....

Ramp Gun, I'm sure he's thinking right now, "Man, I wish my job had a good view at least"

My Sister Ship for the day, UH-60 Blackhawk

Ramp Gunner with all pac's and gear in the back

...

Crewmembers have 78 inches to use and managed to spare 4

The power of Mail

It's much easier than it looks

..

My Office...

Only ZEH can make this GATOR look so good

My Mentor & My Commander

AFGHAN Wal Mart and you all wonder why we enjoy getting packages

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Isn't it sooo cute....

Company First Sergeant Cobb

I think it will fit...

That's what she said... lol

15 Feb 2010

This is what it looks like in a chinook with bags

This is what it looks like in a chinook with bags and soldiers

On this trip around were flying 5 US Flags; three on top and two on the sides. Keep sending them and we'll keep flying them!

15 Feb 2010

SPC McQueen hooking us up and cleaning the windshields before our morning flight.

A few pictures of the chinook loaded with some bags.

Another view of the bags...

CW2 Stone, bored at work so spent a day making a costume and then walking around handing out valentines cards with candy. If you look close on the left side of the desk you can see the

14 Feb 2010

Hello all; hope everything is well in the real world. If some didn't know I've moved to another location about a 4o minute flight from BAF, but you wouldn't believe what 40 minutes away is like weather wise; about 12 degrees warmer! This is great now but temps are supposed to get up to the 130-140's in the hots season so I'm soaking up as much of this good weather as I can. Any who... I'm currently on days and have been flying every day since I've arrived, the flight time is not as long which is a plus for me but a downer for my "young padawons" (what I call the junior warrants) Most of the padawons are located at BAF but I really feel that the lucky few that are here with us will become very strong pilots since we're doing more difficult missions and they have more one on one time with strong PC's (Pilot in Command).

From what I read on everyon's FB things in the states are accumulating some good snow. Scarlett even sent me a few pictures today with snow on the the yard; Strider loved it I'm told. I was told today that Savanna hasn't seen this much snow since 1989.

Whelp, now that I'm on a day schedule once again, I'll start taking the pictures and adding them to the blog more daily; nights are just to difficult. Take care and thanks for all the support. Oh, my new address is:

CW3 Graham, Earl A.
F Co 2/3 AVN
JAF
APO AE 09310


The Man, The Myth, The Legend, Mr. TG on top of the aircraft Posing and Preflighting... More posing at the moment.

And yes, this is a normal view from the cockpit, very hazy this time of year.

We can't fly without a flight of two aircraft, this UH60 was tagging along with me today...

13 Feb 2010

Today we flew 5 flags, 3 on the ceiling, and two on the side walls. You send them we'll be happy to fly them and enclose a certificate.

Here are our only 3 aircraft with the sun rising in the background.

This is a picture of my new home. Inside the building is devided into 8 rooms 4 on each side.

14 Jan 2010

For Starters, I'm sorry. Yolanda reminded me today on how long it's been since I've last updated my blogsite. Since my last post in December a few things have changed. For starters I'm now at over 215 hours in country, I'm on nights now flying NVG's (Night Vision Goggles), and I have more time on my hands to actually catch up on paperwork. Ofcoarse the big differences will be the lack in photo moments for all you back home. Things have been going well and were staying very busy at work. Today I was on NQRF (Night Quick Reaction Force) which pretty much means were on standby in case anything immediate comes up were we are required to be able to launch on short notice; in short it's a 14 hour day of waiting. I've been flying on average 4 -5 out of every 7 days so that's good with helping pass the time. Still doing the 14 days on and one day off schedule. As Yolanda wrote in her email today, I've definetly kept up on my vampire wars; which I do wake up and play and play before going to bed. Adicting little game I would'nt recommend to anyone; unless they are going to join my clan, lol.

Everyone seems to be in good spirits and pretty soon the company will begin taking leave in Feb so that's always nice; more flight time for me.....;-) Just joking honey.... I've asked for the latest possible time to go home and as of now looks to be sometime in September so that will be good.

Trying to think of anything else but nothing is really coming to mind. I haven't really decorated / upgraded my room since the beginning other than the massive TV scarlett sent me for Christmas, it's kind of funny. It's been getting pretty cold at night (around -2 to -10) so since I've gotten the TV for some reason if one or more turn on their heaters in their rooms it kicks the power off. Took me almost 20 minutes to find the circuit breaks. Everyone blames my TV which is totally bull but the timeing of it all does kind of add up.

Okay, it's 8:48 a.m., usually am in bed by 8:00. I hope this blog finds that all is well back in the real world. If anyone has any questions feel free to send them to my email and I'll try to answer. Take care and will write and add some pictures here soon. Make sure to keep me honest Yolanda :-)

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

cont......

This is my pilot of the day, Jeff Ballew. Thanks to him we have all the pictures below. Jeff is a farely new pilot and is one of the up and comings. Today marked my 21st flight since being in country and he was the first to want to sit Right Seat. I'll expect good things from him in the upcoming months.

For flying in an aircraft without a pressurized cockpit, this is a big deal. 13, 100 feet MSL

cont...

Dropping off supplys in the middle of know where. The tempature was -4, fun times but does bring back good memories of my Alaskan Family.

Just a few pictures of the view a long my flight, would would ever guess were at war here.

This is my christmas tree that was sent to me. I promised the wife I would put it up and this is the proof that I did what she requested.

Another FOB we landed at to resupply with wood, food, etc.out

These are the apaches that followed us the whole way and made sure the people kept the peace.

cont..

We went to a FOB the other day and this was the priority. WOOD, packed as much as we could inside the aircraft and dropped it off. Amazing how much we take for granted.

These are the Afg. troops we dropped off. Withing minutes they were all loaded inside truck beds and driving off. Were is the safety officer when you need one.

More Sling load training.

I gave my camera up to get these pictures. One guy is holding a grounding rod which is hammered into the ground. Our aircraft can produce up to 40,000 volts of electricity at a hover. Don't miss! I'm in the right seat waving at the camera while my pilot is flying the helicopter

10 Dec 09

Here are a few pictures of some missions that we have done since I've last posted. Below you we were doing loads for training. This is us hoving a hook-up crew about ready to sling two 500 gallon blevits.

Few pictures of the landscape as I'm flying along.