M&M: July 2006

Sand Castle Commentary

I tried to include this commentary on the previous post but it kept coming out uber-tiny.

We went down to the beach with some friends to see the sand castle contest. It was pretty impressive, although, according to some it was didn't meet the expectations. It was certainly better than anything I could have done. The best part about the whole excursion was the fact that it was over cast, 15 degrees cooler than at home and the beach, duh!

"Beach Budda"
"Hidden Ace"
"Giant Octopus"
"Narnia"

Sand Castle Contest

San Francisco Montage

I got back into movie making mode and created a little montage of our San Francisco trip. The other couple in our movie is the Ashmores, who followed us from Meridian, are our neighbors here in San Diego and will be moving to Beaufort soon after we do. Our anniversaries also happen to occur within two days of one another. Coincidence? I think not! :)

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The First Year

Here is a montage of our First Year!

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Camping in Cleveland Nat'l Forest

Last weekend M&M took the youth from our church on a camping trip in the Cleveland Nat'l Forest. I protested the whole thing from the beginning because Mike was going to the boat that week and even though he told me he would be back on Wed. I somehow doubted that. It's the military were dealing with here; they always try and ruin the best-laid plans of mice and men. Sure enough I organized the whole thing and found out on Thursday afternoon that, at best, he would be coming into port around noon on Friday.
Well, the kids and I left at 8:00 Friday morning according to plans. It was a tight fight packing all that gear and 10 people into two vehicles. Everyone had to suck it in while doors were being closed. We set up a nice campsite and cooked some hot dogs for lunch before setting out on a 4-mile hike through a hot and dry meadow. Everyone was baking like a toasted cheese-it. On the return hike we looked over our shoulder to see huge plumes of black smoke not that far off. It scared me a little and I was wondering if we should break into a run, get to the campsite, pack up and leave. Fortunately the native Californians were a lot calmer. It turned out that the fire was 20 miles away (not that far really) and under control. Apparently a car had caught on fire by the roadside and the flames spread into the field next to it. After a few rounds of "Would you Rather..." Mike finally arrived on site. Everyone cheered and ran to help him unload and set up. The rest of our evening was spent cooking dinner, playing games and stargazing. Oh, there was one other thing. Upon completion of stargazing it was deemed necessary that we sneak back to camp military style and scare the Assoc. Pastor and Justin. So, divided into two fire teams we silently (pretty impressive for a bunch of teens) back to camp. We communicated solely by hand signals and spent a lot of time lying face down on the pavement but in the end everyone had a blast even if Nate was more annoyed than scared. Next day due to the heat we all piled into the cars and drove home and spent the afternoon together at the beach. What a camping trip!

Das Boot

Last week, I carrier qualed at the CVN-74 USS John C. Stennis, one of the Navy's newest aircraft carriers. I had a blast. This was my first time going to the aircraft carrier in the F/A-18 Hornet, however I have been to the boat before in the T-45 Goshawk. All Hornet pilots are required to obtain a carrier qualification toward the end of initial Hornet training. Now that I'm complete with my carrier qual, I'll be shortly headed to a fleet Marine Hornet squadron in Beaufort, SC, where I will be stationed for about three years. Let me tell you a little bit about my experience at "The Boat."

All pilots were required to get a minimum of 10 day traps, 2 day touch- and- go's, 6 night traps, and 2 night touch-and-go's. Each landing attempt, or "pass" is grade

All pilots were required to get a minimum of 10 day traps, 2 day touch- and- go's, 6 night traps, and 2 night touch-and-go's. Each landing attempt, or "pass" is graded by the LSOs (Landing Signals Officer) on a 4.0 scale. The LSO--affectionately called "paddles" because of the large signaling paddles they used to carry to communicate with the pilot about to land-- does more than just grade you. He's also your mentor, and the calming voice who will help you land the aircraft when the deck is pitching, it's raining, and the fog limits the visibilty to less than 100 feet! If he see's that you're getting a little low, he will tell you to add a little power, and you'd better listen. Your life depends on it!

Life on the ship was an experience in itself. It's really a floating city. There are tons of places to eat, but we ate most of our meals either in the wardroom right next to our ready room (very convenient) or on another wardroom further away that was almost always serving one meal or another. I'm pretty sure they served about 6 meals every day. And the wardroom was always open so if you got hungry between meals you could get a PB&J or maybe even a

makeshift root beer float. Aside from flying and eating, we played a lot of cards, read a little, and tried to sleep.
CQ took me three days (and three nights) for a total of 6 flights. The nights can be pretty scary, especially the last night, when you couldn't even see the boat until about 15 seconds before you touched down because of clouds! I finished on Wednesday night, but couldn't get off the boat until Friday, so that gave me a whole day to read, eat, play spades, and watch the guys who hadn't get completed CQ. Now that I'm off the ship, I still feel like the world is rocking around me!