42. Final Planning

Written: May 23 - 24, 2003

Friday, May 23rd
Today was a Battalion maintenance day. We spent the day hanging out in shorts working on the aircraft. I helped by washing my aircraft and then I gave a class to the pilots on Falcon View and our flight planning computers.

I found that I will be leading a Long Range Surveillance (LRS) Team extraction on the morning of May 26th. CPT Cushwa will be my other pilot and following us will be Fred Sullo and CPT Hester.

The LRS team was inserted many days ago. Their mission is to remain hidden and report information back to their headquarters. They are operating somewhere to the east in the vicinity of the Iranian border. One of their teams came into contact on May 14th and had to have an emergency extraction—our crews flew for that one.

This pickup, unlike the one on May 14th, is a scheduled pick up and therefore gives us much more time to plan and brief.

Finished up some of the mission planning then took a Battalion photo in front of the hangar.

Finished the night off playing “Desert Storm” with Fred, CPT Hester, Dave Woodward and I. Had a fun time.

Saturday, May 24th
Battalion day off! Spent the day relaxing, playing X-box (Desert Storm) and hanging out with everyone. It was a well deserved and long overdue day off (118 days without having an official day off). I think it boosted moral, but would be much better to have more days off.

Did some final planning for the LRS extraction.

Watched “Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.”

Had a hard time falling asleep-thinking through all the elements of the extraction...just keep rolling over the planning in my head. I don't want to miss anything. Rolled around for a few hours before finally falling asleep...