Nail Biter!

Whew! I took my test on Tuesday and failed 2 out of the 5 sections. The good thing about this test is you only have to retest the sections you failed (if you fail less than 3 sections). So after a restless night with about 3 hours of sleep (because of nerves) I took the retest. They called everyone back in the classroom and said, "Ok when we call off your name, go grab your gear for the FTX." A name here, a name there, this guy, that guy, Flythe!!! Woohoo, I was never so happy to spend all night in the field with no sleep. And in the field, I couldn't have gotten an easier mission than what I got. After a long day, we finally got done around 3 AM. Today we had to come in at 1300 and give our feedback on the school and what not. Tomorrow is graduation!

Update: Week 2

Today we lost 4 more on our Helicopter Landing Zone retest including my friend Zack. Its kinda sad seeing these guys make it this far and then get booted out. The retests are more difficult from what I hear, and I definitely don't want to have to see for myself. I have one more test before the field - Drop Zone operations. This is the hardest test yet, they say. This section alone is 50 pages long whereas the other ones are 30-40. This test will be 50 questions long and include a sketch that we have to complete: 10 questions per section and we have to get 7 of 10 correct in each section. Its difficult considering we have to memorize 4 or 5 different charts which deal with aircraft minimum, maximum, and planning speeds; tensile strengths of different sized parachutes; and all this other stuff. We have to know the formulas for calculating wind drift, distances needed for drop zones, and time required to push out a certain number of jumpers. Each formula has certain rules for rounding and the instructors say a lot of people get mixed up on that. 

Then its off to the field where we each get selected as either a Pathfinder Team Leader or Assistant Team Leader to execute either a HLZ or DZ. This is where you get 30 minutes to plan and coordinate, 30 minutes to sketch out your plan and brief, 30 minutes for the TL to mark his site, and 30 minutes for the ATL to mark his site. When I mean "mark", I mean that we have to put poles in the ground marking where 5 different helicopters land or different points where our aircraft will drop paratroopers out. These sites are normally about 2 KM long and wide. So, when you mark from one pole to the next, you may have to walk 100 meters to each point and have to be within a 3 degree tolerance (so precision and speed is key). 

I really need your continuous prayers as everything keeps getting harder. Each test I take, I don't know how I'm going to complete the next test, but the Lord keeps being faithful as always! I thank the Lord for bringing me this far, and really want to finish and graduate! I can't take learning all this information and not getting to finish. Again, thanks for all your prayers and DON'T STOP!!! -George

Pathfinder School

We lost about 4 people from our first test and retest a couple days ago. Today we did our slingload written test and slingload hands on inspection. If you haven't heard by now...I passed both!!! By the skin of my teeth! But as they say, a go is a go. Everyone gets to retest tomorrow morning and we'll see how many are left in the class after that. About 10 people failed the written test today and only 8 people including me PASSED the hands on slingload portion. This is out of the 35 remaining students. I was so nervous, but I kept praying throughout. The deficiencies with each load had to be word-for-word verbatim from our sheet they gave us. There are 85 possible deficiencies that we had to memorize. The first load I inspected was a M998 Humvee and I was feeling confident I found everything. I gave the Humvee one last look around and had written down 4 deficiencies and at the last second I saw that the Hood Latch was not secured. It was tricky because they made it look like it was. So on that load I missed 2 out of 5. You have to get a minimum of 3 on each load. The next load I was the first to get 5 out of 5 and the other loads I missed some here and there. Your points had to total at least 14 out of 20. I was thinking, "Man, I don't think I passed I can't believe this." Then I heard, "OK Green and Flythe, we'll see you tomorrow at 1300, everyone else hang around for retraining. I ran to the car as fast as I could while everyone else was throwing out four letter words. I probably looked like a Holy Roller looking up at the sky saying, "Thank you God!" over and over...but seriously, THANK YOU GOD!!! We have a three day weekend this weekend so I'm going to get a leg up on Helicopter Landing Zones and look over Drop Zone Operations. Those are the last two tests other than the Field Exercise portion. The Drop Zone test they say get about 2 to 3 people every time so I still need your prayers daily for every test I take. This doesn't include the hands on portion where we get to call jumpers out of the airplane and get to hook slingloads up to live birds!

On a heavier note, today my CO told me that I will be leaving for UAE in route to my next destination anywhere from 1-4 June to control our containers. This was a shock to Mary-Grace and I as we were planning on being in NC for my birthday. It looks like the best option is to go to NC from 17-27 May and pack up our apartment before then. One situation we are facing is how to get my car and her car back to NC, but I think we can work it out. My parents may come down from 27 May to 2 June or so to help with everything, but there's a lot to be done in the meantime. Its hard to take all this in while trying to focus on an extremely difficult school and be a good husband to MG.

Update: After the hands on retest, we have a little over 20 left in the class. Please keep praying that I keep passing!

Here's a great video of what a sling load looks like when it's being hooked up!