One Week Left

Most of you have heard by now, but last week was assignment night and I got a B-52 (BUFF)! Funny how things have changed over the last year in the Air Force...especially here at Sheppard. The first assignment night we attended when we got here there were about 15 guys...14 got fighters, and the last guy got a B-52. There have been fewer fighters each time since then, and in my class, of the 8 Americans only 2 got fighters...2 got bombers...3 got special operations (propeller aircraft)...and 1 instructor. So, all-in-all I am pretty excited to end up with one of the aircraft that will allow me to get rid of some bad guys ;)

We will be moving to Shreveport, LA (most likely in January) for the B-52 training. This will be around 8 months long and then we will either stay there for 2 more years or we'll move again to Minot, ND (basically South Canada). Those are the only B-52 bases, and although they aren't the most attractive places in the world there are certainly worse. One of the bonuses of the BUFF is that they currently only deploy to Guam...a tropical paradise SE of Japan. In fact, it's a popular tourist spot for the Japanese and your family can visit you there. Most of the people I've talked to take advantage of their time there to get scuba certification...sounds rough!

The B-52 has been around for over 50 years and the Air Force plans to keep it for 30 more...a tribute to how successful it has been. It can carry more bombs than any other aircraft and is part of the AF nuclear mission. It has 8 jet engines and a crew of 4...pilot, co-pilot (which I'll start as), navigator, and electronic warfare officer. Here is a picture...BUFF. Not many people in the world can say they've flown an 8-engine aircraft...only BUFF pilots and a few Russians (they have an aircraft that copied the B-52 design). For those of you wondering...BUFF stands for Big Ugly Fat F...

Until we leave for Shreveport I'll be on a pretty tame schedule. Basically fly 1 time a week to stay current, have 1 simulator, and 1 back seat ride where I just tag along. Plan is to do some work around the house and let Andrea do some stuff she hasn't been able to since she's been busy with Gavin. It's been a long year+ and we are excited to move on to the next part of our journey.