Just kidding. Yes, I am at it again. VRC-30 Det-1 and the USS Ronald Reagan are out defending freedom one more time. When I first got done with deployment last November I didn't think I would be coming back out with Det-1 for the surge. Post deployment at VRC-30 we get shuffled back into the home squadron and people get put into different dets to mix the experience levels of the pilots. I am now an Aircraft Commander and I sign for the planes. The only difference really from what I was doing last year is that I am now in charge of the getting the mission done. As an AC I am responsible for all phases of the flight. It's kind of a lot of responsibility, but it is very rewarding. Instead of being the "Nugget" and throwing out scary passes behind the boat I now get to sit in the right seat and let the Nuggets scare me! It's a vicious circle really. I get to make all sorts of rules for my copilots to abide by and they have to do what I say... Haha! Bow to me! No, its not quite like that, but I am the one that ultimately has to make some decisions sometimes. Recently we had a rash of engine starter malfunctions and have nearly gotten stuck in some random places. Actually, we did have a plane spend the night in Qatar, but that is another story. But it is stuff like that which makes our jobs all the more interesting.
Right now we are camped out in Bahrain. I say camped, but we are put up pretty nicely in some villas which are quite comfortable. We even have a pool, but sadly we are usually working so we don't get much time to swim. I explained life out here in one of my previous blogs, but I will say it again. There is no place like home. Life in the Middle East is tiresome in my opinion, but maybe that is because we are always working. I have been averaging about 5.5 hours of flight time a day, but a few weeks ago it was more like 7.5. Those can be some long days, especially when we get to come home and do our ground jobs. I really can't complain though, life is not too horrible. I could be on the boat right now with 5,000 of my closest friends....
We got a treat here in Bahrain a couple of days ago when a dust storm blew in. The visibility was less than 3/4 mile for about 2 days. It was sort of like being in a gravel parking lot with cars doing donuts around you, but for 2 days straight. There was dust and grit everywhere which doesn't make breathing easy, or flying. The dust kept out the heat, so it was only like 97 degrees out, but I still hope we don't get any more of those.
Deployment started this year in the last week of May. We got the distinct pleasure of riding the ship across the Pacific Ocean once again. I forgot how big it is. Hawaii and Guam are still out there if anybody was wondering. Also, please remember that at the Outback in Guam it's No Rules Just Right! You should have seen us gobble those steaks down. The Outback isn't really that great of a restaurant anymore, but it is a pleasant change from the wardroom on the ship.
The Reagan pulled into Singapore again this year and it was great. All the squadrons in the Airwing got together an threw a pretty big party at this brewery in Clarke Quay called the Pump Room. If you can picture a bunch of dudes that hadn't seen booze and/or women for about a month then you can imagine this party. Haha! We had bets to see if was going to be a train wreck or a total blast. Would you believe that it was both? On the last day of the port call I had one of those "it's a small world" moments when I ran into some twin sisters that I went to highschool with. And as crazy as this is, it turns out that they both knew Shannon (my wife, if you don't know me that well) from college at Baylor (Sic em Bears! Roar!). I thought that was pretty cool.
So that is about it! It's been pretty cut and dry this year and I don't expect anything too crazy on the way home. Speaking of home though, this is the second summer in a row that I have been privileged enough to spend on deployment. I picked San Diego and the west coast because I was looking forward to living there, but as it turns out I will have spent almost as much time on deployment as I have in San Diego after this deployment. Weird....
That is it for now. Check out last year's blogs if you haven't already. Stay tuned for more adventures with Jmorg.
This is the Captain, and I'm out!
