As you know, once Thanksgiving passes everyone starts to think about the winter holidays. It is no different around here. Our neighbors in the CHU next door started to decorate yesterday. They have a life size picture of Santa Clause on their door and lights inside. Not to be outdone, we had a decorating party in our CHU last night.

Frank broke out the oatmeal bars and decorations that his wife sent, we turned on holiday music, and began the festivities. Since we are a multicultural CHU, Adam Sandler's Chanukah song was played more than once. I have to admit it was a fun time. We strung lights around our window and decorated a mini tree. We ate home baked treats and drank Hi-C out of those packets you put in lunch boxes.

As I was going to sleep to the glow of the christmas lights, Frank stayed up to surf the web. Everyone once in a while he'd interrupt with my sleep. "Chanukah starts the evening of the 25th" he'd say. Later, "What is a dreidel"?, then "What are Chanukkah coins?" It was pretty cool that he must have been checking out site about my holiday to learn a little more.

I am attaching a photo of our decorated CHU.

I have not been flying very much recently but the missions that I have flown have been pretty interesting. I flew a "hero" mission and a mission with an Apache. These are different from the usual "battlefield circulation" (read bus driving) missions that I usually fly.

A "hero" mission is a mission to pick up the body of a soldier killed in action and transport the corpse to an air force base for the final trip home. I was on the night standby crew a few days ago when we got word that we were needed for a hero mission. A soldier had been injured by a roadside bomb the day before and had passed away. We launched as the second flight in a formation of two ships to get the body. We landed at the pick-up site and got out of the aircraft to pay proper respects to the body as it was loaded on board the lead helicopter. The crews lined up on either side of the cargo door while the chaplain, his assistant, and 2 soldiers from mortuary affairs carefully loaded the flag-drapped body bag. We stood at attention and saluted in the dark. No one discussed the meaning behind behind the mission very much.

The next day we were tasked with flying as the sister ship to an Apache and carrying several officers on board to a meeting at another base. We flew lead. I had to keep our airspeed down because Apaches cannot keep up with Blackhawks, at least not when they are loaded with rockets, missles, and 30 mm ammo for the cannon. It was cool getting to fly with another type of aircraft. I have attached a photo.

Our satellite link the internet was down for about 3 days this week. Everyone was very upset. Everytime anyone saw someone else the first question they asked was "is the internet back up? I think that our war stories are mostly going to be about the aweful times that the internet went down and the times that the chow hall ran out of ice cream.

I shouldn't make light of the war. As an aviator I am lucky to be stationed at a relatively secure base and stay at least 75 feet above the ugly stuff when I leave the base. Lots of other guys are actually in a war. We regularly hear about and meet guys involved in roadside bombings and ambushes. I really do hope that the worst experience I have here is an internet crisis.

I flew a short one hour mission today just to move some troops from one base to another close by. We shut down at the base and explored for an hour. I was reminded once again of how good we have it. Their facilities were very primitive compared to our ours. Again, aviators have it easy. The flight was a good one. I was with a Pilot in Command who is not an Instructor Pilot. He let me fly the entire mission and made comments and suggestions but mostly just let me enjoy the experience and learn by doing. That is how I learn best and I think I flew well.

I am attaching a photo from the flight and a picture of the cat that has now become the Bravo Company pet. I dont think he has a name yet though.

I havnt had much luck flying missions recently. Prior to today I was scheduled to fly two missions and they were both cancelled due to weather. The irony is that the only weather days we've had have been days that I was scheduled to fly. All of the other days have been nearly perfect flying conditions. I finally flew today, albeit briefly. I flew about one hour. We flew a staff person to a nearby base and then returned. That was it. Still, at least I got a little bit of flight time. If everything I hear is true I will eventually be complaining about having TOO MUCH flight time. That is yet to be seen.

I have been working the day shift but will be transitioning to nights over the next few days. Goggle flying is certainly more challenging. Plus there is the added challenge of getting my body adjusted to a new schedule. These challenges will be worthwhile, howver, if I actually get some more stick time. Other than flying, I dont have much productive to do here. I am working out a lot and generally killing time between trips to the chow hall. I am also surfing the web, reading, and chatting with friends online. I've received a lot of books and a couple of letters but would always appreciate more mail. Magazines and healthy snacks are the thing that come to mind.