11 December 2009

Today marked a good day in my tour; Today I hit 90 hours in country in 21 days, to some this doesn't mean a thing but to me it's great. Once a pilot hits 90 flight hours in country he's giving a mandatory two days off; what will i do with all my spare time... Possibly build my bed up so that I can have a desk underneath it. I'll make sure to add before and after pictures of my room for all to see. Today we flew a mission to resupply a little FOB in the middle of know where. We had to climb over some mountains that were 13,ooo feet plus but I was using O2 so no problems. You will see me in the pictures below with the 02 plugs in my nose, good times. I haev a funny story to tell! Before we deply we were sent to this class that put you under a mask and had you fly in simulated high altitudes; pretty much they would reduce the amount of Oxygen that you could breathe and then record your symptoms so that you knew what to expect if and when you flew that high for real. Well my symptom was Denial; pretty much I would fly until I passed out. Of course there are a lot of other symptoms and each pilot is different on how they react. well about a week ago I was flying a high altitude mission and was at 12,500 - 13,500 and my co-pilot looks over at me and says, "man I can feel this altitude, I'm very air hungry (symptom)(meaning he's trying to breath fast for more air). I look over at him and say, "Your such a P@##!", he then looked away a little discouraged and a few minutes later looks back at me and askes me what my primary symptoms were? After a great deal of thought, I reply, "Denial" We laugh and then decide to descend to a lower altitude. That's pretty much my weekend in a nutshell. Oh, was made Company SP which is a big deal but each day I learn that it's more work and I realize how much I really don't know. Wish J.R. or Rosten were here for guidance and mentorship.

Oh, here at Bagram there are a lot of big wigs so it's a big salute area. Also with big wigs we have a lot of Rules to follow. One of the biggest rules is that we have to wear a reflective belt after SunSet at all times, it's such a big deal that if your caught not wearing one you will be fined $45. Well a few days ago we had a weather day were we didn't fly so our crew dogs (crew chiefs) got together for a fun picture and placed 8 reflective belts together and around a chinook and here are the pictures. They posted them all over Bagram and added the comment that it was the required aircraft gear to fly within 5NM's of Bagrams airspace.... Soooo funny