Step by step

Those of you who have read my blog in the last few days are probably wondering what has happened since deciding to walk away from this pilot thing. Well, it's not really that long of a story. A bunch of paperwork and meetings later, I am now in limbo. This is not a place I normally like to be, but for once I have complete peace that this is all going to work out. Everything began on Monday with a meeting with my two flight commanders (who I report directly to). They decided they wanted me to have one more day to think things through (which I didn't need, but also didn't have much say about). On Tuesday morning I met with them once more and began the paperwork in earnest. I was pleasently surprised that neither of my commanders, nor any of my flight mates gave me much of a hard time about it. Most were understanding, and some were even proud of me for making such a tough decision (which definitely caught me off guard).

Part of this paperwork was my career dream sheet. As I began working on this with Ashley, I was reminded of the time three years ago when I was doing exactly the same thing. At the time I was incredibly torn about what jobs to put down (we are allowed to put our top 5 choices). Even then I questioned whether this was the route I wanted to go, but after a lot of thoguht and prayer I figured that I needed to give it a shot. It was a once in a lifetime opportunity, and I sure didn't want to look back and wonder "what if." I've always been afraid of getting to my later years and saying those words. Well, as you know, I got my first choice. And now I am here again. Looking at the list, and wondering how it is all going to work out. Well after some thought, discussion, and prayer we settled on putting intelligence as our first choice, and space & missiles as our second.

Now, with my paperwork submitted and meetings finished, it is a waiting game. Depending on how things go, I should know my new job within two weeks (this is of course Air Force time, which, for any of you who talked to me during the 9 months leading up to starting flight school know, could actually mean 2-4 weeks). At this time, I will hopefully also know where I will be going (what base) and when, though this information could take several more weeks to get to me. All told, if things go the way they have gone for most, we should be on our way out in in roughtly two months. We shall see.