5 Jan

This past week things have really slowed down at least on the day schedule. We joke about how we must have moved everything so it’s time to go home, but if we have to be here it sure is nice to be used. We are coming up on a big Marine rotation so I think the units are pulling back a little and getting everything ready to move - we should get busy in another week or so. The night missions have been going steady but a lot of it is moving Army units back east. It is a nice bit of variety and I wish I could do some of it but I’m pretty much stuck on days until J.R. gets back from leave and even then both he and Brian rotate through nights before me. I would love to fly missions over Baghdad again just to see how much it has changed. I have had some excitement these last couple of days. On the morning of the 3^rd when I came in to fly a mission I found out that 172 had torched an engine and was sitting at Baghdad International waiting a new engine and test pilot. Right away I volunteered because Steve K (a test pilot who left Alaska after we got back from our last rotation) is stationed there with the 3^rd ID. After I got back from the mission I packed a bag and jumped on one of the mission acft that was taking the engine over. They dropped us off and we met up with the crew from 172. They were already on the night cycle so we left them with the task of installing the new engine (the old one had already been removed by the 3ID guys during the day) while we went to bed. One thing that being there did was make me appreciate what we have here. They live on one side of the airfield and work on the other so they have to ride a bus back and forth every day. The night guys rolled in about 7 in the morning (it has been a long time since the flight guys have changed an engine) and we headed out around 8 to finish things up. We were ready to run by 10 and aside from some interesting electrical problems, due to a bent pin, things went pretty smooth. I had Steve fly with me since he knew all the local flying procedures. It sure was great to see him again. I really miss having him in the unit and I don’t think the people he is with appreciate him enough. It was interesting to see Baghdad during the day (even though it was just the area surrounding the airport) and we were able to get a good view of some of Saddam’s palaces. That evening I was able to spend time with Steve and we went through a lot of his photos from our last deployment (we both thought we looked younger then). Later that night we linked up with one of our missions and they escorted us back home. I got to bed about 4 this morning but it was well worth it to see Steve. On another note I played my first game of horseshoes over here with the set I got for my birthday.

Cloudy H 65 L 40