As I've mentioned in past posts, the guys are in that part of the year where they actually leave for short periods of time. In April, went TDY to Gwangju for 2 weeks for a joint training exercise called "Max Thunder" with the ROK Air Forces. Next week, he'll be flying to Alaska for 6 weeks of war games with the rest of the Pacific Air Forces. He's been to Red Flag Alaska (the exercise they hold there) multiple times with the Samurai, so he knows what to expect and is looking forward to revisiting some favorite restaurants while he's there.
When he's here at Osan, his work life is a little different than it has been in past years. James is currently working as the chief of Wing Training for the Operations Support Squadron on base. While this "attached" job takes him out of the fighter squadron chain of command for a while, it's a good resume builder and gives him some experience working with other parts of the force. Basically he is in charge of making sure everyone in the Ops Group gets the training they need. From my perspective it sounds like most of what he does involves reading and writing emails... But I'm sure there's a lot more to it than that. ;^)
Normally, being attached means he wouldn't get to fly nearly as much as he used to since he has to work at a desk in his OSS office a lot. BUT, they announced about a month ago that James can now start his Instructor Pilot Upgrade. This is a big deal. When he passes, he'll essentially be promoted through the ranks to a more experienced pilot with the authority to train new pilots and evaluate others during their flight lead upgrades. While this is an exciting and long-expected distinction, it's a very busy and stressful season. He has to completely change the way he thinks about flying now. Instead of only knowing how he can be the best tactical fighter pilot he can be, he has to understand every possible way one can execute a mission and figure out how to teach each individual pilot how to achieve his or her greatest potential. He is being held to a very high standard of excellence now, because he will be teaching young airmen and if he gives them incorrect information it could have dire consequences. He says his biggest challenge is condensing his briefs. There is so much that he wants to communicate, but he just doesn't have time. So he's having to return to basics and figure out what a new wingman would need to know, instead of crafting advanced missions, which is what he had been doing for a long time as a flight lead.
I'm proud of him and know that he will do great once he gets the hang of briefing as an IP. He's a natural teacher and really knows his stuff. :) Apparently, leadership thought he was doing a great job as a flight lead over the past several months because they awarded him the Flight Lead of the Quarter - first at the squadron level, and then at the group level! (Sort of like winning regionals and then state.) I'm not sure if he'd shared that fact with family so I wanted to brag on him a bit.
Since he's so busy with work, he doesn't have time for much else. His writing and other creative projects have mostly been put on hold. Although, he does still design patches for the squadron. They made and wore a patch he designed for Max Tunder, and will probably do the same for Red Flag. It's cool seeing his handy work on everyone's arms whenever I'm out at the squadron.
Due to Kaden's sleep schedule, we've had to stop attending the couple's Bible study off base. But James is still actively involved in a pilot's study on Saturday morning and has regular accountability meetings with Caleb. He takes time to read his Bible every morning before work and is generally growing and doing an awesome job as a dad and husband. We love him and will miss him a lot when we're separated in June. But I'm excited for the male bonding opportunities he'll have up there. He'll also have more time to devote to his upgrade since he won't have to divide his time between work and family. Hopefully he'll get certified before he returns home in July so life will be slightly less hectic then. But we'll see how things go.
If you're thinking of it and would like to lift him up in your prayers as he's going through this upgrade that would be much appreciated! He can use all the support he can get as he tries to manage his time and figure out how to accomplish his goals in a short amount of time.
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