Combat Dining In 2017

Combat Dining In is often a once-in-a-career event. With budget constraints, low manning, high mission tempo, and overall stress that we feel in the military, it takes a lot to plan an event like this.

Luckily, we had a group of stellar NCOs who knew the importance of high morale. So they put together a Dining In with obstacle courses, great food, cheap beer, and water fights every few minutes!

Because there were water balloons flying, squirt guns bursting, and buckets dumping, there was no way I'd have my phone out of it's plastic bag more than a few seconds. But we were able to capture some fun times before and after!

My Senior NCOs (senior Enlisted) loved dumping water on their Flight Commander (me).

The Wing Command Chief, doing the course before the grog

The Airfield Operations Flight

The 436 Operations Support Squadron in Dover DE after a great water fight!

Women in Defense Conference

A coworker of mine and I had the opportunity to attend a Women in Defense Conference in Washington, D.C. in September. We heard from a range of speakers, many former military and now successful civilians. Both of us were able to ask a key female leader a question...I spoke with General Lori Robinson, the first female COCOM commnader (she leads NORAD and USNORTHCOM), and my coworker was able to speak with the Honorable Heather Wilson, the Secretary of the Air Force! 

Both were terrifying, we were shaking from nerves after. So after the conference, we went to Georgetown Cupcakes and stuffed our faces :) 

Speaking with General Robinson

Secretary Wilson speaking to the crowd

My coworker talking with Secretary Wilson

We loved our lunch dessert

Georgetown Cupcakes!

Orange Spinning Thing...Fixed!

You know that orange spinning tower plate you see at airports? Those are called DASRs, or Digital Auxiliary Surveillance Radars. They send and receive signals that tell the air traffic control team where airplanes are.  They need regular maintenance, which the FAA usually does. But my team is stellar in that they're too impatient, and decided to do it themselves! They replaced the joint that makes the system spin...a feat that has taken some teams up to 6 days! But THIS team did it in 10 hours! Talk about phenomenal....

Working hard or hardly working? They're waiting to pulley-up the new joint to it's place 12 floors above.