Since assignment night my life has been a big blur of excitement, happiness, stress and anticipation, and unfortunately with all this busyness, blogging was the first thing to go. I think (emphasis on think) things are finally on the downhill so I plan to get back in action with my blogging routine... Woo hoo!! I have two HUGE events to blog about that each deserve their own post this week (my sister getting engaged!! and Jake getting his wings!!!) but for tonight I will just give you a quick update on life since my last post.
As you all know, we are going back to California! Yes! And now we finally have "the plan" for how this whole move is going to happen. Jake has two different trainings he has to complete before we can move to Travis, Survival training in Washington and C-17 training in Oklahoma, and because of this we don't actually report to our new base until the beginning of March (boo...) Well I have no desire to stay here in Mississippi alone for the next six months so we have decided to pack up the house, put everything in storage, and drive the dogs and I back to the west coast to stay with my family while Jake is away at training. This option requires a lot of planning and extra work on our part but in the end its the way I know I will be happiest, not to mention we will be saving a lot of money this way :) So while Jake is gone I plan to travel around the west coast catching up with the friends and family I have missed so much while we've been stationed in Mississippi. The best part of it all is that I can take my work anywhere I go so I am not tied down to any location for any amount of time and I'm also not sacrificing my career or income.
With all that said, we are leaving here in just over a week and as I look around at my fully furnished, nowhere-near-packed house I can't help but feel a bit overwhelmed. There is so much to be done. It's ironic that I've been counting down the years, months, days... until we would be leaving this place but now that its here I kind of want it (need it) to just slow down for minute. But as I always say, change is a good thing and I really am so excited for what is to come :)
The great news is that although we are leaving the south in just a week, we still get to take two full weeks of vacation before Jake has to report to his first day of training. We're so looking forward to spending some time relaxing with Jake's family and friends in the Northwest and enjoying the wonderful end-of-summer, non-humid weather there. Life is good and exciting at the Pruitt household right now and, wow, I still have so much to tell you!! Be back with more tomorrow :)
Assignment Night!
- - - - Tuesday, August 3, 2010 - - - -
Wow is it really already Tuesday?! Life has been a wonderfully exciting whirlwind the past few days. Let's go back to Friday... I was such a ball of nerves about getting our assignment which I'm sure you could tell by my last month of posts :) Everyone arrived at the Club on base just before 5pm and anxiously awaited the results. For those you who aren't familiar with AF assignment nights, they are basically a big party (and a VERY well deserved big party thats for sure!). Tons of people from base come to support the class getting their assignments and everyone is cheering and shouting as the guys take their roast before finding out their new assignment. The roasts can be pretty brutal and are always very entertaining. My friend Brittany was so nice to record Jake's for me... Here it is!!
And it was a also a great surprise that one of my best friends here, Allison, is also going to be moving to Travis AFB!! Her husband got KC-10's and I am so excited that we don't have to say goodbye. And actually she's never even been to California so I get to show her around! Travis AFB is really close to Napa, San Fransisco, Sacramento and not too far from all my other favorite places like Yosemite, Santa Cruz, Monterey, and of course southern Cali :) But the best part? Travis is only 2 hours away from my family and friends back "home". It's such a great feeling to know that they'll only be a short car ride away and that I can go see them whenever I want.
On top of getting a great location, it was just really nice to see all of Jake's hard work pay off with him getting such a great plane to fly for his career. According to Wikipedia... "The Boeing C-17 Globemaster III is a large military transport aircraft. The C-17 is used for rapid strategic airlift of troops and cargo to main operating bases or forward operating bases throughout the world; it can also perform tactical airlift, medical evacuation and airdrop missions."
So there it is! It's official! The hard part of all this is that we don't report to Travis AFB until the beginning of March 2011 so we have about six more months to wait until we actually get to our new home. The reason for the delay is that Jake has to go to training for the C-17 for four months in Oklahoma and also a month of survival training in Washington. But for now it's just exciting to know that our time in Mississippi is coming to a close and we are so excited to start a new phase of our lives back on the west coast! Thank you everyone for all your support and prayers - We are so happy and thankful :)
And so the official assignment is....
C-17'S TO TRAVIS AFB, CALIFORNIA!!! We got our #1 choice :) And as you can tell by the video we were very excited and so happy with the outcome. In fact, almost every guy in Jake's class got one of their top choices - it was an awesome, awesome night! Here's a look at all the assignments and a group shot of the beautiful 10-13 spouses...
And it was a also a great surprise that one of my best friends here, Allison, is also going to be moving to Travis AFB!! Her husband got KC-10's and I am so excited that we don't have to say goodbye. And actually she's never even been to California so I get to show her around! Travis AFB is really close to Napa, San Fransisco, Sacramento and not too far from all my other favorite places like Yosemite, Santa Cruz, Monterey, and of course southern Cali :) But the best part? Travis is only 2 hours away from my family and friends back "home". It's such a great feeling to know that they'll only be a short car ride away and that I can go see them whenever I want.
On top of getting a great location, it was just really nice to see all of Jake's hard work pay off with him getting such a great plane to fly for his career. According to Wikipedia... "The Boeing C-17 Globemaster III is a large military transport aircraft. The C-17 is used for rapid strategic airlift of troops and cargo to main operating bases or forward operating bases throughout the world; it can also perform tactical airlift, medical evacuation and airdrop missions."
Here are some C-17 pictures and a video talking about Jake's awesome new plane...
So there it is! It's official! The hard part of all this is that we don't report to Travis AFB until the beginning of March 2011 so we have about six more months to wait until we actually get to our new home. The reason for the delay is that Jake has to go to training for the C-17 for four months in Oklahoma and also a month of survival training in Washington. But for now it's just exciting to know that our time in Mississippi is coming to a close and we are so excited to start a new phase of our lives back on the west coast! Thank you everyone for all your support and prayers - We are so happy and thankful :)
24 hours from now...
- - - - Thursday, July 29, 2010 - - - -
...we'll be getting our new assignment! I can hardly believe its really almost here. The anticipation has been almost unbearable. Thank goodness this has a been a really busy and fun week which has helped a little to keep my mind off it. Tuesday was my birthday and I have now reached the ripe ol' age of 23 ;) It was a really nice day and I felt pretty spoiled by the end of it. Jake had a beautiful bouquet of flowers sent to my office which was the best surprise ever and then I had a fun birthday dinner out with my friends (Jake had to fly that night so we celebrated my birthday dinner together last night instead. Hey, I didn't mind... Two birthday dinners? Oh yeah!). But the best part of all? I'm getting my new computer!! Like I said, GREAT birthday!
And yesterday was a HUGE day too... Jake completed his last flight of UPT! He is now officially done with the program which means no more ridiculously long days of studying for him and that I finally get to have my husband back (woo hoo!). It has been a long, long year of training and we are both so ready for this chapter of our lives to come to a close. Tomorrow is our Assignment Night - the night where all of Jake's hard work pays off and we'll finally get to know what's coming next. I'll keep you posted :)
And yesterday was a HUGE day too... Jake completed his last flight of UPT! He is now officially done with the program which means no more ridiculously long days of studying for him and that I finally get to have my husband back (woo hoo!). It has been a long, long year of training and we are both so ready for this chapter of our lives to come to a close. Tomorrow is our Assignment Night - the night where all of Jake's hard work pays off and we'll finally get to know what's coming next. I'll keep you posted :)
The 10-13 Drop!!!
- - - - Wednesday, July 21, 2010 - - - -
We got our drop of assignment choices yesterday and couldn't be happier with the outcome. Just about everything we wanted showed up on the list! Here's what we have to choose from (in alphabetical order, not the order we want them)...
So now Jake will turn in his "dream sheet" with the assignment options listed in the order we want. The hard part about this list is that it also applies to the two other 10-13 UPT classes at the other training bases. We know that those are the planes and locations available to us but we don't know how many there are of each assignment and which ones will come to our base. So for now its definitely still a guessing game but in just 9 more days we will know for sure - and those of you who know Jake and I can probably guess exactly which locations we are hoping for :) Well alright, fingers are really crossed now... say alittle BIG prayer for us!!
| AC-130 Hurlbert (Florida) | C-17 Charleston (South Carolina) | C-17 Elmendorf (Alaska) |
| C-17 McChord (Washington) | C-17 McGuire (New Jersey) | C-17 Travis (California) |
| C-5 Dover (Delaware) | C-5 Travis (California) | E-8 Robbins (Georgia) |
| KC-10 Travis (California) | KC-10 McGuire (New Jersey) | KC-135 Fairchild (Washington) |
| KC-135 Hickam (Hawaii) | KC-135 Kadena (Japan) | KC-135 McConnell (Kansas) |
| KC-135 Mildenhall (England) | KC-135 Seymour-Johnson (North Carolina) | RC-135 Offut (Nebraska) |
| RPA Creech (Nevada) | RPA Cannon (New Mexico) | T-1/T-6 Instructor (Mississippi) |
So now Jake will turn in his "dream sheet" with the assignment options listed in the order we want. The hard part about this list is that it also applies to the two other 10-13 UPT classes at the other training bases. We know that those are the planes and locations available to us but we don't know how many there are of each assignment and which ones will come to our base. So for now its definitely still a guessing game but in just 9 more days we will know for sure - and those of you who know Jake and I can probably guess exactly which locations we are hoping for :) Well alright, fingers are really crossed now... say a
UPT: Phase 3 (Almost) Complete!
- - - - Monday, July 19, 2010 - - - -
I can't believe that this long year of pilot training has pretty much come to an end. As of today Jake only has six flights left!! Here's a reminder of the plane that Jake is currently flying - the T-1 (the AF trainer for cargo and tanker aircrafts)...
Unless you've seen it first hand, its really hard to even imagine what these guys have gone through to get to this point in the UPT program. They've done well over 100 flights (including navigation, formation, air refueling, low levels, etc), several checkrides, weekly tests and stand-ups, and of course all the "behind the scenes" study work that goes into each of those things just listed.
And speaking of checkrides, can I just take a second to brag? My hubby has worked so hard; he has a focus and drive to achieve his goals like nobody I've ever known. He studied his face off for both of his T-1 checkrides and I'm so happy that all of his efforts were rewarded - he got an E3 on BOTH of his checkrides! (For those of you not in the UPT world, that is an amazing score...) And on top of all his hard work, Jake never complains. When he gets thrown into random flights or double-turns multiple days in a row or gets told he has to fly over his entire weekend, he just sucks it up and does it - and does it well, might I add.
Can you tell I'm a proud wife? Oh yeah, I'm proud alright, and I know that August 13th (Jake's graduation) will be such a huge day for him. I seriously can't wait to see his wings pinned on. But before we can get there we have one more HUGE thing - something that makes my stomach knot up just thinking about it - Assignment Night (dun dun dun...) July 30th is coming up fast and while I am ready, I'm not sure I'm really ready! haha. For those of you not in this situation, just imagine the anxiety of a day where you find out where you will be living for the next 4 years, knowing that whatever location pops up on that slide by your name is where you will be going - no ifs, ands, or buts - and you have zero control over it. Yeah. It's scary and exciting and oh-my-goodness its next Friday!!!
I mentioned that we were supposed to get our "drop" on Friday... well it didn't come (no surprise there... Air Force...). We should hopefully be getting it on Wednesday but definitely by Friday. The drop is essentially the list of all the locations and planes that are available for us to get on our assignment night (basically if something is not on the list, there's a very little chance of getting it). Once we get the drop, everyone will fill out their dream sheet, listing those planes and locations in the order they most want. Getting the drop is huge because we can literally look at the list and say... "one of the assignments is going to be ours". It can really narrow our options.
I'm so excited to see what everyone ends up getting. Where will all my friends end up?? Most likely we'll all be scattered across the globe. The guys and the wives of class 10-13 have become like family to me and I'm hoping to see everyone end up with great assignments. 12 more days and we will know!!
Unless you've seen it first hand, its really hard to even imagine what these guys have gone through to get to this point in the UPT program. They've done well over 100 flights (including navigation, formation, air refueling, low levels, etc), several checkrides, weekly tests and stand-ups, and of course all the "behind the scenes" study work that goes into each of those things just listed.
And speaking of checkrides, can I just take a second to brag? My hubby has worked so hard; he has a focus and drive to achieve his goals like nobody I've ever known. He studied his face off for both of his T-1 checkrides and I'm so happy that all of his efforts were rewarded - he got an E3 on BOTH of his checkrides! (For those of you not in the UPT world, that is an amazing score...) And on top of all his hard work, Jake never complains. When he gets thrown into random flights or double-turns multiple days in a row or gets told he has to fly over his entire weekend, he just sucks it up and does it - and does it well, might I add.
Can you tell I'm a proud wife? Oh yeah, I'm proud alright, and I know that August 13th (Jake's graduation) will be such a huge day for him. I seriously can't wait to see his wings pinned on. But before we can get there we have one more HUGE thing - something that makes my stomach knot up just thinking about it - Assignment Night (dun dun dun...) July 30th is coming up fast and while I am ready, I'm not sure I'm really ready! haha. For those of you not in this situation, just imagine the anxiety of a day where you find out where you will be living for the next 4 years, knowing that whatever location pops up on that slide by your name is where you will be going - no ifs, ands, or buts - and you have zero control over it. Yeah. It's scary and exciting and oh-my-goodness its next Friday!!!
I mentioned that we were supposed to get our "drop" on Friday... well it didn't come (no surprise there... Air Force...). We should hopefully be getting it on Wednesday but definitely by Friday. The drop is essentially the list of all the locations and planes that are available for us to get on our assignment night (basically if something is not on the list, there's a very little chance of getting it). Once we get the drop, everyone will fill out their dream sheet, listing those planes and locations in the order they most want. Getting the drop is huge because we can literally look at the list and say... "one of the assignments is going to be ours". It can really narrow our options.
I'm so excited to see what everyone ends up getting. Where will all my friends end up?? Most likely we'll all be scattered across the globe. The guys and the wives of class 10-13 have become like family to me and I'm hoping to see everyone end up with great assignments. 12 more days and we will know!!
