Hail damage

I forgot to post about Kandahar's hail damage. Well Kandahar reported taking some serious hail damage so we ran to the airfield and covered all our aircraft with everything we could get our hands on which basically was rolls and rolls of bubble wrap and cardboard. Fortunately for us the storm took a turn to the south and missed us. Kandahar however lost most of the fleet, they had aircraft with broken windows and ruined rotor blades and damaged panels and covers. It made FOX News this week, there are more aircraft at Kandahar than any of the other FOBs. They have 24 Apaches and all four rotor blades on all of them had voids in the composite cord length. At 130,000 dollars a blade you can only imagine the amount of dollars it will take to get the fleet up and running. Oh well I am sure some of you saw it on the news I took some pictures of our cover up job I will add them, night all

Waiting for the girls to call

It was an ok day, I put down in the tracker that I was off today but spent about ten hours in the office trying to get five of my guys set up to go home early to become IPs and MTPs. I can't really remember the last time I took a day and just spent time in my room watching movies or TV shows. This tour has been so much different than the last tour, I fly so much less but work so much more. Tomorrow we will have an AAR ( after action report ) we will try to capture everything that happened during the DART mission, mostly good but many things that we could have done so much better. We had a fallen angel and we were slow to react, and that will just no do. We had misinformation in the TOC ( tactical operation center ) that put folks in the wrong mindset. We were slow to launch and once we had the AWT (attack weapons team) airborne they did not have the most up to date information. And that information was critical to getting them on station quickly and informed as to what was going on. We had a UAV ( unmanned arial vehicle ) that had a sensor on the crash site where we were watching in real time Afghani locals picking through the wreckage. We all ready knew that based on the crash site and the type of aircraft that there would be no survivors. But not having air coverage on station to chase away he would be on lookers and watching them pick through the downed aircraft made a lot of us pretty angry. I know we can do better than we did yesterday, and although I pray we never have to fly in support of another DART we must tighten our shot group and refine our procedures. When I launched several hours later, I did my BHO ( battle hand over ) with Mike Carman. Then I was responsible for the security of the crash site, and the recovery operations. After we insert the DART team the first thing the team tries to do is capture the crash site with pictures to try to preserve as much detail as they can to help with the investigation as to what went wrong. After that they remove the fallen Soldiers which is something I know I could not deal with personally, however we have some of the youngest Soldiers in our formation with in the Path Finders that are assigned to us. And once that was done we slung a conex trailer into the crash site with a CH 47 and then asked those same kids to pick up every piece of that aircraft and place it into that container. And we wonder why most of them suffer from PTSD ( post traumatic stress disorder ) I have done many things that I have had difficulty dealing with over here, but it has usually been through the optics of my aircraft which allows me to disconnect emotionally from what it is that I have to do. It can be like a video game at times, my job is to find bad people that are trying to harm US Forces and prevent them from ever doing any harm ever again. I take the responsibility of my job extremely serious because I know how poorly I would deal with the outcome of me doing harm to and innocent civilian. Our BDE has had two CIVCAS incidents and both were friends of mine and I truly feel so sorry for them. I don't know if I could ever get back in the saddle from something like that no matter what the circumstances. Well this went a little longer than I wanted so I will call it a night and try to find out why my girls have not called me back yet, night all

DART

DART ( downed aircraft recovery team ) well I wish I had better news but I flew almost six hours in support of an aircraft crash and there were no survivors. It was a fixed wing aircraft typically a crew of four and we put our DART team in to recover the fallen Heros, all were recovered and then the DART team put the remains of the aircraft into a conex container that a CH47 dropped off. I felt for those guys not only did they have to do the Hero mission but then they had to pick up all the broken burned pieces of wreckage. It was a pretty bad crash site and I am sure they did not feel a thing the aircraft looked like it lost part of a wing and hit the ground upside down. Again like I have said before there is nothing here worth the losses we have suffered, this place will not change. Well is late almost 0300 and I want to try to decompress a bit before I try to go to bed, time to call my girls, night all

My Girls

I got to talk to them tonight and its amazing how a short conversation can change everything. I am one of the luckiest people I know, I miss them but thanks to the age we live in I don't feel like I am that far apart from them. Marie I can't wait to get home to you guys, I want you to know how proud of all of you I am. I have the best family a man could ever ask for. I hope that this world decides to take a time out and this is the last time I have to ever leave home. It's great to know that you girls have absolutely every thing under control, but I don't want to watch videos of all I am missing, I want to be there.

I am on mission tomorrow with one of our new and up and coming pilots CPT Kelly, he will be taking command of Alpha company once we get home. I worked for his Dad at Ft. Rucker COL. Kelly he was a great BDE Commander. We are so busy with the retrograde operations that its hard to keep things straight in my head. I have had so much email traffic these last few days dealing with HRC ( human resources command ) trying to get all my new guys into schools. Once we get home HRC will pull half of our tracked guys to fill needs of the Army, and that will leave us in a bad spot. I need to get five of my guys out of here early to go to Ft Rucker to become IPs and MTPs.

Well as I once again lay here in my bed typing this post I am listening to music on this iPad, I truly love this thing it is an amazing device. I can FaceTime with my girls and listen to music and type post for my blog and this battery seems to last forever. Well it's about two AM so I guess I should try to get some sleep and cut this post short, night all

Dave

Hi everyone, today was a pretty good day and I am glad I was not on the schedule to fly. I got on face book earlier and I was looking around and I saw a great picture of my bestest girl Elli doing what she loves to do and that is to catch softballs. I also came across a great story about a girl who is a freshman in college who was diagnosed with autism when she was three. I can't even imagine what that would be like to go through. One of my best friends over here as you all may know is Dave Lewis. Dave's son Mark was just diagnosed with autism Mark is quickly approaching three years old and Jen, Dave's wife had noticed that Mark was not developing like another friend of ours son who is the same age. I have spent some time with Mark and would never have guessed. The girls and I went to Dave and Jens for a bond fire before Dave and I came over here. Mark is such a cute kid, I have no idea what kind of challenges are in front of them but I hope that Mark will be as lucky as the young girl who's story I read on Facebook tonight. Dave and Jen are a couple in their early thirties and they are two of the best people I know, I hope that Mark does well with his therapy and he advances as best he can to enjoy a normal life. I am such a lucky Dad, to have been given three of the most perfect healthy kids that posses some of the most amazing talents and skills. Marie and I are truly blessed!

Tomorrow I will be flying with Mike Carman, he and I will do his night reset and his ATM implementation. I look forward to it he is another one of my close friends over here. If it weren't for Dave and Mike I think I would have lost my mind by now. I am sure that we will remain friends for a very long time and I hope to continue working with them for years to come. Well I think I will try to FaceTime with the girls it been a couple of days since we last spoke our Internet has been spotty at best till next time, night all

No Internet, again

Well this cool app lets me compose blog post anyway so that is nice. Not that they will be ant out anytime soon but at least I can capture my thoughts. The a boss called me into his office tonight to talk about the road ahead as fare as our senior warrant officers are concerned. First Jeff Crownover has been fired for doing stupid things that would have ultimately gotten some one killed. Next Mike O'Mary will move from Kandahar to TK to take Jeff's place, then Jerry Works will move from here to Kandahar to take Mikes job. So all in all the only ones that will be down a man is us here at FOB Wolverine. Not that I am complaining because we are the ones who have been identified to retrograde and leave a little early. We are probably looking at getting back to the house by late to end of July. But part of the reasoning for this is Task Force Viper has been identified to assume the GRF ( global reaction force ) it will be my responsibility to get them trained up, but I will be going to BDE to start my new job before Viper takes the GRF. I just need to get them ready, and for the most part these guys are ready for whatever this crazy world has to throw at them. I will miss being Viper 09, like I said this is the best job I will ever have in the Army. It's Been the hardest job as well but for sure the best and I will never forget it.

Well I lay here listening to my music and its hard for me to keep my thoughts straight, I am not the best writer by any stretch of the word. But I do like to get on here and just talk about how my days go and whatever pops into my head. I got to talk to the girls last night and Robby as well even Marie was home so I felt pretty lucky. I even got to say hey to Sam before she had to go to work, hope she had a good night. Well I fly tomorrow night with one of our young Captains I will be doing his new ATM implementation plus flying him one hour of NVS and one hour of NVG to reset his night system flying. We have a requirement to fly one hour NVS and NVG every 60 days to maintain our proficiency. If they don't do that then they must go out with an IP or and SP and do a PFE ( performance flight evaluation ) so we rotate the guys who are on days to nights about every 55 days or so to let them reset their night system. Well I think I will try one more time to FaceTime with the girls and to post this and then I am going to bed, night all

Another day of briefs

I really get tired of going to meetings, especially when that seems to be all I do. We have had some bad luck, some of it due to folks doing the wrong things and making bad decisions. So what the rest of us get to do is go to BDE directed briefs where we get to listen to folks talk about what went wrong. Don't get me wrong, I fully understand that it is important to learn from others mistakes so we don't repeat the same mistakes. We have had our share of aircraft accidents, and we have lost some amazing people and I would give anything to have them back. But we must remember that we are all capable of making bad decisions, it's how we choose to execute our mission and how we operate as professionals that makes the difference. I could not be more happy with each and every Aviator that I have in this TaskForce. This has been the best and worst job I have ever had in the Army, so many things are so out of my control but yet my name is on the blame line for all most everything aviation training related. My guys are doing the right things, they are flying on the conservative side and getting the job done and I could not be happier.

I am off tomorrow and I have absolutely nothing to do, nothing. So I will sleep in go lo lunch and then come back to my room and maybe watch a movie or something. I get an off day every fifteenth day wether I need one or not. I usually find myself on my off days with meetings or video teleconferences that I have to be at. Tomorrow is the first off day that has not fallen on a day where I have other stuff that I am responsible for, awesome!

I hope to talk with the girls tonight, they have been pretty busy with softball and getting their healthy on. Shirley has become quite the cook from what I am hearing and I can't wait to get home and sample some of her new dishes. Don't get me wrong I am sure I will be trying to drag the family out to eat as often as I always did but it will be nice to try some new things as well. I miss real food, like Carrabbas and all of my Mexican favorites. I know it seems wasteful and most of you are probably right but I truly think the only thing we can waste in this world is TIME.

Come November I will have three years till I can retire, hard to be leave the day is so close it seems like May fifth 1998 was just yesterday. I have no idea what retirement will be like? Well it's not like I will be going fishing every day with two kids at GSU I know I will have to find something to keep me busy. I get lots of offers in my email box but I think once I am done with the Army I will be done. Besides there are plenty of things out there I just need to start setting myself up for after the Army. I do like Savannah though, I can see that being home for some time to come. I think the kids like it as well and they too think of it as home, time will tell. Well I think I am going to try to call my girls so till next time, night all

Steady state

Things are going pretty well, I spent most of today in VTCs with BDE and I have two more tomorrow. I have had to have all my IPs present to listen to BDE explain that we are responsible for what our young pilots are doing. You see as an instructor pilot, we set standards by our actions and if we are observed doing anything stupid our young Aviators think it's ok to try to emulate what they see and that's how we get people killed. We must instill in our formation what right looks like at all times, and here at Wolverine that is exactly what my guys are doing.

I have been lucky here at Wolverine we have had no issues with anything aviation related, no issues at all. Mike Carman and I being joined at the hip on all matters relating to aviation have done a great job with keeping our guys doing all the right things and I am glad to have him here with me. I have some great folks here with me and I hope to stay in touch with most of them once we are out of here.

I was contacted by the 15-6 investigating Officer today in reference to Jeff's investigation, based on the questioning I think it's safe to say he will never fly another Army aircraft ever again. Which is a good thing because he will never have the opportunity to put another pilot in harms way. I respect this machine every time I strap it on, and I owe it to my front seater to fly it as safely as I can to allow hem to do their job in the front seat. I typically find myself flying the most junior pilots in my formation, and I know they are watching what I do and I must always do the right thing because I know my actions speak so much louder than my words.

It's starting to heat up here even though we are sitting at 6200 feet MSL ( measured sea level ) and I am not looking forward to the true summer heat the guys we replaced told us we can expect 100 to 115 this summer, oh boy can't wait.... Well time to try and call the girls, night all

Normal day

My day was just like most days I have here, normal routine when I am not on the flight schedule. Tomorrow I am flying with the boss and we will do his ATM implementation should be pretty un eventful. I sit here in my prison cell also known as my RLB listening to my music typing on my iPad and once again the net is down I am hoping it will come back up while I am typing this post. If not I will post as soon as it comes back online, hopefully tonight before I go to sleep. I have been pretty lucky these last few days getting to FaceTime with the kids. I saw on TV in the chow hall yesterday that this is military child month, it's a month that we can tell our kids that we appreciate their sacrifices too. And for a lot of people who just don't truly understand the magnitude of the sacrifices our kids make I will try to spell it out. For starters they ultimately will never have the roots that the average kid has the opportunity to lay down. They will have the opportunity to meet and say goodbye to many friends before they turn eighteen because they will find themselves living all over the globe. They get the chance to go to so many different schools and never really feel like they are more than just a transient student, to really get into the school spirit because they never know when it will be time to move on to the next duty station. And let's not forget how many first that they want to share with both of their parents, first soccer goal, first home run, first date, first prom, graduations, birthdays, Christmas and I could talk for days. I know how I feel about what I have missed, and I was not an Army Brat. I had the friendships that I will keep forever the kids that I played with after school from first grade till high school. It's hard sometimes for me when I think of what my kids have had to give up, the closeness to their aunts and uncles and all of their cousins and grand parents. My kids did not have the choice on any of this and I hope that they know just how much I appreciate the sacrifices they have made. I love you three more than you will ever know and Marie I can't even begin to express to you how great full I am for all that you have put up with when it comes to the Army, and me for that matter. You are my best friend and I love you with all of my heart. I know that I could not be who I am if it weren't for you being there to support me every step of the way. I have made some really big mistakes in my life, and you have always been there to help me get through it. We have three of the best kids that a Mom and Dad could ask for they are bright, intelligent, athletic and most of all they are all three so ahead of their time when it comes to maturity and grace. And I know they get most of that from Mom. Marie I started this journey in the Army in February 1984 and then you and I started this active duty life in May 1998 and it's been an amazing ride. Marie thank you for what you do for our family and what you do for me, I could not be who I am with out all of your help. Thanks for picking up the slack when I am not their and making our house a home whether its in an apartment in Germany or a house in Alabama no matter where we are it's home and that is thanks to you. Since we have started this journey I have spent almost five years away from you and our kids and I will never get back that lost time with you or the kids but its what I signed up for and you have supported me through it all the way, Thanks. Robby, what can I say, I am so proud of you and all of your accomplishments. From maintaining a 4.0 GPA your first year at GSU to scoring over a 300 on your APFT ( army physical fitness test) I can't express to you what I feel and how happy I am to have you as my Son. Shirley, you are truly an amazing young woman and I am just as proud of all you have done again with the 4.0 GPA and as for keeping your Dad In Th loop on what is going on at home. For those of you that don't know Shirley has sent me a home movie every week covering just about everything that goes on at home and she has not missed a beat and I will never forget that as long as I live. Elli, you know your my favorite, just kidding Shirley, Elli I am so proud of how much you have been helping your big sister with all she does as well. Like videoing her cooking or helping her so she can help Mom. I am so luck to have two of the best young ladies on this planet. I wish that I could be there to do all the things that I miss so dearly like watching Elli catch at softball or throw her into the pool or to go see a movie with my movie buddy. You three kids are the best a Dad could ever ask for and I love you guys so much, always know that, and Dad will be home soon, night all

Just another day

Well it's Sunday and as much as that means something at home here it's just another day here we have church service but its just not the same. I have tried to go a few time when my schedule has supported it but its just not the same. I find myself saying a prayer more often than I go to church that's for sure but I think once I get home I would like it if the Senefeld family could find a church that we all like and truly feel inspired by. I was suppose to fly today and I was suppose to fly tomorrow too. But duty calls and once again I get to fly the desk and watch younger less experienced pilots go out and fly the missions that I was suppose to fly. I guess that is what it's all about and I just need to embrace it, embrace the suck that is. I have no idea what it will be like once I am the BDE master gunner and flying even less once we get home. I also know that the job I have right now is probably the best job in Army aviation, to be the Task Force SIP has been the biggest privilege I will ever experience in my army career. Today I spent around five hours typing my Dash One, which is a form that you fill out and give to your Boss that explains to him or her what you have accomplished in the last twelve months. Then they take your Dash One and they write your OER (officer evaluation report) which is how we are graded for future potential and job placement. The best you can hope for is a ACOM (above center of mass) which means that you are in the top third of your peers and that you are ready for more responsibility and more challenging positions. I will not know what I get until my boss's boss comes down to out brief me on my performance. Based on my boss's boss telling me that I will be coming to BDE to work directly for him I think I should be ok. My last seven years of OERs have all been top block or ACOM which is not needed most people still get promoted with just a heart beat. The heart beat is when you get an ACOM and then a COM ( center of mass) which still shows that you have the potential for more challenging future positions. This OER will be the OER that is seen by the board that will ultimately decide if I will be a CW5 or not. I will not be disappointed if I do not get selected for my next promotion, we are all ready being told that my year group will only have a ten to thirteen percent selection rate based on the draw downs the Army is experiencing. So needless to say it will be a tough year to get picked up. All I know is like I have said before there are only thirteen Apache Battalions in the Army and I was fortunate enough to be selected to take one to Combat as their SIP and that is something I will remember for the rest of my life. Now all I have to do is get all these guys home in one piece and this will be the most amazing thing I have ever accomplish in my military career. Night all, Vipers STK ( strike to kill )

Again, no Internet

Well this is getting old, especially on Saturday night this is my time to FaceTime with the entire family. We hopefully it will be just like last night by the time I was done typing my post the net came back up and I was able to FaceTime with the girls.

Well today I was not on the schedule but I was really busy working on so many different things that you can't even imagine. The fall out from TK loosing there SIP is going to be pretty severe, they are all ganging up of the Aviator who brought it to my attention and that is the wrong answer he did what should have been done months ago. We are lucky that the reckless behavior and gross negligence that Jeff showed as a senior aviator ultimately did not end up getting someone else killed. All I can hope for is that in time this will bring that Task Force closer together as a team and make them better. Ultimately all any of us are trying to accomplish as SIPs is to keep the ground forces on the ground safe and to get all our people home safe.

I am going to try to get up earlier tomorrow and try to FaceTime with the kids one more time before they go to bed. I will cut this one off and try to see if the net is back online if not I will post this tomorrow, night all

Internet is down

Well so much for FaceTiming with the girls the net just went down again for the gazilenth time. So I just figured I would get on here and type up a post, of course I will not be able to post it till tomorrow when hopefully the net is back up. My day was not to shabby, I had lunch around 1230 with Jerry Works and then I went to get a hair cut. After that I went to the office to check email and try to stay ahead of the craziness, too late the craziness has all ready past me bye. So I spent the next few hours trying to answer all the emails that deal directly with craziness and the ones that are just boarder line I saved till after dinner. So I went to dinner with Mike Carman and then after dinner he and I went back to our office and continued to deal with putting out fires. While we were doing that we had two soldiers come bye and ask us about how they go about becoming a warrant officer and going to flight school. So we took a break from our madness and explained to them what is required of them to put together a WO packet. I told them if they come back once they get all the paperwork complete to come back for a formal interview and based on how that goes I might write them a letter of recommendation. I normally will not write a letter until I have had a chance to do a sit down and review there paperwork. There is a lot of paperwork and test and physicals that have to be completed prior to getting accepted. I use to write them for anyone who came and asked for one, but not that the Army is cutting back I want to see what their packets look like before I waste my time. I tell them straight out that the numbers aren't what they use to be and minimum scores will not get you there. Typically there will 30 to 40 people applying for every flight slot so obviously not everyone will get one. And if your scores are not near the max you don't have a chance especially if you wear glasses or have some other type of waiver, it's just no going to happen. Well that about sums up my off day I got back to my room at about 2330 and Face-bookedwith Robby and then I laid down and tried to FaceTime with the girls and then the net went down. Now I think I am going to hit the sack and try it all again tomorrow, night all

All good for a change

Well it started like most days, get up go to the office sort through a hundred emails and then head to lunch. When I got back from lunch I went by the ALOC and I had four packages, not one but four. Two from my bestes girls and one from my sister Lynda and the last one from a Girl Scout troop from Maine, like I need more junk food let a lone a entire box of Girl Scout cookies. By the way Shirley they do not hold a candle to your peanut butter chocolate chip cookies. Lynda thanks for the candy they are great for a snack in the aircraft on those long flight days when we can't get out due to all the bad people over here that try to keep us busy.

Tonight I flew Jerry Works, his daughter is in the same grade as Elli and he is doing the job I did last tour over here. Jerry is the TF Master Gunner and tonight I gave him his APART we flew for about 3.5 hours and we completed the new ATM implementation as well. It was a good flight and we both had an easy time with not being on mission. And then I came to my room and I am now in bed and I am getting ready to try to call the girls. My Internet was down for two days as the provider was moving into a building that is not going to be removed from the FOB.

TF Brawler lost their SIP, Jeff Crownover will never fly an Apache in the Army again. I feel sorry for him for what he has in front of him, but as for the reasons why he brought it all on himself and he will have to pay the price. Sad thing is he was next to be the SIP of 1-3 ARB he was inline to take my job once we get home. Not that I want to give my job up, but I understand how the machine works. I am the next in line to be the BDE Master Gunner and it is a great job and I am appreciative for the opportunity. I will be responsible for five battalions worth of gunnery training and that is a huge responsibility. My scope of responsibility will go from my 450 people to close to 2500 and I look forward to the challenge. Well it's now 0130 and I will cut this one off so I can call home, night all

Another bad day

To early to say but we had an Apache crash this morning I am being told there were no survivors. We have no idea what happened and I am sure we won't for some time. It happened in my old stomping grounds near Jbad. The last time I flew there I was there for ten days for the Dust one mission when the female reporter turned up missing. It is some of the most challenging terrain we fly in over here. I am really getting sick of this war, the cost is too high and it's time to let the government of Afghanistan take control and expedite our retrograde. I am in RC South the crash happened in RC East RC stands for regional command and your either in north south east or west. FOB Salerno was smack dab in the center of RC East and this trip I am in the south near Kabul province. I am near the mountains at 6200 feet but I am near a vast desert area as well and the terrain all around me is pretty consistent. To my north west is Kandahar it's about a thirty five minute flight. To my north east is TK or Terrin Koust which is where I was suppose to go initially but we got switched at the last minute and now I am here at FOB Wolverine.

Not much to talk about really, I spent my entire day receiving and delivering bad news from higher to higher and talking on the phone to some of my Apache pilots from TK. It seems that my counterpart at TK was fired today for putting his aircraft, copilot and potentially some folks on the ground in harms way. He was fired from his Task Force SIP job and grounded until the outcome of the investigation is complete. Based on what I know his career is over, there is a video floating around which shows him doing a high speed pass over friendlies at about fifteen feet. He is lucky he did not kill someone, he will ultimately be found guilty of gross negligence and be stripped of his aeronautical rating and forced to retire. What bothers me is he is the guy who is suppose to set high standards and show junior pilots what right looks like. With all our BDE has been through this month he will be lucky if he doesn't go home in handcuffs. It's a dangerous job, we all understand the inherent risk of what it is that we do as attack pilots, you have to respect the machine and the environment that we are flying in over here. I know that I do and I foster that respect in all my guys, I hope that they try to emulate what they see me do and try to be just as conservative as i am and with a little luck I will get all the Vipers home. Well it's getting near that time, so I will cut this post off and try to call my girls, night all

Typical Monday

Just kidding every day in the Stan is just like the next one. I spent most of my day putting out imaginary fires that I did not start however I am getting pretty good at putting them out. Trying to follow the news from home with North Korea is next to impossible all I can do is hope that cooler heads prevail. That's all we need is a renegade young dictator with nothing to loose he is going to be worse than his father. I am sure we have a sub or two off the coast for contingencies.

I am flying the day after tomorrow for two days conducting training and implementation of the new ATM should be fairly easy. I am not flying nearly the hours that I flew last tour but I am twice as busy, I typically put in 12 to 14 hours each and every day with an off day every 15th day that usually has me in my office for 6 to 8 hours anyway. This tour is so different than the last, we are only allowed to be in our PT uniform if we are doing PT where last tour that was your off day attire and that was how you could tell who was off. Not that we have things to do on an off day pretty much if I don't check email each and every day I would get so far behind I would never catch up. I spend most of my time trying to keep up with all the changes, policies, ROE, ATMs things like that. I despise writing memorandums and I hate all the memos that I am the author of that seem to change on a regular basis. Well I am going to try and get on with the kids and see how their day went I hope all are well and I will write more soon, night all

VBIED

Vehicle born improvised explosive device, that's what was in the news today with John Kerry talking about his 25 year old intern. It was another tragedy. It happened not five miles from FOB Wolverine we had no air assets in the air at the time but more than likely not much we can do about them anyway. All and all I think there were about fifteen killed mostly Afghani, two US troops some American contractors but mostly Afghani civilians, a true shame. Just another reason to pack up our ball and go home.

Got to FaceTime with the kids tonight and that was great as it always is, Marie was at work but the kids answered and I got to say good nit to them at least. Shirley was diligently working on next weeks video which I can't wait to see, all of her videos have been wonderful I just wish I had faster Internet I would put them all up on my blog.

Tonight I was watching an insurgent who just planted an IED on one of the roads that our RCP (route clearing patrols) frequently use to get over to MSR (main supply route) 1 and we followed him for quite a while working up clearance to fire through the GFC ( ground force commander) and before we could action on the target we were told to RTB(return to base) which completely pissed me off especially in light of what just happened in our back yard not five miles from our FOB. None the less we followed orders and returned to base and assumed redcon three, which means that our readiness level is three which means that we completely shut down and assume a standby posture. Apparently the IJC Commander who is the four star General over all of Afghanistan has put out a new policy in light of the accident outcome from our UH-60 crash and now we are not authorized to fly during red illumination. Keep in mind the Apache is not affected by red illum, we do not use light intensifying goggles like all the other aircraft we use our NVS (night vision system). NVS is a FLIR ( forward looking infra red ) system that needs no light to amplify unlike the googles. But none the less until we are cleared we are all grounded for red illumination flights. Red illum is anything less than 30% moon angle and over here in this God forsaken country with no other light sources less than 30% is dark like you have no idea. We will see how long this last though we experience a lot of red illum over here so for the Apache guys this will have to be lifted or we are not going to be very effective in our mission. Well the Ambian that I took is starting to take effect so I will cut this one off, night all

APART Complete

Well Dave Lewis and I finally got to fly tonight, we self started the new ATM (aircrew training manual) and he finished my APART. We spent most of the time talking about what he will do once we get home. I am trying to talk him into stating at Hunter and he is ready to leave. Dave and I have become good friends and now that I am going to be leaving to take a BDE job and Dave not being a fan of my replacement, he is ready to move on. I want him to stay for selfish reasons and I know that is wrong but I am not a fan of my replacement either. I know Dave will take good care of the Vipers and after training them up and taking them to combat I have become pretty close to each and every one of these guys. This will be the most important accomplishment that I am likely to complete in my entire Army career.

Tomorrow I have to give three classes, well actually one class three times. The safety center out briefed us on the first accident and we have been directed to brief every crew member in our Task Force the results of the accident. Basically it was a disaster, one bad decision after another. An IP took it upon himself to do multi ship training with an RL3 Aviator during red illum. The findings that came from CRC were the crew was not briefed for multi ship flight, the pilot being trained had only 47 hours total night vision goggle time of which all but forty five minutes she had flown over 13 months ago. They spent 45 minutes in the traffic pattern and then they hooked up with another aircraft and were heading to the north test fire are to do some gunnery training. While in route to the north test fire area the pilot in training who had 45 minutes of NVG training in the traffic pattern became disorientated and put the aircraft into a right bank. When the IP took the flight controls he thought they were flying straight and level and he increased the right bank angle putting the aircraft In an unrecoverable attitude. The aircraft struck the ground upside down at approximately 200 Gs. This was completely preventable we have checks and balances in place that keep thing like this from happening. I found these finding extremely hard to take, there were so many failures on so many levels that it truly made me sick. Tomorrow I will brief my Task Force on these findings and then I will go into our briefing process and reinforce our established standards to make sure everyone is on the same sheet of music and to make sure something like this never happens again. Any loss of life is too great this late in the war we are In the middle of retrograde operations and there is no reason to push the boundaries of established procedures. We have lost seven Crew Members in less than a month and there is nothing over here worth that kind of sacrifice. Well I need to try to call my girls and get to bed so I can get up early to start my day of classes, night all

Time to move forward

We have a job to do and it's time for me to get these guys moving forward. Today we got the out brief of what went wrong with the first aircraft crash that tok five lives. The bottom line is pilot error and that never sits well with me, because I am in the business of making these guys better and reducing the chance for pilot error. However on this accident the IP made some really bad decisions and in my opinion put the entire crew in harms way. For starters he elected to fly an RL 3 Aviator multi ship and then take it one step further and conduct door gunner training. This was a hard brief for me to sit through because I am so regimented when it comes to how my Taskforce conducts RL training. There is only one way to conduct the training and that is by the book. F06 showed up today for a battle field circulation. He has been trying to get to all the FOBs as often as he can to see everyone. My boss get nervous every time he comes and I understand why, I am not looking forward to leaving Battalion when we get back and taking the Brigade job but I know it is all part of the plan. I just feel so comfortable as the BN SIP, for the most part I do my job and in force the standards and establish training guidelines and everyone stays out of my lane. And as for who I report to I have only one Boss and he is charge of everything on this FOB. Everyone knows that I work for and advise V06 (Viper 06) on all things relating to aviation and they stay out of my lane. Don't get me wrong this is got to be the hardest job I have ever had and it comes with so much responsibility that sometimes the thought of all I have on my plate just wears me down. But with hat responsibility come great satisfaction when things are humming, it's like a great big well oiled machine. Well I am starting to feel the effects of my Ambian that I took so I will close this post before I am reprinting it tomorrow. I miss all of you and I can't wait to come home and start the rest of my life, I will write more tomorrow, night all

Another hard Day

Got up at 0430 and flew to Kandahar for Scott's service, not a dry eye in the house. Tony Born gave a great speech I have no idea how he made it through the entire speech. He and Scott have been together their entire careers bouncing all over the globe. Scott will be missed by many and talked about often.

While I was at Kandahar my Boss's Boss approached me and said welcome to Brigade, did you bring your stuff? Although he was just kidding about bringing my stuff he did say that after looking at the candidates they had available to come to BDE after we get home he wanted me to come and fill Tony Born's job. Not sure how I feel about it, I like where I am these guys are like my extended family. I am the Command Warrant Officer of the Battalion, the Senior instructor pilot and for the most part when it comes to WO business I am your guy. When we get back I will go to BDE and I will be the master gunner, it will be a challenging job with a great deal more responsibility and it will look good on my Officer Record Brief ORB, might even help me make CW 5, but none the less I still like being the BN SIP/CWOB. Having the BDE job will not require as much flying which is a down side but being on BDE staff I will have more flexibility to set my hours and I will work more normal day hours. I am torn on many issues with this move however ultimately the COL. has all ready decided who he wants joining his staff so I may as well get use to the idea. Well I am getting pretty tired I will try the girls on FaceTime one more time then I am going to hit it, night all

Slow day

Scott's service tomorrow was changed from 1600 to 0830 so Dave and I had to cancel our flight tonight. We will get the ATM started real soon and then we will train the rest of the Task force. I will try to FaceTime with the girls tonight but I will have to try early since I have to be up at 0430. I missed them last night and I hope to catch them tonight.

The weather has been pretty crazy these last few days, the wind has made the sky brown and I am really getting tired of having gritty teeth from all the dust. I would try to take a picture of it but I don't want to take even my little camera out in this mess. It is starting to warm up though and for that I thankful.

Tomorrow will be a hard day for all of us, Scott's memorial will be hard for me to get through for sure. I called Tony Born a good friend of mine from Kandahar today and as we spoke he was finishing up his speech that he will give tomorrow. Tony and Scott were WO1 together and have been friends for over twenty years. Tony sounded good and I am sure he will do well tomorrow, he knows that Scott would have wanted it that way. I hope that they honor Scott's wishes and the ceremony goes some what how he would have wanted it to. He was such a great guy and he was always there to try to pick you up when you are down and he was such a caring person to all who knew him. He will be dearly missed by so many.

Long Easter Day

Well first off to all my family at home, happy Easter. As for me I am doing well, I flew five hours trying to keep the Romanian army safe all evening. When I got back to Wolverine I went to the chow hall for Easter dinner and was able to scrounge up a peanut butter and jelly sandwich as I was a few hours late. But it is all ok, I am alive, and for the most part healthy, and I have family at home that love me and I hope to be able to FaceTime with them soon. I have tried a few times with no answer but I am sure I will get through real soon, it's 0108 am over here they should be home soon. Tomorrow I fly with Dave, he and I will self start our new ATM and the day after that the Boss and I will fly back to Kandahar for Scott's memorial service. I will then take a day off and spend it catching up on my email traffic. I get so far behind when I am on the schedule for more than three days in a row. I love to fly and get out of the office but sometimes I just get so far behind. This Easter was tough, I spent a great deal of my time thinking about Marie and the kids, thinking about what they might be doing. I hope they had a great day, and I hope the girls have a great spring break. Well I want to close this post and try to call home, again happy Easter everybody, night all