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