What a Long Strange Trip it's Been... Getting My Wings

I earned my Naval Aviator Wings on January 8, 2010 in Corpus Christi, TX. I finished the Navy's longest training pipeline in two years, four months and two days, logged 256.8 hours in the sky and 187.2 in the sims. I learned how to fly 3 different training planes, flew three different civilian planes on the side and have about seven hours sim and a half hour pilot time in the Hornet. I've moved 4 times and counting anything over a month, lived in seven different places.

I learned how to play the guitar, learned about home repair from Charlie, learned how to make Cuban food from Chris, mix drinks from Ryan, tried to find the HOLLYWOOD sign from the air, got a lot better at speaking French, took up bicycling and can do over 30 miles now. I can re-build a computer and program a VCR. I made friends both military and civilian all over the country and abroad. I went over a year without going on a date, spent countless weekends sitting at home studying procedures or just sitting at home. I have a cat?! I've been so frustrated with the Navy and school that it was all I could do keep from screaming before I got into my car. I've been cursed at by instructors old enough to be my grandfather (one specifically who was actually taught by John McCain). I've gotten pink sheets and had to speak to the skipper.

I know how long the walk back from an airplane after a failed flight is. I know what it means when you have to wear khakis while everyone else is in flight suits. I've gone through a time when I thought every flight could be my last in flight school, but I also know what it's like to make a comeback, to not give up and to keep fighting even when you're not quite sure you've got what it takes. I know how to keep flying after making a bad mistake and to save a flight that could've gone downhill. I know what it feels like to finally master something that seemed almost impossible. I know how to be confident and to enjoy what I've been given and what I've done. I know what it's like to get shot off an aircraft carrier knowing it's finally your last flight and how to enjoy every second of that ride, to push every rule and boundary to the edge, to go 480kts at 500' off the water and max out the Vertical Speed at well over 10,000fpm, to do six aileron rolls in a row just for the hell of it and to rip into the break at over 400kts fighting and laughing to get the plane down to landing speed all... because I fucking earned it.

Tomorrow I'm leaving town and heading to Norfolk, VA, via Brunswick, ME for SERE school, to start my training to learn how to fly the E-2C Hawkeye or the C-2 Greyhound. I can't wait.

The winging events began pretty much the day I got back into town after Christmas with a number of meetings and administrative tasks made all the more difficult by constant partying until 2am almost every night. We had to plan our winging party and events as a class, so naturally we waited until the last possible moment. Through some friends in town, I found a band, hired them and organized a couple other things before my mom and step-dad came into town on Wednesday.

When they arrived, we had a nice dinner and I got them settled into their hotel on base. I'm pretty sure I went out after that too. The next day we did some errands on base and then we drove down to NAS Kingsville, TX so I could finally show my mom the mighty T-45C Goshawk (albeit a much less classier version with the letter "B" on its tail). After a lunch of tasty Texas barbecue we got to the base and were able to watch a bounce session and a few breaks from an access road close to the airfield fence which was pretty cool, I really miss the sound of those jets.

We had a half hour of simulator time which was great, not only because it was fun for me to get back into the cockpit or watch my mom try to land on the aircraft carrier, but also the Kingsville simulators are much newer than ours were and the graphics were amazing. It was like going from Microsoft Flight simulator 95 to Flight Sim X (okay, I'm a nerd, but we knew that). I had the instructor set us up in Meridian and I flew a couple passes and did a Precautionary Approach so they could see the area. It was amazing how real it was, they even had snow on the ground. Their newest sim apparently has texture so good that the grass looks like it moves with the wind.

Of course we ran out of time and had to leave well before I was done showing the mom the ropes, but it was still a good experience. When we got back to Corpus, we had another nice dinner at the Yacht Club, which I'd originally hoped to have with my grandfather and step-grandmother, but they were unfortunately unable to come at the last minute.

The next day we had breakfast at the squadron and my sponsor-dad, also a Naval Aviator, arrived and the three of us had a good time meeting my instructors and having breakfast burritos. My sponsor-dad, a P-3 guy, was a graduate of VT-31 so it was great for him to see his old planes and kinda funny to think that I probably literally flew the exact planes he did, just 20 years later.

The ceremony was great, long, but really great. The guest speaker was just the CO of one of the squadrons but he had some good things to say and the of course the commodore spoke and gave pretty much the same speech that he always gives, but this time it was for me and I appreciated it. When I went up to get my wings, my CO handed me a set of Vanguard standard brass insignia wings but when I went to give them to my mom to pin them on, she already had a set in her hand made from 24k gold. It was a pretty cool winging gift, I was really impressed that she'd done that and I will definitely wear them with pride.

Afterward we had drinks in the club bar with everyone, including the guy I sailed with while I was here, Tom Kane, who is a retired C-2 Greyhound pilot. We took a really long time and still had to get dinner (and I still had a few last minute things to arrange for the party). Dinner was at Dragonfly and it was excellent. The party was already going by the time I got there around 10. It was Elvis' 75th birthday so we all dressed up for that, I found an old poorly-fitting blazer at good will and affixed a large number of rhinestone to it including spelling out "E2C2" on the back, to represent my syllabus and what I've done.

[this is me and one of my fellow-pilot friends, Mike, he's going P-3s]

I was able to introduce my mom and step-dad, John, to a lot of my really good friends, even people I've known since early days at the Academy. I was even able to enjoy it myself, well once the band was working out and everyone was having a good time. I invited a number of girls I know from town and they all crammed into a station wagon and came out to the party. They dressed up and everyone (including, apparently, a few higher ranking Naval Officers) enjoyed having them there. We all played Beirut, danced, drank, talked and enjoyed ourselves. I got the E2/C2 guys together and we signed the "hooker" poster that has all the signatures of everyone who's done the Tailhook syllabus and gone from the Goshawk down to the King Air.

Finally as the night came to a close or sometime close to that the girls and I headed out to an after-party which was a really good time and somehow I ended up back at my place safe and sound the next morning. After a few errands and a nice lunch downtown, Mom, John and I watched the Dallas game until after dinner, which we barbecued, and I drove them back and the Winging was over.

I've been either working to check-out or out enjoying the town and my friends everyday since. I can't say I have much time and I'm definitely under the gun to get packed up and have everything ready to drive out tomorrow morning. I'm sure I'll make, but much to my surprise, I will actually miss Corpus. I've had a great time here with some really amazing people. I'm sure I'll be back, either temporarily or who knows, maybe I'll get to instruct the Goshawk down in Kingsville?

I might have to change the name of this "journal" but I think I'll keep it going at least until I get fully qual'd in the Hawkeye/Greyhound, so stay tuned, there's always more to come.