Well, the few mild days (temps below 110) last week are now over. Today the wind is blowing at about 40 knots and the temperature is around 115. Walking to the chow hall I felt like Dorothy is some weird re-make of "The Wizard of Oz". "Aunty Em, Aunty Em a twister's a-comin'....and my dress just spontaneously burst into flames!" Thankfully there were no flying monkeys....I hate flying monkeys.
I was planning on writing yesterday since I was standing another one of my beloved 12-hour watches, but we got called on a couple of medevacs that turned into logistical nightmares. We got them done, though. That's what counts. One thing I like about our mission is that we will save whoever needs saving. Since I've been here our helicopters have flown U.S. Soldiers, U.S. civilians, one British woman (the one I was on. Not sure if she was military or civilian), and even suspected insurgents. Our corpsmen (medics) put just as much effort into saving the lives of our enemies as they do into saving the lives of our men. For that they should be commended. The dustoff motto is "When I have your wounded..." They truly live by that.
For those of you wondering if I am a qualified medevac pilot yet, the answer is no. I got my flight knocked out, but they would like me to have a few more unprepared landings at night on NVGs. It takes a little while to get used to landing a helicopter when all you can see for the last 10 feet or so down is blowing dust. Go figure. A little scary. So that should happen in the next couple of nights and by weeks end I'll be moving on up to the majors.
As for the help I need, well it's pretty serious. I was coming off my flight on Saturday night when I realized that I am missing a vital ingredient to my aviation success: my post-flight Blowpops. Ever since I was just a fledgeling flying the T-34C Turbo-Mentor, I have endulged in a Blowpop after my flights. Alas, there are none to be found here. It's amazing I'm even able to get the thing off the ground. Talk about your crises! So if anyone could send me some Blowpops I would very much appreciate it. Flavor doesn't matter (though I think I'll save the watermelon ones for after true medevacs). You may think I'm joking, but I'm not. Pilots in general are somewhat superstitious and helicopter pilots especially. Even aeronautical engineers will tell you that the technical term for how helicopters fly is "magic".
Kind of in combination with that last note, I've had some people tell me that my address is hard to find. So I will post it here for all to see:
LTJG Spencer Allen
2515th NAAD
Camp Beuhring, Kuwait
APO, AE 09330
1 comment:
OK, I can relate to the blow pop theory -- when I get home late from work I have to sit down and play a game or two of Bejewelled --so we'll have to get those blow pops coming so you can sleep at night! Question: Do you have contact with civilians? Is there anything we can send them (through you). Would they like Tootsie Pops, for example? Luv Ya TTFN Mom
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