Lana's First Visit / First Flights Over The RoK
Lana flew in to town today for her first visit to Kunsan Air Base. She's currently sleeping off jet leg, which is the reason I'm on the computer updating the blog. After a 10 hour flight and a 3 hour bus ride, she finally made it and was exhausted. I think in the future she'll fly over on a Saturday so we can meet near Seuol at Osan Air Base, before making the final leg of the journey back to Kunsan...it's too much otherwise! We're looking forward to a little over two weeks together here before she has to fly back to Munich...it's GREAT having her here!
This past week I had my first two flights over the Republic of Korea (RoK), and it felt great to get the air back underneath me in the jet! The first was my local area orientation (LAO) flight around the peninsula showing me the different training airspace and ground references around the Kunsan air traffic pattern. The base is right on the west coast with the water only about 1000 ft to the west of the runway. The weather for the LAO was perfect, which is something I've been told not to get used to...lots of bad weather around here. My second flight was a close air support (CAS) flight up near the demilitarized zone (DMZ), which is the border between north and south Korea. Both of these flights were from the wingman position and next week I'll have two flights as #1 so that I can get signed off as a flight lead again. It's common for new guys to show up and have a few gradesheet rides to make sure they're ready to fly locally. 
During my squadron commander interview, I was told I'd be working at the 8 Operations Group (OG) in OGV, or the standardization and evaluation office. It's my first job "outside" the squadron, and by that I mean I'll fly as an "attached" pilot to the 35FS. I'm not required to fly as much (5 instead of 9 times a month) and the job has more visibility to it. I'm looking forward to doing good things in my new job and get a chance later in the year to return to the squadron and start the instructor pilot upgrade (IPUG). Becoming an instructor in the F-16 is my main goal before leaving Kunsan so that I have more options for my next assignment. I want to keep flying the F-16 and Lana and I want a place where we can settle for three years to start a family. Yeah, little bambinos running around is something we're looking forward to soon!
Lana and I hope you're all doing well and would appreciate your continued prayers as I'm here at Kunsan...we're trying to figure out a way Lana can be here more often! For you flyer types, fly safe and check six!
This past week I had my first two flights over the Republic of Korea (RoK), and it felt great to get the air back underneath me in the jet! The first was my local area orientation (LAO) flight around the peninsula showing me the different training airspace and ground references around the Kunsan air traffic pattern. The base is right on the west coast with the water only about 1000 ft to the west of the runway. The weather for the LAO was perfect, which is something I've been told not to get used to...lots of bad weather around here. My second flight was a close air support (CAS) flight up near the demilitarized zone (DMZ), which is the border between north and south Korea. Both of these flights were from the wingman position and next week I'll have two flights as #1 so that I can get signed off as a flight lead again. It's common for new guys to show up and have a few gradesheet rides to make sure they're ready to fly locally. 
During my squadron commander interview, I was told I'd be working at the 8 Operations Group (OG) in OGV, or the standardization and evaluation office. It's my first job "outside" the squadron, and by that I mean I'll fly as an "attached" pilot to the 35FS. I'm not required to fly as much (5 instead of 9 times a month) and the job has more visibility to it. I'm looking forward to doing good things in my new job and get a chance later in the year to return to the squadron and start the instructor pilot upgrade (IPUG). Becoming an instructor in the F-16 is my main goal before leaving Kunsan so that I have more options for my next assignment. I want to keep flying the F-16 and Lana and I want a place where we can settle for three years to start a family. Yeah, little bambinos running around is something we're looking forward to soon!
Lana and I hope you're all doing well and would appreciate your continued prayers as I'm here at Kunsan...we're trying to figure out a way Lana can be here more often! For you flyer types, fly safe and check six!
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