15 years later

I had my first reserve weekend and it felt really great to be back in uniform after 15 years! The guys I will be working with are the best and all seem to really enjoy what they do. As far as jobs in the military go, flying around in helicopters saving people is hard to beat.

What I will be doing in the Air Force Reserve

Rather than try to describe in long detail all of what my job will entail as an HH-60G Pave Hawk Flight Engineer, I will give you a link to a video on the WSJ website that talks in detail about one of the many rescue missions my unit does as a part of it's overall Combat Search and Rescue (CSAR) mission. The video is called “Rescuing Children in Afghanistan”:

http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid86195573/bclid86272812/bctid769424168

Ironically enough, the copilot featured in the video, is the son of one of the members of my church here in Tucson. Enjoy the video and a few photos of the aircraft I will fly on.

CSAR demonstration during the Davis Monthan AFB airshow

The Aircraft Bone-Yard

At the air show I met a photographer by the name of Pamela Reed who has a website called Alter Ego Images http://www.alteregoimages.com/index.html .

One of her present projects, “Days Gone By” consists of photographing planes in Tucson’s AMARC or “aircraft bone-yard” as its known and the service men that either piloted or in my case wrenched on while in the service years ago. Most of the guys are either Korean War or Vietnam Conflict era pilots. Some are fighter aces or “war heroes” in one way or another. To say I was surprised when she said she wanted to photograph me, would be an understatement. When I met her at the airshow, I mentioned that I had just re-enlisted after being out for some 15 years and she said that many of the planes and missile systems I worked on some 15 – 23 years ago are already moth-balled in the bone-yard and that she would like to take some pictures of me with them. Well, I thought that would be pretty cool, but considering the others she was shooting, I didn’t feel quite worthy to be included.

We meet a few weeks back at the bone-yard to do the photographs and here I was riding around in the back of a van full of older guys who were all Navy and Air Force pilots or navigators, with thousands of hours flying many of the different models of aircraft in the AMARC. The stories these guys told of launching off aircraft carriers or flying covert intelligence gather missions during the early stages of the Cold War were amazing. One surprise came as I talked with one of the Air Force Navigators about my work as a Nuclear Weapons Technician during the end of Cold War. Due to the age of the aircraft and weapons in the DoD inventory, I had in fact trained on, worked on or around bases, aircraft and weapons that this guy had flown during his time in the military! Pam the photographer is working on getting her photographs into some of this years USAF 60th Anniversary celebrations and wonders if the exhibition of her photos for this project could end up in the Air Force Museum at Wright-Patterson AFB or even the Smithsonian! She took a couple quick color digital shots during the photo shoot you will see below.

BGM-109 Ground Launched Cruise Missile Transporter/Erector/Launcher

F-16 from the 162nd TFG, Tucson IAP

My re-enlistment and airshow

Ok, so I am getting caught up, I am typing this while sitting in the kitchen of my good friends the Pelino’s, came out to visit friends and run some errands. Point of reference, the Pelino’s kitchen is about 3 times the size of my little temporary place in Tucson!

So my class III flight physical was approved so I can re-enlisted in the Air Force Reserve as a Staff Sergeant, the same rank I left 15 years ago when I moved out to LA back in 1992. The timing of it all was such that it was a week before the air show at Davis-Monthan AFB, where my unit is based. As I mentioned in a previous post I had applied for commissioning with the Navy this time last year, during that process I was introduced to Lt Dan McShane, who is a Naval Flight Officer and the nephew of my friend and mentor, Mike Atkinson. Dan answered question after question about the Navy and being a Naval Officer while I was going thru the Naval OCS application process. Well, with the Blue Angels due to fly in the air show and the air show only a week away, I gave Dan a call and asked if he would be able, during his time here for the air show, to administer my oath of enlistment and he said he would be honored to do so. See the pictures below of my enlistment ceremony. I can’t think of a cooler way to take the oath than in front of a Blue Angels jet!

So it was a pretty cool weekend, with the ceremony in the morning and the airshow in the afternoon. Along with some other goodies, Dan gave me some VIP passes for the Blue Angels seating area at the air show so with my brother in town for the weekend, he, I and his sister-in-law were able to enjoy the air show from some of the best seats in the house, right up front and at show center. We also had a chance to meet and talk with some of the families of the Blue Angels pilots and ground crew members. At the end of the Saturday show we had the opportunity to meet the pilots and have our picture taken with all the 8 of the Blue Angels, including Lt McShane, who is Blue Angels #8. We had the greatest time, but the best part was getting to share it with my brother Harry!

Dan during the flight demostration

My brother Harry and me

After the demostration flight

Before I left LA

More catch up: had a few going away parties/trip:

I visited George and Heather in November and we went into the city for the requisite dinner at Calzones and a walk out on to the bridge

Over looking the mouth of SF bay

From just above Fort Point

Da bridge

A going away breakfast with Evon Hedley who for the last nearly 10 years has been an encourager, mentor, friend and the grandfather I've never had. He is an amazing man of God.

The White's hosted me and the Cline's for a going away dinner, Dr Whiiiiite!

Nice beard!

Update #1

I am a bit behind with my update, which by the way things have been going since I moved here, has left me with way too much stuff to update at once. If I were to list all the updates at once there would be no built in suspense that a series of daily or weekly posts would surely provide. But considering I have a few friends who would like to hear/see what is going on and not be kept in suspense anymore, I will do a couple of different posts all at once, so here goes……

The JOB – accepted a great job here in Tucson, I started the last week in January, with one of the nation’s biggest title insurance companies as a commercial account manager. This means I am in sales, like before, when I was with the escrow company in Pasadena, but this time I am selling both escrow services and title insurance. But instead of working with residential real estate agents (who buy and sell houses, condos and town homes) I am now working exclusively with commercial real estate agents, brokers and lenders (who buy, sell and develop: land, housing developments, shopping centers, apartment buildings, office buildings, warehouses, etc.). Way more professional and way more money. The job is going really well, I love them, they love me and all is good in the land.