Back on line

It's been a while since I've written. I've been on a bit of a personal journey, sorting things out and dealing with what the future holds. I apologize for dropping the ball on keep the blog up to date, but I just didn't have much to write about in this forum. Life moves along, and I need to get back into this habit. I do enjoy the writing and I enjoy the feedback and sense of connection that it brings.

As you may have seen in the news, we shifted over to the Arabian Gulf last night and we're now supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom. This means our daily routine may shift a little and there may be more for us to do as a helicopter squadron. At this point, change is very good. We recently passed the half way point for this deployment. A little over 3 months to go. As you may have seen on her blog, Janell and the girls got home a couple days ago to a big empty house. I can empathize with her feeling of loneliness now that she's home. Part of the purpose of her trip was to help the time of this separation go by quicker, but often the third quarter of a deployment is the toughest. We still have a long way to go and it's been a long time already. We face similar issues out here and the danger for us is complacency. Complacency in aviation is a killer--it's a battle every day to not take the basics for granted. A little change in our daily operations can help us to stay fresh.

The ship is in the middle of a Stennis Idol competition. They've shown some of the performances on the ship's TV and they'll hold voting via the ship's intranet website soon. During the first round, one of our HS-8 sailors made it through to the next round. She's the same very talented lady who sang the National Anthem A CAPELLA at our change of command ceremony. It was perhaps the best delivery of the song I've ever heard.

I recently received care packages from my home church, with some delicious cookies, from my sister, and from my parents who sent it from Lake Almanor! Thank you very much, everyone! I've enjoyed the snacks and reading material. Haven't had time for the videos yet.

We have had two new Junior Officers check in to the squadron in the last couple weeks, and three of our senior JO's left, having completed their tours with us. Between the change of command, and the shift of the Junior Officer mix a little, the climate of the squadron has begun to shift a little. Hard to tell how things will shape up, but we're definitely in the midst of a change. Having some new guys on board also helps us to refocus on the fundamentals, because they have to be taught all of the things we've done by second nature for months. It's a different world here and it's all new to them -- a very steep learning curve for a young 24 year old pilot with 40 hours in model.