Life of a Marine Wife: March 2012

It's that time of year again....MOVING TIME! I am sure you all , (or should I start practicing with Y'ALL) can just feel the excitement radiating through the computer screen with the joy packed in to my every word. We can hardly believe we are already packing up AGAIN and moving to Texas, where Jordan will start Primary training, phase 3 of flight school. For some reason these past 6 months spent in Florida, have seemed to go by infinitely faster than they seemed to go by in Virginia. This time-warp may have a lot to do with the intense study schedule that has taken over my husband's life and sucked him in to its all consuming vortex, called API.

Since completing IFS, Jordan graduated to phase 2 of flight school API, Aviation Preflight Indoctrination. API is a 6 and half week school covering courses in aerodynamics, flight physiology, aircraft engines and systems, aviation weather, navigation, and flight rules and regulations. And as with IFS, these courses are covered at lightening speed, with 2 tests a week and a minimum passing score of 80 percent required. Jordan has compared API to the intensity of finals, except these finals, and the accompanying stress and long hours of cramming knowledge, have lasted weeks and weeks on end.

A typical day in the life during API, goes something like this: After an 8-10 hour day of work, Jordan comes home and heads straight to the dining room table, which has transformed into his giant oversized desk for the time-being. Our dining table is pretty large, approximately 8'x3', with 6 chairs around the table; however, it is somehow covered from end to end, corner to corner, with study materials. Jordan has laid out his maps, notes, books, and flight calculator contraptions, on top of the table in an organized chaos only he understands. He picks a seat at the table, and puts his head down and studies with locked-on intensity until midnight every night, only briefly getting up to rotate seats at the table in order to shift down to another section of materials. The only time he allows himself to come up for air from beneath the piles of books, papers and notecards, is to scarf down some dinner, also done at lightening speed and usually lasting no longer than 10 minutes. For those of you who know my husband, I am sure you are feigning shock at this last statement. Jordan, eating a meal in 10 minutes? How does the tapeworm inside his stomach survive on such minimal food consumption?!?! And to answer that question, the poor guy has lost exactly 9 lbs during these last 6 weeks. Wouldn't the rest of us love to be on this API diet?

Weekends do not allow any break from this strenuous work schedule. If and when he does allow himself to go anywhere, whether it be to the gym, or even when we went out to dinner for Valentine's day, there is not a minute that can be wasted on anything other than studying. The car rides consist of Jordan driving, and me quizzing him with his notecards. His birthday was no exception to the routine either. Thankfully Jordan's hard work paid off, and he successfully passed all the tests during API. And what could be a better belated birthday present than that? Unfortunately, many people do fail out during this initial classroom portion of API, and are therefore, redesignated to a different MOS, or job within the Marine Corps. This can be anything from infantry to public relations, depending on what the needs of the Marine Corps are at that time.

However, API is not all classroom work, there is also quite a bit of emphasis on physical training as well, most of which consists of swimming and other water training. Initially this physical training consists of practicing basic swimming in full flight gear, including their flight suits, boots and even their helmets. They are then taught to drownproof and tread water for extended periods of time with their flight gear still on. Following this initial introductory round of water training, the students will advance to more aviation-specific work, for example parachuting into the water in the case they have to eject from an aircraft, and how to disentangle themselves from the parachute once landing in the water. From there, they move on to probably the most infamous portion of water survival training, the shallow-water egress trainer and helicopter dunker.

The shallow-water egress trainer is a precursor to the helicopter dunker. This is a long, metal, submerged cage with chairs mounted on the top, outside of the water. The chairs swivel to fall inside the submerged cage and put the students upside-down, underwater. The students are taught to hold their breath while finding a reference point to orient themselves. They then swim through the narrow cage until they are able to escape. After a few successful attempts, they practice this same maneuver with blackout goggles. They are now completely unable to see their surroundings and must rely on touch alone. Once mastering this, they move on to the Helicopter dunker, also known as the Dilbert dunker. The helicopter dunker simulates a helicopter fuselage. It is dropped into the water, and tossed around and rotated to disoriented the students. The exercise is very intimidating and tests the composure and confidence of the students as they try to extricate themselves without panicking. Lastly, these exercises are also again mastered with black out goggles.

Another one of the most highly anticipated training exercise that is essential to aviation physiology is, the low-pressure chamber. The students are put in a small sealed room and the pressure is reduced to simulate an altitude of about 25,000 feet. At this altitude the lungs cannot deliver enough oxygen to the brain to keep it functioning at full capacity. So the students are directed to perform simple exercises like playing "Pensacola pat-a-cake!". Boy would I have liked to be a fly on the wall to see all those big, bad, tough marines playing "pat-a-cake" with eachother! Through this exercise the students learned to recognize some of the signals that the body sends when it suffers from a lack of oxygen, which may occur in dangerous situations such as a loss of pressurization in an aircraft at high altitudes. For those of you who are interested in seeing a bit more about this training done at API, as well as a glimpse of beautiful NAS Pensacola, here is a great 3 min video: API - Pensacola, FL

API finally culminates in what is affectionately called "Flight Suit Friday," where the guys celebrate at the Officer's Club after earning their fight suits, or onesies and pajamas as we like to tease. It is a very exciting day for everyone, and for Jordan, although he still has a long way to go and even more difficult training to come, it was finally a concrete realization of the amazing career path that he is on.

Here are few photos from Jordan's Flight Suit Friday.....