Here are some radom pictures from my limited photo files. This is LT Dan - one of our EWOs and now our fealess leader. He has a lot of experience for a LT and is doing a great job for us.
A couple of pictures I took on a mission up north. I imagine these are all starting to look the same but that is all I have to work with :) You can see how the streams are braided due to the heavy silt load and how easily their farmed land can be wiped out with the changing river bed.
Looking off to the southwest. On the horizon is the lake made by one of the few large scale dams in the area. The city of Kandahar is off in the distance of the upper left corner.
This is a flag that Rasor flew on one of our missions. On the left is Tom (EWO), Rasor, myself (in case you weren't sure) and Ben our pod guy who has the unenviable task of taking care of our mission gear.
Speaking of the pod here it is with lots of pieces of yarn attached to it. For some reason this aircraft gets a strange vibration at certain airspeeds while the other one doesn't. So this was an attempt to see the airflow over the pod. A camera was attached and we got some good video of the strings but no smoking gun yet.
Happy D Day! Is this an appropriate comment? People now are so SENSITIVE. Any expression of pleasure at bad guys demise or impending defeat is seen as improper. There are no longer any bad guys. Only people misunderstood. (: Moving off my podium and onto your plane..."strange vibration at certain airspeeds" sounds ominous. But you must not think so because you are still flying this vibrating machine.
ReplyDeleteIt's funny - I had the exact same thought about D-Day. What do you say when you want commentate a day that is not nesseccarliy happy? And I agree that we seem to have an over abundance of misunderstood people :).
DeleteAs for the aircraft it does get your attention because it feel like the onset of a stall but we were warned about it so it doesn't concern me too much because we could lose the whole pod and still fly :)
Reading last question: Early Hitler days book...I know this author...explain your comment: "too much in the weeds for me". Is this an American idiom I should try to add to my vocabulary like "my bad" (very out of date now and I never used it...I am a slow learner (: Or "Nothing much...How about you?" This one has been useful several times. (: Anyway...help me out here. (:
ReplyDeleteI was afraid you would ask that :). Not because it wasn't a good question but because it would force me to organize my thoughts. First as to the idiom - it just means getting too much into details and losing sight of the big picture. Along the lines of not seeing the forest for the trees. As for the book I enjoyed the window into a family that had personal interaction with leading members of the Third Reich before it was clear what they were like. It was much different than any other WWII book I have read. More like a human interest take on history. It is probably worth a read but I thought it was a bit too long.
Deletenot tired of the picts. each one gives me a better feel for your job & the country.
ReplyDeletewhen I was army we knew that the only things for sure were time, tide & separation date. then I got extended for 3+ months & haven't sure of anything since (~:} - at least those where people have their hand in them. Love, ART
I fully agree - the good thing we have is knowing that God is in control of it all whether we volunteer or not :)
DeleteA question on serving time...anywhere. I read several times that Christians (not all, but many) imprisoned for being Christians, even tho they had a rough time, felt more focused. Life was simpler. Getting out and making lots of decisions that weren't so basic was hard for many. Is this totally unlike military experience or are there some parallels? Or this totally not applicable? I was thinking combat zone vs. non-combat zone.
ReplyDeleteOh I think it is very applicable. Not just for a Christian but for anybody. Which is why so many people have a hard time when they return. Life can be so much more intense here and you don't have to worry about the mundane things that so often take up most of your time at home. The mission becomes your focus and all you have to do is eat, sleep and work. It is the reason people volunteer to return time and again. If you have ever seen The Hurt Locker I though they did a good job of portraying that (good movie by the way). But I think this applies to other situations where you have the same focus (explores, athletes, mountaineers and the like). From a Christian perspective I think that is why monasteries are appealing. We say that God is or should be the focus of our lives but as we all know that is much easier said than done when a thousand things a day bring our focus away from Him. If we could just stay focused on our primary job of serving Him :)
ReplyDeleteAs a riff on your theme (or was it mine? (: Read a long time ago excellent small article called "Tyranny of the Urgent". Good analysis (and warning) about the foolishness of assigning "urgent" labels to "maintenance" activities... everything that comes with living neatly in a constantly disintegrating world..and ignoring as easily put off those activities that have eternal value. Sigh. Yes, I can EASILY see the monastic appeal. All that humility (or focus) that covers a great selfishness. (: Of course, in a technical job, a bit of maintanence would be appropriate. (:
ReplyDeleteI like that tile :). I am often accused of this at home (for good reason), I can spend all my free time doing the little things that constantly need to be done (or at least I think so) and have no time for important things. And then find out the next day that all those things need to be done again. I have a hard time letting go - it can become a real compulsion.
DeleteThanks for sharing. I feel better for knowing there are two of us. (: To say I identify completely would be an understatement. Better that we not work together. (: (But we would have FOCUS, wouldn't we? (:
ReplyDeleteThat we would :). We would have the best kept house around but I don't think we would get even half the enjoyment out of life that we now have thanks to our more easily distracted partners :).
DeleteI SO endorse your view that God knows what he is doing in the partnership department. Would I trade? Not anymore than you would. We are properly checked and balanced. Happy thought. (:
ReplyDelete