July 25

I did my last training flight last night. It went well in spite of one of the aircraft wheels coming unlocked every time we did a roll-on landing – it made things interesting as we slid across the desert. The night before wasn’t quite as fun – the pilots I had struggled with the HUD and we had a couple of close encounters with the ground. If nothing else at least they know their limitations. The aircraft are holding up pretty well but we are reaching the limits of out parts supply. Everyone is more than ready to move up north. We just got word that we will move into tents for the first week or so – not what we had hoped but it is one step closer to being settled. One thing about living in a temporary setting is that it is hard to come to grips with the fact that I am here for over a year – it feels like this will all soon be over. I’m not sure if that is a good thing or not. We had our first really hot day yesterday – it was over 130 degrees on the flight line. It was hard to even sit in the tent unless you were right in front of the AC. Today was a few degrees cooler but the wind shifted to the south so we got the air off the ocean – there is nothing like 125 degrees with high humidity. It wears you out just walking around.

Clear H 125 L 92