Enjoying Pensacola

After finishing OCS, I checked into the schools command NAS (Naval Air Station) Pensacola. It was there that I learned we would 7 months before I would began my initial flight training! During that time, the only required work we would have to do was Introductory Flight Screening (IFS) and I was assigned to a school in Destin, FL. It's a beautiful and very wealthy tourist spot about one hour east of my apartment...fine with me! I enjoyed my time off and had some fun in the sun in Pensacola!!!

Of course, I made occasional stops into OCS and visiting with some of my gunnery sergeants, feeling pretty slick in my brand new flight suit!

Master Gunnery Sergeant Foshee, USMC, Chief Drill Instructor, OCS GYSGT Smith, ENS Roberts, GYSGT Griffith, GYSGT Carson (All are now 1stSGT)

After I was finished with IFS, I was assigned to Rescue Swimming School to be a safety observer. I got to work out and watch as some of our finest young men were trained to jump out of helicopters and save lives! It was a very motivating assignment before I began my own training!

I soon learned that the USN Blue Angels were also stationed at NAS Pensacola and saw my first airshow on Pensacola Beach with two of my buddies from OCS.
A person can eat a LOT of crab legs in 7 months!!! :)

We did plenty of beaching and fishing too!!!

I bought my first firearm and went shooting VERY often. I bought a SIG Sauer P220 .45 pistol. It's my "hand cannon" and I LOVE it!!!

Holidays were tough at first, being SO far away from all of my family, but we stuck together and made the most of it. We carved pumpkins on Halloween, and Becky Sue came down for Thanksgiving when we cooked a HUGE feast for all of the single guys around. It was a great time. Then we headed out to Destin for a spa trip, lots of Starbucks, and, of course, a crab leg dinner! :)

I even made a trip to New Orleans to say my first farewell to a good friend, Alex. He was off to flight school in Corpus Christi, TX where pilots go through primary flight training. I also got to visit some of the families I stayed with and cared for in the shelter after Katrina/Rita! It was so amazing to see them back in their homes and in their environment. They all were so grateful and generous when I was in town, and I'll never forget them!!!

My first intro to flying: a Cessna 172 out of Destin, FL. It was such a great time, and I knew from the first takeoff that I was going to have a great career!