Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother’s Day. Normally I am the world’s worst son and do not do anything for these types of holidays, so I will make up for it by telling you all about the great and wonderful things going on on this side of the globe. I know it’s been a couple weeks since my last post, but it has been a little busy the past week or so and not really the “bad” kind of busy; just busy. I know that Pakistan has been in the news a lot of late. I would like to take this opportunity right up front to say that things are not as bad as Fox News and CNN may be projecting it. That’s not to say there aren’t issues here or that the security situation is such that I am going for jogs around town (not that I would be even if it was safe). There are a lot of problems particularly in the FATA and NWFP and Islamabad is rather close to the NWFP. However, the raging Hottentots are not about to spill over the Margala Hills and wipe the city off the face of the earth. Actually the Pakistan Army has started a new offensive in that area and hopefully they will actually stick it out. The good news is I actually have some things to talk about this time.

To start with I have been doing a bit more flying of late. Most of it has been just currency flights making sure we keep our qualifications up but those can be interesting as well. For example last Sunday I was flying with the Air Force Programs guy down at Lahore doing instrument approaches. We did our requisite two takeoff and landings (we have to do two takeoffs and landings every month; not every thirty days but every calender month - for the other pilots, yeah I know) and were headed back to Islamabad when we got a call on the satellite phone in the C-12 (yes we have a sat-phone primarily so if we are flying the Ambassador or Admiral and they need to talk to someone they can). This call though was for us. It was one of the other pilots back in Islamabad telling us there was a nasty thunderstorm/squall line sitting right on top of the airport. There were heavy rain, lightning and 50 mph winds. After looking at our fuel situation and the weather radar for a bit we exercised the “better part of valor” and rolled back to Lahore to gas up and let the storm blow over. After being on deck for about two hours we headed back and landed with no problems, but for a bit we thought we might be spending the night in Lahore.
For those of you that have or do fly for a living you know that getting stuck for weather is pretty much a part of the job description. I can’t think of a single pilot that hasn’t spent at least one night in a place he wasn’t planning to because the weather or aircraft didn’t cooperate. Sometimes these unexpected overnighters can actually be kind of fun, but I wasn’t really looking forward a potential night in Lahore. Fortunately it all worked out.

In addition to my flight to Lahore I got one to Bagram, Afghanistan this week as well. Bagram is close to Kabul which I have been to before and the flight is only about an hour or so. The cool part of visiting these places is that they have exchanges and US food spots. Kabul is NATO I think so it is a bi different, but Bagram is very much like being on a US base though it’s pretty small. There is however a Pizza Hut, Burger King, and Orange Julius among others. It was just nice to get American fast food again. Like I said it’s nice to visit, but I wouldn’t want to be stationed there. There wasn’t much to take pictures of at the base but I did take some new ones of the aircraft and while in the air. The following are presented for your viewing pleasure.

The Mighty C-12.

Looking out my window.

The Roof Of The World.

Your intrepid pilot.

If the guys in back really knew about who was flying they probably wouldn't be asleep.

I mentioned last time about the Jingle Trucks, but I was not happy with the pictures I had to properly illustrate what I was talking about. I therefore present the following examples of the art that is the Jingle Truck.

Sorry for the picture through the dirty window.

This is going down one of the major highways with two guys hanging on the back.

Another nice jingle taxi, but please notice there are four people on the motorcycle in front: the dad, a kid in front of him, the mom and her holding the baby (the record so far is five).

I know most of you have not been to Islamabad (though I think one or two of you may have) but one of the first things you notice when you come into the city from the airport is a giant memorial to Muhammad Ali Jinnah who, as I think I have mentioned, is considered the Father of Pakistan. I’ve been trying to get a good picture since I’ve been here and I finally have achieved that goal. As you can see it is a portrait of Jinnah with the motto of Pakistan “Unity, Faith Discipline” in English going one way and Urdu the other. I know it is probably very disrespectful but every time I see it I just think “It’s the Big Jinnah Head”. It is lit up at night so the next time I go down that road at night I will try to get a picture of that too.

The Big Jinnah Head: The Urdu side.

The Big Jinnah Head: The English side.

You may recall in one of my previous posts I mentioned a couple of Embassy events that got canceled. The American Club finally decided that the situation had cleared enough and went ahead and had their “Spring Fling”. Having already purchased our tickets before the delay and still not having anything better to do on a Saturday night the Marine Lieutenant Colonel in the office and I decided to grace the event with our presence. The evening was supposed to start with a social hour at 6 followed by dinner at 7 and general frivolity after that. So not wishing to miss any of the party we rolled in a bit after 6 only to find we and three others were the only ones there. I had heard that these things didn’t really get started until kind of late, but it was surprising that there was practically no one there for the first hour and a half of the event. Finally around 7:30 to 8 o’clock people started to filter in. I didn’t take many pictures but here is what I do have.

I can clean up kind of nice sometimes.

The two best looking guys in the place. Granted at the time we were pretty much the only two guys in the room, but that's beside the point.

It was somewhat under attended, I think due to the postponement, but I did have a nice conversation with the South Korean and Japanese Defense Attachés who I think were trying to pump me for information (which is the job of an attaché). I think I was sufficiently vague and non-committal and managed to get out of the conversation with my security clearance intact. I also, met a couple diplomats from the other Embassies. In particular I met a couple from the Canadian Embassy. They have invited me and the LTCOL over to the Canadian Club, which I wrote about before, for happy hour. Unfortunately it didn’t work out this week but hopefully it will next week. Everything I hear is the Canadian Club is much more social than the American Club and any opportunity to break up the routine is nice. I will let you know how it goes.

Finally before I say so long I would like to thank everyone for their wonderful birthday greetings this past week. It is really nice when you aren’t home with your family and friends to know that they are still thinking of you. I’m only sorry I will not be able to get back for Mom’s retirement and my niece Kaleigh’s graduation. Please understand I would be there if I could.

Well that is about all for now. Please feel free to send an e-mail or comment on this post and let me know what you think. Have fun in the Western Hemisphere and as always, if you can’t be good, be good at it.