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The road to my wings
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Name	Stephen
Date	06-03-2005
Location
Message	(Sunday 1100). It's a beautiful Sunday morning, the sun is shining. Don't let it fool you though, the temperature is about -4. We just had the coldest week of the winter. Thursday we were out at the range again, shooting with live ammo. The M/96 is a dream to shoot with, especially when you use the scope. As we were on the lorry driving out to the range, we all sat quietly looking at the white landscape. All of us looked like small chimneys, exhaling independently and with different frequencies. I can't wait fot the weather to get warmer. We're all tired of the snow by now. It makes life SO much harder. Friday we were out in the terrain to practise navigating with a compass and a map. It was a really beautiful day but damn cold however our instructor made sure that we all got warm by holding a past pace up and down the hills. This coming week, we're having a 2 day exercise, where we'll be sleeping out in the forest. We're all hoping for warmer weather... Unfortunately, one of my friends on the team has dropped off. Taking the 17 year contract and everything else into account, he doesn't want to become a pilot anyway Good luck my friend, you will be missed. Anyway, I'm off to eat some breakfast now. Take care and stay tuned. /Stephen

Name	Stephen
Date	02-03-2005
Location
Message	(Wednesday 2005). Day over. We finished off with a good game of football. Now we ordered some pizza and we're going to watch a DVD. Until the pizza arrives, I'm ready for a game of pool...if someone is up for losing, that is! Today we were visited by an officer from the Royal Danish Air Force Academy, who told us about our course and what to expect. Raelity stroke hard when he told us that only a third of us are expected to make it through flying school. This came as no surprise, as we all knew this statistic before we started the course, however we still were rather shocked. By now, we all know eachother quite well. We have all made it through the very hard admittance tests and all of us are somewhat sensible and gifted young men. But anyway, perhaps we shouldn't think too much about the statistics... Tomorrow will be another day at the shooting range. Last Monday we shot with live ammo for the first time. There are many safety rules and procedures which we have to learn by heart, so we're all working hard to make sure that we live up to the safety standards Oh well, that's it for today...pizza will be here anytime and someone's ready for a game of pool. G'nite all! /Stephen

Name	Stephen
Date	27-02-2005
Location
Message	(Sunday 2235). Back at the base. Time has really started to accelerate away now. 4 weeks have already passed, which means that one sixth of my time at sergeant school is over! It's cold tonight. The temperature is expected to drop to -15 (yes, MINUS fifteen! ) Last Thursday we had our first night exercise. After a good briefing we were dropped off by the lorry, in a forest close to the base. I was appointed as Scout 1, which meant that I was responsible for the navigation. It isn't exactly easy to navigate in a forest at night, where everything is covered by about 30cm of snow. Fortunately the weather wasn't that cold, however this meant that since the temperature was slightly above freezing, the snow was starting to melt...and we all got wet indeed every time that we had to lay down to keep a low profile when the enemy was searching for us with search-lights and flares. Anyway, this week we're going to be doing alot of shooting at the range, so we all look forward to getting properly acquainted with the M/96 Hopefully we can hit what we aim at... It's my turn again as room forman this week, so I'm responsible for a clean room. So better head off and start preparing for tomorrow before the fatigue really starts hitting hard. G'nite all. Stay warm Best reagards Stephen

Name	Stephen
Date	23-02-2005
Location
Message	(Wednesday, 1905). Hard day today, even though it was rather short. We spent most of the day outdoors, and considering the weather conditions, it was rather hard to move the fingers. Temperature was well beyond freezing and we had heavy winds and occasional snow-storms. We shot the M/96 for the first time, using blanks of course. It was good to finally pull the trigger and feel something happening to the weapon. Some German Tornados which had been here over night, left today, giving us a bit of entertainment during the cold outdoor lessons. We also learned some battle techniques on how to judge distances and how to get ready to engage the enemy. Many tactical aspects go into the equation and it's all very exciting to learn about, and necessary for the modern soldier. Tomorrow we have a similar program to today's, however we'll continue until about midnight so that we also try what we've learned by night. Friday we have a bit more theory and a final exam in teaching, so I better go dig in the books, since I won't have the opportunity tomorrow Next time I write again will be in the coming weekend. Take care...and stay warm! /Stephen

Name	Stephen
Date	21-02-2005
Location
Message	(Monday 2130). We started off with some swimming lessons this morning. We practiced resquing eachother and some good swimming techniques. Then we headed off outdoors for some theory about using our M/96 and trying different shooting positions. We had F16s overshooting the runway all the time during the lesson, so it was rather hard to concentrate The lesson ended with a written test (yes, outdoors in the snow!). After dinner we headed off to our 'living room' and have just finished watching a DVD, today we watched Top Gun. Now we're all checking e-mail and we're off to bed soon. G'night all! /Stephen

Name	Stephen
Date	18-02-2005
Location
Message	(Friday, at home). Another week over, and this week we had our first real exam. Fortunately we all passed, so no one was sent home. We had the instructor course this week, so we learned many teching skills. It was a hard week with many hours of learning and preparations for the next day. Next week we're scheduled to fire our M96 for the first time, so we're all very excited about it. Some guys from the other class say that it's a very accurate weapon, and the low recoil and optical scope help you to hit the target without any great problems. We had quite a few F16's visiting our base this week. And the week for us ended with 2 F16s landing in formation. I also met LUN, the F16 student pilot who I met when I got the simulator ride in January 2002. He is now a fully converted F16 pilot. We had a little chat at the cafeteria before I headed off to get the result from the exam that I had just taken. Unfortunately, another team member has dropped off, so now our class is down to 18 out of the original 24. I'm outta here, got some things I have to take care of. In the mean time, take care of yourselves. Best regards Stephen

Name	Stephen
Date	13-02-2005
Location
Message	Sunday 1335, at home. Another week over and I'm off back to the base in about 1½ hours time. We had a great week. Wednesday we were out playing soldiers in our combat uniform and full face camo, where we learned impotnat things about the tearrain and how to get over obstacles like barbed wire, walls and so on Thursday we started on the instructor course and we had quite alot of flying activities. Apart from the usual stuff (Army, Navy and Air Force helicopters and civilian traffic) we had German Tornados and a couple of Danish F16's doing touch and gos. Friday we had an E3 AWACS doing touch and gos for many hours, what a beautiful sight! It's very motivating to see and hear military aircraft when you're in the classroom being taught for many hours in a row. Anyway, I'm outta here. Home-work is done and I'm ready for another action-packed week. Stay tuned! Best regards Stephen

Name	Stephen...again!
Date	08-02-2005
Location
Message	By the way: We're having a big airshow here at Karup AB on the 19th of June. Go to www.airshow2005.dk for further info. So far, Frecce Tricolori, Aguila, a MiG29 from Hungary and the Danish flying and static aircraft are confirmed. See you there!! /Stephen

Name	Stephen
Date	08-02-2005
Location
Message	Tuesday, 1700. Done for today. All I need to do is study a while for tomorrows test, otherwise it's relaxing and dinner that's left on my schedule...and hopefully it'll be an early night, since my body hurts all over from yesterday. It's hard work to be on sergeant school, but in less than 25 weeks, it'll hopefully all be over, and then it's on to flying school This Thursday we're starting on an Instructor course, and it will go on during Friday and the whole of next week, so I probably won't have much time to write... Today an F16 made a touch and go here, while I was in the polishing-room, polishing my boots. I ran out of the building to see it when I heard the noise. I never saw the aircraft but our leader saw me outside and shouted: WHY ARE YOU OUTDOORS WITHOUT A HAT ON??? Damn, I didn't think that far when I heard the noise. The point is that we should ALWAYS have the hat on, when we are outdoors with a uniform on...no matter if there's an F16 or not. Some times, some things are just hard to remember Catch u later... /Stephen

Name	Stephen
Date	07-02-2005
Location
Message	(Monday 1845) Here I am, at the base. Finally we're starting to get a somewhat normal time schedule. Today we got off at 1600 The physical training was what I would call 'painful' today. We all gave it 110% and did our best to get the most out of it. Our nuckles are all red and some are bleeding from the punching training...and the rest of the body just hurts all over We are all getting rather attached now, and would almost do anything to help eachother get through the course. This afternoon we had some more training on the M96 rifle/machine gun, starting the lesson with a test and finishing it with another one. I had the privelage to meet STI, an F16 pilot who I had e-mailed with for the past few years. STI has his own website (www.jetpilot.dk) and we often help eachother with web-design and other web-site related issues. It was nice to finally meet him and have a chat with him. He is here at Karup AB on an exercise, along with a bunch of other fighter pilots from Ålborg AB and Skrydstrup AB. Anyway, the other guys are going to watch a movie now, so I'm off to join them and relax in front of the TV before we head off to bed. Catch you later... /Stephen

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