Many of you have been asking what life is like over on this side. So I thought I would put together a little blog of a day in the life of deployed John. So here we go.
We are supposed to keep our location under wraps but here is a great news story on the BBC:
My schedule varies from day to day. There is very little consistency on when I'm awake and asleep. It is all driven by when they have us slated to fly. I usually don’t know what the sun is doing until I walk to
the bathroom. Which is exactly 94 steps
from my room.
Which tends to wear you down after a couple weeks. Here is
one of my fellow pilots…. all tuckered out and asleep in the jump seat.
A picture of Doha on the return.
I'm deployed somewhere over here at "an undisclosed location in south-west asia".
Here are a couple reasons we are over here:
My day however starts in my room.
It’s not much to look at but it does come complete with a
desk (rare) and a phone that I can, using a secret decoder ring, dial back to
the states for morale calls (very rare). It’s really not too bad of
accommodations compared to what many involved in the war live in.
After shuffling to the bathroom, (affectionately called the Cadillac)
and getting ready the crew typically rallies to grab a meal before we head off
to fly.
Officially known as the DFAC (dining facility
something something) more affectionately known as the chow hall. I usually
insert a joke about here about it being a great all-you-can eat restaurant. Think school
cafeteria that doesn’t charge anything. It’s not bad. This base is actually
known to have some of the better food in the area.
With food in the belly and a box of food to go
we jump on a crew bus and cruise the 10min over to the squadron. A couple briefings, a stack of paperwork and
next thing you know we are holding short of the runway, number 1 for departure.
Picture of the Qatari C-17s parked near our parking ramp.
I have to admit…. the last couple pictures were faked…. We
almost always fly at night. The airplane
performs better and it allows us to sneak into and out of less friendly
airfields a little easier.
We can be tasked with missions that run us for up to 24hrs
without a crew rest. The cumulative sleep deprivation can be exhausting but
with 3 pilots on my crew we can take turns sleeping in the bunk on the
aircraft. The jump seat was a little impromptu.
I feel blessed to have such a good crew. We are 1 of 2 airdrop crews in the squadron. Being airdrop qualified has pros and cons but in general airdroppers are typically more trained and experienced than our counterparts. It makes it nice as aircraft commander because the guys are all really good at what they do.
If you've ever wondered what a sunrise over Afghanistan looks
like….
From the map above the red arrows should give you an idea of where we take our missions. Most go to Afghanistan but we have flown all over the area in support of our national objectives.
It has been good to see that most of our missions are flying empty into country and moving stuff back out. I know it will get worse for us before it gets better since all the equipment from 10 years of war needs to be moved out of Afghanistan.
It has been rewarding to be over here but I look forward to getting home. We are about 1/2 through our time here and everyone is starting to be anxious to get home.
Thanks for your prayers and support.
