Start of a New Journey

Here I am, I've finally arrived at Tinker AFB. It's been a long journey so far, but it is nowhere near over, especially the training portion. I'd say training is halfway complete. Looks like I'll fall in the June class and complete academics by August. I can't wait until I actually start flying.

So the journey from Tyndall to Tinker was long, but I tried to portion it out as best as I could. First I stopped in Montgomery to be with my parents one last time before moving so far away, followed by a trip to Searcy, Arkansas and finally an arrival at Oklahoma City. When I arrived in Searcy, it was still getting hit pretty hard by tornadic weather. My friend David, his Harding friends, and I ended up watching "Twister" that night. Perfect movie, eh?

I'll move into my apartment on the 21st of this month. Seems like a while away, but it'll come soon enough. Meanwhile, I'll just have to see what fun I can get into here in OKC.

Don't Get Too Excited

I'm trying to restart this blog thing, but don't get too excited because I never know when I'll get too busy and won't be able to keep up with it. You see, I've already started my Air Force career after all that waiting to hear back from my recruiter. Although there were a few changes made to my path. First, I am an Air Battle Manager, not a Navigator. So no more flight of the navigator stuff. And really, I want to share my life, not just my Air Force life so I've simplified it to Lauren's Journey. Hope you enjoy.

January '09: Started OTS at Maxwell and hated it. Wondered if I had gotten into the right thing for me. Their ideas of good leadership are a little different from my own. Being pushy and aggressive and harsh was their idea. My style is more of a lead by example type and be a jerk only when necessary.

April '09: Graduated OTS with two beautiful shiny golden bars on my shoulders. Finally, I'm a 2nd Lieutenant! Wait a minute. Oh crap, I'm a 2nd Lieutenant! There are pros and cons to being a butterbar. Yes, I am an officer and that is a great world to be in, but I am also at the bottom of the officer food chain. Get it?

May '09: Start Air Battle Manager School. This material was tough. I often wondered if I'd get though it again, but with hard work and perseverence I graduated near the top of my class.

February '10: ABM graduation.

March '10: Survival School in Spokane, WA. Spokane was a beautiful place, but survival tarnished the loveliness of it. Sorry, can't speak too much about this.

And finally, I sit here in Seattle, WA on April 21, 2010 enjoying a well-deserved break especially after what I've been through in the past year. I have water survival training starting tomorrow in Spokane which will only last 2 days.

Seattle has been amazing. I think I'll miss this city like I miss New York City. It's so beautiful here: Puget Sound and the great waterfront piers, the rugged Pike Place market and its ruffians that hang around it, the millions of Starbucks that quite literally corner all parts of the city, and the amazing feel of a large city that makes me feel at home for some strange reason.

I honestly think I might cry when I leave here.

My Recent Days

(Published by request of Mom)

I don't have an Air Force update yet. I tried to get ahold of my recruiter yesterday but he was busy. I'm just waiting to hear back from him on scheduling my flight physical.

This past week was busy for me. I house/pet-sat for the Hegertys, worked my two jobs, and tried to fit in yoga, running, and weight-lifting in between. I love the three dogs the Hegertys have, but they are really hard work to take care of! Today was my last day over there, and now I am house/pet-sitting for Sheila and Paul while they are in San Antonio. Their yorkie, Ladybug, is really easy to take care of though.

I've been building up a lot of strength lately. Since I heard of my acceptance into the Air Force, I jumped really hard back into my exercise routine. Since starting Yoga 2-3 weeks ago, my flexibility has improved significantly. I impressed myself so much with my stretching after running yesterday that I called up my Yoga partner, Sarah, and raved about it. I really just wanted to keep us pumped up about it so that we will be encouraged to continue it. I think it has helped me run better too. Recently, I've been running anywhere from 1.5 to 2.5 miles. You know, it's amazing how being in good shape makes you feel like you can do anything.

Doing push-ups has been a very important part of my routine too. I'm worried I'll probably have to do a ton of them at OTS so I'm preparing myself.

Other than those things, I'm just anticipating Kara, Jack, and Riley's homecoming. I miss them a lot.

Swearing In

I should have put this post up a few days ago.

Last Friday I officially became part of the Air Force. I dep'd in, as they call it. I'm still not sure why. That means that I got to go to MEPS(Military Entrance Processing Station) at 5am and sit there for four hours until they decided to see me, and then they proceeded to send me running around in circles to different parts of the buildings to complete things I thought I had already taken care of. Oh well, it's the military. No wonder someone coined the phrase, "Hurry up and wait."

Around noonish I finally swore in with 6 other folks. It was very interesting. The First Lieutenant that swore us in told us that abandonment of the US military is seen as treason and since we are at war, it is punishable by death. I have no problem with that. I'm excited to go in, and I don't plan on missing out on anything.

Crossing Into the Blue

I decided to name this blogspot "Flight of the Navigator" because it's going to be the record of my life since I first found out that I received a commission in the Air Force.

Well, just to get us started, my recruiter called me this past Friday to tell me that the Air Force accepted me for a navigator position. That means I am a flyer. Not the pilot, but I'm still going to get to wear the cool flight suits and be up in the air. Needless to say, I am very pumped to accept this position and make my way to OTS (Officer Training School) here at Maxwell. Hopefully I'll get to continue this blog and keep you guys up to date on everything I am doing from now on.

For this current week, I have to get another physical done at MEPS and get sworn in.

Exciting!