Behind Every Strong Man...

...Is an even stronger woman!
(Or so we were told, but being newly immersed in this "Army Family" thing - I tend to agree.)

Earlier this month I had the opportunity to participate in Aviation Spouse's Day - a day where the wives get the chance to walk in the shoes of their Soldier and experience a little bit of the training they receive while stationed here at Fort Rucker for Flight School.

Needless to say.... Heck Yes. 

We approached our mission strategically....

Step One : Suit Up - Getting the Gear

We were instructed to wear "comfortable pants, that can "give": aka No Jeans.
"Yoga Pants perhaps", they said.
PSH!  I can wear Yoga Pants every day, I'm jumping on this excuse to go SHOPPING and get a hold of some of those cool ACU's for myself.  I have to wash Brian's every other day, I need some of my own right?

If you know us at all - we don't like paying retail.  So we headed over to a pawn shop in Daleville, where we knew a lot of military gear can be found for discounted prices.  

Anyone surprised that Brian got a deal?

Brand New size small flight pants, AND a brand new set of size 6.5 Gortex Boots for $54.50

Now These are Boots.

(Although I didn't wear them that Friday. Not worn in yet, and didn't feel like massacring my feet.)

Step Two: The Briefing

Over 50 military wives met up at The Commons on post at 0830. Leaders were chosen, we separated into squads and received our orders for the day.  Then loaded up into vans and set out for our first stop.

Step Three: Dunker School

Last fall Brian went through Dunker School, which is essentially training for how to escape and survive should your aircraft go down into the water.  Soldiers get into all their gear, have to pass a swim test, and then go through 4 different "dunks" - simulating the four main aircrafts that fly at Ft. Rucker.  They are strapped into their seats, submerged and then flipped upside down.  The crew at the Dunker facility showed us the simulator in action and explained the process of escape.  Then we got to gear up and get in the water! No flipping for us (phew!) but we did get to pull ourselves along a pipe line, come to a platform, open a hatch and pull ourselves out of the door.  All with your eyes closed, and all under water while holding your breath.  It was quite interesting and a fun challenge.

Me & my dear friend Amy Burns!

Me under water, holding my breath and blindly pulling my way across the pipeline to the platform.  I admit it, I smoked it with my giant helmet.... Hey - that's One way to find the escape hatch right?!

Super flattering photo after I "Escaped"

Step Four: The Obstacle Course

Our little group got sectioned off into 2 even smaller groups, and we had the chance to test out our agility, problem solving, team work and critical thinking in two different timed obstacle courses.  We completed them both!  I'm not typically a "group project" kind of girl, but it was pretty fun hands on kind of stuff :) 

 One of the courses - to get an ammo canister, a 50 gallon (empty :) drum, and each member of your team from one side of the a-frame obstacle to the other.  We had to climb up with ropes, and couldn't touch the black part on the front side.  Piece o' cake! ...The only thing is, the ammo can and the drum are full when the guys do this, and they aren't allowed to touch the black At All.  (I'll take the lady rules!) 

 Little did I know, but this photo was going to be in the Army Flier newspaper, and that cute lady next to me named Alexia - was going to be one of my new dear friends at Fort Rucker ;)  

Obstacle #2 was to get 2 ammo canisters, 3 boards, a rope, and our whole team across the three platforms without touching the black (ground).  This one was a little more intense, but lots of fun! 

Success :) 

Probably the best part of this section was the fun atmosphere and all the joking and witty banter.

At one point at the start when we were all squished together on the first platform, a cannon went off in the woods somewhere.  One girl exclaimed "A tribute just died! Look to the skies!" (reference to The Hunger Games.)  We all laughed so hard we almost fell off and had to start over. 

Step Five: Qualifying at the Virtual Shooting Range

"This is my Rifle, This is My Gun..."

So I Love shooting.  And I am actually quite good at it.  Not quite as good as Brian, but pretty competitive with him depending on the weapon, I must say :)  This was by far the section I was most looking forward to - and I was Not disappointed.  (Only thing better would have been real Ammo.  But... Hey.  Now I have a goal to aspire to.)   We learned how to lock and load the M16's, and then all attempted to qualify (be a really great shot, essentially, and meet or exceed the Army Standard) on the virtual range.  None of us did, but I had a pretty decent shot group in my first attempt!

 Not the best quality, and not even on the target (the gun wasn't sighted in to me yet, otherwise it would have been.) The Red dots are the shots (3) connected by a red line to show distance apart.  I totally met the standard - Love it! Let's shoot some MORE! 

Me and Amy - cute in our ACU's and taking every chance for a photo opp.  We joked that we will have more documentation of Aviation Spouse's Day than our husbands will of their entire flight school career. 

 Next we got to shoot the Fun Stuff.  50 caliber Machine Gun?  Why Yes, I wouldn't mind giving that a Go. {What a weapon.}  Amy hopped on the grenade launcher, and away we went.  Those Virtual Turkey's didn't stand a chance! 

Our fun group outside - once again, take every opportunity for a Photo Opp.  

We All must Blog about this after all, right?! 

Step Six: GET TO THE CHOPPA!

Learning to Fly... On the Simulators that is.

Next we headed over to Warrior Hall, where we got to check out and even practice on the simulators that the soldiers use for a brief period while they are in training.  The TH67 room we went in was CRAZY, it looked like something out of a sci-fye movie.  We couldn't take our own photos, but they told us there were some online.  We weren't allowed to take personal photos, but if you want to check it out you can google: Fort Rucker Flight Simulators.  It's really cool stuff!

Step Seven:  Graduation!!

After a long day we zipped over to the Flight Museum on post, where they had a (actually quite lovely) graduation ceremony for us.  We all earned a pair of wings, and the army band played and everything.  (This was a mini version of the graduation ceremony Brian will have when he completes Flight School, so it was really cool to experience.) 

My Aviator was there to support me (lucky he randomly had an afternoon off - that doesn't happen much!)

Posed for a quick photo by the Black Hawk (and with a lovely view of the Drones...)

Great end to the day, lots of fun and was happy to have the opportunity to meet some new friends and experience the "real" side of Fort Rucker!