USNA Class of 2021

[jhynesrockmtn]

Congrats to your daughter and your family. Amazing. I worked with an Academy grad for many years and he made life long friends through his time at school and serving. My son is an Army officer and I've met many of the guys/gals he serves with. Outstanding young people. Best of luck to her as she works to accomplish her dreams.

[DonDavis]

Originally Posted by syncroid

...snip...
Don, Just wow! You were in a world of hurt sir! Upper and lower at the same time, both sides. I have a brother in law that has had that too. His kids also went through it.
Emma looks right now like Sandy the squirrel from Sponge Bob Square Pants. And OH MY, Cranky does not describe how she is feeling. Not for the faint of heart to be around right now!

How'd her recovery go? All ship shape?

My son is now in braces and the surgery will be about Dec/Jan depending on how well the teeth realignment progresses.

Please pass on my best to the wonderful young Ensign!

[syncroid]

Originally Posted by DonDavis

How'd her recovery go? All ship shape?

My son is now in braces and the surgery will be about Dec/Jan depending on how well the teeth realignment progresses.

Please pass on my best to the wonderful young Ensign!

The surgery went well. She has a little numbness on her lower left jaw. The surgeon did say that was a possible side effect. The teeth alignment is good. She has the clear upper and lower retainers now.

[JavaBrewer]

Congrats to Emma and of course your entire family! That is a serious accomplishment and I am sure she will enjoy PCola despite the bugs and humidity. Recommend she looks for a shared home with other USN females going for pilot. My son Zack roomed with pilot candidates who were further along in the process (academic phase) and having them around definitely helped out. He is through that and now moving on to Cessna training before heading to Corpus Christi TX for the serious flight training. They have a full Cessna cockpit poster in the living room with sticky notes that map to the various steps/controls for each procedure that they study with. Helps because that Cessna training is fast paced.

Zack graduated OCS late last year and I visited him last weekend in PCola for his "Flight suit Friday" event where his class all had drinks in the OC to celebrate. What a great group of guys and gals!

Also thanks from us to Paul (Seahawk) for his guidance and support!

[syncroid]

That's awesome! Congratulations! Great photos too.

[syncroid]

Small update.

Leslie and I are here in Pensacola to help celebrate Emma's 24th birthday.

It is my first time to Florida. FloraBama is what the kid calls it.

She has passed all of her Cessna training and is in the proverbial holding pattern for actual flight school to start.

Her boyfriend Tim, who went NFO, is nine months ahead in the program and doing well. Em does not do well just waiting. Let's do this!

Loving the opportunity to be here for this birthday.

Flight Suit Friday



Leslie aka Mom. (no shoes in the house!)



Birthday girl.

[pavulon]

With the smallest bit of imagination, we can see your proud smile reflected in that BA's F-18!! Congratulations to all!

[Seahawk]

My absolute best to all.

Thank you for sharing...the adventure continues.

[Baz]

Congrats to all, Dan and thanks for sharing - you have much to be proud of!

BTW, the little succulent by the sink is called a Haworthia...

[WPOZZZ]

They'll have cute hapa kids! My nephew was a 2014 grad, and is finishing up his tour with the Marines.

[jhynesrockmtn]

Congrats to them. I bet the waiting is hard. My son has done his share of waiting for trainings to start in the Army. He just flew to Key West yesterday for more. Looks like she is doing amazing!

[masraum]

Outstanding! Happy Birthday to the birthday girl, and congrats to the beaming parents!

[syncroid]

We are enjoying our time with Emma and Tim for sure. I will be a bit poorer when we get back, but well worth it. These two can eat!



I am also able to do something that is rare for me. Very rare! Read!



I am also enjoying the food and snacks.



Thanks for following. You all are awesome! Stay tuned.

[KFC911]

This is a very cool thread .... thank you for sharing with us

[daepp]

Wow - you have much to be proud of. Thanks for the update!

[Baz]

Dan - Emma has probably already seen this but if not.......pretty good stuff here.......

At just 21, Liz McConaghy was the youngest aircrew member to be deployed to Iraq. For four years, she was the only female ‘crewman’ on the chinook wing.
Flying with the Boeing CH-47 Chinook, Liz would fly into dangerous war zones to recover severely wounded service personnel. The Medical Emergency Response Team (MERT) were responsible for saving countless lives in Helmand Province.
She went on to serve 17 years with the Royal Air Force, completing 2 deployments in Iraq and 10 in Afghanistan

The Veteran-turned-author has recently published a book revealing the highs and lows of her career plus the heavy cost of war both physically and mentally on those who serve. Liz talks about her struggles with her mental health, including a suicide attempt during an extremely low point.

She said: "In August 2020, I woke up one day and I can only describe it as an out-of-body experience because I felt so detached emotionally from myself at this point and I decided that I was going to end my life.
"I actually woke up two days later in Basingstoke Intensive Care on an intubation machine and had been taken in by an ambulance crew.
"It turns out that I had actually called at 00:50 in the morning, so clearly something inside me still wanted to fight."

Liz received help from HelpforHeroes and partner charity PTSD Resolution.

Liz hopes her story will inspire and help those who are both wanting to enlist and facing the reality of living with battlefield memories every day.
'Chinook Crew 'Chick': Highs and Lows of Forces Life from the Longest Serving Female RAF Chinook Force Crewmember’ is available to purchase now.

[syncroid]

Thanks for sharing that Baz. I will have to ask her if she has read it. My guess is probably not. Enjoyment reading is not something she and Tim have a lot of time to do.
We just heard from Tim this morning that he went on his first long distance flight with his instructor. They flew from Pensacola to Dallas Fort Worth. I think the plane is a T6.

[syncroid]

Originally Posted by JavaBrewer

Congrats to Emma and of course your entire family! That is a serious accomplishment and I am sure she will enjoy PCola despite the bugs and humidity. Recommend she looks for a shared home with other USN females going for pilot. My son Zack roomed with pilot candidates who were further along in the process (academic phase) and having them around definitely helped out. He is through that and now moving on to Cessna training before heading to Corpus Christi TX for the serious flight training. They have a full Cessna cockpit poster in the living room with sticky notes that map to the various steps/controls for each procedure that they study with. Helps because that Cessna training is fast paced.

Zack graduated OCS late last year and I visited him last weekend in PCola for his "Flight suit Friday" event where his class all had drinks in the OC to celebrate. What a great group of guys and gals!

Also thanks from us to Paul (Seahawk) for his guidance and support!

I did not realize when you posted this that it was in the Naval Aviation Museum in Pensacola. We also got to see it when we were out there. I could have spent a whole lot more time there if given the chance.

[syncroid]

The wife and I had a whirlwind trip to Pensacola the last week in April. Emma and Tim got married on the 28th. A quick and simple civil ceremony. Tim's parents, his sister, Leslie and I.
Tim also got winged the same day. He graduated in the top 2% for the whole years worth of NFO's.
The next day we moved Emma out of the apartment they shared and into a smaller one for her. Tim is off to Oklahoma now for advanced training. Emma is still in Pensacola and has been flying the T6 trainer quite a bit. I think she has her check ride coming up this week, and then her solo flight.

[Seahawk]

Makes my heart happy. Two great young people raised by great families.

May their journey continue unabated.