Who Thought Columbus Day could be this good

So another week has gone by, and things are pretty much the same as last week. We basically did the same kind of flying with just a few more expectations of our skill level. In this block of training we are expected to really know how to handle the plane and we are just fine tuning our skills to get ready for our initial solo. We should all be getting ready to solo towards the end of this week and the beginning of next week. It is going to be pretty cool. On Tuesday and Wednesday we had some pretty nasty flying weather (the ceilings were around 700 ft and that is pretty tough to fly in when you are just learning how to fly on clear days). I got to do some instrument flying, it was pretty rough seeing as I had never had to rely solely on the instruments in the plane before. Once we got on top of the clouds it was just like every other sunny day except that we couldn't see the ground. We had a lot of extra time in the area so we did some cloud chasing, and that was a lot of fun. I also got to work on some aerobatics that we will be doing in the next phase of training. On the other side of training, we took our instrument test on Thursday and now we have moved on to the second phase of instruments. This stuff is all really new to most of us, because we have never really had to think about flying IFR.
On the personal side, Rachael and I are really happy that the government thinks Columbus Day is an important day. This three day weekend is really nice for us because it gives us two days to spend together before I have to get back into the books. On Saturday we went up to Tupelo and shopped all day. Rachael got some new clothes, and then we looked at stuff for the house the rest of the day. She was really excited because she got to go to hobby lobby and TJ MAXX. I am just looking forward to relaxing on Sunday. I have every intention of getting in a round of Frisbee golf and some serious hammock time. Other than that we'll see.

First Block

So my first week is officially over and we just started our second week of flight line training. It is absolutely the most fun I have ever had in my entire life (to be read: it is the most challenging, hardest thing I have ever done). 4 years of college cannot begin to compare to one week on the flight line (at least for bio majors). I am getting pretty proficient at the basics (straight and level, turns, etc) but I still make a lot of little mistakes. The IPs say that that is normal, but I usually have an unfairly high standard for myself. This first group of rides was basically to introduce us to the handling characteristics of the aircraft. We did things like stalls, and handling demonstrations just so we could get a feel for the wide range of usable airspeeds and maneuvers. Today, I had my first double-turn. That is where they schedule you for two events in the same day, like a flight-sim or a flight-flight. That is really brain numbing. There is so much information in your head at the end of the flying period that I have a hard time going into academic mode and trying to learn how to fly instruments. The way they schedule our academics actually amazes me. We are doing the academics for a portion of the syllabus that we are not even opted to see until about a month from now. We will be done with instruments and on to Navigation and formation before we even get done with the first section. I guess that is why they say the course is extremely front loaded. It is pretty hard to imagine that we have been training for almost two months now. Things are moving pretty fast. Well, that's all for now.

dollar ride

So friday was my first ride in the T-6. Its called a dollar ride because you give a dollar to your IP to commemorate the ride. It was absolutely awesome. This plane is fully aerobatic and it is pretty high powered. It climbs like a champ and overall is a pretty neat aircraft to fly. The sortie is pretty laid back and there really isnt much instruction, so the learning curve is going to be pretty steep starting tomorrow. We should be flying almost everyday from here on out and it is going to be pretty tough. Here are some pictures from my dollar ride (they are all on the ground because we cant take cameras in the planes).

This is me getting ready to "step" to the aircraft.

This is me strapping in to the cockpit. Apparently we are so inneficient at first, the IP does the walkaround while we struggel to attach ourselves to the ejection seat.

This is my hero shot. I pretty much dwarf this airplane.

Visor down, ready to close the canopy for engine start.

BIG big news!!

So, of course, Rick forgot to mention the most exciting news of all. I found a job!!! And the best part is that I can ride my bike there if so inclined. I probably won't but it is nice to know that I could (Rick will read this and make me ride my bike at least once...betcha two dollars). It's at the Child Development Center here on the base. The pay is really decent and is made even better by the fact I won't be spending it on gas money to get into town. We're spending the next few days rotating in and out of the various classrooms to get a feel of where we'd like to be most of the time. My first two observations today involved me getting spit up/ thrown up on so we'll see what happens tomorrow. Rick and I are both pumped about this job, though, because I've been home alone so long I've started talking to the dogs like they can 1) understand me (in Bill's case, hear me) and 2) will respond. I think it's definitely time to get out of the house.

Also, the other exciting news he forgot was that our friends just had their little baby girl. They are in our class and we are all so happy to see baby Avery. She's like the class mascot, Baby 0914 (Rick's class #). It's going to be an extremely busy year for them but I have a feeling they'll have lots of help if they need it.

Other than filling out my half ton of paperwork for my job, I've been hanging out with the other spouses in his class. It's a total change from Altus and really nice to be able to hangout iwth people who know what you are going through. If you need to just have a gripe fest about how the Air Force is ruining your life or how much you want a puppy or how all the husbands have forgotten how to take out the trash since pilot training started, someone is there. We've also going to spin class. Unfortunately it's at 7am. Fortunately, last time they played early 90s music which was awesome and a great way to start my Monday. We'll see how long it lasts.

one more week...

So we have come to the last week of academics. Its not even a whole week, but we still have a test. We actually spend one day on the flight line with them teaching us how to do the everyday tasks that we are going to have to do. Its pretty exciting to know that we will actually be flying starting this Friday. Its going to be pretty rough, they expect us to know absolutely everything about flying the plane and they make it very obvious when you don't know it. We go in on Monday and we get to switch pubs with the class that is leaving so that we don't have to make a million updates to the dash-1 and our checklists. Even though it is going to be tough, it will be a lot of fun getting to fly again.

This last week I did some simulators, mainly emergency procedures and we took a couple of more tests. I am getting the hang of actually "flying" the plane in the simulator, but it will be nice to actually be able to feel what you are doing when we get in the plane.

Rachael's parents drove down this weekend. We had a pretty good time, but Debbie was sick and the weather wasn't that great when they got here. We went to get some pretty good food at some of the off the beaten track restaurants. We watched some good football games and then we watched the Arkansas-Alabama game, and that made me want to be an alumni of some other school. That was absolutely the worst game i have ever seen on television. It looked like mediocre junior high team was playing a collegiate team. I hope that they get their act together before they come down to MSU because we already bought our tickets and I would hate to be as embarrassed as i was yesterday.

Well, that's all we have for now.

wedding pictures

So, after three long months of waiting, the photographer finally decided that she would put our pictures up on the webpage. They are at: http://onlocationphotog.com/Harris%20+%20Winfield%20Wedding/index.html. I am not going to lie, I look pretty good. I never really had trouble with that though...

just another day in paradise

Another week down, only 48 left to go. This week we had our aerodynamics class/test and then we started on flying fundamentals and local procedures. we also had our first real simulators even though we really werent even flying. The aero test went alright. I didnt make a 100 but at least i made a 97. They should really start putting our tests on friday and then not teach us stuff because it just makes it that much harder to sit through instead of testing on thursday and then having to do stuff on friday. The aero stuff was actually pretty difficult, but i know what i need and now i can pretty much brain dump the rest of that crap. we started our basic level simulators where they teach us how to do the checklists in a timely manner. we also practiced responding to basic emergencies and using our cockpit resources effectively. I did pretty well on the sims (they really arent that hard). I managed to get my checklist time down from 25 minutes to almost under ten. We also got our flight assignments this week. I am going to be in T-Bolt flight with half of my class. The other half of the class is going to be in Lightning flight. We are all in the 37th FTS. Rachael and I are having a pretty good time with the people in our class. We spend a lot of time with the other married couples. Rachael is going to start golf lessens this week because she really needs them. we are also in major house decorating mode because rachael doesnt like the idea of having our style be "early college". Well, i guess that that is it for now.

why rachael owes rick a disc

Just an early morning update for those of you that actually check this......

Rachael and I went out with a couple of friends to play some disc golf this weekend. Rachael is not the best player, but she seems to have some fun while we are out there. We had a good time, but little did we know that I would get to attempt some "fishing" while we were out there. Maybe one day she will learn to throw over the narrow part of the water and we can avoid situations like this:

This is one of those moments where you know you really love someone. At the point in the picture above, the water is actually ony about a foot deep. The mud, however, is up to my thighs. For the record, we never found the disc. Now to be fair, I actually ended up in the water a couple of holes later, but it is all about LOCATION. Overall we had a pretty good time. I just wish that the only course around here wasn't thirty minutes away.

Here are a couple more action shots.

Rick with another tree hit

Rachael and her disc prowess


Ryan's wife Julia

more pics of the things we have been up to

This is Rachael beeing a trooper and riding her bike all around Bainbridge Island, WA. She rode 15 miles in one day!

This is Rachael and her best friends from ASMS the day after the wedding.

This is the official wedding party. The best man Seth, Rick, Rachael, and the MOH Abbey

This is a pic of me getting ready to start my first triathalon. I actually did pretty well. I finished 37th out of 270.

another on bites the dust

so we are now officially done with systems. we took our fourth test of upt and i managed to once again make a 100 on it. i am the only person in my class to get a 100 on all four tests. i guess that it is just good luck, but i have been studying really hard. i just hope that i can keep my streak alive. i doubt that i will because our next section is aerodynamics. this is one of those completely foreign subjects to me. i have never liked anything physics or physics related. we are also starting our simulators this week. we actually have to wear the full get up (helmet, mask, and harness) just to sit in the cockpit and do checklists. we also are going to get split up into flights this next week. it doesn't mean much until we hit the flight line but it will be interesting to see how we get split up.

on other notes, Rachael and i are having a great time. we usually have people over for dinner a couple nights a week and we hang out with all kinds of people on the weekends. it is definitely a big adjustment getting back into all the studying (for both of us) but we are doing pretty well so far. well i guess that is it for now!

first few weeks of UPT

So the first two weeks of UPT are officially over. We have finished Aerospace physiology and Systems 1 and we have started systems 2. I have taken three tests and so far i have managed to not miss a single question. There is a lot of material that they are forcing down our throats, but things are not so bad....yet. Once we hit the flight line things will get a lot faster. This is pretty much our only chance to try and get a good base of knowledge before we have to start drinking from a fire hydrant. I am really excited to get closer to getting on the flight line because that just means that we get to fly again. Well, thats all for now...two more tests this week. woo hoo!

These are just a few pics of what we have been up to for the last few months or so.

This is us at Fay Bainbridge state park on our honeymoon.

This is me showing Rachael how to use a water filter on our backcountry canoe trip.

This is Molly the water dog relaxing with a little breeze created by our super fast paddling.

Finally started

After many years of waiting, I have finally started UPT. We started on the 14th of August with some basic intro stuff and then we moved on to Aerospace Physiology for the last week and one day. Phase 1(the first six weeks) is dedicated to academics and getting to know your flight. We are doing pretty well with that aspect. We have had people over several times, including the entire flight last weekend. The info that we are learning in class is pretty basic, but it is still pretty useful. We spent a day just doing classroom lectures on what to expect from our oxygen system, ejection seat, and parachute. We got to go on a "chamber flight" where they put us in a pressure chamber and took us up to 35,000 feet. Then we had to take off our masks so that we could learn what our symptoms of hypoxia were, in case it ever happens in the aircraft. We also spent half a day learning how to land with our parachutes. That was fun, but it was pretty embarrassing doing PT in our flight suits out in the middle of the base.
Our class has some pretty interesting dynamics. We are pretty well spread across the age and background spectrum. We range from 23 to 30, 10 married, 4 guard, 2 reserves, 1/3 ROTC, 1/3 AFA, and 1/3 OTS and AMS. We also have two international students from Japan. It is pretty interesting getting to see the backgrounds where everyone is coming from. Rachael and I are meeting and getting to hang out with some pretty interesting people.
This coming week we are starting the rest of our academic program. We are getting into T-6A systems and some other basic lessons about the aircraft. We also spend a lot of the time getting the traditional "hazes". We have to put the flags out in the morning, keep the POW/MIA table looking nice, drive people out on the flight line, serve beer at the graduating class's assignment night, and a lot of other little stuff. But all said, it is really not that bad. We only have to do this kind of stuff for 2 more weeks, and then we have another class come in and take over the work.
We hit the flight line in about 5 weeks and that is when the stuff is really going to get difficult.

Columbus

We finally made it to Columbus, Mississippi, found a house, got our furniture and are settling down from a crazy crazy month. Rick is estatic to be starting Undergraduate Pilot Training after almost 9 months as a casual LT (in other words: coffee maker and secretary). He's been reporting in for almost two weeks now but is usally home in an hour or two. It's been really nice to have him home helping get settled.

We found a house on base but it took a week until we were able to move in. It's decent for base housing. Three bedrooms, 1.5 bath, hardwood floors (just ignore the fact that there is probably 50 years of wax and polish on them and they've never been stripped). We're most excited about the fact we now have a dishwasher and central heat and air. The ghetto house in Altus didn't have either. I also am able to put the dryer inside the house. Another big bonus.

They moved our furniture in a week after we got the house so we spent a few days sleeping on an air mattress with two lawn chairs and a rubbermaid box for a dining set. I'm learning a lot on this move and the next one will definitely go smoother. As much as we'll be moving in the next two years, I'm sure I'll become an expert. We're still working on unpacking. Most of the problem is that we have an extreme amount of junk and random pieces of furniture that don't really go together. No surprise there since it is all from college or family members. We'll get there eventually. We did buy a dining set and received it today. Rick looked at me and said, "You're an actual wife now." I think it just hit him that we since we had nice furniture (one piece of nice furniture) we were actually married. It is an awesome table though. Counter hieght with a butterfly leaf so we can sit 6 or 8. It does have white cushions though. We'll have to be careful.

We also bought a patio set on clearance to go with our Christmas grill. (Thanks, Kathi!!) Hopefully, we'll have his training class over this weekend now that we have places for people to sit and eat.

Once we get the house settled I'm going to get more serious about this job hunt. Actually I'll probably go and apply to be a sub tomorrow. Just bite the bullet. It's going to be difficult to get up in the morning after such a long vacation. But, hey, somebody has to bring home the bacon!;)

Seattle!

Hello from Seattle! We have had a great time these last few days up
here in the northwest. We got to do some really neat stuff. We went up
the space needle, went to the Pike Market and lots of other cool
stuff. We didn't even rent a car! We spent the entire week on bikes
and other forms of public transportation. The weather was absolutely
amazing. It was in the mid-70s everyday. We are definitely going to
come back here again. Next time we are going to fish and kayak to the
extreme.