AT Day 5, Rain and VIP Visit

Not much flying today.  Bad weather, especially low clouds cut most of the flights.  But it was a perfect day for visitors.  The battalion commander brought his civilian boss and two co-workers for a visit.  The tour began in the drill hall with personal and crew-served weapons.  They got to check out a pistol, an M4 carbine, an M249 SAW, a MK 19 grenade launcher and an M2 .50 Cal. Machine gun.  After the weapons they ate MREs for lunch and looked at aircraft in the hangar.

If we set it up in advance, we can bring our co-workers to the armory and flight facility.  The National Guard has a program encouraging visits.  It's a long trip, but I plan to ask my coworkers if they want to see aircraft up close.  And maybe some weapons.

They can look cool with a .50 Cal!!!

AT,Day 4, Flying to VA on a Blackhawk

Today I got on a Blackhawk flight south to Virginia. Our unit was supporting air assault training for an infantry unit. As it turned out, the schedule for the training changed and I did not see any training. But since my main goal for the day was to get an aerial picture of the refueling and air traffic operation I wrote about yesterday, the whole day should turn out well for me. We are supposed to drop passengers then go to refueling point. It will mean I flew 600 miles instead of 60, but that's not so bad.

When we landed, I went to the chow hall with our detachment. They had the breakfast waiting: eggs to order, pancakes, bacon, ham, potatoes, biscuits and gravy, cinnamon rolls, juice and coffee!!!

Here's one of the crew chiefs getting us ready to take off.

AT, Day 3, Refueling Point and Air Traffic Control

On Sunday morning I took a 30-mile ride to Schuykill County Airport where our unit was setting up a refueling operation and air traffic control. Before we left, I watched a Chinook helicopter pick up a Humvee with a trailer attached. The Humvee and trailer together have the equipment to run communications for an air traffic operation. I watched the helicopter fly north. When I arrived at the airport the air traffic crew was putting the radios into operation and setting up antennas.

The refueling point was already in operation and fueled two Blackhawks while I was there.

The rest of the day I was back down in the weeds trying to get an internet connection to upload photos to FLICKR and Facebook.

Annual Training, Day 2, Medical

When I went to Iraq, medical was a full day. Some of the lines were three hours long. We did not even start medical until 130pm and were done by 5pm. Hearing, dental vision and everything else checked out fine. When I got to the final sign off with the doctor I remembered him from the last trip. He is a National Guard doctor with a private practice. He has patients my age that are way out of shape. He likes meeting people who are not killing themselves with their own lifestyle choices--even if those people are getting ready to deploy.

So I got through everything. Now back to regular training.