Been There Done That!

Well my first combat flight mission is now behind me! I can tell you the adrenaline was flowing even though I knew that the odds were in my favor. Anytime spent flying over bad guy country causes your senses to be on full alert!
The temperatures are on the rise. The other day it got to 113 degrees outside which means you can add another 10 degrees for inside the non air-conditioned cockpit. Fortunately the one improvement we have now verses my lst deployment is a cooling vest. This vest is worn underneath the flight suit and circulates fluid through coils. The results are amazing. The problem is the suit only works when the aircraft is running. All the time spent on pre-flight and run-up is in the heat.
The worst part of this deployment so far has been the sand and dust. The wind is constant and the air is filled with fine sand so the visibility is usually poor. By the time I get ready to call it a night, every part of my body is covered.
I obviously won't discuss any details of the mission in this blog but I can say that we are prepared to excel. Our soldiers are up to the task and are meeting every timeline.
I will continue to post messages and soon I will upload some more pictures. Keep checking back!

Finally deployed

Real quick- my Task Force and I finally made it out of Ft. Sill, Oklahoma and are now in Kuwait. We are progressing ahead of shedule and are starting to take on flight missions. The unit that we are replacing are in the process of packing up so things are hectic and shared space is tight. I finally moved out of my tent and into a little trailer with air conditioning (12' x 10'). The air conditioner is a necessity and I hope it never fails. Today it was about 110 degrees and summer is officially a month away! Tommorow I will do my local are orientation flight and I suspect that things will look the same as it did 8 years ago when I was here! The visibility has been pretty bad due to the frequent sand storms we have been having. The sand gets into everything, in fact I have that constant sensation of grit in my mouth because of it.

Well take care and I will write more soon.