Vacation With Our American & German Family

After signing the contract on our new house early Friday morning the 12th of February , Lana and I made our way quickly to the airport to catch our flight to meet up with the American side of our family after 15 months of not seeing them! So quickly that I had to mail my keys back to a friend in South Carolina to pick up my car from the airport parking lot. The southern part of the States was having a cold spell with snow, so naturally flights were an issue; even more of an issue when you're flying standby through your wife's Lufthansa job. To make a long story short, we ended up renting a car and driving to Charlotte to get on a flight which wasn't full. And, instead of flying to Ohio we flew to Michigan. At the end of a long day, it was great to be back with family again.

Our time with my family was spent between my parent's place in Michigan and my older brother Brent's house in Ohio. My three brothers are in Ohio near each other for both work and university. Lana and I were also able to see our new nephew Seth for the first time and spend time with our niece Elli who is growning like a weed. Towards the end of our week together, we were back in Michigan spending time with my sister Jenna who drove over from the Chicago area...it was at her wedding in December 2008 (read that post here) the last time Lana and I were with everyone. After a fast but great week, we drove with my sister back to Chicage where we caught a flight direct to Munich to be with our German family.

As I write this, Lana and I are sitting in Starbucks (I know, there are better places to get coffee in Munich, but the internet is free =) near Marienplatz...the city center of Munich. We spent our first two days back in Germany with Lana's grandparents in Chieming near the popular Lake Chiemsee. I'm pretty sure I always leave her grandparent's place a bit heavier than when I arrived because her grandma is always feeding us...mmm schnitzel! We did some sightseeing in Wasserburg on our way back to Munich and spent Thursday preparing for the Air Force movers to pack up Lana's things for shipment to the USA on Friday; we're looking forward to having all of our belongings back in the same location soon! Our shipment from storage in Virginia, from Korea and from Munich will be in our new home early in April.

Yesterday, we woke up to a great spring feeling day in Munich and I suggested we drive to see Neuschwanstein Castle in the Bavarian Alps. When Lana and I first met in Garmish back in September of 2006, we spent our second day together at this castle...great memories! The weather during our first visit wasn't the best, and we had wanted to make another trip back. It was the perfect day and is an amazing place...a man made wonder in the God created mountains!

Lana and I will be in Germany one more week. This was not our original plan, but we're not upset with being able to spend more time here. The short if it is, the Air Force messed up some of my paperwork and some of my training has been postponed. This paperwork is also a requirement for me to fly, so I've opted to stay here rather than sit around the base in South Carolina. We'll update again soon...God bless!

More Pictures:

Germany

Our New Home At Shaw Air Force Base

After one week and looking at close to 30 homes, Lana and I bought our first house together in Sumter, South Carolina about 10 minutes from Shaw Air Force Base! There are many reasons we chose this place; it's new construction, it's in a great location close to both the base and town and most importantly there are no neighbors behind our home. After a few days of looking, we had made a list of our top three homes but none of them had completely caught our eye. As Lana and I were searching on the internet Sunday night, we came across a newly constructed 3 bed (with an unfinished bonus room above the garage) / 2.5 bath home which looked very nice to both of us. It was dark outside by that time, but we decided to check it out anyway. As we pulled in the driveway, we both thought this could be our future home. I pointed the car's headlights towards the house and looked around some...it was very nice! We told our realtor the next day and returned to check out the inside, which we also liked. A finished bonus room, tile and wood floors, landscaping and sod were not included in the list price and we also wanted a shower put into the half bath. So, the rest of the day and some of the following, we spent getting bids on all of these things. With all of this data in hand, we put in a bid Tuesday night. The counter offer process went back and forth over the next couple of days until I finally requested to meet with the builder himself to talk over the pricing details. After an hour of negotiations, we had a signed contract by Friday morning at 10:00! Lana and I will be official owners of our first home on 1 April. It's a very exciting time as we move to the USA after four years overseas and prepare for the arrival of our first child in May. God has blessed us both with good jobs and we're thankful we're able to afford such a place. Give Lana and I a call if you're passing through the area...our house is always open!

Squadron Officers School Graduation

I finished SOS this morning after five weeks at Maxwell AFB in Montgomery, AL. Near the middle of the graduation ceremony, they began read the list of distinguished graduates (DGs). The DGs are those who were able to make the top 10% of the class based on many factors, a few of which are class member ranking within the flight (we had 14 flight members), the flight commander ranking, academic grades and physical fitness scores. There were about 425 people in the class...about 42 DGs. Overall, our flight was great and thankfully all got along. However, we weren't ranked very high when it came to the overall flight ranking due to various reasons...some out of our control. Due to this, I didn't think any of us had a chance to get DG. As the list was read in alphabetical order by last name, they eventually came to E and I wasn't anticipating my name being called when they hit F...but it was! Praise God...it all goes back to Him!

The 510FS Buzzard Reunion

This past weekend Lana and I drove down to Destin, FL for a reunion of the 510 Fighter Squadron. As a reminder, I flew the F-16 at Aviano Air Base in Italy with the 510th April '06 - December '08. The 510th is at Eglin AFB right now for Combat Hammer, using the bombing ranges in preparation for their upcoming deployment to the desert. After Eglin, they will fly to Nellis AFB in Las Vegas, Nevada for a few weeks of Red Flag. This path is similar to the one I took back in the summer of '06 with the Buzzards where we flew to Hill AFB for Combat Hammer before going to Vegas and then on to the desert.

It was great for Lana and I to meet up with many of the friends we made during our time in Italy. I would venture to say we still knew about 60% of the pilots in the squadron, and one we had met during this past year in Korea...it's a small Air Force. Saturday night the squadron had a nice meal at the Eglin Officer's Club where much of the time was spent just chatting and catching up with friends. There were also past members of the 510th who flew and fought in Vietnam as well. It was very interesting to talk with them and listen to their stories. The history of the 510FS dates back to pre WWII and Lana and I both think someone should make a movie of the remaining war heroes similar to the Band of Brothers series made of the 82nd Airborne. Much of our squadron's history can be found here, to include pictures and videos.

On a smaller scale, we had a little Buzzard reunion here in Alabama last weekend as well. My squadron commander, Lt Col Landrum, from Aviano is here at Maxwell Air Force Base for Air War College (those who are going to make the rank of Colonel attend this school) and another good friend of mine was in the area...we all flew in Aviano together. We all got together for a BBQ and enjoyed catching up on what had happened over the past year.

SOS has been a good experience, not just for the lessons in leadership, but because we were able to see many of our Air Force friends. Thank you God for the this time!

Squadron Officers School

At the end of this week, I will have finished my fourth week of Squadron Officers School (SOS) at Maxwell AFB, AL which is the same base my Air Force career started at in Officers Training School (OTS) back in 2003. It has brought back many memories of past training and I can hardly believe it's now 2010...that was seven years ago! It's amazing to think back over all God has taken me through, and is now taking us through.

SOS is a leadership training course for Company Grade Officers (CGOs) in the US Air Force and is specifically focused on those with the rank of Captain. The course is comprised of many different classes, a few papers, a briefing and many other team building events. The classes focus on a wide range of information from goal setting to leadership models to Air Force doctrine to physical fitness. Of course, five weeks isn't enough time to fully learn all there is about those subjects, but the goal is to teach us the basics so we can go back to our respective squadrons and lead more effectively.

SOS is comprised of roughly 415 people and my flight has 14 individuals in it. There are 2 F-16 pilots, 1 flight nurse, 1 B-1 Weapons System Operator (WSO), 2 C-130 pilots, 3 acquisitions officers, 2 engineers, 1 lawyer, 1 support officer and 1 civilian. All flights are arranged in a similar fashion in order to get the best cross section of Captains. Fighter pilots aren't the only ones who think they have something to offer...a common joke sometimes heard in the Air Force. Its been interesting hear different points of view and see how we all fit into the bigger Air Force picture.

There are two main outdoors competitions we compete in as a flight during SOS. The first is Project X, which is a series of different tasks/obstacles the flight must get 6 people through/over in 15 minutes or less with certain restrictions placed on them. Some of these restrictions are the equipment you have to perform the task, the areas of the obstacle you can/cannot touch or how you are allowed to communicate with your teammates (normal voice or whisper). The goal is to teach leadership and followership. The other is the Warrior Challenge (WC). The WC consists of 1 min timed push-ups and sit-ups, a 3 mile run and then another 2.5 mile flight run (all 14 people stay together as a group 2+2) while solving different tasks. I've been the fitness leader for the flight, and I'm confident we'll do fine tomorrow.

Lana has been here with me the whole time and has been a great support. I haven't been as busy as I usually am in the Fighter Squadron, so we've had lunch almost every day together. She misses Germany a bit and the time she was with me in Korea before flying to the USA up until now has been the longest she's been out of Europe. Thankfully, we still have her Lufthansa flying benefits and plan to take advantage of them during our time at Shaw. Once SOS is over with and I find a moment in between the houses we'll be looking at in South Carolina, I'll post another update. We hope all is well...fly safe, and check six!