Why not Minot and other challenges....

Yesterday was what I would consider to be a "bittersweet" day in history. It was 25 years ago yesterday that the Space Shuttle Challenger exploded a mere 73 seconds afters lift off. Many students watched this tragedy in the classroom as Christa McAuliffe was to become the first teacher in space. I thought about this tragedy as I have every year, last night as I drove home I thought about how much times have changed. 25 years ago we looked at the Challenger tragedy as just that a tragedy. I also thought about the tragedy when the Discovery disintegrated on re-entry. I'm fairly sure if this were to happen today we would immediately think "terrorists" Times they are a changin'.

There is also some "sweet" to January 28,1986, its the day I was at the Military entry Processing Station enlisting in the U.S. Air Force. We were in the middle of a group physical agilities test when they got word of the Challenger, processing was stopped and we were all hearded into a room to watch the news. It was on this day I became a member of an elite brotherhood and it was the beginning of an adventure that I consider to be some of the best years of my life.

Interestingly enough I was reading some Facebook posts on the page of a friend, also an Air Force veteran. she is in Hawaii with her Active Duty husband and Minot AFB, ND came up. If you've gotten or known anyone who has gotten orders to Minot you know the phrase "Why not Minot?" As I read the comments I saw this phrase in a different way. Minot was considered a bad assignment, probably because of the cold hard winters. What I read reminded me that any assignment be it Hawaii or Minot is about the people we meet, who are there for you in the good and bad times, the memories good and bad and the attitude we have. I've heard comparisons of Greenland and Iceland and the assignments are not what you would first think.

I remember flying into Champagne IL to attend tech school for 6 months, as the plane landed I looked out and saw cornfields. one of the sayings was "shoot me don't Chanute me". I also found that some friends I'd worked at McDonalds with in high school were permanent party there. It made the time much better and created some positive memories of the stay.

While at Chanute I got orders to my first regular assignment Det. 436MAW Ft. Campbell KY. My first thought was "there are no Air Force bases in KY,. One of my instructors was kind enough to point out this was an Army Post, home of the 101st Airborne Division. He also mentioned that I would probably be going to Airborne school. Not sure what to expect I arrived and found a small Air Force unit of about 20 people in the middle of 23.000 Army personell. We were the only permanently assigned ALCE in the world. Our job was to support transient aircraft, I had a shop chief who believed in taking care of people, I got the chance to ride in many different aircraft, helicopters, drive a few tanks, fir the cannons, and on a few occasions provide ground support for Air Force One.

One thing I have learned is that you get out of the military but you NEVER really quit. So the next time you say "Why not Minot?" say it with a smile.

Bucket list my Bucket....

I'd been skiing several times in my life, enough that I had control but not so much that I needed to go to someplace major to find a challenge. Then came the X Games and the Dew Tour and like many I'd always wanted to try snowboarding, so that's what I did last night.

I met some friends at Mad River Mountain, paid my $$, got my snowboard and headed for the free beginners lesson. Snow boarding is nothing like skiing, I felt like I should have put out a tip jar to get something for providing the entertainment. Four and a half hours later I left the slopes, tired, aching, and wanting to meet the person who coined the term "bucket list" alone in a dark alley. I felt kind of ripped off because I paid for a lift ticket that I realty did not need, but when I left I was able to go down the hill, turn left, right and stop.
If you read the title for this post you may guess which part of my body hurts most :)