23 posts tagged “navy”
Don't worry, it has nothing to do with fish (even if Troy McClure might prefer otherwise). I was spending some quality time browsing YouTube for videos of the plane my husband will be flying, and I felt the need to share them with (or inflict them upon, depending upon your level of fascination with airplanes) my dear readers.
This first one is of a trap, or carrier landing. Man, the COD is a big hoss.
This one is a montage of video and photos of the COD set to music. It's certainly no "Pump It," but there are some fairly cool shots.
What question do you hate being asked?
It's really a set of two questions that go together: "How long are you going to be here, and where are you going next?"
The answer to each is a great big "I don't know!" While we might have our guesses and probablies and maybes, the all-consuming Needs of the Navy are no constant thing to be depended upon and planned around far in advance. I am slowly--and not always gracefully--getting used to dealing with the big ("Where will we be living after this assignment?") and little ("Will we find out about tomorrow's schedule at five o'clock tonight, or will it be delayed?") uncertainties, but I know it can seem bizarre and unstable to some of my civilian friends and family.
For instance, we just bought our first house. We did so not knowing whether M will be stationed in the area for four years, as will be the case if he gets assigned to an East Coast squadron for his first sea tour, or if we'll be sent to California or Japan after just a year here. Here's the kicker: we will not find out whether we're staying or going until just before we would have to leave--we'll have a few weeks' notice if we're lucky. Thus, while we are hoping to stay put, we still have to plan as if we will be packing up and moving out next summer.
A dear friend of mine from high school was understandably boggled as to why we would choose to buy a place when we have maybe a fifty-fifty shot of living there longer than a year. Why not just rent, sign the year lease, and wait and see about buying once we knew where we'd be for the next three years? There are a lot of reasons we wanted to buy instead of continuing to rent, many of those likely familiar anyone looking to become a homeowner, but even discounting those, our timing made sense to us. Waiting to buy would certainly eliminate one worry, but it would also guarantee that we'd have to move in a year even if we stayed on this coast. I'd rather take the chance that we might be able to avoid a move for four whole years. The mere possibility that we could have that kind of geographical stability after moving three times in our first year and a half of marriage is extremely appealing.
Also, we have always planned to use our house as a rental property when the Navy inevitably sends us to another duty station. If we waited until we had a guaranteed stable location for multiple years, we'd be locking ourselves out of homeownership for the next twenty years. Even if we have to move earlier than we'd prefer, it doesn't upset our plans, it only moves up the timetable a bit. Sure, there are complications that wouldn't exist if we had more control over where we lived and for how long, but I'm stoked about how we're handling them. We're thrilled to be living in a home that belongs to us; it feels great to know we have that degree of control as well as the additional responsibilities. All we have to do while we spend this year enjoying our awesome house is do some research and make sure we're as prepared to look for tenants in one year as we would be in four.
Getting back to the QotD, while I may get tired of hearing questions about where we're going and how long we're going to be there, it's only because I wish I could give my family and friends a more satisfying answer. It must be frustrating to hear me say, "I don't know, and I don't know when I will know, either," like a broken record. I'm not actually offended by the questions, because believe me, I have the same ones for the Navy!
The Navy ain't talking, though, so I guess we'll all wait and see together. Semper Gumby, right?
A vital step in the process of getting settled in the new house has been completed: we have high-speed Internet access. Compared to the hoops of fire we had to jump through to accomplish this back in Texas, getting connected here was a breeze. Score one for Cox; we'll see how the rest of their service stacks up.
Having said access allows me to do exciting things like share the news of what M will be flying as his fleet aircraft. We found out this morning that he will be a C-2A Greyhound pilot. The Greyhound is the COD, which stands for Carrier Onboard Delivery, meaning that he will be flying cargo and people and what-have-you to aircraft carriers. I plan to tell new acquaintances that my husband is a Greyhound driver and watch them try to puzzle out what on earth a bus has to do with Naval Aviation.
How many houses have you lived in? How is where you live now different from where you grew up?
If we're not counting college residence halls, the number currently stands at four. I'm about to make it five when M and I move into our very first real, owned-by-us house towards the end of this month. Closing is in about two and a half weeks, and we have the movers scheduled to deliver all our household goods, which have been in storage since we fled Texas at the end of April, the next day. This is by far the most attenuated move we've yet experienced, and we are very much looking forward to having a place to call our own again--and this time, it really will be our own!
We'll be living in a different part of the same state in which M and I were raised, so it's a lot closer than Texas was in both feel and distance to where I grew up. The flora and fauna feel right, and the neighborhoods had an instantly familiar vibe. I'm really looking forward to getting established in our new place, and I do hope that the Navy sees fit to keep us on the East Coast for M's first sea tour. If not, we could find ourselves headed to California or Japan after this first year. We'd deal, but it would be positively blissful if we could take a break from PCSing until this decade is out.
On a side note, I'm itching to whip up some change-of-address cards, but I'm superstitious enough to hold off until after closing when all the paperwork is signed and the keys are in my hand. Of course, then I'll be too busy getting the house put into some semblance of livable order to do it, but that's neither here nor there.
As of 11 April 2008, M is designated as a Naval Aviator and entitled to wear Wings of Gold. Wrapped up in that pin are years of hard work and dedication: long evenings of studying, simulator events hours before dawn, flights lasting late into the night, rough flights, instructors both excellent and aggravating, and flights that made him remember why he wanted to get into the flying business in the first place.
Flight school was an adventure, but we're excited to see what new, different frustrations and rewards life in the FRS and the fleet squadron thereafter will bring us. I bet it won't be dull, even if the gray fleet aircraft he'll be strapping into are rather drab compared to the bright, cheery orange-and-white trainers. I'll miss the Killer Clown Jet and the mighty Pegasus...
Are you planning on doing any spring cleaning this year? If so, please share a cleaning tip you swear by.
Cleaning up is for sissies, so we're just going to move. I mean, we've lived here for almost three months, and that is just way too long to be rooted to one spot. Finally having the area figured out and the house semi-organized is such a drag.
If you are especially perceptive, you may have sensed the barest tinge of sarcasm above. As much of a PITA as a PCS move is, though, we are looking forward to heading back East sometime in the next month or so. Could be as soon as a few weeks, but the Navy will take its sweet time in telling us, as ever. I just got back home from a lovely and productive trip out to where we'll be stationed to start getting the lay of the land and do some house-hunting. I couldn't have done it without my mom, who offered her experience and input throughout what is, to me, the highly mysterious process of looking at houses and neighborhoods. She also served as moral support when we thought we were going to die of the real estate agent's terrifying driving practices. Oh, and she was witness to the car that pulled up next to us with a dead deer head, antlers and all, in the passenger seat. Redneck Godfather for the win.
Anyway, I'm back home now, with all my luggage. That wasn't a sure thing right at first, since my suitcase was apparently put on a different flight than the one I was on. M and I stuck (grumpily) around the the airport until the flight with my suitcase arrived, but that was way better than filing a claim and hoping it would get delivered as promised. If I'd known we'd end up waiting around for the later flight anyway, I would have just taken that one to begin with and not run myself ragged trying to make the tighter connection in Houston. IAH may be the most obnoxious airport I've ever had the displeasure to try to navigate. Oh well.
Almost a year ago, I answered a Vox Question of the Day about playing matchmaker. As it happens, an update is in order: the happy couple recently got engaged! Who would have thought that introducing M's college roommate to my college roommate would have such far-reaching and long-lasting implications? Like I said before, these two deserve all the credit for nurturing this relationship through the years and across the miles. That isn't about to stop M and me from feeling rather smug about the whole thing, however.
They were wonderful individuals almost four years ago at the Class of 2005's Ring Dance, and now they are getting ready to embark on their life together. We can't wait 'til fall of 2009 (or so--we know all about the monkey wrenches the military can throw into little details like wedding dates). All the best to the future Mr. and Mrs. R!
Video: Show us a video that makes you want to dance.
How far from your last home do you live? Why did you move and are you glad you did?
Submitted by Matthew 25.
The answer to this one is going to change when the Navy moves us in a few days, so I'll get it in now while the number is more impressive. Right after getting married, I moved 1,419 miles (as the crow flies) from my folks' home to the South Texas town where M was doing one of the phases of flight school. As of early next week, we'll be living in another South Texas town--about fifty miles from where we are now--while M does another phase of flight school. Like I said in response to a similar QotD a while back, we do (and will) live where we live because that's where the Navy told us to live.
As for whether I am glad I moved, of course I am. I can't imagine choosing to be separated when we know we're going to have to deal with that quite often enough over the years; after a good half-decade of long-distance dating, the notion of doing the geobachelor thing as newlyweds was singularly unappealing. This particular part of Texas may not have much to recommend it, but it has situated us such that we've been able to spend time with my mom's side of the family, an opportunity I've cherished.
...and yes, I'm absolutely okay with that! Naval Aviation will make you say some pretty strange things sometimes, and being able to say -- with a straight face, mind -- that I was absolutely ecstatic to find out today that my darling husband is a hooker is definitely one of them.
Okay, further explanation is probably in order: M has been away since late last week on the carrier qualification (CQ) detachment, and I'd been waiting on the edge of my seat ever since for the word that he completed the necessary traps (landings aboard the aircraft carrier) to earn the right to call himself a tailhooker. The tailhook, of course, is what the planes landing on the carrier use to catch a wire to decelerate themselves. The video below shows an earlier CQ det, and it might give you an idea of the sort of thing my husband's been up to recently.
I don't think I could be any more proud of M right now. He's worked hard for this accomplishment and I know he'll be fantastic in whatever comes down the pipeline next. Right now, though, I just can't wait for him to get home so we can celebrate!
