Green Flag & Red Flag - Nellis AFB, NV

I'm currently at Shaw AFB, SC as the squadron makes it's way back to Germany after a month at Nellis AFB, NV near Las Vegas.  We're here at Shaw just for a day, long enough to grab a couple meals, drive by the house to see if it's still in one piece, and sleep to reset up for the long F-16 flight...departing at 0100 tomorrow morning.  I'm leading the third group of jets as only six are allowed to fly along with a single tanker crossing the Atlantic.  After 8 hrs, 30 min and 10 air-to-air refuelings, we'll be back at Spangdahelm where Lana and the kids eagerly await my return...it will be great to see them again!  Part of our return flight path takes us over Scotland, so if I need to divert I'll have some of my Scottish relatives to hang out with.

We spent the last month at Nellis taking advantage of the good weather, airspace, and bombing ranges not available in Germany...or most places in the world for that matter.  We're training for our upcoming deployment and this is one phase of the spin-up plan I put together with the squadron commander and director of operations .  We flew local flights just as the 480 FS early in January, and also participated in a simultaneous Red Flag and Green Flag Exercise towards the end of the month.  This was my fourth Red Flag and first Green Flag.  Red Flag had participants from the US (F-16, F-15E, F-18, EF-18G, F-22, B-1, B-52, KC-135, AWACS), the Netherlands (F-16), Singapore (F-16), UAE (Mirage 2000D), Sweden (Gripen) and the aggressors ("enemy fighters") flying F-16s, and F-15Cs.  Red Flag focuses on the integration of all these aircraft in large formation exercises (LFEs).  Green Flag is focused on close air support (CAS) of Army soldiers on the ground, and we participated in this with A-10s.

As the Weapons Officer, I was able to have each deploying pilot drop an inert (no explosives) GBU-12 (laser guided bomb), two GBU-38s (GPS guided bomb), and shoot a lot of 20 mm bullets at ground targets day and night.  This was really important for the guys since it's not often we get to actually drop / shoot ordinance from our jets.  Especially important as we train for our deployment.

I'm now a few hours away from getting back to the family!  Liam and Lilli continue to grow like weeds and I'm blessed to have such a great wife and kids!  Lana does really well with the kiddos while I'm gone on my Air Force trips (and when I'm around).  Love you Lana!