Settling in at BAF

Waking up my first time in Afghanistan was, admittedly, a bit anti-climactic. I woke up and didn’t feel anything apart from fatigue! One night was clearly not enough time to get my sleep back to normal and thus far its been about 4 days and I’m still all over the place sleep wise. I’m now trying to adjust my sleep schedule to allow me to fly nights, which I will do starting Friday.

So far our days have been full of in-processing nonsense. We had to get flightline badges, set up our finance accounts, pick up our weapons and ammo, get briefed by the Squadron Commander and Superintendent, the Group Commander, the Wing Commander, the flight doc, and then a bunch of other units and people onbase. We spent most of that time in and around our squadron area of the flightline.

The 4^th Expeditionary Reconnaissance Squadron (4^th ERS) is the MC-12 squadron at Bagram and our nickname is the Crows. We have our own operations area on the flightline where we have our Ops desk, a medical tent, a facility where we store all our classified stuff, an Aircrew Flight Equipment (AFE) tent, a mail tent, and a morale tent. It seems like a pretty cool area where people just hang out when they’re not flying. There’s a burn pit, some cornhole games, bop it, and a balcony area overlooking the flight line with tables and chairs called the Crow’s Nest.

We did have one particularly exciting thing happen in our first few days, and that was our first IDF (indirect fire) attack. The enemy surrounding Bagram doesn’t have any particularly good artillery so what they do is just shoot off mortars in the general direction of base in the hopes that they will hit something. This is referred to as indirect fire (IDF) and with the size of the base and the inaccuracy of these weapons, they rarely hit anything at all. However, when the IDF sirens go off we are required to take cover and wait for the all clear. These attacks happen every so often (less frequently in the winter period) and while I was a bit nervous about them before I got here, I learned through the first one that its really not a big deal at all!

Here are some photos of the base and the area where we live and work.

My hallway- its dark because someone is on crew rest all hours of the day so we have 24/7 quite policy

My room before I made it mine. The front half is mine. Once my photos arrive you'll be an "after" shot with my Disney Planes sheets and photos put up and whatnot. I'm regreting not bring at least one football scarf! Its just not my room without them...

My dorm building

Mountains surround Bagram on all sides-- we are in a geographic bowl

Bagram USO, named in honor of Pat Tillman

4ERS Squadron Area

Ops and AFE tents

Some Hercs on the flightline. Visibility is often that bad because of lots of blowing dust.

122 hours enroute to Bagram

On Sunday morning, following a great night out on Saturday with my amazing new Sacramento friends, Jose and Jon were kind enough to take me to the airport. I arrived to an endless check-in line but eventually made it through and got through security quite quickly thanks to being in uniform and being allowed in the TSA pre-check line. The flight from Sac to BWI was uneventful and despite waiting ages for our bags, I was able to hook up with Shiri as she came and picked me up for food. We headed over to a nearby mall and hit up Nando’s. It was a bit different from the originals in the UK but still so good. It was great to get to see her again, even though I had just seen her and it was for such a short time. She dropped me off at the hotel, we talked to my parents and to Michal, and then she went home seeing as she had work the next morning.

On Monday we bummed around the hotel all morning and after lunch at Cracker Barrel headed over to the airport. The check-in period for our rotator (civilian airline flight contracted out to only military people) was from 5:30-9:30 but when we arrived at 5 the line was already stretching all the way across the terminal. After waiting for about 2 hours we made it through check-in and went to find somewhere to eat dinner and watch the National Championship game. We watched the first half and then went through security to our gate. However, when we arrived, we learned that our flight was delayed for 3 hours, meaning more time sitting on the floor of the airport, hoarding electrical outlets like our lives depended on it

Finally made it to the front of the check-in line for the Rotator

 

About 9 hours after we got the airport we were finally on the plane and taking off for Ramstein. When we arrived in Ramstein we were allowed about an hour and half to leave the terminal. Thankfully there was a large mall directly across from the terminal where we were able to get some food and German beer. The currywurst and spatzel that I had were amazing and we all polished off our liter of beer like it was our job. It was a nice “last beer” to have before our 6 months in Afghanistan where beer is prohibited. We then got back on the rotator for our flight to Turkey, this one was only delayed about an hour and, when we arrived in Incirlik, we anticipated a three hour layover before continuing on to Manas, Kyrgyzstan. However, we were greeted by the news that our layover would, in fact, be over 12 hours! Thankfully they had arranged for rooms at billeting for us so after about 2.5 hours of waiting in line for the hotel check-in, we finally got our room for the night.

Passenger terminal at Ramstein

Welcome to Ramstein-- gateway to Europe

Currywurst, spatzel, and beer! Don't worry, only one of the beers is mine

Incirlik terminal in Turkey

 

Being able to shower and lie down in a bed was amazing but my internal clock was so messed up from time zone changes and sleeping in bits and pieces on the various flights that I didn’t actually sleep that evening. At 0830 on Wednesday morning we were back on the buses taking us from the hotel to the flightline and several hours later we were boarding our flight to Kyrgyzstan. We arrived in Kyrgyzstan late in the evening and had a few in-processing briefs before being taken to the linens tent to collect our linens and be assigned a tent for the time we’d be in limbo here. The tents were pretty nice, with bunk beds and very effective heaters, which was really all I cared about after a long few days and a nippy 18 degrees Fahrenheit. We got some food and then went to Pete’s (the bar) to wait until our assigned time to pick up our chem gear and body armour. Manas has a 2 beers per 20 hours policy but I didn’t have anything to drink, realizing the Russian beer they had would never top the lovely German beer from earlier. While technically our assigned time for chem gear was 0400, we snuck in with the 0100 group and they thankfully didn’t turn us away to come back later. Finally, after about an hour and half in the chem distro warehouse we were released to go to sleep.

Tent in Manas

Pete's Bar in Manas

 

We weren’t supposed to report until 2200 the next day, at which point we would find out when we would be continuing on to Bagram. So I attempted to sleep in (lasting until about 0930) and then after getting some breakfast at the chow hall went to the MWR (Morale, Welfare, and Recreation) tent to read for a few hours. We got kicked out so they could clean and so I came back to my tent to read some more and write up this blog post.    

When we reported back they told us that our “bag drag” (where we take our bags and pack them onto a cargo pallet) was 1030 and our “lockdown” (essentially we check in and go through security for our flight so we’re not allowed to go anywhere or do anything outside the passenger terminal) was 1530 so we went back to sleep. After the bag drop we went back to Pete’s, had our last beers for 6 months, and played Cards Against Humanity. SUCH an inappropriate game! We then grabbed lunch and went over to the PAX terminal where we immediately found out our flight was... wait for... delayed!! So we sat in the terminal until around 8 pm when we finally got on the C-17 that took us into Afghanistan!!

Snowy Kyrygzstan

On board the C-17. I was in one of the jump seats along the side.

We landed a few hours later, started our in-processing process, met our First Sergeant, and got our rooms. Tomorrow we’ll continue the in-processing and we will probably start flying around Thursday of next week!

Next blog will have a bit about the base and my room and stuff like that! Sorry for the length of this blog—turns out I made it almost as long as the entire trip was!!

New Year's Resolution

So this is probably a few days late but since I’ve been super busy and I now have a bit of spare time with nothing else to do I figured I would write a little bit about my, so called “new year’s resolutions” so that way I can be held accountable for them!

Basically, I have one major thing that I’m hoping to focus on this year and that is positivity! Or, more basically, a lack of complaining. I’ve noticed that I’ve started complaining about little things lately and it frustrates me. Life is not that bad, and therefore I shouldn’t get so upset about little things (like being scheduled for night flying every single day including my last Friday night before deploying—things like that).

There are essentially two Bible verses that I’ve been thinking about a lot recently that reflect this goal of positivity. The first if Philippians 2:14-16 which states “Do all things without arguing or complaining, so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe, holding fast to the word of life, so that on the day of Christ you will have reason to glory that you did not run or labor in vain.” I like how this specifically instructs you not to argue and not to complain and how that can make you a light to others and will make all your endeavours worthwhile in the end. I think that will be especially crucial during the first 6 months of this year because in a deployed environment there is much that can be complained about! I hope that, despite whatever negativity I find myself surrounded by, I can rise above it and be a positive, encouraging light and voice to others.

The second verse is Psalm 118:24: “This is the day that the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it!” What a great reminder that every day is gift and a blessing, one that we should rejoice in! Another day to do something, another day to serve others, another day to be in this crazy world and this wild and wondrous life!

I hope that as my friends you will help me hold to these as the year progresses. I’m so excited for what this year holds in store and I anticipate so many new experiences that I want to really enjoy them and live them fully with a smile on my face and no grumbling or complaining in my heart!!

I will soon be posting a blog about my trip over to Afghanistan, but seeing as I’m not quite there yet, its still incomplete. Thanks for following along with my journey on this adventure we call life!

Soooooo many balloooooooons!!

A few weeks ago I was out watching the United States vs Costa Rica men's football match and some awesome new friends Matt, Liz, and Jose invited me to join them bright and early the next morning for the Reno Hot Air Balloon Race. We left Sacramento at 4 am and headed east in order to arrive for the launch of all the race participants.

When we arrived at the event, there were only a few balloons up and it didn't look like much. They began with the national anthem and a flyover of 4 old school T-6s doing the missing man formation. Then, when the announcer gave permission for everyone to begin inflating their balloons, the field around up burst to life and from all sides people began unpacking and inflating their balloons. It was the coolest thing, seeing all those colors come alive as the balloons grew and everywhere you looked there was something new to see.

As they inflated, each balloon began to take flight and hovered over the staging area for some time. (We eventually realized it was because there was virtually no wind and therefore they didn't have much choice but to just sort of stay where they were rather than attempt to get to the finish area). The sky was so incredibly blue and the colors of the balloons so vivid against the backdrop. It was definitely one of the coolest things I've seen in my life!

After watching all the balloons launch we headed over to Donner State park where Liz, Matt, and Jose found some great rocks for bouldering and while they climbed I studied bold face, ops limits, local procedures, tactical arrivals, and other such exciting things for MQT. It was really nice just sitting out in the sunshine in the middle of the woods enjoying the day. I realized it was the first time back in the woods since SERE and this go around was FAR more enjoyable!


After climbing we stopped at Donner Lake and got out to enjoy the beautiful view before heading back to Sac.

Thanks a lot to Liz for the great idea and to all three of you for letting me tag along!

Hub Reunion in Ox; my last few days.

My last few days in Oxford were actually spent primarily with Americans, but Anthony Ferrara and Ben McCorkle are great American friends that I hadn't seen in ages and it was great to get to catch up with them.  I met Anthony on my very first day at the Academy (we were in the same squadron for Basic Training and 4 Degree year) and met Ben because we were squadron-mates for 3 degree through firstie year and attended FCA (Fellowship of Christian Athletes) meetings together. Anthony and Ben were two of my closest friends at the Academy and while I may have spent more time with other people, they were always guys that I could go to with any issues, big or small, happy or sad, good or bad, serious or frivolous, and they would always know exactly what to say. I appreciate their friendship so much and I'm so glad I got to see them. They are both stationed over by Cambridge and so they graciously agreed to come to Oxford for the day and I got to play tour guide. They brought along another Academy 09er Brian,  whom I had met through one of my roommates Junior year, and we had a big old Hub reunion in Oxford.

We started off the day by walking down St Giles to Broad Street and to Exeter College. I showed them the Fellows Garden, with its brilliant views of the Rad Cam and Radcliffe Square, as well as the Chapel, with its painted organ and beautiful stained glass.

 

From there we got lunch with a beautiful view of the Rad Cam at the Vaults and Garden Cafe at St Mary's Church. While I had drank many a cup of tea at those little wooden tables, I had yet to actually eat a meal there and the food was really good! We were met by Neal who joined us for the rest of the day. From there we crossed the High and walked down Oriel Street to cut through to Christ Church meadow. We walked along the wall outside of Merton and Christchurch and over to the river. From there we stopped for a cider at the Head of the River and enjoyed the beautiful sunshine.

After our drinks we headed over to Christchurch where we forwent the ridiculously long line to get into the Hall and just checked out the Chapel instead. I've essentially memorized the little guide sheet they hand out to visitors so I relayed the highlights to the guys so we could move along quickly and get out of the ridiculous Christchurch crowds. It kills me that people pay something absurd like 16 pounds to get in there when students and alumni can get a few friends in for free!

From Christchurch we walked up Merton street to Magdalen College where we took a little stroll around the grounds, seeing their beautiful cloisters, Chapel, Hall, Gardens, and Deer Park.

After wandering around Magdalen we headed off to the Turf for another drink and to meet up with Jenny, a friend of Anthony and Ben's from Cambridge. We were expecting just her but she turned out to have quite an entourage and our little group became quite a large group!! However, the group turned out to be an indication of what a small town Oxford is because of the people she was with, one of them worked in the same lab as Bonnie and another in the same lab as Rouse! I love how everybody knows everyone in Oxford.

From the Turf we lost a few of the new entourage as they went their separate ways but we retained three new people and my so tour group expanded a bit. Everyone was impressed by my ability to navigate the streets and cobblestones of Oxford backwards while giving (if I do say so myself) quite an interesting and detailed tour. We headed under the Bridge of Sighs to the Bod Quad and took a little peak into the Divinity School. We then made our way through Radcliffe Square over to the Covered Market and then back up towards St Giles. Ben and Brian were hungry so they stopped at Mission Burrito while the rest of us headed up to the Eagle and Child for a drink in the shadows of Tolkien and Lewis. Good drinks, good company, good location, good life.

Because they hadn't had enough to eat or drink yet, Ben and Brian wanted ice cream and so we went up to Little Clarendon Street to introduce them to G&Ds. From there, Ben and Brian headed back to Cambridgeshire while Anthony and Neal and I went to meet Kim and Si and Kim's family at Nando's for dinner. I hadn't been yet during my trip and it was as amazing as I remembered. Following dinner Anthony, Kim, Simon, Neal, and I had one more drink, this time at the King's Arms. Neal and I justified all our pub stops that day by saying that no tour or Oxford was complete without a tour of its quintessential pubs and we covered quite a few of them that day. Anthony then went to his hotel in town, Kim and Si went back to the club, and Neal and I went back to Kim and Si's.

The next morning Anthony went for a run and then I met him at Turl Street Kitchen for breakfast. From there we went back over to the Bod and into the rotating exhibit hall they have. This exhibition was called Magical Books: From the Middle Ages to Middle Earth. It talked about exactly that, magical books and stories, with particular emphasis on authors with a strong connection to Oxford, particularly Lewis, Tolkien, and Pullman (of the Golden Compass trilogy). I really enjoyed the exhibit (I had been earlier that week as well) and I hope Anthony did too. We then climbed to the top of the Sheldonian to get the beautiful 360 views of the city that it provides. 

From the Sheldonian we went over to the Pitt River's museum inside the Museum of Natural History. The Natural History museum is one of my favourites, not because of what's inside it, but because of the gorgeous architecture of the building. However the Museum is closed all year for renovation and so we couldn't see the museum proper and only the Pitt River's attachment was open. Pitt Rivers is so fascinating though because of the eclectic collection it houses. Michal refers to it as "Uncle Pitt's House of Weird" and that is such an appropriate name for it.

Since many of the Oxford colleges have very similar architecture (and all the ones we had visited thus far were almost identical) I then took Anthony to Keble college just to get a different kind of view. I think Keble is gorgeous, with the brick and black accents, and it was a nice change from the standard light stone of the rest of Oxford. We went into the chapel (my first time going in there) and it was well worth it for the architecture and the beautiful fresco-like depictions of biblical stories and the life of Christ that decorated the walls. 

From Keble we headed back up to Madgalen College so that we could go on Addison's Walk. CS Lewis wrote of how, in his most atheist days, he would walk Addison's walk with his friends (primarily Tolkien) and they would discuss what Lewis considered untrue myths and Tolkien considered ultimate truths. These discussions led directly to Lewis's conversion and while walking the beautiful paths its easy to see how someone would be inspired by the beauty of God's creation around them. It was so great to get to chat with Anthony about life, his flying, his excitement about his Master's program, and everything else. The Air Force is really good at separating friends geographically but its so great that when we do get a chance to get back together its so easy to pick right up where we left off.

From Magdalen we picked up Anthony's stuff from his hotel and then headed over to Jericho to meet Neal for lunch at the Jericho Tavern. It was another great conversation (its great when different groups of my friends meet and get along so well-- I guess thats what happens when you have such great friends) and then Anthony headed back to Cambridge. It was such a blessing to get to spend that time with him and I wish I could see him more often.

I then went and met up with Tommy and Danny for a final farewell before packing up all my stuff and getting ready to head to the airport the next morning. Neal came with me, attempting to get on a flight a day early, and managed to get a seat on my flight. It was nice to have the company during my layover in Houston but we then went our separate ways as he headed back to Austin and I to Sac where I arrived late in the evening, drove home, and prepared myself to wake up back in the real world the next morning.

Oxford will always hold such a special place in my heart and I have already started looking forward to my next trip back to that amazing city. Thanks to all my incredible friends there for making this trip another memorable one and I cannot wait to see you all again as soon as humanly possible!!

Mr. and Mrs. Simon Cowan (not Dickie)!!

So, the real reason that I went back to Ox when I did was to get to celebrate the blessed union of two of my closest friends Kim and Si. I met Kim through OUWAFC and Simon at Groningen with Manny Road. I really started hanging out with them during my second year in Oxford and while more often than not I felt like I was simply the third wheel in their relationship, they are such awesome people that they didn't mind putting up with me! Kim asked me to be a bridesmaid and thankfully my new squadron at Beale was super accommodating and moved around my schedule to allow me to go to England for the wedding.

I woke up early Saturday morning so that I could get myself dressed and ready to go in order to get to the Uni Club to help Kim ready by 7am. I managed to lace up the dress (my most important job complete) and did some other bits and bobs (I love that expression, Kirsty H taught it to me) to help everyone get all sorted and ready to go. Cameron did his one job of making sure Simon arrived on time, and when we were all ready we headed over to the Convocation House (see info here) at the Bodleian Library for the ceremony. The ceremony was small but really nice; I was struck by the differences between British and US ceremonies. In England, the marriage contract is both a verbal and written contract so if either party messes up when saying their vows or repeating what the registrar said they would technically not be married until they said it correctly! Additionally, a big deal was made over the signing of the wedding register, which is really not that big of a deal in the United States. Despite the differences, a wedding is a wedding and this one was really nice. Kim looked gorgeous, Simon managed not to laugh (although he did stumble over his own name), I didn't fall into any of the grates in the floor, and a good time was had by all.

Following the ceremony we took loads of photos, both inside and outside. The outside photos were particularly entertaining because in addition to the official photographers, there were over 100 tourists there as well taking their own photos of us! I wonder how many family vacation photo albums we're going to be in.

We then went back to the Uni Club and had a few drinks before heading to Cibo for dinner. Throughout the dinner we did the cake cutting, the speeches (Cam spoke for 30 minutes for his best man speech!!) and enjoyed a great meal. From there we headed over to the Cape of the Good Hope for the reception where we were joined by many many more guests (mostly Manny Road people and several OUWAFC people as well). It was a great night and it was so much fun to catch up with people I hadn't seen and spend time with such great friends.

I am so glad that I have such great friends like Kim and Simon and I feel blessed to have been their friends throughout their whole relationship thus far. I know that they will have many many many years of happiness together and I cannot wait to meet the kids they will eventually have! It was an absolute honor to be a part of their wedding and I love them both like crazy!

Finally back in Ox!!

Hey all (and by all I mean the 3 people that have any semblance of patience for my infrequent updating of this site). Sorry (again) for the lack of posts. I don't really have any excuse so I won't attempt to make one. I'm not going to try and fill in on everything since the last post but I'll start with my England trip. This post will be all the pre-wedding type stuff.

It was the first time I had been back to Oxford since I defended my thesis over a year ago and considering my trip came the day after I finished SERE training it was very very very highly anticipated and I was so excited to finally get on the plane to Heathrow and the bus to Oxford. Simon was kind enough to come pick me up at the Park and Ride at about 7am (saving me about 30 minutes on my trip) despite having had his stag do (bachelor party) the night before. We went back to Chez Kim and Si, Kim woke up from her post hen-do (bachelorette) slumber long enough to say a quick hello, Si went back to sleep, and I just chilled in the living room until they actually rejoined the land of the living.


Once they woke up, Simon went off somewhere (can't remember where exactly) and Kim and I walked into town for breakfast. We ate at the News Cafe off of Cornmarket and got a great chance to chat and catch up a bit. We then wandered up to the Botanical Gardens and enjoyed the nice weather. We eventually met up with Adam and Soupy for a few drinks at the Head of the River. It was a lovely first day back in Oxford that made me feel so at home, as if I had never left.

The next day (Monday) I got in a quick workout (during which I spent far more time talking and catching up with Matt and Jack than I did actually training) and then headed into London for the afternoon. I walked through Green Park and my favourite park in London, Hyde Park, and got to see the new Bomber Command Monument. I then headed over to the Museum of London (it was under renovation for the whole time I was living there) and it was truly fascinating. They had a great exhibit that chronicles the history of London from Roman times through today. There was also a special exhibit about the history of Radio Times which was really interesting as well.

I had some time to kill before dinner and so I ran over to the British Museum (because you could go there about 75 times and still never see everything) but unfortunately the skies decided to open up in the truly English fashion and I got soaked. Oh well, such is life. I looked at the prints exhibit but then got frustrated by the horrible crowds and headed over to Kings Cross to meet up with Sonny and Udds for dinner. It was so good to see them and chat while we ate, getting to hear all about their lives and get excited for Sonny about her recent engagement.


Tuesday morning, Kim, Jenny (Cameron's girlfriend who I had yet to meet but was absolutely lovely) and I headed up to Bicester for Kim's final dress fitting. It was my job to lace up the dress on the day so I needed to learn how to do it. While practicing the lacing up, many jokes were made about my ability to fly and airplane so hopefully a little ribbon wouldn't defeat me. I was succesful on my first go and told I was a natural-- if this pilot thing doesn't work out, I have a fall back! After the fitting we had dim sum for lunch and then just chilled around the city for a bit.

I then made my triumphant return to circuits and got to hang out with Leon, Emma, Matt, and Bonnie. Bonnie and I then went over to the Uni Club and had some drinks with Kim, Si, Soupy, and Rouse.

On Wednesday I had lunch with Bonnie where we got a change to chat and catch up a bit (not nearly enough but better than nothing) and then hung out with Tommy for a bit. I had curry for dinner up in Summertown with Soupy and Rowan and then we headed over to Cowley to meet with Kirsty, Katie Warnaby, Bonnie, Shiv, and Rouse for a few drinks.


On Thursday I had lunch and a few drinks with Si and Neal (who I hadn't seen since he left Oxford!) and then headed over to the club to meet up with Kim and the rest of the wedding party ladies for dinner and drinks. It was great to really meet the other bridesmaids, as well as meet Kim's mom and aunts and family friends. We had dinner at Pierre Victoire and drinks at the Duke of Cambridge in Little Clarendon.

I can't for the life of me remember what I did during the day on Friday but in the evening the whole wedding party (as well as some additional friends and guests) had a rehearsal dinner at the Uni Club to get all the details sorted for the wedding the next day.