Next Assignment

Just in case you hadn't already heard via facebook...

This is where I will be moving this coming July.
Hill AFB, Utah

I'm pretty excited about it. I am definitely going to miss Europe, the awesome traveling, and some even more awesome friends, but it'll be great to be close to family and other friends again!

Not to mention, I'll get to show off my BMW in person :)

Exercise Exercise Exercise

I feel like I haven't updated in awhile so I've decided to write about work - since that's pretty much all that's going on at the moment.
The last couple weeks we've been having an Operational Readiness Exercise (ORE). It's basically where we pretend that some big event has happened and we have to deploy a lot of people really fast and/or our base gets attacked. The idea is to see if we're prepared in case something like that did go down.
So all of last week was "Phase I" of the exercise. For that we got the "order" that we had to deploy people. I was in charge of the air passenger terminal section, so I helped get people through the deployment processing line.

This was our area. I was working 12 hour night shifts. There wasn't a lot going on at night sometimes so it was pretty empty.

That lasted all week, then for the weekend we went into "Phase II- Fight the Base". For this phase we had to spend the whole time in our chem gear.

It's pretty much the same as if you were sitting at your desk in full snow gear all day. Then every once in awhile the "alarm" goes out that we're being attacked so you have to dive under your desk and pull on your gas mask. Then you just chill there for awhile. It's actually a really good time to take a nap. Though it is interesting to try and talk on the phone or type when you're all geared up like this. (There's actually a lot more to it than this, but I don't want to try and explain it all, so that's the basics)

Thankfully the exercise ended earlier this week, so now it's back to normal work. But we'll most likely be doing it again in a few months.

Just being an LT

First let me preface this story with a little set up of my office. I work in a warehouse, and my office is located smack dab in the middle, just off of a little conference room. It has 3 windows that look out into said warehouse and my desk faces the desks of no less than 6 Airmen. Due to this set up, my office is so deemed "the fish bowl".

I may have explained this set up before to some of you, but it adds considerable significance to the story:

Now, let it be known that, this is the office I first worked in when I arrived at Ramstein 6 months ago.

First day back on the job, and I'm sitting in my office just doing my thing. Well the conveyors just outside my door are considerably loud, and I like to turn on music so I decided to get up and shut my door (again, nothing unusual). Well right after I shut it I realize the door handle is kind of up in a weird position, so I turn it...and it turns...all the way around.
I can't open the door.

Well, keeping in mind that there are about 4 airman looking in my direction at this time I didn't want to start trying to pull my door down in some crazy manner, so I just walk back over to my desk and sit down. I, at the time, am talking to my friend Josh on the computer and explain to him my situation, to which he responds with laughter, of course.

Right about then my flight commander, Capt Martagon, comes down to talk to me. So he tries to open my door from the outside. No luck. I shrugged at him and he started laughing. (At this point the Airmen are starting to notice the current situation.)

After some mocking and ridicule (claiming I'm going to be left as an exhibit) Capt Martagon says he'll be back (I assume he's gone for help), then a Sgt and a couple of our German civilians show up and attempt to get the door open.

Capt Martagon comes back, camera in hand. (Airmen in the background are laughing hysterically at this point.) And a few more people have shown up to witness the event.

Well 2 Germans, a new door handle, and 15 min later and I was set free.

All in all it was quite an entertaining afternoon.
I am now known in the flight as the LT who locked herself in her office. :)

Lucky for me though, I had time to build a pretty good reputation BEFORE today.
I found out my Squadron Commander has put me in to be the point of contact for a high visibility Wing project.
(Translation for those who don't speak Air Force: My boss's boss recommended me for a project for HIS boss's boss. Kind of a big deal.)

All in a day's work

As was pointed out to me by Kara, I haven't put anything up about my job yet, or much about Germany for that matter, so today I decided to take pics on my way to work. So now you can all see what my daily 20 min drive is like.

This is my street. My house is that first one on the left

This is the road I turn on to off of my street

This is my little town of Erlenbach

This is where I turn left

This is the little village of Otterberg that I drive through (not to be confused with Otterbach, which is in the other direction.

This is a traffic circle (aka roundabout). They LOVE these things over here. There are no such things as 4 way stops.

Some open space

On the A6 - or what you all know as the autobahn

Another traffic circle near base

I stopped taking pictures before I got to the gate cuz, well, people get suspicious when you start taking pictures of an AF Base gate.

This is the warehouse that I work in

This is inside the warehouse

This is the view from my office

This is a view of my desk from that chair in the pic above

As far as what I actually DO at work - Well...let me give you a rundown of my day today:
Got to work about 7:30. Tried to log on my computer but am logged out due to some security patch something-or-other. So I spent a good deal of time on the phone with 480-help, our computer tech people. They basically said I just have to wait for them to fix it.
I was supposed to have a meeting with the group commander at 10:30, but it has been rescheduled. Then I was supposed to have an intro/tour of the Airplane Parts Stores section of my flight this afternoon (we're in charge of supply and things like that), but found out something came up with another LT that was supposed to come with me, so I had to call and reschedule that. Then I went to lunch at the British cafe with the other LTs in my squadron, and a few from finance that we normally eat with. Then I went back to my office. Still not able to log on to my computer. So I went over to finance to try and get my travel voucher filled out. After waiting an hour I found out that I have to get an actual scheduled appointment for that. So I set that up, then went back to my office. There, still not able to get on the computer, I wrote a letter to my nephew, Justin. Which, having become quite bored at this point, turned into this:

I don't know how well you can read them. But these are, in fact, stick figure adventure drawings of James the desk guy, based on my almost true daily events, with slightly dramatic endings.
Yes, this is what the AF is paying me to do.

After this I went and dropped of a paper at MPF (the personell people), went and bought groceries, and came home.

So what do I do at work all day? Not a thing. Every once in awhile I tag along to a meeting, or go get a tour of a section in my flight. But that takes up 1, maybe 2 hours a day.

The thing is, having not been to tech school, they can't really put me in charge of anything yet.

So that's that.

Blue Thunder

This is where I've been for the last week - "out in the field" if you will.
We were doing things like integrated base defense, CBRNE (thats where you learn about all the 'agents' like chemical, nuclear, biological, etc.- teach you how to properly wear a gas mask, then put you in little room with some sort of tear gas type stuff and make you take off your mask so you get an idea of what your mask is protecting you from), small unit tactics, and SABC (self aid buddy care).

This is me all geared up. We had to wear vest, helmet, and weapon any time we were outside of our tent during duty hours. (basically between breakfast and dinner)

This is the tent I slept in. Not too bad I guess - a/c and cement floors.

This is what happens when an F-22 and an F-16 fly around, all the LTs come out to watch.
There was an air show going on one of the days.

Funny thing is, I was looking through my pictures and realized I was in the exact same place at the exact same time last year.

Laying around in a tent at BT
19 May 08


Laying around in a tent at BT
19 May 09

An Ode to Friends

Today I went to visit an old roommate and I was thinking how great it is that we're still good friends even though it's been almost 4 years since we've lived together.
That got me thinking about all the awesome people in my life that I know I can count on- no matter what. I would just like to pay a tribute to a few of them at this time :)

I will start with the Roomies - since that's what got me started on this whole thing.
These are the Roomies- Mandi, Trina, Chels, and Me-ghan. This was taken at our most recent annual Christmas gathering.


We all lived together our first two years of college. Then they all went off and got married - Crazy kids. None of us knew each other when we first moved in, with the exception of Trina and Meg. Amazingly we all got along, and to this day remain good friends. I love them all very much and know that I could call them up for anything, anytime, and they would be there for me - even if it's been months since we've even talked.

Next I will speak about my best friend from high school - Sarah Carter Joslin

We had our drama back in those high school days, but now we are the best of buds :) We still talk atleast once a week on the phone since she lives in Cedar and I don't get to see her much.

My very best friend is my Wingman.


She is so awesome and I know I can count on her for anything, day or night (if I can get her to wake up ;) ) She has put up with a lot from me over the years, and I am very grateful. I'm going to miss her a ton while I'm gone. You're the best Wingman! WMFL

The other people I know I can always count on are all my AF buddies.


We have spent so much time together over the
last few years we really have become family. I could go on and on about each one of them individually - Colby, my personal psychiatrist. Tolman, my mechanic. Sarah, my neighbor. Kara, my fellow red-head, Echols, the inner child in us all - but I'll stop there because I know this is kinda lengthy, and I'm afraid I'd leave someone out. But you all know who you are and you already know how awesome you all are :) I am excited to continue onto the Air Force knowing that these are the kind of people I'm going to be working with. I definately wouldn't have made it this far without all of them. They have truely turned me into who I am today. I'll miss seeing you all every day. But it's a small Air Force right?

Thanks to all of you. I'm really going to miss all my friends and family a great deal while I'm in Germany. But it's because all of you that I am where I am and where I am going. I'm very grateful for that and am going to make the best out of this opportunity.
See you all in the real world!

And So It Begins...

I have finally decided to jump on the blogging train. Now that I'm about to go out and begin life in the real world I can keep you all updated.

To begin, let me tell you about the mass chaos that has ensued in the last 48 hours or so -
Tuesday morning we received our active duty dates. While I was expecting to be leaving sometime this summer, it turned out to be a little sooner than I thought. I will be commissioning 2 May as a 2Lt. 10 short days later, I will be boarding a plane to Maxwell AFB, Alabama (for the second time), and officially moving out of UT. After 6 fun-filled weeks in AL, on about the 27th of June, I will be permanently moving to Ramstein, Germany, where I will be stationed for approximately 3 years.
My mind is basically spinning out of control at this point. So much to do, so little time. I have been making lists left and right of things to do, stuff to buy, people to see, etc. I even went out and bought luggage yesterday. It's all happening so fast. And though I am freaking out a bit I'm also very excited. It's going to be an adventure!

My new (non-black as advised by my Wingman) luggage