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

Trying to fall asleep

I got to talk to Marie and the kids tonight and that helped a ton. This was a hard day for me, Scott was a good friend, he was about my age and had me thinking about how fragile life is all day. I can only imagine how hard it will be on his family, he was going home in less than a month. Scott was going to law school and had the rest of his life ahead of him, he will be missed by many. I am trying to stay up beat and motivated and at the same time trying to arrange for as many folks from my Task Force to b able to go to his service Tuesday. I am not looking forward to it at all, but I will go and celebrate Scott's life with the rest of his friends and remember him for all he has done for Army aviation. Rest In Peace Scott you will never be forgotten....

Another bad day

Well as most of you can tell we have lost another Soldier, His name was Curtis but we all called him Scott, or Skinny. Scott was a great guy he was a CW5 and had the respect of all that served with him. I will miss him he was a good friend. Scott was leaving here in less than a month, he was retiring and he was going back to school. He was accepted into law school and really wanted to be a Congressman. Scott was a great guy, he was always in the know on so many things, he always had the skinny on the best place to go for lunch or the best place to RON (remain over night) during a trip pretty much always had the angle on everything. This Tuesday I will be going back to Kandahar for his Memorial service and I cant even imagine how hard it will be. They have all been hard but this one is for Skinny, my friend, a fellow Apache pilot, a guy my age that I knew so well it makes it all so real. This place is really starting to wear on me, I need to get on tonight with the kids and try to decompress a bit. I pray to God that I never have to hear that trumpet player play TAPS ever again, I am ready to go home to my family.

His name was Curtis Reagan

Curtis was a great ME ( maintenance examiner) I flew with him only a few times as our career paths didn't really pass that often. Curtis was going home early to start law school, he rose to the rank of CW5 and had way over twenty years of service, It was his time to retire. His new hopes and dreams was to become a senator or congressman, and all that new Curtis knew that we would some day see his name on a ballot. Curtis who was also known as Skinny for reasons that were somewhat confusing use to be this skinny little CW2 early in his career. Later in life like most of us that live well put on a few pounds so when his old friends would call him Skinny others would look at him like what the heck are you guys talking about. I use to call him Curtis only when I was mad at him he went by his middle name Scott for the most part. So when I would walk up and call him Curtis he would be like now what did I do Rob. Last night Scott left us he will be missed by many but Scott you will never be forgotten, rest in peace my Apache Brother, we have the fight...

Wow

Well like I said I would be back and here I am, the rotor noise is crazy outside tonight it sounds like there are twenty five choppers out there. I am not flying again till this Sunday, Easter, lucky me. I am hoping to get to talk to Robby and the girls later tonight its about 1030 Pm here I still have a few hours till I will have the chance to talk with any of them. Like I said earlier I took my PT test this morning with a bunch of kids and boy was it sad. At 47 you would think that I would be the last one across the finish line on a two mile run especially with kids half my age but how times have change. I hope to be able to continue to lose some weight over here and continue to keep running and working out. I have lost about ten pounds mostly because everywhere we go we walk, it takes eight minutes to get to the flight line. I took my camera to the flight line to take some pictures of these 18 to 25 kids who do everything on this FOB from guard to work on the aircraft. And they are all positive and happy to be here doing whatever it is that they have been trained to do. I find it refreshing to say the least that they get it, they have a sense of pride that many will never have or see and these kids get it. It’sall about something more than yourself, to be a part of something for the better good. Wow now I am sounding like a nut job so I will move on, on another topic I just took an ambian so I won’t have much time left, but I am not on the flight schedule tomorrow so I figured it would be ok. Sometimes it takes acouple of hours and sometimes its quick and this one seems to be working pretty quickly. Oh no, I just heard the guys talking about having to deliver a redcross message to someone tonight. And it doesn’t get to crazy to night, if it does we will have to come together to make sure this person is ok. as for the kids this week end I sure wish I could talk to all of them. Well I wish my life was more exciting at sometimes and that we were doing more here as a Taskforce. We have not officially killed anyone from our FOB and for that I am happy, we are doing the right thing to get this job done with little to no bloodshed. Wow the meds are starting to work what I can say I need to get this posted as soon as I can before it is to late. Marie, you are my best friend and I love with all my heart.....I had to come back to this post and make some changes. I am not sure if it was the drugs or if it was me falling asleep in the middle of posting, night all

No Internet

Well the Internet is out and so is our power for that matter. This was my third night that I was suppose to fly and once again I never got off the ground. Tomorrow morning at ten I have to take a PT test oh buy I can't wait, nothing like running two miles at six thousand feet. I have been running though so I should be ok I am about two and a half minutes under my time. Not that I am doing great it's just that I am an old man compared to most of these kids here and I get like twenty minutes to run two miles. Don't be a hater Rob when you are 47 you can have nineteen minutes and thirty seconds to run two miles too. Well like I said I am three for three not flying, tonight I spent three and a half hours doing table talk with Aaron Schaefer who will be our next Pilot in command (PIC) he is ready and his oral knowledge is right where it should be. I just need to get him into the aircraft and let him impress me with his conservative flying skills. We are all about tired of the weather and I know that I will be ready to get caught up on my training flights as well. Yesterday the Boss and I were going to go to TK for a change of command, one of our sister FOBs Apache company Commanders was relieved for not taking care of his company and we had to send them Craig Kuphole which really hurt because he was doing a great job in our FUOPS ( future operations) cell. But I guess if it didn't hurt we probably weren't sending the right guy, Craig will be a great Company Commander I am sure of it.

Shirley, I got you package and your clone video was awesome I watched it twice. Your cookies are awesome and my Easter notes from my kids made my day. However your second video was a blank DVD, so please burn that week again please. It was Robby on spring break and a few other things that I got excited to see and when I put it in my computer asked me what I wanted to do with this blank DVD. It happens, your videos rock girl, especially your clone videos. Your art work was amazing too, but my favorite was your story. Your story and the comments that your teacher made, I would agree with her you are ahead of your time Shirley. Well I am going to save this and add to it tomorrow for sure, I love you guys....

Well it's Friday night I just got done eating and I am in my room for a needed break. It's my off day and this morning I took an actual PT test which I passed with flying colors. I will write more later I am sure but I need to get off here right now and get a few things done, till later, night all

Birds first flight in Afghanistan

Well first he sat on his perch while we preflighted the aircraft and then he just hoped in the front like he owned the thing and I told him that he had to ride in the back with me because that was where I sit and my gunner did not need him in the front. We went out for a four hour mission and I really don't think he was too impressed he just seemed bored. Then he got a little fidgety and kept bouncing around the back seat from on the front dash to sitting by the side window. All and all I think he had fun on his first flight in the Stan.

As for me I am trying to get things back to normal I am flying a little more as of late and that seems to make the time pass quicker and I am ok with that. The weather is starting to get a little warmer and I am not looking forward to how much warmer it will get here after all we do live near the desert and I have Ben told we can expect to se115 degrees this summer, oh buy can't wait. Got to FaceTime with the girls last night and Robby was there too and that was nice also Kerrie and Dana where at the house they are down for a visit. I am sure Marie was enjoying all the company they will be going done to Tampa to see Sue and Ralph too and then swinging by to pick Sam up to take her back to Bright for a visit and then she will be flying back to Savannah. I think Sam has been really good for the Senefelds and I think they have been good for her too. Sam is a great kid and I hope she feels at home, I appreciate her being there with Marie and the kids why I am over here I am sure it make it a little easier for Marie to have another grown up there to help with the daily routine.

I am flying the next three days tomorrow Dave Lewis and I are going to self start our new ATM (aircrew training manual) so that we can start training the rest of our Task Force pilots. Then the next day the Boss and I are flying to TK for a change of command and the day after that I will be giving Aaron Schafer his PIC eval. We are doing pretty good making some new PICs while we are here it will help once we get back to Savannah. Well it's almost time to try to call home I hope all are doing well and I will write more soon. Girls thanks again for sending me Bird I am sure he was missing me just sitting in the front of my car, night all

Took Bird to get some lunch

What can I say he gets angry if I don't include him in my day to day activities.

I tried

Well I am sure my loving family is out with their out of town guest and I am. Sure what ever they decided to do I would be jealous. I have been trying to FaceTime with them all night with no luck. I am sure I will catch up with them tomorrow or definitely Monday after the girls get off school. I spent all day today talking to my Task Force about our new ROE (rules of engagement ) our Brigade Commander made us take a safety stand down day today so we could reflect on the two CIVCAS engagements that we had. Monday the Boss and I are having lunch with the CG(Commanding General) he is flying in form Kandahar, no idea why the Boss has no idea either we can both be surprised, oh boy can't wait. Have I mentioned lately how much I still love my job, well as much as I hate being away from Marie and the kids I do still love what I am lucky enough to be able to do. I feel honored and blessed to be one of eleven Apache Attack Battalion SIPs ( standardization instructor pilots) it blows my mind every time I think about it like that. The entire Army only has eleven Attack Battalions and this one is mine, the kid from price hill who dropped out of school and struggled for over a decade was lucky enough to work his way up the ladder and take the most deployed Attack Battalion in the Army to combat and lead them from the front. I think this will be the high point in my career even if I am lucky enough to make W5 I don't think anything I do from this point on will be as rewarding as what I am doing right now. Being the SIP for the Vipers has truly been an amazing opportunity and I feel so fortunate blessed to be here doing a job that I truly love. But again, Marie, Robby, Shirley and last but not least Elli I miss you guys more than you will ever know and I thank you for the sacrifices that you continue to make for me and what I do. I am sorry for all the things that I have missed in your lives, and sacrifices that you guys have had to make to follow me around in this crazy career path that I have chosen. I love you guys so much, night all

Hard day

Well 0450 came a little to early for me that is for sure. The Boss and I flew to Kandahar for the memorial and it was another tough event to get through. I am pretty emotional to start with and these things really hit home and put me over the edge. Task Force Lighthorse did a great job, it was done with so much dignity and respect for his wishes. We all fill out a quick statement as to how we would like things to go if something were to happen to us while we are here. And the joker that he was in life was how he wanted folks to remember him if something happened. Needless to say his troop respected his wishes and it was a celebration of his life and how he did business. Not many dry eyes in the hanger, my good friend Mark who has flown with James many times on three separate combat tours got up and talked about James for ten minutes. I have no idea how he got through his speech they were best friends and I know how much he will miss him. Mark is a stronger man than I could be under the circumstances and he did such an awesome job letting everyone in that hanger get to know what a great guy James was and how much he will be missed. It's just rotten how some things work out sometimes but I know the ones we loose would want us to pick ourselves up and stay the course, we still have a job to do and they would want us to get it done. Some day we will all be out of this country and I wonder what impact this ten year war will really have on these people and this country. I know the effect it has had on me and I know that it changes people in many different ways. I would like to think that it has made me a better person in so many ways and that I have gained the friendships of some of the most amazing people that I will know for the rest of my life. The sacrifices that are made can not be measured by an means, they are so broad and they are made at so many levels. They are made at cost of innocent civilians loosing loved ones and they are made at the cost of Soldiers loved ones. I will never forget, and they will never be forgotten, these are some of the most powerful words to me now, I get it, and I will remember what I have done in this country and what I have had to do to make a difference. I will remember the Soldiers that I have served with and the ones who did not make it home and they will help me to always think about what is truly important in this world. And as for things that just don't matter, I must always try to put things into perspective, time with my Wife and kids out ways everything and I must always remember that. God willing I will be one of the lucky ones, I will leave this country and go home to my family and I will make every day special. Night all

Bird caught a mouse

He has been pretty angry these last few days, poor mouse. My art collection has grown and I love it, thanks girls. Well tomorrow me and the Boss are flying back to Kandahar for another memorial service and we are leaving at 0700 in the morning which means I need to get up around 0430. So I lay her in bed trying to get sleepy only to find that it's just not going to happen. My normal day is wake up at ten ten thirty and go to bed around two am or so. The or so has a broad range as well depends on the mission set and what is going on in the area. We are having a hard time over here, this tour has been so much harder than the last one and I have only been here three months. I can't even imagine how much more difficult it will get once the fighting season starts. Our BDE has lost two aircraft and we are responsible for two CIVCAS ( civilian casualty ) engagements. My heart goes out to those crews as well although they are not center stage right now with all that is going on with the two fallen angels that we have had in the last week, they still have my sympathy. Sometimes the aggressive ground force commanders that we support get a little excited with how kinetic their situation is and rightfully so I can only imagine how difficult it is for them on the ground in a fire fight. But as a gun pilot we must maintain our tactical patience and make sure that we do all we can to avoid a CIVCAS engagement. I have had to tell commanders on the ground that they must develop the situation better for me so that I have a clear picture as to where all friendlies are and where the enemy is located and that the enemy is clear from any friendlies or civilians. Where this becomes difficult is when the GFC ( ground force commander ) is pinned down and they can not see what is beyond the enemy that is shooting at them. As an AMC (air mission commander) I am responsible for all munitions that come off both aircraft in my AWT ( attack weapons team ) and as difficult as it is I must have the tactical patience to insure that munitions that come off either of the aircraft in my team will not harm any innocent Afghani. These people have been fighting there entire lives, they know how to use their surroundings to their advantage and how to use innocent people and children. I pray that I am never put into a situation where I have to make a decision that could put folks in harms way. And like I said I truly feel for my friends that have done so and will have to live with their actions for the rest of their lives. I will always do everything that I must do to protect the troops on the ground, that is my job and I am ok with that. But I too have a wife and family and I pray that I never have to jeopardize some one else's family for the sake of protecting my brothers on the ground. Well I need to try to get to bed tomorrow will be a long day, and once again I am not looking forward to it. I look forward to going home it can't come quick enough, I miss you guys, night all

Meet Bird

He will go with me everywhere, he is angry enough for the both of us, thanks girls for my new friends I will think of my girls every time I see him :-)

Some random pics on flight line

It's hard to stay focused, I am going back to Kandahar to pay my respects to another fallen Hero from the 3rd Infantry Division he was an instructor pilot who flew OH-58s and he will be missed by so many. As an instructor pilot we touch so many lives, we train every pilot that comes our way. We do our absolute best to make them better than they were when they got here. And in the process we have so many relationships with so many folks that you know everyone. The pictures I took are of Task Force Viper aircraft, aircraft that I am responsible for making sure the pilots are trained and ready to fight, that they are on their A game. I worry about all of them, many of our young pilots have never flown in the mountains before and as summer approaches the temperature will continue to increase and aircraft performance will continue to decrease. I know that is a hard thing to understand but right now we have more power than we need but come summer time we will be limited. We will have to do a lot of calculation to determine how much fuel we can take on and still have enough power to climb over the hesco walls that surround the FOBs. It's a fine line between having enough fuel to complete mission and having too much and not being able to take off safely. I will write more after I FaceTime with my girls, night all

Good Friend

Me and Bob Roebuck in Kandahar, Bob now works at the safety center at Ft Rucker and he came over to investigate the accident. I wish it were for better reasons but it was nice to see an old friend.

Second in a week

It's not been a good week, we had another aircraft crash and we lost another pilot. It was a OH-58D and it was not from my task force but it was from our BDE. It has a huge impact on how we do business we are all trying to stay positive but it's hard to sometimes. I have a lot of pilots in my task force that were close friends with the IP that died and that always makes it hard. He was a senior IP and he has touched a lot of lives in there community so we are going to try to get as many folks as we can to the ceremony up at Kandahar. The Boss and I will fly up in an Apache and we will bring two UH-60s with us to try to allow as many folks as possible attend the memorial service. I pray for his family I can't even imagine how hard it must be, the other pilot is still in critical condition and has all ready gone under several surgeries. Well it's after two am and I am falling asleep as I lay here typing this post. I did get to talk to Robby and Shirley tonight and that cheered me up quite a bit. It's hard to imagine how the folks in the other task force are feeling both aircraft that crashed are from the same task force and my heart goes out to all of those guys I hope they are able to get past this horrible tragedy and continue their mission. I will try to write more tomorrow, I am a little tired and a little sad I hope you all understand, night all

Afghanistan

Today started out ok but sometimes things just aren't what they seem. I will try to call home again to talk to the kids and then I will be going to bed it has been a long miserable day and I need to get some needed rest. It's is starting to heat up over here in more ways than one and we are all doing the best we can to adjust to the temperature but some things are just out of our control. I am on tomorrow to fly one of our new PLs (platoon leaders) to get him up RL1 so we can start using him on mission flights all I have to do is knock out his multi ship task and he will be ready to move on to mission flights. Well it's late I am at a loss for words I am sure I will have more to say tomorrow but for now I am spent, night all

The Service

The Boss and I flew up to Kandahar for the memorial service and that was one of the hardest things I have ever been through in my life. Five Soldiers who will never see their families again who gave their lives for the good of their nation. The service was held in a great big hanger and it was standing room only. I had no idea that it would have the impact on me that it did, I did not know one person on the crew but yet it didn't really seem to matter. It was an extremely emotional event and made us all think about our own situations and how fragile those situations can be some times. I will do my best to hold folks to a higher standard and to hold myself to a higher standard as well. We must stay focused and do our best in everything that we do over here. Sometimes the simplest thing can put you in harms way and we can't afford to make mistakes that will put us in a bad situation. We just had an extremely loud explosion and since the Big Voice did not go off I can only assume that it was out going. I will not miss this place, I will miss the people for sure but I will never miss this place. I am getting pretty tired its been a long day and I need a good night sleep. I miss home, and I miss my girls and I can't wait to see all of them. I love you Marie, I love you Rob, I love you Shirley and Elli I love you so so so so much, night all

P.S.
Shirley your videos rock thank you so much for keeping me up to date on everything that I am missing, I love you!

Trying hard to recover

We are all doing the best we can under the circumstances but tomorrow I will be in Kandahar for the service and I am not looking forward to it. Although I knew none of the crew personally they are still apart of us all, we are all touched by this tragedy. I have an entire company of UH-60 pilots here in my Task Force and they have lost close friends and that affects us all. We have no idea what happened only speculation and that is not what I like to deal in. We will wait till the accident investigation team figures out what went wrong and in the mean time it has to be business as usual. Bob Roebuck my friend from flight school and my room mate from my last tour is over here from the Safety Center from Ft Rucker to do the investigation. I am sure I will see him tomorrow at the service in Kandahar. Well as much as I know it would have done me some good to try to FaceTime with my girls tonight, I have to be up early to fly up to Kandahar tomorrow so I really need to get to bed. But first shout out to Shirley for keeping me in the know with her awesome videos Shirley could not get through this without you. Got another video today and it helped to cheer me up, thank you. Well I will talk to you all soon, I hope all are doing great and looking forward to spring, I know I am I hate the cold weather. Night all

Hard day for the Vipers

11 March 2013 around 2115 hours, I got the news that one of our own went down just north of Kandahar. I had no information about what happened and did not figure we would till the next day at the earliest. At 2345 there is a knock at my door the LTC wants me in his office for a VTC (video telephone conversation) with F06 the Brigade Commander at 2400. That’s when I found out that we lost five Soldiers, I still had no idea as to the events that led up to the UH-60 crash landing, only that the aircraft was consumed by a post-crash fire and there were no survivors. This was a sad day for Task Force Viper and Task Force Falcon, we are all doing the best we can but we must remain vigilant and always remember the enemy has a vote and not to become complacent. All I have said from the moment we got here is my biggest job is to bring all these guys home. This country will never change they have been fighting for centuries and once we are gone the drug lords will move back in and the Taliban will take over once again. This Saturday me and the Boss are flying to Kandahar for the memorial ceremony, I have no idea how hard it will be to stand in a formation and listen to folks talk about our lost fellow Soldiers but I know it will not be as hard as their loved ones back home. I sit here getting emotional just thinking about it. It reminds me of when the soldier came to me with uncle Bobs flag and said those words that I will never forget. On behalf of a grateful nation please accept this flag and that was about when I lost it. I pray for the families and I pray for all the friends and loved one that they will be missed by. This place sucks, and they have no idea what kind of sacrifices the Soldiers are making to try to better their lives, and they never will. I know that I will never forget the time that I spent in this country and I know that I will always remember the men and woman that I have served with over here. The Army is a strong community that many will never understand, relationships that I am sure will last a lifetime. Friends that will stay in touch till there dying days because they were there for each other when it mattered the most. I can't explain it you have to live it and experience it for yourself. I guess it was best explained by Jim Becker, it's the biggest union in the country, the only difference is to be a member, you have to be willing to give your life for the union member standing next to you knowing that they would do the same for you if he or she needed to.

Well enough doom and gloom, I got to talk to Robby and the girls tonight. The girls are going to a concert at the civic center tonight, it will be Elli's first concert, wish I could have been there. I hope they have a great time and I am sure they will, I can't wait to be home to go on the next one. I have fallen in love with many artist over here music can really bring you up, don't get me wrong it can take you down just as quick but all in all it's great to listen too. I wish I had more to say, but I am feeling a little down and I think I am going to call it a night and hope tomorrow is a much better day. Again my prayers go out to the families that where notified today that their loved ones died defending our great nation and will be coming home early, in my mind they will always be Heroes and I will never forget their sacrifice. Night all

Art work

These art works are displayed with pride in my RLB for all my friends to see and admire, they were made with love by some of the most talented young ladies in the world. Always know how much you girls are loved and missed by me each and every time I look at them, Dad loves you girls and I can't wait to be home with you all, night all

At the office

Getting ready to go give a PIC eval and the other is the picture we are using for our Flag certificates that I took of my wing man at about ten thousand feet up in the mountains, night all

In the house

Here are two shots from my RLB ( no idea ) reusable living building? Or Relocatable living barracks ? Rob's lair bitches. I truly don't know what RLB stands for, but this is what the inside of mine looks like......night all

Two Instrument rides

I am not complaining it was going to be three and then one had to cancel due to our guard force possible having to leave early. This place is getting crazy, but hey we are all crazy right? I got a wake up call from my girls at six this morning and never was able to fall back asleep but its always nice to talk to them. The geek squad came to the house to fix a few things, it never fails things always seem to quit when I am not home to do the simple things. Fortunately we had a free visit from the geek squad and the girls got their money's worth out of that guy this morning. He fixed the computer and the printer so I feel pretty lucky.

Shirley I watched my last video last night and it was great, you do such a great job keeping your Dad in the know as to what is going on in Savannah. I am thankful for you hard work putting them together, one of my favorite parts of the video I watched last night though was shot by Mom. It was when she came into wake you up on valentines day and Marley stuck just her snout out from under the covers she was too cute. As much as I did not want that little dog she sure has grown on me. And Elli your cat is something else too, I hear he now knows how to get up on the counter and open drawers so he can step down into them and lay down. He is to cute as well.

It's starting to get pretty warm here and it's only a matter of time and we will be getting busy, I hope to be able to write as often as I have been but time will tell. One of my good friends from one of the other Task Forces was involved in a CIVCAS (civilian casualty) their is an investigation going on right now and even though I think under the circumstances he will be ok you just never know. I feel for him though because I can't even imagine how he must be feeling, he is a good person and I know that is something I think about all the time and I am sure he does as well. I know what my job is here and I will do it the best I can but I hope that I am never put into a situation that will put me in jeopardy of shooting the wrong target. But sometimes the situations get so kinetic and so fast paced that you truly have just seconds to make decisions that might haunt you for the rest of your life. But if you don't the consequences might haunt you for the rest of your life as well. Our job is to cover the ground troops that are sometimes going door to door looking for bad guys or weapons or HME ( home made explosives) and when it's pitch dark and you are trying to keep track of 30 to 60 guys in a small town kicking in doors doing the searching it gets really stressful. Especially when you are the air mission commander who basically is responsible for everything that happens on that mission. I will keep you all posted on the outcome of the investigation once it's complete. It's time to call this war complete and get our troops home we can no longer influence what is going on over here, we are spread to far and thin. This draw down is going to be the most critical part of our ten plus years of fighting over here. We need to be diligent and methodical and cross every T and dot every I and get everyone out safely. Well I am getting pretty tired I tried to FaceTime three times tonight but the girls would not answer I am sure they are busy with something. I will write more soon till then, night all

Got two packages !!

Today started off like most days, I got up took a shower and went to get some chow. Yesterday I flew 5 hours and tomorrow I will fly even more its me and Dave Lewis on again for tomorrow. So anyway I went into the office after lunch and checked my email and I had one from the Apache career manager Todd Seville, he is looking to fill six IP slots at Ft Rucker for April 15. I wish I had more people I have two guys that are ready to track IP but I can't afford to loose them with the fighting season getting ready to start. I know though once we get home we will loose half of our IPs and we will be hurting to get our guys trained up for what ever is in front of us. Hopefully nothing is in front of us but none the less I am tired of doing more with less and that seems to be the new Army's standard remark. Army of One, that seems to be to true these days and with all the future cut backs it's just going to keep getting harder. So back to my title, got two packages today, I am lucky to have such wonderful girls Shirley your videos keep me going. I sometimes feel like I am right there with you guys, where to start? Well for starters I loved all of the hidden artwork that you guys found and included in my box, and I agree Robby's artwork was too cute and I laughed my ass off too. You kids have grown up so fast, Mom and I are so proud of all three of you. I had time to watch the first video tonight and it was a hoot, I will look forward to watching the next one tomorrow after my shift ends. I have two separate missions tomorrow should be around five to six hours of flight time but will probably be in the aircraft for eight to ten hours so it will be a long day. ( mental break)

Ok new train of thought I am sitting, correction laying on my bed typing on the iPad listening to music while I type with my touch screen keyboard and not doing to bad I am actually getting pretty quick at it. I will spend more time once I get home listening to music and less time listening to the news which is as depressing as he'll anyway so I think music is the way to go. As a family we are going to see more concerts as well life is short and we have to experience as much as we can in what little time as we have on this earth. Mom is a couple of concerts with the kids ahead of me but I plan to catch up and over take her. Its just got to be the right kind of music and near Savannah not that I am afraid to travel lord knows I love a good road trip as much as the next guy. I hope that once I am home we are not as busy at work and even if we are by then I should have close to two and a half months of vacation saved up and I plan to take it all. Robby we are still on for something when you have time I hope that this summer you are busy at jump school or something similar, but we will definitely have some father son bonding time before you get out of college. Shirley and Elli we will do something awesome as well we just need to figure out what it is that we all want to do. We live in the best country on this planet and I want to see every state, can you say road trip? I think we need to plan a trip as a family next summer to go out west, whether it be bye plane train or automobile. Whatever we decide its going to be great, I personally loved the train trip to New York. It's not going to be long Shirley and you will be a senior planning your future and thinking about where you want to go to college? Time goes by to quick and I am growing very tired of missing out on all the precious minutes with you guys. I can't get them back and I can't have more they are a finite amount and I am missing so many of them. I love you guys, and can't wait to be home. Well it's about that time Elli should be walking through the door at home I will try to catch her on FaceTime before she goes down to her BFFs, night all

Flew five hours

Long day but at least I got to talk to my little princess before I went to bed and that seems to make the the entire day not so bad, thanks Elli. I hope that you have so so so much fun at gymnastics tonight and I look forward to talking with you tomorrow. I am off shift tomorrow but I am scheduled to fly the next day on a big deliberate mission I am sure it will be a long day as well. I hope all are well I am exhausted so I am going to bed its one AM and I am spent, night all

Can't sleep.....

I was tired about an hour or so ago when I was talking to the kids but now I am wide awake and out of meds to help me fall asleep. I will need to go see the DOC tomorrow, he is trying to get me some Lunesta which is much better than Ambian so the DOC says. We will see once I get some and can try it for myself. So here I lay in my bed watching the clock change thinking about all the things I have to get done in the next few days and its no wonder I am not sleeping. But I have downloaded a metric ton of music on this thing and I am listening to so great songs while I type this post on my iPad. I put over two hundred songs on here and for the life of me I have no idea why I don't listen to music more when I am at home. It can be so inspirational and make you really think about so many things not always a great thing but none the less music makes you think. Just like watching a movie, Shirley sent me a movie in their last care package to me and she included the movie Pitch Perfect. It was a really cute movie and it too made me think about all sorts of things. Who knows maybe I can't sleep because my brain is in over drive and just can't seem to slow down from all the things I have spent most of my evening thinking about. This music is awesome and I which I had a stereo and not just a set of head phones. Not that they don't sound just amazing because they do, I am just saying. I am fourth seven years old and time is just clicking bye, how do we slow it down? I feel like time is passing by so quickly lately, I am sure it has something to do with the fact that I have so much to keep me busy and that I am in this wonderful place I would not like to call home. I miss my home and I miss my family, I hope that they are doing well and that time is passing quickly for all of them as well!! Girls I hope that things are going great for all of you and that things are going pretty normal for the four of you. I feel like I am all over the road with this post, I must be getting fired again I am having trouble trying to keep my thoughts straight. I was telling Robby earlier that we have Seal Team Six on our FOB they moved in this month and the too are in retrograde operations. We are trying to shift focus to retrograde operations and less offensive operations but sometimes we don't get a vote in what is going on around us. Needless to say Jonny Jihad has a vote and he knows that his fighting season is just around the corner. Once all the snow in the mountain passes melts because we all know that snow and sandals do not mix. I have a lot of new Pilots here this time and it would be great to take them all home without having to pull one trigger. It would be nice if they would just stay down in Pakistan till we are completely out of here. Hey once we leave they can have this stinking country and they can take it all the way back to the stone ages if they want. All I know is we tried, we tried to bring them out of the stone ages and helped them to develop a democracy and they truly have no interest in advancing this nation to anything more than an opium producing drug cartel ran and dominated country. The majority of these people will continue to be enslaved to the few drug lord territory controlling thugs that are just waiting for us to leave so they can move back in and control through force. The whole thing makes me sick but there comes a time when the people have to stand on their own and take ownership of their own country and make it better. Wow I am all over the map, might be because Bob Dylan just came on and he is still one of my favorites even though he is hard to understand these days, I am sure all the drugs had something to do with that. The times they are a changing, it's amazing how much I love all the old war protester artist but yet here I am sitting in combat 9000 miles from home listening to Dylan and Joplin and a slew of others. But it's ok I know what right looks like and I know that no one was harmed in the making of all this music, and it rocks and is great to listen to. Well I think I need to give it another try to try and fall asleep, I hope I have not wasted anyone's time trying to keep up with my over active thought processing brain that has been all over the road map tonight. To all my family and friends, night all