More ramblings

As time for me to join the fleet comes closer I've began the thoughts every man has before he leaves; I need to prepare myself for the worst so as to not be distracted and thus remain combat effective. I feel that I'm ready to go do whatever it is the people of our nation (through the direction of elected politicians) need me to do to protect lives.

However, in these thoughts I came across the fact that if I pass I will be giving undeniable grief to those close to me, a burden that they have no choice over. It is my choice alone and doesn't seem fair that I should put that weight on their shoulders.

Ironically they are the reason why I put myself in harm's way. They are my motivation to be in situations in which I might pay the ultimate sacrifice. After coming to this realization I felt like I should say "I'm sorry" ha ha ha. It sounds odd but I don't know any other response to the situation. God gave me a gift, I am going to use it to protect anyone I can, physically or emotionally. Through might or words, I'll be in harm's way so they don't have to be.

1st Article of the code of conduct

"I am an American, fighting in the armed forces which guard my country and our way of life, I am prepared to give my life in their defense." And I'm sorry ha ha ha

~Josh

Another day

A lot has happened since my last post. I've said it before but I'll say it again, I'm almost certain no one is reading my posts now, which works out pretty good because I've needed somewhere to put my ramblings recently.

Quick update on my life. I bought a dog in September-ish of 2009, his name is Apollo, he's a pure bread doberman and awesome. I'm very lucky to have him.

In January I went to my long anticipated SERE school (Survival Evasion Resistance and Escape). It was easily the most awful thing I have ever done in my life. I was sleep deprived, starved, beaten physically and worse..mentally. I was disoriented and hallucinating. During this I was interrogated and had the privilege/challenge of being the XO (executive office aka second in command) for all of the men and four women with me. I could go on for a while about it but I'll try to keep my update conscience.

I've been flying the F/A-18F since January. It's an amazing/extremely complex piece of machinery. The men I train with are some of the finest gentlemen I've ever had the privileged of meeting. Being around men of their caliber makes it easier to better myself.

The only down side is that I am far from my good friends (Kevin, Charlie, Grace, Chris, Zach, Sean, Stephen, Kelly, Melissa, Josh, Jared...list goes on forever) I miss them quite a bit but there is solace in that what I do makes it so they can sleep well at night.

I could ramble all night but I have an early flight tomorrow and need to go to sleep early tonight.

If you're reading this, you're name is probably on the list above. Know that I miss you and hope to see you soon.

Sleep well,
Josh aka Zoolander

VFA-122

Quick update, I've been selected to fly the F/A-18F out of LeMoore, CA. I'm pretty excited to move back to the West coast and be closer to family/friends. Also, I'm excited to be back on the West coast for the coffee and the West coast people.

I have three flights left until I get my wings/dream. I'm really excited, hopefully I'll finish those flights this week.

Standing watch

I should update you on what’s been going on. I thought I was going E-2s for sure, turns out I got selected for strike ha ha ha, who knew? I have a new title; I’m now an SWSO (Student Weapons Systems Officer) we call ourselves “wizzos”. To me it kind of sounds like some kind of slang for wizard, like we’re in harry potter or something ha ha ha.

VT-86 (the advanced strike training squadron) is a bit faster pace than primary and intermediate. The instructors have a higher standard but also seem to be more concerned with training me rather than putting unnecessary work on my plate to try and make me wash out; although there is still some of that too ha ha ha. I’m worried I’m not going to make it, mostly because I don’t want to let anyone down. I'm doing my best. Seems like the harder I work, the worse things get with Kim ha ha ha. I'm starting to see how military relationships don't work out so well. Kim really is something special to have stayed on board this long.

Right now I’m standing watch at the VT-86 duty desk. I have the mid-watch from 1730-0530 and am a bit tired but it’s nothing compared to what the boots on the ground are doing right now over seas. I forget about that sometimes and feel bad about complaining. Not much else interesting to update, oh wait I forgot. Two weeks ago I went to California for my G tolerance testing. It was an interesting experience. If you want to see the videos you can check out my facebook profile or watch it on my dad’s youtube account “6trickraymonds”. Any way, I’m going back to my systems and emergency procedures.

I have the watch

Good night and good morning

ENS Raymond, SWSO (Student Weapons Systems Officer)

Primrary = done, Intermediate = done

The first paragraph below is a post I typed when I finished primary then got too busy to finish or post ha ha ha.


This is going to be fast because I have no time which is becoming more of a normalcy. I just graduated Primary aka phase III (mediocre applause). It felt great but was short lived. I finished on Wednesday (September 30th) and was picked up for “tailhook” (platforms on an aircraft carrier) on Monday (October 5th). Possible aircraft I can fly now are: E/A-6B, E/A-18G, E-2 and F/A-18F. I had class that Monday afternoon and have my first simulator tomorrow (October 8th).


Now for the update, I just graduated Intermediate (December 11th). It was quite the kick in the pants. I did my best (as always) and scored only slightly above average (as usual ha ha). Apparently I’m doing better than my grades or I think. I dazzled an instructor so much that after our flight debrief he went to the CO (commanding officer) where I overheard him say “Hey sir how are you…..I just flew with Ensign Raymond, sharp kid…” I was too far down the hall to hear more and I didn’t stick around to eaves drop because I felt it would be rude. But you get the gist.


It is now between me and my friend Josh for strike advanced training here at Pensacola. The other guy will move to Virginia and train on the E-2. Neither of us wants E-2, so it’ll be decided by our scores. I really don’t want to move away now that I’m comfortable, I have a roommate from back at U of I NROTC (University of Idaho Naval Reserve Officer Training), I’ll have to stop my RCIA (Rite of Christian Initiation Adults) at my church, I’ll have to see if another church will let me cantor and to top it all I’ll be about two more hours away from Kim. I haven’t looked at all the cons at one time until just now, seems kind of like a bummer ha ha ha. I knew this could happen when I signed the dotted line; I still have no regrets.

Article I in the code of conduct

“I am an American fighting in the armed forces which guard my country and our way of life, I am prepared to give my life in their defense.”

I’m ok with moving to Virginia ha ha.

Lastly, again I’m sorry I fall behind these posts. If you’re reading this you’re probably a good friend; considering how often I think about home and my friends/family there, I’m probably thinking about you, I miss you and I hope I see you soon.

Until then: good morning, good afternoon and good evening
~Josh

Late late

First I’m sorry I have neglected updating my blog. Considering how dry it’s been the last few months I’m almost certainly writing to myself ha ha, oh well. API (phase II) was quite the experience. I’ve never studied so hard or consistently scored as high on exams. However I still scored just slightly above average which by the end was more comical than frustrating. Now I’m in Primary (phase III), we rotate between being in the classroom, practicing in the simulators and flying the aircraft. So far it’s less work than API but I still don’t have time for much else which is murder on my beach time =).

My non-military life is good too. I keep putting effort towards my civilian friends both because they are amazing people and because I need to balance my life. What do I mean by balance? As much as I love my job and my military friends, too much of something I enjoy is still too much. I can’t get used to speaking aviation. What do I mean? “I was feet wet with joker fuel near pickens gate and my oil PX light came on. But I just knocked it off, hit base key for final and was fine. My IP was impressed.” Looks like English but might as well be French. Radio calls are worse.

Also my special lady friend Kim has visited me twice since my last post. Thankfully I was in-between phases both visits and was able to spend a lot of good time with her. She took a job in Jacksonville (about a 5 ½ hour drive) and we’re both pretty excited for her to be so close. And the last interesting news is my church band/choir director asked me to cantor for mass last Sunday, so I did. I had a great time; hopefully everyone didn’t get tortured too much at my expense. Poor Kim had to sit through it ha ha, she’s a good sport.

There are new things to tell everyday and too much now for me to go back and explain them all. So I’ll try to keep my updating more frequent.

Phase I complete

I have now completed the first phase of flight school (light golf clap). It is considered not a big deal to complete this but I'm sure happy about it. Mostly because I'm tired of driving two hours one direction for a one and a half hour flight that is almost never on schedule. Either way I now have 24.4 hours of flight time in a Cessna 172/U.

The final for the phase was a 1.7 hour cross country flight from Bay Minette AL to Waynesboro MS to Wilcox AL then back to Bay Minette. It took me two hours ha ha. Curious why?

I flew to my third airport (Wilcox) and was departing to my final destination (Bay Minette) when I realized the big river that runs to the bay was not on my left like it was supposed to be. Rather, I was right over it! I pulled out my map, triangulated my position and sure enough I was about 20 miles North East of my intended position, but I had just taken off and was a mile from what I thought was Wilcox. Which obviously led me to my next thought. "Where in the name of God did I just land and take off from?" Turns out I landed at Jackson AL. Basically what happened was I misunderstood some tips I got from the instructors. There are big smoke stacks very visible at Jackson AL. They said "find the stacks if you get lost." Because I had flown to the stacks before and knew there was a runway there, I thought they meant "fly to the stacks if you get lost." So once I saw the stacks I stopped navigating and flew to them.

That's about it, there's a little military gouge for ya'll below.


It just dawned on me some of you might not be military inclined. In fact I'm guessing even if you are you don't what how flight school is organized so I'll put it real down and dirty. If I refer to it in later posts you can refer back to this one.

Ok down and dirty, there are 5 "phases." Pilots and NFOs (Naval Flight Officers) are trained exactly the same for the first 3 phases (IFS, API, Primary). Each phase is a different command which means I get a new set of superiors and possibly a new base.

1.)IFS (Introductory Flight Screening) - approx one month
2.)API (Aviation Pre-flight Indoctrination) - approx 1.5 months
3.)Primary - approx 4 months
4.)Advanced - approx 6 months
5.)FRS (Fleet Replacement Squadron) - approx 2 months

1.)Civilian contracted flight school. Class room work, then flying. Only phase off base with civilian instructors.
2.)All class work.
3.)Class work and flying alternating until all basic aspects taught. After this phase narrowing of selecting begins. You go to advanced for either information/communications support, maritime (patrol aircraft), jets (air combat and strike).
4.)Class work and flying alternating until all advanced aspects taught. Get your wings after this phase. Go to SERE school(Survival Evasion Resistance Escape) after this phase.
5.)Flying until you are ready to replace an aviator in the fleet. Are assigned duty station after this phase.