22-28 Oct - After some

reminiscing and extensive review it has come to our attention that there are about 11 or 12 Marine Corps Officers who are apart of my graduating class from college that are still on active duty flying my same aircraft. And as luck would have it 5 of the 11 were all together on the same Iraq base for a short period of time. So as you can imagine we took the opportunity to get a few pictures for posterity sake. The man in the middle and myself are from the same squadron while the other 3 pilots are from different units across the US. We have all gone different directions over the years and accomplished amazing things but as classmates it is great to get together and share are experiences as we continue to support the mission and lead Marines. Enjoy the pic and I will see ya soon.

11-21 Oct - With the arrival of the

new squadron our spirits have been lifted to a new level. The new group is eager to get started just as eager as we are to be home. As with every incoming group there are several days set aside for an acclimation period before we can get kneecap to kneecap and begin the turnover period. As soon as they are ready to go we will hand-over the keys and be out of their way as we prepare to clear the final few hurtles toward home.

2-10 Oct - The end is in sight but

now is not the time to relax. The incoming squadron that is scheduled to replace us will be arriving in the near future so needless to say we are all excited to meet our new best friends. But despite the building of excitement as our time draws near we are constantly reminding each other to keep focus and continue to make the right choices so we can avoid any accident. As "short-times" this is the time that complacency sets in and corners-are-cut as the dream of having a home cooked meal seems like only a few days away. Keep us in your thoughts as we round the last corner with only a couple more hurtles ahead of us before we cross the finish line.

1 Oct - Today I walked

outside closed my eyes and thought I was in California. The temperature was 85, not a cloud in the sky and there was a light breeze out of the West. It was hard to imagine that just 2 weeks ago I needed a dust mask to walk across the street. Despite the good weather landing in the desert is still a challenge. Above are two pictures that show one of our aircraft in the landing profile. The downwind from our aircraft, the rotor wash, always kicks-up dust and debris on our approach to landing. The more refined or smaller the sand particles the dustier the landing. As we come into land both pilots and both aircrew in the back are making calls over the inner aircraft communication system as to whether or not they can see the ground. If at least one pilot and one aircrew in the back can not see the ground the pilots "pull power" to climb out of the dust and "go around" to try a second attempt to land - likely at different slightly spot. As you can imagine some landing zones are more challenging than other, if you think this looks bad in the day try it at night using the NVG's I spoke of in an earlier post. In case you were wondering this aircraft made a safe landing and I would call this a pretty dusty zone but not the worst I have ever experienced. Have a good day.