Wednesday, December 23, 2009

Flurry of flights

In a last ditch effort to finish a few of us off before Christmas, I flew a flurry of flights this last week. Through all the pain that goes with flying twice a day for a few days straight, it was well worth it because I finished the syllabus in gorgeous weather before Christmas. Translation: I am complete with pilot training! Although not I am not officially sanctioned by the USAF yet, I am all but a pilot in the Air Force. About 1 year and 6 months after I started, I am now complete.

Last week was such a blur I don't remember what happened. All I know is I finally got Chipotle on an out and back and I had my checkride on Monday with possibly the best/toughest check IP's in the squadron. I think I flew 6 flights including a 7th on Monday. In the end though, it was worth it. I can now go into the Christmas break with a clear mind. That was until I found out our assignment drop.

The assignment drop is a pool of aircraft that Class 10-04 can choose from at all three UPT bases. Our has about 23 plains/locations to choose from. We had been waiting for this since last Wednesday, while several others and myself were in the midsts of our flurry. My job now is to rank 1-23 all the aircraft on that list. For many it is an awesome drop as there is everything from C-17's to Charleston and Hickam to KC-135's to Kadena AB in Japan and Mildenhall AB in England. However, I was hoping for some MC-12's and C-5's, which there is none of. There is a few C-130's which are high on my list, including EC-130's to Davis-Montham in Tuscon, AZ, but I really don't know what the EC's do. The C-17 to Hickam is awesome, I mean who wouldn't want to go to Hawaii, which is exactly the problem. Everyone is going to put that high on their list. This assignment drop has only further clouded my decision making. I'm definitely going to need God's help on this. I am hoping for the best but definitely can't be disappointed with the worst because, in the end I signed up to go where ever the AF sends me, being a pilot is just a perk.

Until next time, pray for SURF

Chris

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