Worn out but worth it

It's been a long 24 hours. I starting preparing yesterday afternoon for what I knew would be a long day today. In fact, I didn't finish preparing until about 3 am last night. I was the aircraft commander of the 2nd aircraft in a two-ship flight that ended up logging 7 hours today. Fortunately, somewhere in the middle of those 7 hours we were able to take a break at a shore base. While there, I had a chance to call home briefly and wish Janell an early "Happy Anniversary". Tomorrow (today for me) is our 12th Anniversary. I'll write more about that tomorrow. But it was a nice surprise to get to talk to her and the girls. Sort of an odd break and mental shift in the middle of such a hectic day. But well worth it.

We landed tonight a little after 2300, very ready to peel our selves out of the cockpit and our soaking wet body armor. Turned out to be a very productive flight, having met all the items from our broad list of objectives. My copilot, one of our senior JO's, shared with me during our debrief that this was the best flight he's had so far this deployment. It's nice to fly with a fully qualified crew, and not have to focus on training so much as just getting the job done.

I've been on deck for 2 1/2 hours now and I'm no where close to dry yet. And boy do I stink. A shower before bed will definitely be in order. Not much else to write about at the moment. My brain is starting to shut down. Tomorrow will be a paperwork day. My box is crammed full of stuff that I couldn't get to the last two days. Never good for the MO to take 2 days off from paperwork.