Dear John Letter

My dearest John Wayne,

You have served me well these last three years, my beloved MacBook Pro.  Your charm, your ease of use, and your smashing good looks -- my love for you has not dwindled over time, much the opposite in fact.  However, regardless of my indescribable love for you, it is time that we bring in another computer into our home...the Asus Eee.  I recognize that this addition may be painful for you, especially given the fact not only is it another computer, but a PC.

Please, please do not fret, my dearest John Wayne, you're still my man, my main squeeze, if you will.  Our intense and committed relationship has not fallen by the wayside.  But let's face it, we both know I can't access my work e-mail and systems from you, and this is a problem, especially with my travel schedule.  It's to no fault of your own, rather that the Air Force just doesn't play well with Macs.

I'll miss the automatic street cred that I get when I you sit on my lap in an airport, and the sense of elitism I feel when I sit down with you in a cozy booth in a coffee shop.  But I promise that we'll still spend plenty of time together, playing on PhotoShop and surfing Facebook -- you're much easier to do that with, she doesn't cooperate as well as you.  And we both know how much of a pain in the butt it will be to get her loaded with everything I'll need while I travel that you already provide.

Think of this not as a break up, but as the start of a new adventure -- growth in our happy little technology family.  It's not you, it's me -- it really is.

Love,
Bekah

Thanksgiving 2009

I opted not to go home but to stay in the STL for Thanksgiving this year.  Instead my friend Jenn came up from Kentucky and we celebrated the holiday together, sipping wine and cooking our very first Thanksgiving dinner.  Neither of us had ever attempted to cook a turkey before, but we somehow managed to do so today, and quite well I might add.  We named him Bartholomew...and man, was he tasty.  Tomorrow we will make his remnants into homemade turkey noodle soup...

Oh, how I do love the holiday season.  Don't get me wrong, I am by far not one of those folks who begins blasting Christmas music from the moment the first leaf changes color, but I do welcome Thanksgiving and Christmas with open arms.  It's something about the atmosphere, the air of goodwill, the warmth, the scents from the kitchen, the TV specials and the company that I just love.

Most of all this time of year makes me reflect on my blessings and recognize the people and things in my life that I'm grateful for.  Though I'm not entirely sure why, I've been able to recognize those people and things a little more clearly this year.  Long story short, I have a lot to be thankful for, I've been overwhelmingly, indescribably blessed.

While I'd like to say that I always remember how blessed I am, I also realize that that would be a terrible lie if I did.  It's just not true.  All too often I forget just exactly how blessed I am and sometimes I lose sight of what's really important.  I think most of us do.  It's far too easy to get caught up in the day-to-day craziness and lose your grasp on what truly matters.  With that, I'd like to take a few sentences to express what I'm so thankful for this Thanksgiving, while I still have 32 minutes of it remaining.

Today, I am thankful for a Savior who loves me unconditionally and has forgiven me.

Today, I am thankful for a family who loves me unconditionally.  For parents who I can also call friends, who are wise enough to know when to step in with advice and when to stand aside and let me figure things out on my own, and who still remind me that I always have a home with them.  For a sister who still wants to hang out with me and who gives me fashion advice when I send her countless picture messages of outfit options for a night out or a big day at work because I'm fashionably retarded.

Today, I am thankful for friends who put up with me.  Friends who I can go months without talking to, and then pick up and call them and talk to them like we spoke yesterday.  Friends who will call me on my nonsense, but still spout nonsense and behave ridiculously with me.  Friends who will listen endlessly, without complaint, on a topic they've heard far too much about from me already.  Friends who will drop everything if I need them.

Today, I am thankful for the men and women who protect my freedom to type what I'm typing right now -- whose service allows me to sleep in a comfortable bed in a secure country.  For the men and women who spent today in and out of bunkers.  Especially those men and women who I know and love.  We haven't forgotten about you, and I want nothing more than for each of you to come home safely and soon.

Today, I am thankful for a job that drives me crazy, but that I love so much.  A job that provides for me, and is secure. A job that I am fortunate to have when so many of my fellow college peers are still looking for something that fits them -- and I hope with all my heart that they do.

Today, I am thankful for the strength to eliminate a toxic relationship that, in all honesty, should have been eliminated a long time ago.  And I don't regret it.  Not one bit.

Today, I am thankful for the breath in my lungs.

...7 minutes left for Thanksgiving 2009.  What are you thankful for?

A 365 Day Review...

Today marks a year from my first TDY, or Temporary Duty assignment, aka business trip and although that, in and of it self, is not a huge deal, I've reflected on the last year and realized that I've done a whoooole lot of traveling.  And while I should be writing my final paper for my International Relations class, I decided to take the last few minutes, before I drift off into dreamland, to do a little bit of a photo-journal chronicling my adventures over the last year.

And so, to my instructor, who may or may not see this blog, I apologize for writing this instead of my final paper, but I hope you enjoy it nonetheless.

October 5 - 11, 2008 - San Antonio, TX - Days Out of Town to date: 7

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="680" caption="A group shot of the folks I spent my week in San Antonio with...a fantastic time. Lots of margaritas and good company."][/caption]

October 31 - November 2, 2008 - Bowling Green, KY - Days Out of Town to date: 10

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="694" caption="Rachel, me, and Monique at Western Kentucky University's 2008 Homecoming."][/caption]

November 11 - 14, 2008 - Tucson/Amado, AX - Days Out of Town to date: 14

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="701" caption="Me, Col. Gail Halvorsen, Joe, and Scott in Amado Arizona after shooting the interview for the Beyond Berlin video."][/caption]

December 20 - 28, 2008 - Omaha, NE - Days Out of Town to date: 23

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="600" caption="Some of you may remember the gift of the "Rooster clock" from my grandparents...some of you may also have been contributors to my now growing rooster collection."][/caption]

January at somepoint for 3 days, 2009 - MacDill AFB, FL - Days Out of Town to date: 26

No pictures from this one...it was a lot of meetings.

February 5 - 13, 2009 - MacDill AFB, FL - Days Out of Town to date: 35

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="600" caption="The view from a KC-135 boom pod while refueling an F-15."][/caption]

February 27 - March 1, 2009 - Chicago, IL - Days Out of Town to date: 38

No pictures from this one either....shopping weekend with a girl friend, great fun, great food, and great retail!

March 6 - May 22, 2009 - Fort Meade, MD - Days Out of Town to date: 116

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="604" caption="Me and fellow DINFOS students at Medieval Times near Fort Meade, MD."][/caption]

April 10 - 12, 2009 - Yorktown, VA - Days Out of Town to date: 116 (You'll notice that the next three "days out of town to date" counts will stay the same since these trips were taking during my long trip to Fort Meade.)


[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="628" caption="Larry, me and Christy outside of Cheeseburger in Paradise in Newport News, VA...right before we witnessed a MASSIVE apartment complex fire."][/caption]

April 16 - 19, 2009 - Philadelphia, PA - Days Out of Town to date: 116

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="647" caption="This is me and Ken playing my very first game of beer pong, in Philadelphia. He is either lamenting his recent throw that wasn't so great, or lamenting in my future throw that is guaranteed to be awful."][/caption]

April 24 - 26, 2009 - New York, NY - Days Out of Town to date: 116

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="652" caption="The Sikh parade that was going on the weekend we were in NYC."][/caption]

May 28 - June 2, 2009 - Omaha, NE - Days Out of Town to date: 124

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="659" caption="This is my godson Robbie, he just turned one. He is my heart."][/caption]

June 24 - 27, 2009 - Boston, MA - Days Out of Town to Date: 128

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="659" caption="Laura and I with our twin lobster dinners in Boston."][/caption]

June 30 - July 5, 2009 - Omaha, NE - Days Out of Town to date: 134

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="673" caption="Me and Special Eddie, our annual sacrificial stuffed toy that we blow up on 4th of July. Yes, his forehead says "meatballs," it's somewhat of a tribute to Garden State."][/caption]

August 16 - 26, 2009 - Little Rock, AR & Fort Polk, LA - Days Out of Town to date: 145

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="672" caption="Three members of the 621st Contingency Response Wing perform a FOD walk, checking the ramp for any debris that could damage an aircraft engine."][/caption]

September 4 - 5, 2009 - Chicago, IL - Days Out of Town to date: 147

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="686" caption="Laura and me taking the obligatory Chicago bean photo."][/caption]

September 16 - 20, 2009 - Philadelphia, PA - Days Out of Town to date: 152

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="683" caption="Sarah, Rick and me at an Irish pub in Philly. Weve known each other for 12 years now. That not only creeps us out, but is also a pretty considerable feat considering the last time the three of us were all in the same room was in 1999 in an entirely different country."][/caption]

September 26 - 27, 2009 - Champaign, IL - Days Out of Town to date: 154

No photos from this one either, because I'm lame.

That about covers it...El fin.  Total days out of town in the last year: 154. Hello, frequent flier miles...where should I go next?

jrtc adventure day 9

Tonight, I ate alligator and frog legs.  Yes, I am in Louisiana, I guess that's what you do here.  The alligator wasn't bad, very chicken-y.  On the other hand, I can't say I'll be eating frog legs again anytime soon.  We (combat camera folks & me) hit up a local cajun restaurant down the street from the hotel we're in.  None of us were terribly impressed, but we had a great time none the less.  We tried out the local menu and the local beer, and threw peanut shells at each other in the process.  This evening's activities also involved me and Jimmy diving quickly onto the pavement after the "someone lay down in front" command while taking a group photo in front of the restaurant.  I'm so glad that even Combat Camera takes touristy photos.

Today was a pretty calm day.  I spent this morning driving around the rest of the exercise grounds and checking out where the Army has been playing for the last couple of weeks.  I also got to visit the Combat Support Hospital where I saw how the Army does their medical stuff.  It was a very large operation for sure.  According to one of the staff there, she said the CSH at the exercise was larger than the one she worked in while deployed, which I found pretty interesting.  After stopping at the CSH, I headed out to Leesville, La. with some of the Combat Camera folks to watch two F-15 Strike Eagles practicing some combat air support techniques.

Since the exercise is winding down, at least for the Air Force portion that I'm involved in, we left the Aeromedical Evacuation office at a relatively early time, around 3:30 p.m.  Once we returned to the hotel after a bathing suit run to Wal-Mart, me and Major Riley took in some sun, enjoyed a cold beer, and read silly gossip magazines by the pool.  We also ran into a lot of the other folks who are working the exercise, at least from an AE standpoint, at the pool.  I forgot how many rooms our team is actually taking up in this small hotel.  I'd venture to guess that 75% of this hotel is filled by someone who in some way is attached to the exercise.  Soon after the pool we were swept off to try our luck with the cajun food, and we all know how that turned out.  Hopefully, tomorrow's home-cooked cajun meal for our end-of-exercise social will be much better.

And now it's time for bed.  My eyes are officially closing for the evening and without editing this blog post -- deal with it.

jrtc adventure days 4-8

{Editor's Note: It's been a long day of story editing, so I make no claims as to how well this story will be edited.  Hopefully I've gotten the large mistakes. :o)}

Ok.  So it's been a few days, but it's not my fault, I swear.  Internet service has been sparse at best.  And time has been at a high premium.  It's been a complete blur since I last blogged on Tuesday, but a fun blur.

Wednesday started around 10 a.m. with the guys and lady from Contingency Response Element (it's a smaller portion of the Contingency Response Wing) out at the landing zone.  They had set up their main tent the night prior, so when I arrived they were busy putting up communications equipment, power systems, and all of the other goodies that they needed for the week.  I then went on a Foreign Object Debris, or FOD, walk with a few of the guys to make sure the ramp the aircraft were using didn't have anything hazardous that could get sucked up into the engines and cause serious damage, like metal pieces or large rocks.  After spending the remainder of the morning and the first part of the afternoon hanging out and getting to know some of the guys, I had to split to head back to Alexandria so I could get back to Little Rock.

Initially, I was to spend only Wednesday in Fort Polk, then spend the rest of the week in Little Rock and then head back to Fort Polk on Saturday until the end of the exercise.  But my plans changed and I had to go back to Little Rock for the night to pick up the remainder of my belongings and then return to Fort Polk Thursday morning for the rest of the exercise.

So after another ride to Alexandria, I hopped on a C-17 where I experienced 6 to 8 assault landings (aka landing super super fast and steep) and landed in Little Rock.  For the record, the assault landings were not nearly as bad as I'd been told they would be.  In fact, I didn't think we were even performing assault landings when we were.  After another meeting, I was finally checked back in to lodging and headed to sleep -- I had another 4:30 a.m. show time for my flight back to Louisiana the next morning.  This time it would be on a Belgian C-130.

As expected, 4:30 a.m. on Thursday came swiftly and before I knew it I found myself in the mission planning room with the Belgian flight crew who, by the way, are an hysterical group of guys.  I even got to ride in the cockpit for the entire flight, which has, by far, been the coolest experience of the exercise thus far.  We landed at Alexandria, and I hung out with the flight crew while they loaded up with a couple of airdrop pallets.  The flight crew invited me to join them for the airdrops.  Unfortunately, my ride was already on the way otherwise I would have absolutely joined.

Once my ride arrived, I was on my way back to Fort Polk where I met with the Air Mobility Director, Lt Col Salter, who told me all about what occurred in the Joint Operations Center.  The JOC is basically the central nervous system for the exercise, it monitors not only the Air Force's exercise activities but also the Army's.  The AMD serves as the central command and control for all deployed Air Force aircraft traffic and controls everything from airlift flights, to airdrop missions, as well as aeromedical evacuation missions.  After that, I camped out in my room for the next couple of hours and then it was off to the drop zone to watch the Canadian C-130 crew airdrop 4 bundles, at night no less!  It was pretty awesome.

They also let me try out some Night Vision Goggles during the airdrop, and those things were crazy!  I was completely amazed - mostly amazed because of how well you could really see in them, but also partially amazed at how much looking at military vehicles through NVGs make it look like you're in a video game.

The next morning (Friday) it was off to the CRE again.  This time I took shelter with them during a mock attack on their camp, it was neat to see how quickly they all sprung to action even though they knew it was an exercise environment.

That evening, a few of the CRE guys had decided I was cool enough to hang out with them, so they invited me out for an evening in Leesville, La.  The location was not so awesome, there's just not a whole lot going on in this town.  But the company I got to share my evening with was fantastic.  It started off with dinner at a local cajun restaurant, then it was out for drinks.  The highlight of the night was definitely the guy with the red t-shirt tucked into his Wranglers, with a cowboy hat and a serious mustache who would grab random girls and tug them to the dance floor.  The guys attempted to drag his attention to me.  When I caught onto their scheme I told them I'd dump each of their bodies into the live-fire range that the Army would be practicing in the next morning, that seemed to quell their antics...at least I like to think it did.

Saturday was a pretty quick but eventful day.  For the first time during the entire exercise the C-17 was able to land at the Landing Zone where the CRE was located.  They hadn't been able to land all week because of moisture conditions on the ground.  Once the C-17 landed, the Aeromedical Evacuation folks on the ground at the Landing Zone loaded mock patients on the aircraft.  According to one of the AE trainers, this was the first time in over 5 years that a C-17 has performed an AE mission during a JRTC exercise.  The C-17 came back later to return the mock patients who were Army players in the exercise.  Between you and me, I think the "patients" enjoyed their time under AE's care, because not only are the AE folks awesome, but the Mobile Aeromedical Staging Facility, where the patients are kept stabilized, and the C-17 were both air conditioned.  It was probably a welcomed break from the hot Louisiana sun.

Soon after the last C-17 flight departed, I also said my good-byes to the CRE folks and headed back to my hotel to get cleaned up and ready for dinner.  We (myself, some Combat Camera and AE folks) hit up a local Italian restaurant for dinner -- the service lacked a little, the food was good, and as always, the company was awesome.

And that leaves us at today -- Sunday.  Today, I spent my day holed up inside my hotel room, finishing stories that you will hopefully see soon on the AMC Website.  5 story packages (articles and corresponding photos) were sent, and we've got about 7 left to go.  It's hard to believe the exercise is nearly over.  We all leave on Wednesday.  Here's to the next two days, I'm sure they'll be just as awesome as the last several!

Until next time, here's some photos:

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="602" caption="Moving a very prized piece of equipment -- the air conditioning!!!"][/caption]

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="605" caption="This is Senior Airmen James Randolph and Staff Sergeant Joshua Williams assembling a communications satellite."][/caption]

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="612" caption="Some of the CRE folks helping the AE team evacuation a mock patient out of the area of operations."][/caption]

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="618" caption="One of the AE folks attending to a mock patient. I know I just called the man a mock patient, but I want to further impress that this man's privacy is not being violated, he is not in any way, shape or form injured or ill and this was ONLY for the exercise."][/caption]

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="624" caption="On the FOD walk. "][/caption]

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="624" caption="The view out of the dome on the top of the C-130."][/caption]

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="626" caption="IT FINALLY LANDED!!!"][/caption]

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="631" caption="Co-pilot Captain Denis Gochel and Flight Engineer, 1st Sergeant Major Kenneth Snelders from Belgium."][/caption]

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="637" caption="Captain Bert Erens, pilot, from Belgium. Thanks again to all of you for the awesome "VIP" seat in your C-130!"][/caption]

jrtc adventure day 3

This morning started at 3:15 a.m.  And it hurt, but I made it and I loved every minute of it.  Well, except for the minutes with the bugs, I could have done without the bugs, but I digress.   Today we hung out with the C-17 fellas and we had a 4:30 a.m. showtime at the training squadron to sit in on the aircrew's mission planning. Since I had to check out of lodging, I had the pleasure of waking extra early to deal with that ball of wax and then get to the squadron on time, which still didn't happen because of a lodging glitch, but they forgave my slight tardiness.  After the mission planning, they called for a crew bus and we were on our way to the flightline.  We arrived at the aircraft, and while the aircrew prepped for take-off, me and my fellow PA, SSgt Torres, poked around taking pictures, listening in to what they were talking about, and basically getting an overall feel for what they were doing.  While I've never underestimated the job of an aircrew member, it wasn't until today that I realized how detail INTENSIVE the job is.  Oh. my. Lord.  The numbers, the letters, the acronyms, making sure things are this and that and the other.  My brain hurt, and I was just watching.

So we took off from Little Rock and had a short enjoyable flight down to Alexandria, La. where we picked up members and equipment from the 621st Contingency Response Wing (located at McGuire AFB) that had come down to La. for the exercise.  They loaded the aircraft, which was absolutely not a small feat.  The had a multiple pallets of equipment, a pick up truck, a command and control center, and a lot more.  After everything was in place, it looked like they had put a puzzle together - everything fit perfectly.  I wish I had gotten a better aerial shot, so I could show you how packed it was, but they made it happen.

After the plane was loaded with the equipment and the 621st folks we took off to Fort Polk.  By this point, 3:15 a.m. was catching up with me, and the motion of the plane taking off put me right to sleep.  I was awoken about 45 minutes to an hour later by the aircraft making a hard left turn, I looked at my watch and noticed it was past the time we were supposed to have landed.  A few minutes later, the loadmaster told us we were turning around, the ground was too wet to land on safely.  So we went back to Alexandria, and they began unloading the plane.  In the meantime, other members of the 621st came up with another plan.  They had to get the equipment to Fort Polk, and the only way they could do it today was to drive it.  So they did.  They loaded what they could on trucks, the rest of the equipment would be delivered later by aircraft.  It was really cool to see everyone work together as a team.  And even when things hit a snag, they regrouped quickly and smoothly and figured it out together.

So here I am, at 10:00 p.m. in a hotel somewhere in Louisiana, absolutely exhausted.  Tomorrow I'll head back to see what the Contingency Response Wing folks are doing, and also check out the aeromedical evacuation portion of the mission.  I can't wait.  The best part about tomorrow?  I don't need to show until at least 9.  Hurray for catching up on sleep.

Major thanks to the Captains Thackaberry, Greeson and Freeman, and to the Staff Sergeants Jones and Hardesty for letting us hang out, poke around, climb on, and take pictures in your aircraft today.  And also thank you to the 621st Contingency Response Wing folks who were so helpful today in not only getting SSgt Torres and me down to Fort Polk, but also for making sure that we got lunch.

Until tomorrow, here's some pictures.  Enjoy!

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="688" caption="This was just as we were preparing to leave for Little Rock. The sun was rising just behind the planes, it was a good morning for flying."][/caption]

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="689" caption="Two members of the 621st CRW look on as a loader brings cargo to be put on the C-17."][/caption]

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="693" caption="Just one of the massive pieces of machinery that team put aboard the C-17. This is box serves is where the 621st CRW operates command and control functions out of."][/caption]

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="699" caption="This sign was on the side of one of the pieces of the equipment in the plane. I just thought it was funny."][/caption]

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="685" caption="While the C-17 continued to be loaded with equipment. "][/caption]

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="685" caption="This is me hanging out of the roof of a C-17. It's definitely not the best picture of me ever, but I was too geeked out at the fact that a C-17 had, what i've lovingly dubbed a "sunroof," to care."][/caption]

jrtc adventure day 2

I am exhausted.  Today was  long day of meetings and briefings, the majority of which, I admittedly did not understand.  Lots of piloty lingo and jargon, I'm sure that my facial expression was somewhat like a curious dog's when they hear something strange...you know, cocked to the side quizzically.  But I made it.  And even managed to glean some useful information from it.  Next time, I'll find a Military Jargon-to-English dictionary, or maybe hire an interpreter.  In the meantime, my brain is oozing out of my left ear.

I did get the opportunity to meet a handful of the awesome aircrew members, they all seem to really enjoy what they do.  I can't say that I saw anyone that seemed like they didn't want to be there, which is remarkable considering they had a 4+ hours-long series of briefings. Tomorrow kicks off the actual flying portion of the exercise and it seems like they have a very busy several days in store.  More to come on all of that tomorrow when we get to the flying.

In other news, I came to the sad realization this morning that I brought my iPod, but no headphones.  And with tomorrow's super early show time for the flight, and my unwillingness to make the trek back to Wal-mart tonight after I already went to purchase what ending up being a dissapointing frozen lasagna, I can't say that I'll be remedying that problem anytime in the next 24 hours.

Well it's time for me to pack my stuff so I can head to Fort Polk tomorrow, eat the Ben & Jerry's (which I'm sure won't be as disappointing as the lasagna), and then head to bed.

However, as promised, here's the flight sim photo from yesterday's post:

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="658" caption="Here's the photo of the KC-135 simulator flight I posted about yesterday. The man on the right is Bill, a flight sim instructor at Scott AFB. He was very patient with me and my flying inexperience. Thanks, Bill!"][/caption]