Look What I Did Today!!!

I had the incredible opportunity to take a flight in a C-5, the jet my husband flies! Our squadron allowed all of the spouses the opportunity to see a small part of what our loved ones do when they have to leave us behind. We had a blast! We behaved like a bunch of 13-year-old girls, laughing and being silly, but we also had very serious and awestricken moments when the reality of our husbands' work really hit us. It is something to watch these guys manage gazillions of buttons, knobs and gauges while manhandling a jet that is almost as long (and almost as wide) as the length of an entire football field and is filled with precious and expensive cargo. They carry anything from armored vehicles and helicopters to a load of porpoises trained to detect underwater mines. And, of course, their most somber duty is to return the remains of fallen soldiers to their families. It is a big job that these guys do, and they often do it for 24 hours at a time.


This was the most amazing moment of the day: watching through the cockpit window as our jet approached a KC-10 for refueling. What you see is the boom from the KC-10, which transfers the fuel into the C-5 once the connection is made. I kept thinking that I should be terrified to be 10 feet away from another jet full of fuel, but I was so enthralled and thrilled by it! I guess, too, that I just trust these guys so much because they are so well trained and focused.

Me (in hot pink, in case you don't know me well enough to pick me out) and the girls in the courier compartment (behind the cockpit).

Here we are in the cargo bay before climbing the ladder to the cockpit.