Overwatch

A few days ago I was on a mission providing coverage for a group of Special Forces raiding a village. It happened to be near (enough) to where Georganne is stationed. So after the SOF guys had successfully exfiled, and we saved a helocopter full of them- but that's another story, I flew the plane over to her FOB (Foward Operating Base). I've heard a lot about it from her and things she's done in the surrounding area, but it looked a little different than I had envisioned. I had our camera operator take some pictures for her and everything.
Most importantly though, I was able to watch over her for a little while (till we ran out of gas). I don't exactly know whether it was legal or not, but I didn't care. It made me feel like I was actually doing the job of a good husband taking care of his wife. It has been hard knowing that she's out there somewhere surrounded by people who don't like her, clearly they've never met her though. Thankfully she'll be leaving very soon, but for the period of time I was up there I got to know that she was safe sleeping in her bed.

"TOT: 30 seconds"

Do you remember the footage they would show on CNN at the start of our recent wars with the grainy green and black infrared image of a building with a set of white crosshairs on it? A few seconds after the video started there would be a huge flash which receded to show an explosion billowing up from the center of the building, then there might be a picture of once the dust had settled and there would no longer be a building there, remember? They haven’t showed footage like that in years. But like many of the things that are no longer popular or new enough to show on the news, moments like that still happen. In fact, sometimes the camera that films that destruction comes from my airplane.
Watching an explosion like that is different from the air. In your NVGs you can see far below you the multiple flashes and a huge cloud of dust which quickly rises up several hundred feet. To be honest it’s kind of a cool sight. There’s something about big explosions which people always like. I had one guy tell me it was like fireworks. Except that it’s not like fireworks. For airmen in this war it can be easy to feel a sense of detachment. There’s no real threat against us up high in the sky and with the push of a few buttons we can make some very large explosions down on the ground. Yet I’ve felt the concussion of explosions like that nearby and they are very real. We don’t just drop these weapons to make a big noise, there is a very real purpose…

Time is Passing

I have been so busy lately that when I recently had a few hours with nothing that I had to do I found it very difficult to relax. I couldn't convince myself that there was really nothing to do. Over the past month I have flown 25 combat sorties, completed a Master's course, taken over one of the most involved administrative sections of the squadron here and spearheaded construction of a new moral area. I have certainly not been bored, and that has been a huge blessing as the time has flown by. Hopefully it will continue to do so. However, I feel like I have given myself some gray hairs, or maybe that's just cause I turned 30...

It was kind of a fun birthday here. I woke up and flew a combat sortie then enjoyed a creative present that my wife gave me; a new hammock that I hung underneath my lofted bed and while extremely ghetto, it's really pretty comfortable and fun. I think all the other guys are jealous!
It's the little things...