The night before UPT starts, report no later than 09 Sep 02,                              

A lot has happened since leaving OTS.   1^st of all, graduation went fine with little or no complications.  We had two F-15’s fly over as we threw our hats up into the air.  This was a significant improvement as our upper-class had one C-130.  Anyway, after taking the oath of office, I am now a brand new 2LT in the USAF.  I immediately drove back to Dallas and got married one week later.  A short honeymoon to Cancun, Mexico (Do not drink the water) and then off to UPT, which is where I arrived earlier this evening.

            Obviously, I can’t describe how I am feeling.  One thing is for sure, I am very, very excited!  I am sad to have left my brand new wife in Lubbock (she is finishing her degree and will join me here at Laughlin in December).  I was mildly surprised as I drove into Del Rio today.  It really isn’t that bad down here.   Truly I expected a dumpy little town with tweets flying around (for some people here, this place may just fit the bill), but I actually thought the place seemed okay.  The base is definitely a training base, as it has a lot of base housing and not a whole heck of a lot else.  I am getting ahead of myself yet again….

            U-haul.  6 x 12.  Attached to a Dodge Ram 1500.  Let me tell you something, I must be the absolute greatest mover in the world (I know, I know, my life’s ambition). I have packed every single thing that I own into this 6 x 12 trailer.  There is not one inch of space left.  In fact, I am scared to open the door as about 5000 pounds worth of possessions might lunge out at me and crush me.  It is amazing.  I think I exceeded the maximum weight limit for this trailer by at least 2000 pounds.  I stopped to weigh my truck and trailer in San Angelo on the way down…..10,680 lbs.   Hell yeah!  The only thing that sucked was that I couldn’t go more than about 65 mph because the trailer would start to take on a life of its own and pull the truck with it.  Anyway, I made it down here and the trailer is safely parked outside of billeting.  Meanwhile, my truck is really pissed at me.  Oh well, that’s what a truck is for.

            I arrived about 3pm (having left Lubbock this morning at about 9am).  I drove pretty much straight to the base, and checked into Billeting (after having pulled the truck and trailer into a one entrance set of dorms.  What fun I had backing that thing out).  I got my room, which I share a bathroom with another guy that is going to start UPT with me.  And then I proceeded to unhook the trailer so that my trucks bumper would not be stuck to the ground.  After removing the trailer, I went to Luby’s (ah yes, all the modern comforts of home) for dinner.  Just a word about Del Rio, do not be surprised when everyone except for you speaks Spanish.  Note to self, learn Spanish.  I really need to do that.  Mui.  Anyway, I went to get dinner and had a nice quiet dinner and read the paper.  (Cowboys play the first game for the brand new Texans).  When I returned from dinner, having also called the wife and told her that this place isn’t too bad and I think we’ll be happy here, I went out to my truck to grab some stuff and ran into a few guys that are starting UPT with me.  They seem like nice enough guys, both ROTC grads.  Well, we discussed UPT and some other things for about 30 minutes, it was fun.  Then I drove around and looked at all the tweets. There are a million of’em out here.  It’s exciting.  I wish we were flying tomorrow.  I imagine that will not be the last time I think that thought.  I believe we are scheduled to get to the flight-line end of October.  I might burst before then.  Hehehe.

            So, now I am sitting in my Billeting room, writing in a journal that I have been neglecting.  The funny thing is, that when I was looking online for journals of this kind, I always got pissed because they didn’t write very often.   Well, live and learn, now I know why.  You get BUSY trying to be a pilot.  I imagine it only gets worse.  But seriously, I think about writing all the time and what I’d like to say, but I have been so busy that by the time I have a few moments to write, I just want to sit around, and do nothing, or spend time with the wife or family.  So bear with me, I just got FrontPage for my laptop, so I should post all of the stuff that I wrote at OTS.  If I really start to fall down on updating the site (like months), send me an email and ask me what’s going on, maybe that will help? 

            Tomorrow, I report for UPT officially, and then, I think, I spend the rest of the week in-processing, so maybe I will have time to write a little more.  Class actually starts a week from tomorrow.  So, strap in, here I go.