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Comment by Paymaster on October 15, 2009 at 8:58am

Our son has been married 8 years now. He married his high school sweetheart the day after he graduated the academy. One thing we told our son, was that he shouldn't marry until his sweetheart finished her degree also. They both agreed to that and she did.

They have two little girls, have moved 6 times in the eight years.

Our daughter in law is an outstanding women. She is not dependent on our son, she has always been able to manage with little support, not that she doesn't want to, she just doesn't require it.

I have always been very proud of her. On thing that she did, that made me sure that she was in for the long haul was when our son was on his first deployment. I had just been backing visiting and several other wives were at a gathering and they were talking about not feeling like doing anything while their husbands where gone. They just let the kids do what they wanted to and they just kind of existed.

Our daughter in law was just the opposite, everyday she and the baby got up and got dress. To quote here "We get dress and go someplace everyday we can, it may only be to the store to buy milk, but we get out of the house". After she said that I knew everything would be ok.

Sandy....To answer you question, yes being married is hard work no matter who you are married to civilian or military. But if you have the right partner it is a wonderful things.

When our son is home, he dresses up in his tux and takes her to the opera. Does individual things with both girls and works at his relationships.

Just like us relationships take work and they are both willing to work at what they have!

I don't know if I answered your question, but that is our story.

Comment by Diane2557 on October 13, 2009 at 10:02am

Andrea - congratulations on this special event. It is certainly special to see your child flying such an expensive aircraft. But, it definitely has to be so much more when it's your daughter!!! Give her our best wishes on her accomplishments.

I was disappointed when my son, Chris, for his first cross country on the (T-34) chose to fly from Whiting (FL) to Beverly (MA) and stayed with his aunt and uncle. Both he and his flight instructor wanted to go to a Red Sox game! I was so disappointed and a little jealous that they saw him fly in and out before I did. He pacified me (LOL) when his cross country with the T-45 was from Meridian (MS) to here at Dobbins Air Force Base (Marietta, GA). The base was so nice in letting 12 of my son's family and friends see him land. They allowed all of us to go out to see the jet up close. A friend of my 10-year-old nephew was so in awe. Apparently his dad used to be a mechanic on that type of jet. In his enthusiasm, he asked my son for his autograph which certainly surprised my son. Then the lad asked my nephew if he, too, wanted my son's autograph. My nephew remarked, "Nah, I don't need one; he's my cousin!" LOL

Comment by Diane2557 on October 11, 2009 at 2:33pm

Hi all. Yes, the Navy certainly keeps our kids waiting around a lot. But he takes advantage of some of that downtime brewing his own batches of beer now!

Nancy W. Our son loves the WA area, and as you said, he is speechless at times of the beauty during his low-level flights. He told me just a few days ago that there is new snow on the higher mountaintops. We visited him in March. It was chilly but the days were beautiful ... cloudy or drizzly in the morning and then a rainbow announcing the sunny afternoons. We went to Seattle, discovered some of the island, went up to Anacortes and Vancouver for a day, and a picnic in Port Townsend. We also toured the base where "An Officer and a Gentleman" was filmed! We're going up again for Thanksgiving and will try a few of your recommendations! It will be fun this time since we're bringing one of my two daughters and her husband and son. My grandson has a youth's version of the flight jacket with all of his uncle's patches sewn on. He's planning on wearing it during our tour of the base. My other daughter is in college in Boston. She flew out early in August to visit one of her roommates who lives in Vancouver and stayed a few days with her brother as well.

Comment by Growlermom711 on October 9, 2009 at 3:18pm

Diane R- the guys that fly the Prowler call her "old girl" and that plane is very special to them. My son is headed back to Whidbey to teach tactics in the school that is being developed for the Growler. I agree- the Pacific Northwest is beautiful-much better than the Southern Calif desert he was in!

Comment by Diane2557 on October 9, 2009 at 2:45pm

Leslie ... congrats to both you and Conor. Conor is so lucky to get his choice. I know the downside of when you child don't get what they want. My son was crushed when all his buddies got super hornets and he did not. They all got Norfolk or Lemoore. He got an island in Washington State and an old bucket of a plane, the Prowler. Luckily he also has a great adaptive attitude. He loves the Northwest (already talking about retirement there) is getting ready for carrier quals in December and his first deployment in Jan. After he gets back, he'll be retrained to fly the updated Growler ... a modified super hornet for his special electrical warfare flights that go out before the hornets. He's happy. That's all that matters. I was just on the phone and he's been doing low level flying in the WA mountains with new snowfall on them. He took some pictures ... gorgeous. You all have a great weekend as we here in GA get ready for more rain this weekend. We just had a new roof put on this week so we get to see if there are any more leaks!

Comment by AH on October 8, 2009 at 6:03pm

Congratulations to Conor. It is great when everyone gets their selection. One of Mike's friends from college (she was NROTC) didn't get her first selection. She was pretty devastated.

I have to laugh at you comment about the planes. Since they train in the T-34s and T-45s (jets), I was excited when Mike got SuperHornets. I was excited that he was finally flying a new plane. He did say that his name is going on the side here soon. They are rebuilding it right now. I go out at Thanksgiving. I'm hoping that they get it back together before I get there so I can get a picture.

Comment by AH on October 8, 2009 at 1:16pm

Leslie, Mike never got back in Advanced either. First attempt, the planes got grounded because of problems reported with the type of ejection seats. That was the day he was to fly out. The second time, there were mechanical problems with the plane. The altimeters were off from the front to back by something like 700ft. So, they flew back to Kingsville right away. He finally flew to Oceana and visited a friend that works in DC. We did finally get to see him fly after he went out to Lemoore. He flew back with the demo team that was performing at an airshow here. He wasn't allowed to fly to CO but they did let him fly back so we got to see him take off. What an incredible feeling and sight.

Comment by AH on October 7, 2009 at 12:44pm

Mike was going to fly home to CO with his on-wing for his cross country the weekend after Thanksgiving. Some instructors wanted to go to the TX game in Austin so his Primary cross country was from CC to Austin. Needless to say he was very disappointed and of course - so were we. He and the other student did get some tickets to attend the game and like Austin but not the same as flying home.

Comment by AH on September 17, 2009 at 4:09pm

I had never heard of the 50 limit on winging, but I guess that makes sense. If Conor is just starting formation flying, I don't think he could have been finished by the end of the fiscal year anyway. If I remember correctly, Mike did his formation solo sometime in September or even earlier and he selected the first of December and he was really on the "fast track". He fortunately (or unfortunately) went through training really quickly. The longest wait for him was getting into API. He graduated OCS the middle of November. Did IFS in February and started API in March/April. Right after API, he went to CC for Primary. He was on the road from API to Primary over the Mem Day weekend and classed up the 2nd or 3rd week of June. He finished Primary the first week of December. He did his ejection training and centrifuge training and then went to Kingsville and started almost immediately. The unfortunately part of the fast track is that his rank has failed to keep up with his training. He is still a JG and is in a Super Hornet squadron and doing regular jobs. He is the Legal Officer, NATOPS Officer and next month will be Acting Safety Officer. All of these require giving orders to people that outrank him which he says is difficult and you really have to tred carefully. He is the lowest ranked officer in the squadron and won't be a LT until December 1. Going slower is not always bad. It lets your rank catch up with your job.

Comment by AH on September 15, 2009 at 5:49pm

Mamadoc. Just be proud that your son is an amazing person and wants to do this. The training that the pilots go through is very intensive and I feel makes them a better person. Sure the thrill is flying a fighter and that is a driving force in the choices that they make. But every job has it's own challenges and the military is no different. You should watch the documentary called "Carrier". That carrier was on deployment for months (I believe at least 6 months) and never dropped ordinance in all of that time. The Navy is so much more than dropping bombs and sending out missles. It is a life builder.

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