After a 5.5 month deployment, I'm back in Germany with the family! Hence the short hiatus from the blog over the past half year. A few days after our trip to Italy, I was on a plane out of Germany (not an F-16) and on my way with an initial "setup" group of pilots to get things ready for the squadron to arrive the middle of April. We were stationed at Kandahar Air Base in the southern portion of the country. Southern Afghanistan is flat and brown, while the northeast is very mountainous with 25,000 ft peaks of the Hindu-Kush mountains lining the horizon.
Deployed life essentially consists of flying, eating, working out, and sleeping. The Sundays I wasn't flying I also attended a chapel service near our living quarters to stay plugged in to the body of Christ while away from home. The schedule generally had a pilot flying once every 3-4 days and I flew 78 sorties with over 500 hours of combat time. On average, the flights lasted 4-6 hours and had about the same number of air-to-air refuelings. The flying in Afghanistan was very similar to my deployment to Iraq, but this time the employment rates were quite a bit higher. I had multiple sorties where I either employed bombs or strafed with the gun to protect the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) troops on the ground who were under attack. Some were quite an adrenaline rush, trying to gain situational awareness of the ground situation while hearing gun fire over the radio requiring precise employment of munitions in order to not hurt friendly troops or any Afghan civilians...all from about 10,000 ft above!
As the squadron weapons officer, I would review each bomb drop or strafe pass to pull learning points for the squadron in order to learn from each other's mistakes and successes. The flight lead would send a lessons learned email about their specific employment, then I would reply to all with anything additional I had. In total, the 480 Expeditionary Fighter Squadron dropped 147 bombs and shot about 11,000 rounds of 20mm bullets. Thankfully, no civilian casualties were noted from our munitions during our time in Afghanistan.
A big difference from Iraq in 2007 was the available technology. We had wireless internet in our rooms allowing my wife, the kids, and I to talk on Skype most days. This was a HUGE difference compared to 15 min / day on a phone in Iraq. It made the reunion with the kids that much better since they were able to "see" me on the iPad quite a bit! Lilli went from scooting around on her backside to running while I was gone, but seeing her do this on the computer was a blessing. Thank God for internet this time!
I flew a jet home from the desert on 15 Sep to finally see the family again! After a 10.4 hour long flight, we landed back at Spangdahlem to our families waving flags and signs like, "Welcome home Dad" or "We love you"! One of the greatest sites to see! As soon as our jets were shut down, our families could run out to the jets and welcome us home. Soon I had Lana and the kids in my arms again...where they're supposed to be! And with this reunion, my deployment was over. Next up, a month with the family in the small Pacific islands of Palau and Yap...
These past two weeks I had a TDY (temporary duty) to Aviano Air Base, Italy for some flying there. Aviano was my first operational assignment in the Air Force, is where Lana and I met, and where we were married. Needless to say we have great memories of Italy. We drove to Italy so I could take the family along and enjoy some of the scenery along the way. On the way down we stopped half way in Lucern, Switzerland and on the way back in the German town of Lindau on Lake Bodensee.
It was good to fly at Aviano again and it felt just like yesterday I was a Lieutenant again flying around as a young wingman...it was almost seven years ago that I flew to Italy for my first assignment! We visited many of our favorite restaurants and sites, especially those that had to do with our wedding and reception. We were married in Sacile and had our reception at a small cafe in Gorgazzo. Here's to five years of marriage and two great kids...God is good!
We had a few great days of weather and took advantage of it by taking a trip up the mountain to Picancavallo and to Lake Barcis. Praise God for His amazing creation!
We're now back in cold Germany, which is having record low temps for the month of March. Lilli is getting huge and will start walking any day now, and Liam is eager to get back to Kindergarten (German preschool). Lana and I are thankful for our kids and for this Easter time to celebrate Jesus' death, burial, resurrection, and ultimate victory over death for those who believe in Him!
Isaiah 53:5 - "But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed."
In late February / early March, the family and I were able to take a trip back to the USA to see my family and catch up with friends...flying Lufthansa business class is such a huge blessing! It had been a long time since we were all together and will be the last for awhile. Lana and I are in Germany, my sister and brother-in-law are going to the mission field in Africa, and my youngest brother will be off to Air Force pilot training sometime in 2014. We were able to take a nice family picture all together for the first time in a couple years...good memories.
We split our time between Michigan and Ohio where my side of the family now lives. Ideally, Spring Break took place so most had more time off. Also, Lilli and her cousin Rayna's birthdays are only a few day apart which worked out well for a combined 1st birthday party...wow, time flies! I'm thankful God gave me the family I have and for the time together. We're going to see some of them again later this fall here in Europe, and hopefully more next spring / summer.
In Ohio, Liam and I along with some of my other family (mostly the guys) spent a morning at the Air Force Museum. Liam loved it and was super excited about all the "jets" he was seeing. All the jets seemed to be "Papa's jet". It's so cool to see Liam grow into a young little man and enjoy time with his cousin Seth. The last two pictures below are from the Vietnam era, but we still wear the same patch (4th picture down) and have the same saying of "First In, Last Out" (5th picture) in my current squadron. We fly the same Wild Weasel mission they did of "hunting" surface-to-air missile sites (SAMs).
Over a long weekend, Lana and I took the kids about two hours north of Wittlich to Cologne, Germany to get out and see some more sites. The old city is quite nice and has a huge cathedral in the middle. Lana did a great job finding us a hotel (she enjoys trip planning), which was a short train ride from downtown. The weather was even nice enough for me to go for a run through a park along the Rhine River.
We also took Liam and Lilli to the zoo...it was cool to see Liam's reaction to the real animals he's only see in books up to this point.
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!
