A Day At Work- I got lucky on my reporting date. My orders stated that I was to report on September 6th, a Sunday. Well, if you know the Air Force, you don't do any reporting during the weekends or holidays. Monday just so happened to be a holiday. Tuesday was a different matter. I had no idea where or what to do, but I knew I needed to be somewhere. I had found out my squadron and building from some Airman that were at church, so I knew where a building was and that was it. At 5:30 am I got up and dressed in my ABU's on a quest to find where I was supposed to be. I headed out the door at 6:00 am and arrived at the building a knew about around 6:20 am. The building was closed up with no way to get in. I talked to some airman who were doing some PT to find out when the building would open. An hour later I was back and managed to gain access to the building. Where to now? I had no idea. Luckily someone there did and told me where I needed to be.
I met two 1st Lts that were very helpful with information and what I needed to do. They flagged down a Captain who escorted me around to where I needed to be. If they is one thing I can say about the Air Force so far, it is that they have always made sure I have been taken care of or armed with the knowledge I need to succeed.
Here is the run down:
I was permitted 8 days of leave to "find a house," which started on Wednesday.
I am part of the 9th Squadron here at Shaw and I will work in the NOSC (Network Operations & Security Center) as a Crew Chief. I get to work with a really big screen that looks like something you would see on the movies. Actually it seems like it will be really boring except for all the troubleshooting we have to do. The NOSC is at the staff level which is just under the base level (or if the base is the first level, the staff would be the at the 2nd). What that means is I am getting pretty good experience, but I don't have any airman under me.
We deal with operations directly in the Middle East so there is no "off at 5 see ya in the morning." Instead, we all work in shifts- morning, afternoon, night. We are just about to start 12 hour shifts in a few weeks. The way it will work is 3 days on 2 days off. Actually, everyone is pretty excited about it, its like having 2 weekends in 1 week.
As for deployments I found out that we don't fall into the regular batches set for deployments. Because we are communication we need to deploy a lot. One 1 Lt I met said he has deployed 4 times in about 3 or so years. The deployments last from 30 to 45 days. I know, kind of weird, but that's how I like it.
Spiritual: I have felt the hand of the Lord in my life since we made the decision to join the military. My first pick for a job in the AF was Intel. Once a year I talked to an Intel Officer; 1st year, said they deployed for 4 months every other year. 2nd year said 6 months every other year, 3rd year, 9 months out of the year, scheduled to go back next year. The Lord has been very aware of our desires as a family and our concerns. I felt His hand when I was told that I would be in communications. I feel His presence here in Sumter, SC as we learn about my duties and obligations. I know that Tamy & I will continue to be guided by His hand and feel His presence around us as we continue to walk by faith, with one footstep always in the darkness.
Finding a Van- Our first order of business was to find a van suitable for our growing family. I had already done hours upon hours of research on vans in Moscow. Our aim was to find one around $5,000. Only problem was, we had no idea where to look. Craig's list is where we found four vans: 3 Siennas and 1 Honda. After making the phone calls the only place open that evening was the dealer with the Honda. We took it for a test drive and liked what we experienced. It met all of Tamy's expectations and the dealer was a nice guy. He told us we could have it for $6,700 after all taxes and fees. All the other vans save the 98' started at $7,000. The next day we went back to claim our 'Odyssey.' That is the fastest I have ever bought a car. Here it is Mama Bear driving her new pride n' joy!
House Hunting- Once we had our van we ditched the rental saving 100's of dollars. Now to find a house. We used a service called AHRN, it is a service military families use for finding a house. During ASBC I spent hours looking at houses and made a favorites list. You may not know this, but in the military you are giving what is called a BAH. BAH basically means it is the money giving to you for a house payment rent/buy. It is based off your rank and dependents. I scoured the land for houses below and above our BAH. We knocked it down to about 20 choices. Here are some photos of what we looked at.
The Lake House- We turned down a house with a pool overlooking a lake. The house was actually kind of crumy and the lake was small and dirty, but still, if we had wanted it could have been ours!
The one with me all the way at the end had me dreaming. What should be a dining room would have worked beautifully as the entertainment room!
This room is a little too small.
Stay tuned for scenes of our next episode: Our House!
Believe it or not, I made it from Columbia to Shaw AFB - about an hour drive- all by myself without my trusty navigator- a.k.a. Tamy). I found my lodging in no time. I thought I had it good at Maxwell until I opened the door to my new room. This one was twice as big with an LCD TV! Below is a picture of the building, my room was on the top- which sucks when you have to carry $130.00 worth of groceries plus your luggage. As for the weather, it was pretty much the same as Maxwell. 
After hours of lecturing and a nice hot MRE, it is time to catch some shut eye.
Ahh, good memories
10 minute break- nap time!
Ouch! How do you treat that!
During this exercise you have a 3 person team. 2 medics accompanied by 1 security force (SF). There were 3 wounded individuals that each team had 15 minutes to treat. The job of the SF is to protect the medics & wounded from natives and terrorists. It kind of sucks for the SF because they have a 360 perimeter to watch over. Meanwhile the medics have a few minutes to stop the bleeding, patch em up, and haul 'em back to a hospital/safety, with whatever supplies they have left. By the 3rd wounded, you really have to be creative in treating them because you are short on supplies.
Keep up the good work only 1 left to go!