12 Sep

I finally flew on my first day mission out west. Moore said it was my reward for signing off J.R. It was so nice to get away from the test flight area and not worry about fixing aircraft. On the flight out this morning it was actually in the 70s and the dust was pretty much gone. I was comfortable even in my body armor and I realized again that this flying is actually pretty fun when you can see where you are going. Night goggles give us an incredible advantage and keep us safer but they sure take a lot of the fun out of flying. I flew out west on my last tour but see it during the day and you see how much of nothing is out there. We flew over miles of rock and dirt then there would be a little house in a low spot with plowed fields around it. We even saw places with trees around the house and a green yard. I have no idea how they make their living but it doesn’t look like fun. Its was a pretty standard mission of carrying people and cargo. We had the usual frustrations of waiting to get stuff loaded and unloaded and people not showing up but it was a great change of pace. On another good note – I finally got some laundry back. It is hard to complain when someone else does your laundry but once you get used to a system it sucks when it breaks down. Lesson learned – don’t skimp on the amount of underwear you bring.

Clear H 115 L 83