Paris before I fly back the end of October. I'll have all the details on the training once I'm back.

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Campia Turzii, Romania

Israel

Lana and I had the amazing opportunity to fly to Israel for a week with my work. We had briefly talked about how we would enjoy going, and a few months later we jumped on a plane and flew to Tel Aviv Airport. I only had to work a couple days, so we spent the rest of the time visiting the Biblical sites around the country. We actually were able to meet up with a high school friend of mine who's studying in Jerusalem...who would have thought?!

Our first day of site seeing took us through Nazareth, around the Sea of Galilee and Jordan River. In Nazareth we visited the Basilica of the Annunciation where most believe is the house of Joseph and Mary. There are actual ruins under the church which they think is the real house. After that we moved on to the Jordan Valley where the Jordan River leaves the Sea of Galilee and actually stepped into the water. The location where Jesus was baptised by John the Baptist is to the south of where we were. We then drove to the north end of the sea to the town of Capernaum which is the city where Jesus spent most of his time and lived. In Luke 4:31-44 it talks about Jesus teaching in the synagogue there. The ruins of the city and synagogue are still there along with what they believe to be the apostle Peter's house. Nearby is the Mount of Beatitudes and the area where Jesus fed the 5000. It was a great day and made the Bible seem very real to walk in the places Jesus and the apostles actually did.

The second day we made our way over to the Dead Sea before heading back to Jerusalem to meet up with my buddy from high school. The drive to the Dead Sea is through part of the Negev Desert, and we couldn't believe nomads actually live out there. It a wonder they're able to find water anywhere. Swimming in the Dead Sea is very strange feeling...there's so much buoyancy due to the salt it's difficult to put your feet back on the bottom once you're floating. It's the lowest point on the earth at 1,378 ft below sea level, and makes for very hot temperatures! Lana had heard the salt and mud from the lake are good for the skin, so we coated ourselves in Dead Sea mud...not sure how well it worked, but it made for a few good pictures. Later that night we enjoyed dinner together with my friend and his wife before heading back to their apartment for the night.

The Old City of Jerusalem and its surroundings was our favorite part of the trip...there's so much history there and it's where we believe Jesus Christ died on the cross for the sins of the world, so through Him they might have forgiveness and spend eternity with Him in Heaven. Surprisingly, there's a huge mosque sitting in the very place the second Jewish temple used to stand before it was destroyed by the Romans in 70 AD. We toured the Garden of Gethsemane and the Mount of Olives before making it into the city. The old streets are very narrow and create a maze of walkways. Within the city we saw the Western Wall, the Church of the Holy Sepulcher and the Via Dolorosa where Jesus walked with the cross to Calvary...the hill where He was crucified.

Of all the traveling Lana and I have done, Israel will be the one place we remember not for the beautiful scenery and mountains, but for the chance we had to walk in the steps of Jesus. The beginning of the World started just to the east of there, Jesus was born and died there and will return to the Mount of Olives in the future. We're very thankful for the opportunity we've had!

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Israel

Nice, France / TLP

Yeah, you guessed it...we recently took another long weekend trip to Nice, France to visit Lana's relatives and enjoy the southeastern coast of the country. Lana's relatives, an Aunt and Uncle from the UK who have a home in France as well, actually live in a town just to the east of Nice called Eze Bord de Mer...it's between Nice and Monte Carlo. The drive from our place took about six hours, but about an hour was spent stuck in travel due to an accident north of Genova, Italy. The southeast coast of France is fairly mountainous, so from the house we had a great view of the Mediterranean below. Many rich Hollywood stars also have homes around this area...it's not difficult to see why.

After a good night's rest, we decided to drive into Monte Carlo since there were clouds and Lana's Aunt needed to get groceries. The next day Lana and I spent at the beach in the town of Villefranche sur Mer, and actually met up with some friends of ours from the squadron who were in the same area for the weekend. The town was interesting and reminded me of a city on the coast of Italy. Later that night we met in downtown Nice for dinner at a restaurant Lana worked at a few years back. One summer she decided to take a bus to Nice and find a job to pay for her holiday...she found one and stayed two months. It helps she speaks French as well. I tried escargot (snails) for the first time at dinner, and actually thought they tasted pretty good. After dinner about 11:00, a few of us went for a late night swim before calling it a night.

After sleeping in a bit the next day, Lana and I drove north a little bit to a river in the mountains where she enjoyed going during her time working in Nice. The water was very cold, but enjoyable after getting over the initial temperature shock. The next day we started making our way back to Sacile around mid morning. Our first trip to France together was great, and hopefully before we leave we can make it to Paris.

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Nice, France

A few days before we took this trip, I was told I had been chosen as one of two pilots from the squadron to attend a NATO tactical leadership program (TLP) at Florennes Air Base, Belgium. The flying course would be for the entire month of October and we would train with fighter jets from many other nations. I was also told I would be the project manager, meaning I was responsible to coordinate with maintenance and the TLP staff to ensure we had all the equipment needed and a place to stay for the everyone. I'm really looking forward to the training and getting to fly in and see another part of Europe...more to come on that.

Croatia

If there's ever a place you want to go on holiday and have clear blue water, it's Croatia. I think I said, "I can't believe how clear this water is!" about 51 times (510FS squadron...got it?) during our trip. Croatia is a great country and unfamiliar to many of us in the US. We think of the western part of Europe as the main place to go and visit, but there are many unexplored countries in eastern Europe which are really worth the time to see.

From our location in Italy, Croatia is only about a 2 hour drive away. We spent our first night in the town of Rijeka in the northwestern part of the country. It was a nice town, but mainly just a place to sleep before going to the beach on Saturday. The weather during our entire trip was perfect, and the water refreshing in order to cool off from the hot sun. After spending a good part of the day at the beach in Rijeka, we packed up and made our way to the town of Rabac by early evening stopping along the way to site see. Reaching the town we went to the tourist office to arrange a place to stay the next two nights. We found a nice room to rent in an individual's house within walking distance to the center of town and to the beach.

Now, when I say beach I actually mean a lot of big rocks...most of the "beaches" in Croatia are this way, but many have concrete portions for people lay on and enjoy the sun. We bought a snorkel set and took turns viewing the fish and rock formations below the surface...the water was so clear (that makes 51+2)! We spent Sunday and part of Monday in Rabac before heading back to Sacile. I had to fly on Tuesday early, so we were home by about 8:00.

I think Lana and I have traveled to about 5-6 countries since we've been married, and plan to do more in the months ahead. We're enjoying married life and the blessings we have!

More Pictures:

Croatia

Next Assignment: Kunsan Air Base, Korea

Over the past couple of months, Lana and I had been working on putting together our "dream" list of places we wanted to be assigned next after we found out we'd be moving sometime between Oct and Dec 08. This time frame was expected, although Lana and I would be more than happy to stay at Aviano longer! The assignment process involves filling out an online airman development plan (ADP) in which you detail your assignment preferences among other things. Depending on your current qualification in the F-16 (wingman, flight lead, instructor) you're eligible for different assignments in addition to those in the F-16. For instance, instructor pilots are eligible to apply for F-16 Fighter Weapons school, and highly competitive course only the top guys go to, as well as flying exchanges with a foreign country of some kind be it the UK, Belgium, Portugal and others. Being a flight lead like myself, my hope was just to continue flying the F-16 and not get an assignment to fly a remote controlled unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV)!

When it came to F-16 assignments, our list went like this:

Spangdahlem AB, Germany
Hill AFB, Utah
Shaw AFB, South Carolina
Misawa AB, Japan
Osan AB, Korea
Luke AFB, Arizona
Kunsan AB, Korea
Nellis AFB, Nevada (aggressors for Red Flag)

In my assignment cycle at Aviano, there were three pilots and I was the only one not yet an instructor pilot in the jet. So, naturally when it came to rank ordering us I was at the bottom...this was expected and merely a timing thing; not a reflection that I'm a bad pilot. After the ADP is filled out, the squadron commander adds his comments before it's sent on to the operations group commander for further comments and rank ordering. After this process is complete, it then goes on to the air force personnel center (AFPC) to the F-16 assignments guys at Randolph AFB, Texas. Once the operations group commanders from all F-16 bases have sent in their info, AFPC then goes through another process of ranking the pilots up for assignment. It's a fairly long and arduous process as you can see. From the final ranking list at AFPC, the pilots are then matched up with an assignment as high on their dream sheet as possible.

For me, I'm going the Kunsan Air Base, Korea next to be part of the 8th Fighter Wing Wolfpack. Kunsan is part of Pacific Air Forces (PACAF). There are two squadrons at this base, the 35th FS and the 80th FS...I'll be going to the 35th FS Pantons with a report date in early January. In all honesty, I was about 95% sure I'd either be going to Osan or Kunsan this next assignment. Both are considered a remote assignment (no families allowed...although at Osan there's a possibility) and about 90% of all F-16 pilots will go to either at one point in their F-16 careers. I'm VERY glad to have stayed away from the UAVs which are sadly becoming more popular and guys are being taken from the cockpits to go fly them. From those I've talked to, Kunsan is a great place to fly.

For Lana and I, it's a good time to go since we don't have any kids currently and she's currently working for Lufthansa. At this point, the plan will be to buy an apartment in Munich for her to live in while I'm in Korea. Thankfully the Air Force pays us a housing allowance for this since she's not allowed to live in Korea with me. She's currently working part time and this will give her the opportunity to fly standby Munich direct Seoul and see me as much as possible...it will cost about 120 euro round trip for her to do so. Praise God! A year is a long time without the wife, but we're blessed she has the job she does.

Lana and I are planning to make the most of our time left here in Italy before we leave with as much traveling as possible, and our next trip is planed to Croatia in a week or so. Fly safe and check six!

Athens, Greece Jet Pickup

I mentioned previously our jets have been undergoing the CCIP upgrade at Tanagra Air Base, Greece. Well, I've since been to Greece twice to flight test a jet and then fly it back here to Aviano. The first trip to Greece ended up being almost one week long due to maintenance issues with the jet on a Friday before a long weekend...the following Monday was a Greece holiday. Even before leaving Italy we were told there was a good chance the jet wouldn't be ready to fly home on Friday. So, I had Lana fly to Athens with me hoping we'd have a long weekend together in Greece; our plan worked! Early Thursday morning, Lana and I took the train to the airport with me and bought a ticket on the same flight I was taking. With her Lufthansa flight attendant job, it only cost about 40 euro. Another pilot from the squadron met us there and we were on our way about 9:30. After arriving in Athens, we picked up our rental car and made our way to the hotel. After checking in we went to a nearby restaurant for some Greek food and then called it a night early so we were ready for the next day.

Tanagra Air Base is about one hour north of Athens. After arriving, we met the USAF personnel working there and finalized paperwork prior to the test flight. A few weeks prior to this trip, I had completed what we call the functional check flight (FCF) upgrade. Essentially, there are times when certain types maintenance is done on a jet that requires a flight to test all systems are functioning property. It's a jam packed flight ranging from flying supersonic a 1.4 mach to putting the jet basically out of control to see if the digital flight controls function as they should. I was ready to fly when in the early afternoon they noticed a slow air leak in one of the main landing gear tires...this was not going to be fixed until the next week, which started on Tuesday due to the holiday. So, we left the base and headed to our 5 star hotel a little further north on the beach in the town of Eretria. The price was under our cap for hotel costs and was a nice start to our time in Greece. The next day we took a ferry across the bay, and the caught a bus to Athens to see the Parthenon on Mars Hill and some of the nearby Greek ruins.

Mars Hill is one of the exact places Paul traveled to on his missionary journeys almost 200o years ago! As we made our way up the hill, one of the signs had a portion that read, "In the niche formed by southeast corner of the precinct wall were found the remains of a small roadside shrine of porous stone. It was dedicated to an unknown deity..." Now, if you read Acts 17:23 written by Paul it says, "For while I was passing through and examining the objects of your worship, I also found an altar with this inscription, 'TO AN UNKNOWN GOD'!" Lana and I both felt reading this on the sign and from the Bible made everything more real...the truth of God is real!

On top of Mars Hill is the well known Parthenon dating back to well before Christ, sometime during the 5th century BC. It's amazing the structure is still standing today after so many years. Thankfully, archaeologists are taking the time to preserve what is left today. We spent a good hour or so there and spent some more time reading from Acts before finding a nice cafe for a drink. We caught an afternoon bus back to our hotel just in time to get another great tasting Greek salad before the hotel restaurant closed for the evening! We spent Sunday and Monday at the hotel pool and beach relaxing and getting some sun before heading back to the base on Tuesday. Thankfully the jet was ready to flight test, and all systems checked good. After I landed the maintainers put the external wing tanks back on, fueled the jet and I flew home before sunset that evening. The other pilot on the trip sat in the tower during my test flight with the emergency checklist to help in case I had any problems. He took a commercial flight back home later in the evening, and Lana flew to Munich to work a Lufthansa trip to Los Angeles.

My second trip to Greece was only two days and there wasn't much time for additional site seeing. I had some time to check out the 2004 Summer Olympic Park, but that's about it. Yet another country and culture to add to an ever growing list! It's good blessed with a job in the US Air Force!

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Athens, Greece

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Wingman / Flight Lead Of The Quarter

About one month ago, I was selected as the flight lead of the quarter for the 510FS and also for the 31FW where both squadrons compete against each other. It's nice to know my hard work in the scheduling shop and being assistant projo for the Zaragoza trip has paid off. Also, the cross-country I lead went without any problems, so that may have been a contributing factor as well. Back in the fall of 2006 I was selected as wingman of the quarter right before going to the desert, but I don't think I ever mentioned it. These awards help when it comes time for my officer's training reports to be written, and it gives guys the motivation to keep working hard. I'm not writing this to brag on myself, but just to let everyone know that hard work has its benefits. Check six!

Berlin Airshow

The Berlin Airshow was a very enjoyable week. My wingman, Garrett, and I landed early Monday morning at Schoenefeld Airport about 1 hour before the show started. The support personnel quickly fueled our jets and towed them into position with the rest of the US Air Force aircraft. The USAF had a C-5, C-17, KC-135, 2 B-1s, an F-15C and E and our 2 F-16s. There were also fighter from Germany, France and Hungary. This event was more than just an airshow. It was also an international trade show for countries around the world to attend and see the latest and greatest technology as they consider buying new military equipment as well as show off what equipment they had to offer. Many countries are considering upgrading their fighter aircraft and those up for consideration usually are the French Rafale, US F-16 and Swedish Gripen. The Eurofighter is also a player, but it's more expensive then the other three. It did give quite an impressive flight demo along with the Dutch F-16 demo team. In the years ahead, the F-35 will be the new fighter around and hopefully I can make a transition into flying it.

With this being the case, Lockheed Martin (maker of the F-16) had many of their potential buyers stop by our jets for some "show and tell" time. I'm probably not the best salesman there is, but having flown the jet quite a bit I could offer my fairly credible opinion. Lockheed paid for our hotel rooms and even put on a big dinner for all the USAF personnel staying at the hotel.

In addition to the potential buyers, there were some big wigs walking around. General Brady, USAFE commander, the US Undersecretary of Defense and a couple other generals stopped by. The German chancellor attended the show too. So, needless to say it was important we were ready at all times. Once the important people would move on, it was then time to show the local attendees the jets and let them take pictures. Many young kids had a great time being so close to a fighter jet, and I put some of the smaller ones in the cockpit so they would have a great memory in the years ahead.

As most Americans know, Berlin was the center of a mass airlift operation after WWII by the US and British Air Forces to supply the local population with food and supplies since the Russians had cut off all supplies to the city...it was called the Berlin Airlift. Temelhof Airfield was the center of this effort and over 5,000 tons of goods a day were flown in. As we traveled around Berlin, we saw remains of the Berlin Wall, Checkpoint Charlie and a bombed out church left standing in order to never forget what happened during the war. Reading the stories of families being split by the wall were very sad, and many we shot trying to escape East Germany. It was great to travel to another part of Germany with Lana, and she enjoyed the fact I was able to learn more about her country.

Besides the historical things, we saw Alexanderplatz where a few scenes from The Borne Ultimatum were filmed and many other interesting places around the city. Lana and I took a day trip to the Potsdam Palace, which is located to the southwest of Berlin. It was completed in 1769 by Frederick the Great. Over the years it had been used by the royals and kings of the region...a very nice area.

The airshow finished on Sunday with Monday being a US holiday. So, our squadron director of operations wanted us to get some extra flights by flying somewhere in Europe. Our plan took us to Leeuwarden Air Base, Netherlands for one night and then through Garons Air Base, France on the way back to Aviano. It was my first time to the Netherlands; another new and interesting culture. This wrapped up a great week and another great experience for Lana and I as we continue along in our Air Force journey. Enjoy the pictures!

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Berlin Airshow