Woke up early(0345) and sore from the previous day's workout. We go to the gym to get an hour of cardio in before work. Get back to the cans in time to catch the early bus to the chow hall. This is AWESOME cause I never catch that darn early bus.
Get to the chow hall and what do they have? Actual blueberry pancakes. This is an AWESOME first. They are, of course, delicious.
From here we manage to find the fifth season of scrubs...and watch the heck out of it. Laughter ensues all day long.
After that started it was just a waiting game. Tonight is wing night...tonight is Poker Night...TONIGHT IS SUNDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL!!!
Long story short on the poker, I eventually kicked everybody's behind and won!
The only downside to this is the fact that the games don't start here until 11 pm. This means we are all up until about 0130 watching the game. I grab a quick 2 hours of sleep because the Cowboys aren't doing so impressive.
I wake up at 0330 to cover the rest or Radar watch. At this point I have hit 24 hours with just 2 hours of sleep. My mood is worsened a little when I found out the Cowboys lost...but it was quickly recovered when while I watched the Patriots get stomped.
Now normally I would catch a bus back to the cans at 0700 but today is different. I take this awesome Sunrise as an omen of a good day.
This sunrise is SO COOL because we simply don't get sunrise or sunset here. The are almost never clouds so all we usually just see is a big bright cirlce moving up and down past the horizon. Today was different.
I found out that there was a Air Refueling trip that we were being offered. This means that we get to go up in a BIG C130 Airplane and watch from great points of view while we refuel a couple of F-18'S in flight.AWESOME!
The only problem was that it was at 0830 and I had had 2 hours of sleep. Oh well, you only live once right. So we decide to go. We get to the appropriate location with all our gear(we were told to bring flak and kevlar) and waited.
As it turns out the flight had been rescheduled for 1100. Great more waiting. So instead of waiting on the nice and comfy couches they had there, our command decides that we should go pick up the other two guys who were supposed to take the later flight. Thats fine lets do it.
So a Staff Sgt comes and picks us up to take us back to the cans. In theory we could have gotten another 2 and 1/2 hours of sleep but between waiting, driving, getting lost, driving some more we burned that time up pretty fast. Thats fine we are Marines and we know the solution to this kind of problem.
CAFFEINE!!!
So we get the Staff to drop us off at the PX and we quickly purchase some wings in a can(Redbull). Now we have another problem. Our truck left because the Staff had to do something and we now had all our gear, an extra backpack for one of the other guys, a case of redbull and only 45 minutes to get back to our cans...which happen to be just under 1.5 miles away. So we walk and in good amazing Marine Corps fashion, we make it with some more sore muscles and 15 minutes before we have to go back to the flight line.
Chug some Redbull and we are off.
We get there on time and are taken to our plane. We get a Combat takeoff at around 1130, which is better than ANY roller coaster I have ever ridden!
After we get to height our Pilots surprise us and say that we can fly it if we want because we have about an hour before we refuel. I AM STINKIN SPEECHLESS!!! So we take turns getting in the Pilot seat and with help from the Co-Pilot we each get turns spinning the plane. I have a big old grin on my face the entire time.
After this we get word that the F-18's are inbound so we go below to the cargo area. Once again I am grinning from ear to ear!
Sorry for the crummy quality but my camera screen broke so I couldn't actually see what I was taking pictures of. Turns out my guessing wasn't to bad.After that we promptly landed and waited for the other two guys.
While we are waiting I ask the Marine who is sitting post in the shop where the closest head is. He takes a look at my name and gives a chuckle and a "nice name killer."
Sitting before me is Sgt Fullmer of Marines. He is from Idaho Falls. He said that his family comes from Jean(sorry if that is wrong) Fullmer the heavyweight boxer. What are the odds. We talk about home and family for a little while until our ride gets there to pick us up.
After all that it is 2 pm and we decide that we have to go to the gym so our cycle doesn't get messed up.
after that is was pretty much the same old reading, eating, blogging and here I am, it's almost 9PM and I haven't slept in almost 42 hours.
Great day and I'm sure it's gonna be some great sleep.
Good Night all you fans out there!
7 comments:
Yay! Thanks for all the pictures John. I realized why I love reading your blog...I zoom through it like a really good book because I am so excited to see what happens next...You have me on the edge of my seat.
Very cool that you found a fellow Fullmer, small world huh?
I can't believe you got to fly you lucky duck. I bet you're glad you didn't let a little lack of sleep convince you to not go.
Love you Bro!
SWEET! You wouldn't be a marine if you let a lack of sleep slow you down now would you?
You always have such adventures. All that running around, getting to flying the plane, meeting a fellow Fullmer. You know you don't have to go to Iraq to do family history don't you.
That's hillarious that you found a Fullmer. Amazing how small the world is.
Oh, is Derek ever jealous!! You flew a plane! And you carry guns, you wear camo, you've shaved your head . . who is greater than the awesome Johnny!
Seriously, that is awesome.
A case of Redbull?!? That's some serious caffeine. Makes my little 16 oz. Dr. Pepper on the way home from Utah seem a little lame. Then again, I was just driving home, not waiting to FLY A PLANE. Sooo cooool!
I am so jealous. Flying a plane sounds so awesome!!! and like Kate said well worth missing more sleep.
Gene Fullmer is a distant relative but definitly connected. Vonda Myler was his babysitter years and years ago.
Hello!!! After all that you still worked out?!? Are you crazy? Oh wait, its you.
How cool (and a little scary) that you got to fly! And you being all sleep-deprived and hopped up on red bull. Would have liked to have seen that.
How funny to run into someone from IF, let alone a Fullmer on the other side of the world.
(Hey, sorry I missed your call this morning. Would have liked to chat with you. Call again soon.)
What an amazing morning! With the sunset, refueling jets in flight, flying one of your own, and then meeting a service member with the same name and family background... I don't think it can get much better than that! I am glad that you were able to experience that, but I have to hope that you got some sleep after that LONG day!
Love and miss you John!
Hooah Marine.
Flying a plane is cool, but a C-130 makes you about the coolest person I have ever know. The best days in Iraq are the ones with the least sleep, aren't they.
Love Ya Bro.
SGT Fullmer
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