Jordan has a favorite motto, that in life, there are rock stars and there are groupies. And on this day in history, September 14, 2013, Jordan is officially a rock star, and I couldn't be more honored to be his groupie! Jordan has just completed his very last flight in advanced helicopter training, and therefore has completed flight school for the United States Marine Corps!!!! Can you believe it?!? I don't think I could be more proud! Wooooohoooooooooo! A year ago this time, Jordan was in the final stages of completing the primary phase of flight school and selecting his flight platform. Well it just happens to be that time of year again, selection time. Since Jordan has just completed his very last flight in flight school, EVER! He will be finding out what helicopter he will be flying for the Marine Corps in about a week's time, and will be earning his "Wings of Gold" on September 27th, 2013! We can hardly believe it's all almost over! Wow, it's hard to comprehend how much Jordan has accomplished, learned, and grown in such a short amount of time. And while it all has seemed to have gone by so fast, when I look back and think about all of the different past phases he has successfully progressed through, I am reminded about how scary each stage of training was and how exciting every accomplishment was...
Summer 2006/2008: This is truly where it all began. Jordan spent 2, 6 week sessions at Officer Candidate School in Quantico. After successfully completing two excruciatingly long summers, where Jordan lost a combined weight of one normal human (I remember at Jordan's graduation, the commanding officer of the school saying, "Jenny Craig has nothing on the Marine Corps"), he was now eligible to be commissioned as an officer in the United States Marine Corps upon completion of his Bachelor's degree. I still remember picking Jordan up at the airport after his first summer... he walked right up to me and I didn't even recognize, he was SO SKINNY! While Jordan probably has nightmarish memories of these summers, my female recollections are contained in a shoebox, filled to the brim with old fashioned love letters, that to this day, are still in a sacred spot in my closet. Although I have to say, it cracks me up when I read through them, as many of Jordan's letters were littered with long stray lines and marks, as he would fall asleep in class, the pen slipping off the page mid-word. This was the result of him getting a routine 2 restless hours of sleep each night for the duration of those 6 weeks! However, even those stray pen lines tell the story of his experience at OCS.
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| First week of Officer Candidate School, 2006. Not exactly "summer camp"! |
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| Goofing around in the barracks. Summer 2006, India Company, 3rd Platoon |
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Successful Completion of Juniors at OCS, July 2006
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| And he was crazy enough to go back for more...Officer Candidate School, Seniors, Summer 2008 |
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Officer Candidate School Graduation, Summer 2008. Jordan is now officially eligible to be commissioned a 2nd Lt. in the USMC upon completion of his degree.
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| The first of many proud moments to come! |
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June 2009: Jordan graduates from CSULB with his Bachelor's in Geopolitics. Let the commissioning process begin! Or so we thought...paperwork issues, and flight physical complications, caused a year of delays and frustration. However, it allowed us to spend our first year of marriage in California, which we will forever treasure!
July 2010: Jordan is officially commissioned as a 2nd Lt in the United States Marine Corps
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| Jordan's dad commissioned Jordan, such a special moment! |
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| Another proud moment! |
March 2011: We set off on our very first move to Virginia where Jordan would be immersed in the living hell known as The Basic School. He battled mother nature (ticks and lyme disease, snakes and spiders, heat waves and heat stroke, bears and swarming attacks of bees) while learning the "art and science" of being a Marine Officer. The physical demands and the elements these Marines were immersed in produces flashbacks, that even now 2 years since graduating from TBS, still induces waves of nauseas when certain, sounds, scents, or sights temporarily trigger his brain into thinking he is back in the thick of his training there.
I will never forget the story he told me of one of his Land-Nav exercises, where he truly questioned whether he was going to live or die! As usual the heat index was probably well over 100 degrees that day, and he was out on a routine Land-Nav exercise. If you remember, the Marines had to navigate using an archaic compass and map by trudging through the dense, thick Quantico forests, while simultaneously trying not to lose an eye to any branches or get bit by any spiders, to find a certain number of boxes hidden throughout the 10 square mile area. Well for some reason that day, the water stations in the area Jordan's specific test boxes were hidden were completely empty. At some point, Jordan became so dehydrated, that his body stopped sweating all together. Each step required more effort than he had ever exerted in his life, and after each, single step, he found himself having to rest for a full minute. Every time he took a break, and sat back against the trunk of a tree, he had to muster the strength and find the survival instinct deep within himself, to force himself to keep moving, and not give in to the complete and utter exhaustion.
On top of the already precarious water situation, Jordan realized he had forgotten his emergency whistle that day, that each Marine carries in case of emergency. At this point, Jordan truly thought there was a good chance he was going to die in those woods and only have his body discovered hours, if not days later, after a search party would scour the woods once realizing they were missing one of their numbers. He began stripping down layers of clothes, and was literally crawling at this point, abandoning any hope he ever had of completing the event altogether, with all his efforts focused solely on survival and on making it out of the woods and to the road, where the bus would find him. Like something out of a movie, not knowing if his dehydrated and disillusioned mind was playing tricks on him, he heard water. Thank God that it was truly a real stream and not a mirage, and Jordan, now stripped only to his boxers, plopped his extremely weakened body into that stream. Laying in that water managed to give Jordan enough energy and clarity of thought to crawl the rest of his way out of the woods and to the road, just in the nick of time to make the last bus making it's rounds. He must have looked quite a mess, sitting in that bus soaking wet, in only his boxers and unable to put together a sentence. Even later that evening, when he finally made it home and after drinking an entire gallon of Gatorade, he was still having trouble putting together complete sentences. Looking back now, after having survived that experience, he is actually grateful that he did not have his emergency whistle that day. Yes you read that right, despite suffering possible severe signs of heat stroke and the threat of permanent injury or death, it is a good thing he didn't have his whistle that day because he may have actually blown it. Any flight contract Marine who suffers heat stroke and is treated by a Corpsman, instantly loses his flight contract. And that to Jordan, would have been worse than death itself!
Although surviving the physical elements proved extremely dangerous and difficult, and many Marines failed out due to their inability to complete the physical side, that was only half the battle at TBS. The academic/classroom side was equally rigorous in its own way, and claimed just as many of his fellow Marines' careers, in their earliest of phases.
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Out on a FEX, one of the week long field exercises, in Quantico
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| Just another typical day at work for Jordan |
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| Graduation from The Basic School, September 2011 |
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September 2011: Jordan graduates from The Basic School, and has successfully learned and mastered the ability to be an Infantry Platoon Leader of the Marine Corps. We moved down to the Pensacola, FL area for the first time, where Jordan would officially begin Flight School. It's so funny to look back on Jordan's first stage of flight school now, IFS(Introductory Flight Screening). While at the time, the work load and studying was overwhelming, cramming 6 months of FAA material and testing into 1/6 of the time, it was only a preview of the ever increasing intense pace to come. Similarly, thinking back now to his first flights at that small, civilian private airport, in the Piper Warrior (where he flew in civilian clothes!), makes me laugh. I can still picture myself in the airport parking lot, sitting bundled up in the warmth of my car, watching on anxiously with a clenched jaw each time Jordan took off or landed. I always had that song, " I'm just sitting out here watchin' airplanes, wondering which one you might be on..." playing through my head as I nervously awaited his plane each time he circled above the airport doing his touch-and-goes! Little would I know how basic and elementary this would be compared to the take off and landing speeds, as well as the acrobatic maneuvers and emergency simulated procedures, Jordan would be doing in the T-34 in the primary phase of flight school at Corpus Christi!
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| The Piper Warrior, the civilian plane Jordan learned to fly on at IFS |
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| First Solo of Flight School, Complete! |
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| Proud Moment #??? I have lost count! |
After IFS, Jordan moved on to API (Aviation Preflight Indoctrination). If you remember from the post,
Marine Wife Lesson #3: Never Bother Unpacking , API consisted of more rigorous studying, covering material such as: aerodynamics, flight physiology, aircraft engines and systems, aviation weather, navigation, and flight rules and regulations. The flight program saw their numbers drop again as the pace and workload became ever more strenuous and difficult and weeded more and more hopeful aviators out of the system. During this time they also received extensive physical training including: water survival (who can forget the infamous Dilbert Dunker) and high altitude training. Upon completion of API, Jordan officially earned his military
onesie flight suit!
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| Jordan and I at the O-Club (Officer's Club) on "Flight Suit Friday" |
March 2012: While the majority of Jordan's peers stayed in the Pensacola area for Primary at Whiting Field, Jordan was one of the few
lucky ones to go to Corpus Christi, TX for Primary. Yes, I was not the fondest of the area, I think I have made myself very clear on that topic a few times now, but looking back, I am grateful for it. I am grateful for the experience in another state, and the culture that came with it, and for the wonderful friends we made. A good number of Jordan's friends and peers from Primary in Corpus will be in his winging class this month, so it will be a great celebration for all of these guys!
Jordan loved Primary because he was finally back up in the air flying again! Jordan was introduced to the never-ending world of EP memorization, emergency procedures for the T-34 aircraft that were hundreds and hundreds in numbers, and organized in small trusty yellow binders that came with us everywhere! However, instead
of just hitting the books, Jordan was now flying or in the simulators every single day, sometimes twice a day. His study sessions became more like intense cramming sessions the night before, as the time that the actual flying itself consumed in his life, allowed for very little time to study for the following day's brief, which is essentially a 1.5-3 hour oral exam pre-empting every flight. Somehow, the studying had become an even bigger, more intense part of his daily routine than before, although he would never have believed it possibly could get more rigorous or more time consuming than it was in IFS or API! Here is my personal, Marine/House-wife analogy: It's kind of like that darn resistance dial on the spin bike in spinning classes. Just when you feel like you are physically at your limit, that the resistance on the bike can't possibly increase even a quarter of a turn and your legs can't possibly be strong enough to pedal another stroke, the instructor shouts for you to make
two full turns of the dial! Somehow (after grunting and groaning) you manage to dig-in and rise to the new level of intensity that you are faced with! Make sense, ha ha? The contrast of our everyday worlds inside our marriage cracks me up! I'm going to avoid being redundant with further stories and details of his training at primary for those of you have followed this journey with us, but if you are interested in more information about this portion of his flight school experience, check out these past posts:
No More Butter Bars and
One More Stop...
The memories
I will most remember from primary are, first the giant grin he had plastered across his face after his first flight, although he was slightly nauseous and completely exhausted from pulling so many G's on the numerous acrobatic manuevers his instructor introduced him to on his first flight! And of course, the pure, child-on-Christmas-morning, joy and excitement he radiated as he walked in the front door after each formation flight. And of course, I will never forget the sweat drenched flight suits that he came home in everyday, 5 shades darker in color than when he left, because the antiquated T-34 birds did not, or had faulty at best, air conditioning vents in the Texas extreme heat!
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| The T-34 aircraft Jordan flew in Primary at Corpus Christ |
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| Formation flying over Corpus Christi |
January 2013: Although Jordan completed Primary and selected his Platform in October, his report date to Advanced Flight School was not until the following year. Jordan greatly enjoyed the mental break and we took advantage of the time in between to recharge and vacation! However, immediately upon checking in to his new squadron, it was time to turn up that spin bike dial a few more notches and start spinning! Again, in attempt to not be redundant, you can find more information about Jordan's advanced helicopter training in these previous posts:
Jordan, the "Baller" ,
The Art of Helicopter Flying ,
It's Called a Bro-lo, Dude , and
Floridays . Plus, I would prefer to catch you up with a few new stories from these recent months that I have yet to document!
A few weeks back, Jordan completed his instrument training and earned his instrument rating as a pilot. The culmination of this section of training is another solo flight. If you remember however, helicopters require two pilots to fly, so Jordan took along another instrument rated pilot as his co-pilot and planned out his "bro-lo" flight to Tallahassee, FL. The day of the actual flight arrives, and Jordan is approved for his route, the weather is checked and approved, and the regular proceedings of weight and balance and start-up procedures commences. Jordan and his co-pilot take off as planned, expecting a few hour flight to Tallahassee and a few hour return trip home after refueling. Well in typical Florida, the Sunshine State, fashion, a torrential storm decides to pop up on the radar out of nowhere and derail all their plans. As I mentioned previously, before the pilots are cleared for take off, the weather is checked and approved. However, Florida weather has a mind all of it's own as we have come to learn during our time here:
Thank goodness Jordan was an instrument-rated pilot, because all of his training came quickly into play. The visibility outside the aircraft was completely non-existent, and the two pilots had to rely solely on their instruments. However, this too became increasingly challenging, as the turbulence of the storm began violently tossing the small helicopter like a Ping-Pong ball in the air, making reading the dials of the instruments impossible. Adding to the already completely chaotic state of things, the training helicopters are far from state of the art, and are frankly old as dirt, and water now was streaming violently inside the cockpit of the helicopter from multiple broken seals. Jordan had to tap into all of his months and months of training and EP (emergency procedure) memorization to handle this real life situation, without an experienced instructor by his side. Jordan was the lead pilot, and it was his responsibility to get this bird safely back to the ground. After contacting the approach towers for alternate detours and routes around the store, that too failed to provide any relief, Jordan had to shoot an emergency instrument landing approach. Relying soley on the instruments and gauges, and pitch black visibility outside the windows, they had to trust their training to land them blind at the runway. They continued to drop in altititude, each time hoping to break out of the fog and gain some visibility. However, the storm, even at these low levels, did not let up. Upon approaching their final, dangerously low, landing altitude, they needed to break through the storm and see the runway, or pull up and wave off the landing. Thankfully, at the very last second, they emerged from the fog and found the runway, just in time to plant the bird safely back on to solid ground. After landing, the two pilots just sat for a few seconds, taking in a few deep breaths before one of them said anything. Jordan was the one to break the silence, saying " that was some real-life sh*t man." His co-pilot responded by saying, "I'm just glad there was water coming inside the cock-pit so I could play off pissing myself if I needed to." There is no opposing force quite like mother nature.Thankfully, the boys did land safe and sound, and have a story to tell for it. They also were able to spend the night in Tallahassee and let the storm blow over, and also, blow off some of their stress-induced steam!
Since completing his instrument solo, Jordan has moved on to formation flying, search and rescue training and night flight training, where he flies in the pitch black dark through only the aid of their green night vision goggles! Which brings us to the present. Jordan just completed his last NVG flight (night vision goggles flight) and LFF (last f'ing flight-sorry Grandma and Grandpa, it's the Marine Corps). Jordan barely made the cut off for this next graduating, winging class, and he has flown six days this week, including today, on a Saturday night. However, Jordan's very last flight of his career in flight school before he moves on to the fleet, was with the commanding officer of his squadron HT-8. Jordan's CO does not fly often. His main job description isn't really to be an IP (instructor pilot), and he hardly ever flies like I said, let alone on the weekend, let alone on a Saturday NIGHT flight. However, he requested to be Jordan's instructing pilot for his very last flight. Obviously I am "in" this world, so I realize how cool this is while some of you on the outside may not. Just take my word for it, this is such a cool experience and awesome honor. To add to the excitement of the night, Jordan's CO also requested that they fly on the Grey Ghost, instead of the regular training helos. All of the students fly on orange and white training helicopters; however, there is one helicopter that is painted matte grey for the centennial of Navy Aviation, to match the birds in the fleet. Again, in our world, this is such a cool, rare, and proud moment.
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| The TH-57 helicopter Jordan trains on |
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| Jordan and the Grey Ghost |
It was a great and exciting culmination of his flight school experience. To bring everything full circle I will leave you with one more short story. On a recent commercial flight back to Pensacola, a passenger noticed Jordan's Marine Officer backpack, and asked him if he was an Officer in the Marine Corps, to which Jordan replied yes. This young man had just signed up for Officer Candidate School, and was flying in to Pensacola for his first flight physical. This kid was in Jordan's spot 7 years ago, and it was a very surreal moment for Jordan to see and reflect back on how quickly time has somehow gone and how much he has achieved in these last 7 years. It must have been equally motivating, if not a bit overwhelming at the long timeline that lay ahead for him, for this young Marine officer candidate.
Semper Fi family and friends, until next time, when Jordan will be earning his Wings of Gold, take care!
