In Alaska...
Late last week, the 35th Fighter Squadron flew 12 F-16s across the north Pacific Ocean to Eielson Air Force Base, Alaska for a TDY until late October. I was #3 of the first 6-ship which flew an 8.3 hour sortie with 9 air-to-air refuelings along the way. We departed Kunsan at 0200 on a Friday and landed around 1700 on Thursday evening in Alaska...strange to cross the international dateline and "go back" 24 hours in time (for the non-military folk, that's 2:00 AM and 5:00 PM). Our route of flight took us east across Japan, northeast across the Pacific, along the Aleutian Islands, and then on towards Fairbanks. Eielson AFB is located about 20 miles southeast of Fairbanks. Thankfully the weather along our route of flight was nice the entire way allowing for smooth tanking. I was able to use my mp3 player, read a bit and eat some food along the way to keep awake and from getting too bored in the small cockpit. As we flew in from the west towards the base, we had a nice view of Mt. McKinley which is part of Denali National Park. Other than the mountains, it was wide spread forest as far as the eye could see...perfect for flying low in the F-16.
The day after landing, we headed to the base dining facility for lunch where I ran into my cousin Cameron who was just finishing up his outprocessing from the KC-135 tanker unit at Eielson. The last I had heard he moved to Spokane, WA a month prior so it was a cool surprise to see him. Before he left, we were able to grab dinner one night and shoot some trap/skeet here at the base range over the weekend.
Our first week of flying is half way done and I've flown 3 times already. Monday's flight was a local area orientation (LAO) flight to get used to and see the layout of the local flying area. It involved a very nice low level (500ft / 500kts) out to the east of the base and then down to the southwest towards Mt. McKinley...the weather didn't allow us to fly too close to the range, but nonetheless it was an enjoyable flight. Yesterday's flight was more of the same from the previous day. Today, I led a 4-ship to a nearby bombing range to drop 2xMK-82 AIR inert bombs (inert just means they don't go "boom" on impact). The first flights of the day we cancelled due to snow and bad weather but we were able to takeoff later in the day and drop our bombs. The landscape in the course of a day has turned from yellow / brown with the leaves towards the end of their colorful season to white. The temps aren't too cold here yet, but are expected to drop quite a bit over the course of our time here. 
In the beginning of October we'll be starting our Red Flag Alaska training for 2 weeks just like I did back in 2006 at Nellis AFB, Nevada. After Red Flag we'll have another week filled with dropping more bombs, so lots to look forward too. Lana will be here late next week, so it'll be great to have her here with me. I'll update more as our time goes along...
The day after landing, we headed to the base dining facility for lunch where I ran into my cousin Cameron who was just finishing up his outprocessing from the KC-135 tanker unit at Eielson. The last I had heard he moved to Spokane, WA a month prior so it was a cool surprise to see him. Before he left, we were able to grab dinner one night and shoot some trap/skeet here at the base range over the weekend.
Our first week of flying is half way done and I've flown 3 times already. Monday's flight was a local area orientation (LAO) flight to get used to and see the layout of the local flying area. It involved a very nice low level (500ft / 500kts) out to the east of the base and then down to the southwest towards Mt. McKinley...the weather didn't allow us to fly too close to the range, but nonetheless it was an enjoyable flight. Yesterday's flight was more of the same from the previous day. Today, I led a 4-ship to a nearby bombing range to drop 2xMK-82 AIR inert bombs (inert just means they don't go "boom" on impact). The first flights of the day we cancelled due to snow and bad weather but we were able to takeoff later in the day and drop our bombs. The landscape in the course of a day has turned from yellow / brown with the leaves towards the end of their colorful season to white. The temps aren't too cold here yet, but are expected to drop quite a bit over the course of our time here. 
In the beginning of October we'll be starting our Red Flag Alaska training for 2 weeks just like I did back in 2006 at Nellis AFB, Nevada. After Red Flag we'll have another week filled with dropping more bombs, so lots to look forward too. Lana will be here late next week, so it'll be great to have her here with me. I'll update more as our time goes along...
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