Comment

Comment by AH on April 28, 2010 at 12:55pm

Yeah....... I sort of close my eyes when I watch those documentaries. I'm doing better than I have the past times he's been on the boat... but still hard. That's why I'm glad he's keeping in touch via email. He is not the best corresponder! Mike is saying that the weather near SoCal is doing its normal thing and making things difficult. He calls it a "marine layer". There is a solid layer of clouds at 1000 feet at the time. He says that they have to shoot approaches during the day - I guess coming through the clouds into the gloom and then at night while the moon is full, the light above the clouds is bright as day and below he describes as blacker than the dark side of the moon. I'm sure that it makes for some interesting traps.

Comment by AH on April 28, 2010 at 10:32am

Well... Mike has been really good about emailing his Dad and I about his adventures on the boat. It seems that he has a new job as Aircraft Division Officer. I guess this is the maintenance department with about 50 people under him. He says that he feels like a fish out of water. This is one aspect of naval aviation that he knows the least about. He has a Chief to help him get his feet under him. Others have told him that it will take 6 months or more before he startes to feel completely comfortable in this new job.

I know that all of your SNA's are anxious to get out there and get into the fleet. Get that training behind them and to do their jobs.Tell them to savor the time. Since joining his squadron, he has about 4 different jobs now. All take about the same amount of time and they are still expected to fly and get certain qualifications. The training continues even the the squadrons. Mike is the Legal Officer, NATOPS Officer, a CACO (Casualty Assistance Calls Officer - thankfully he has never had to do this job - but has trained for it) and now the Aircraft Division Officer. He is also training to become a LSO. When they are in Lemoore, he works 15 hours days regularly.

Mike went through training pretty quickly. He graduated OCS in November 2005 and joined his squadron last March (2009) so this seems fast based on what I am reading here. Enjoy the down time as when they get out into the Fleet ...... it gets really busy.

Comment by Betty Midwest Mom on April 27, 2010 at 8:16pm

Hey KUNavy Mom - are you a Jayhawk? I think we might have a bond... My son is just a tad behind yours - he is waiting to class up in Pensacola.

Comment by snowmc on April 26, 2010 at 2:28pm

That's what I have heard also....also heard they are asking some SNA's to redesignate. NFO's don't seem to have that problem, but we are still waiting for IFS and API along with everyone else.

Comment by AH on April 26, 2010 at 10:30am

Chris, I only have 3 more weeks of worrying and then a couple of months before deployment for 8 months or there abouts. He's been pretty good about sending emails from the boat and keeping us up to date. It is really hard knowing that I can't just pick up the phone and hear his voice.

Comment by AH on April 26, 2010 at 10:09am

Well, Mike is still on the boat. Last Thursday, they were practicing traps on rough seas. He said that it was really disconcerting to see the lights on the back of the boat circling. He said that the LSO's did a great job of guiding them down. Apparently the Captain is turning into the squalls to give them experience on rough seas. Anyone see the night landings in rough seas on "Carrier"? On Thursday morning, Mike said that the seas were so rough that they almost threw him out of his rack. While I love hearing the stories, it doesn't make me worry less.

Comment by AH on April 21, 2010 at 4:28pm

I did hear from Mike this morning. He had given us the wrong email address for the boat. He say the food is still bad. Not his words but polite company. Navy Times is a good one to look at. Just Navytimes.com They have them for all the services.

Comment by lsP3Orion on April 21, 2010 at 2:30pm

Flyboymom - so very exciting - congratulations!! Great recap of the events.

Comment by Michelle on April 20, 2010 at 7:17pm

Leslie & Janis,
Kyle soloed yesterday also! I just got an e-mail from him; so they must have been partying last night. Thank goodness they've landed safely with so few hours. Congratulations to all of us!

Comment by AH on April 20, 2010 at 5:53pm

I appreciate the information. I don't know what a calendar square is. I just hope that Mike does better at communication that he did while at OCS. I'm not really complaining.... the 2 letters we did get were really long and Mike writes very small so they were about 12 pages long. Not the same thing. I have asked him what types of things he would like in care packages. He hasn't given me any idea yet. I may have to come up with some on my own. I hope that Mikes squadron does the "adoption" of the unmarried pilots. I don't know how many there are out there right now. When he first entered the squadron... there was 1 other single pilot. You'll have to let me know some of the things that you sent Sean while out on the boat.

I know what you mean about getting news off of the internet. When Mike was in Advanced in Kingsville, they had 2 ejections within 5 days. We actually met up with him in Ohio for an airshow after the 1st one and he asked if we had heard anything in CO. When we got back, I found out about the 2nd one that happened the day he got back. He couldn't believe that I knew about it already. He also though gets mad at me for checking things out, knowing that I check.

I'll look forward to bouncing things off you about deployment. This should be very interesting. His Dad will be fine.... me a mess.

• ‹ Previous
• 1
• …
• 335
• 336
• 337
• 338
• 339
• …
• 375
• Next ›
• Page