In honor of the Beach Volleyball success of my girl Kerri Walsh, I thought I’d repost this from last August! Way to go Kerri!!!

What more could you ask for? The thirteenth stop of the AVP Professional Volleyball tour brought some of the worlds finest players to Manhattan Beach, CA. A few friends invited me to come along with them and watch the matches on Saturday. Having been an avid player years ago, I jumped at the offer. And, well, it’s the beach. How could I resist?

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My week at Mountain Home AFB concluded with a once in a lifetime opportunity to fly in the back seat of an F-15E Strike Eagle. With the cooperation of the Indian Air Force and United States Air Force at the highest levels, I was authorized to capture some air to air images of the two countries flying together for the first time in the United States.

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Wednesday brought about a day to give the planes a brief break from flying and let the maintainers have a go at them. A common saying in any air force across the world is that it’s the maintainers jets and the pilots just “borrow” them.  So it was time to fix the wire ups and get them ready for the night time mission. So today’s post is dedicated to the 156 maintenance personnel that keep those beautiful SU-30 MK-I flying. 

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Hello again from my adventure at Mountain Home. Tuesday has come and gone, and another solid day of practice for Red Flag is under the Indian Air Force’s belts. With 91 officers and 156 personnel, the IAF brought eight SU-30 MK-I aircraft, two IL-78 air-to-air refuellers and one IL-76 transport aircraft to Mountain Home AFB in Idaho for training. With two missions each day; a day and night sortie, the IAF is maximizing the availible ranges and guidance from the Gunfighters of the 366th Fighter Wing.

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Hello everyone for another exciting adventure. This week I’m out here at Mountain Home AFB, Idaho covering the Indian Air Force’s workups for the Red Flag Exercise. For the first time every, the Indian Air Force is participating in the worlds elite aerial combat training exercise held annually at Nellis AFB, Nevada.  247 Indian men and women arrived at Mountain Home AFB with eight SU-30 MK-I aircraft, two IL-78 air refuellers and one IL-76 transport aircraft.  By working closely with the 366th Fighter Wing, the “Gunfighters,” the IAF will help streamline the procedures and understand the new flying environment. They will also be taking advantage of Mountain Home’s vast air space and multiple ranges to better prepare their aircrews for future flying missions.

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Oddly enough, the one shot that was escaping me all week was a simple B-2 taking off. Public Affairs had done an outstanding job lining up so many cool and interesting tours and interviews, that it was hard to align the take off and departure times of the B-2 to the gaps in my schedule. And for some reason, Ops didn’t alter the take offs to my schedule. But since PA knew it was an important shot to me, they went above and beyond and came in on Saturday to help me nail it.

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8am came very early on Day 4. As you may have noticed, I didn’t post a blog on my last night at Whiteman AFB. I gave myself the night off and decided to have a little fun. But more on that later on. This Friday was a special day for a lot of non military personnel and families. One Friday a month, the Base opens it’s gates to 40 lucky individuals and gives them the rare opportunity to get a first hand glimpse of the mighty B-2 bomber. The tour group starts their morning off with a mission brief of the 509th BW, and then boards the bus to the OSCAR-01 missile launch control facility tour.

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“FAST 31, Whiteman Tower, Cleared for take off Runway 19. REAPR 21 is 10 miles initial for Runway 19.” And so the adventure of a lifetime began.

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When you have the most expensive bomber in the world on your base, security is beyond impressive. Whiteman AFB is a base within a base. Early this morning, I was allowed by the flight line maintenance crews to come out and take some pictures of the B-2 Stealth Bomber in it’s “Dock”, or hanger, as the sun rose above Knob Noster, MO. But to get to the flight line is an adventure in itself, and a testament to how serious security is at Whiteman. My public affairs escort for the day, SSgt Barebo, and I headed to the flight line entry control point. Numerous ID checks, verification of paperwork authorizing us to be there, checks to make sure the photo authorization is proper, and then only are we allowed in. FOD (Foreign Object Debris) check on our vehicle, and then only are we allowed to drive out to the Dock. But even that has to be at a certain speed, and only in certain areas since it’s an active ramp with aircraft taxing. We meet with our maintenance escorts, and once again verify the paperwork and discuss the shots that I am looking to get. While all this sounds overly strict, when you are dealing with a $2.2 billion dollar aircraft, it is necessary. But once all that was taken care of, and we were out there, I was led into the dock to meet my “model”; “Spirit of Indiana.” And what a beauty she was.

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BAILOUT! BAILOUT! BAILOUT! 10-13 G’s later and just like that the canopy of my T-38 was gone.  Plummeting towards the earth at an alarming speed, I saw our T-38 from the 394th Combat Training Squadron at Whiteman AFB arc towards the Earth. Or at least that is what would happen if I ever had to eject out of the two seat twin-engine, high-altitude, supersonic jet trainer. And just like that I was back listening to Maj Troy Faaborg in my T-38 Egress Training at Whiteman AFB, MO; home to the most advanced and feared bomber in the world - The mighty B-2 Stealth Bomber!

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