Funding Source: Air Force — Research Lab
Funding Type: Discretionary, Grant/Agreement
Total Available: N/A
Award Ceiling: N/A
Deadline: 01.27.10
Eligibility: Unrestricted

Description:
AFRL/RZPE seeks to develop and demonstrate a solid state electrical distribution unit (SSEDU) suitable for use in more electric aircraft. The hardware deliverable will be a working unit capable of switching large currents and being integrated into the INVENT systems integration facility (ISIF).

Trust Him

   It is challenging at times when God seems slow to answer our pleas for either help, healing or provision.  I find myself setting deadlines for Him to follow.  Usually He does not follow them at all.  He wants us to grow in our faith and trust in Him.  This takes time through a variety of events where He demonstrates with certainty to you that He is there.  Jesus said “I will never leave you or forsake you…”  He really meant that.  Maybe you have doubt, or impatience. You have not heard back from God on a pressing concern.  Just stop for a moment.  Pray.  Ask Him to help you in your uncertainty.  His Word says that His strength is perfected in our weaknesses. God will be there for you when you can’t even understand how things can possibly work out.  Trusting in Him is a continuous growth process.  It is painful for me at times to accept this.  Ask Him today to see you through this trial you face.  He will.  Trust Him today and everyday.  He loves you so much.  He does not want your heart to be filled with fear and uncertainty.  His desire for you is that your heart be filled with His peace, love and joy.

By Carl J. Humphrey

Master Sergeant

U.S. Marine Corps (Retired)

Daily D’s

Lady President of India…Prathiba Patil…travels in a war plane!!!!

Is it a news or a record?……………….Both..But more than that she wanted to give a message to the jawans, sainiks and the defence that…when they are protecting the country from the rivals….they are not alone…and the whole country is with them…if not physically…morally…including the person of the highest rank…President of a country. She represented the whole nation alongside the air force and the other defence faculties.

Kudos…..President Patil….We are proud of you….Your act is an eye opener to the younger generation towards realising their dedication, duties and responsibilities towards the mother soil…when required and when mattered. Its a lesson that its not only the duty of warrriors with uniform to defend their country…but much more responsibilities also lie on the shoulders of the civilians and common man.

Jai Jawan….We are with you……

News: President Pratibha Patil made news on wednesday, the 25th of november 2009-when she took on board..in a  fighter jet aircraft  SUKHOI-30 MKI thereby becoming the first woman president to fly in a warplane.At 74 years she also created the world record of being the oldest woman in a jet fighter travelling at a supersonic speed…for 30 minutes, at a height of 8,000 feet around the Lohegaon air force base.

It would have been the proudest moment for Wing Commander S Sajjan, when he gat a pat on his back from the President for taking her for a smooth ride. The President expressed her confidence about todays women and was sure that many would serve the country by joining the defence forces of the country. Her step today whould be a moral booster for the younger girls seeking profession to serve their country.

“It was an out of the world experience. I was thrilled and overjoyed and I am proud of IAF for the work they are doing in securing the nation,”.. These words straight from the President herself would do much for the protectors of the nation…just made a day ahead of the anniversary of the most dreaded days of man kind….the 26/11 incident…which stays wet in the heart of all the Indians. “We also wanted to show to the defence forces that the country is with you,” she said.

“Yatha Raja Tatha Praja”…as is rightly said in a sanskrit proverb…”As king-as subjects”… The nation sill follow the footsteps of a wise, determined and a courageous leader. The leader has set an example today…and when our nation calls…its our duty to respond strongly……..

We are really proud of our Warriors……………….

my boss asked me the other day what my long term goals were.. i was dumbfounded for a bit because i’d had so much planned around going to Syracuse next year; that immediately hit me as funny because i love to plan.

i have alternate options (a,b,c) with contingency back ups, i have budgets laid out for if i go here vs. here..

and somehow it had never occured to me that i wouldn’t go to Syracuse. i know why – mostly because if i’d actually been allowed to apply i would have gotten picked up (heart—-beattttt) and that would have been that. didn’t even cross my mind that somehow the AF would dick me around.

so many people have bad experiences with the military and being forced to places they didn’t want to go; since i’ve been lucky and enjoyed just about everything i guess i’d forgotten that the AF really doesn’t have my best interests in mind.

either way, i need to start planning again.. god i love that…

option a: stay and rot at Dyess.
good: we have a huge budget, so we get to go to very expensive training classes and have brand-new equipment, constantly. my squadron is very lazy relaxed, and we do almost no work.
bad: as the lowest ranking ssgt in my section, i won’t have a troop for a couple years; yeah that would be less stress, but i also need to grow up and learn how to take care of people – what if when i pcs’d i was ncoic, and had never been in charge of anyone? plus, expensive training with no practical application = zero retention. it’s a waste of money if i don’t ever use the skill. i just don’t feel that we work enough there, which means i’m unsatisfied with work, and i end up drinking too much out of boredom – i’m wayyyyy too young for that.  

of course, i could just wait til this time next year and hopefully be allowed to apply for Syracuse, and then go to it in the fall of 2010. it’s just that it would be almost 2 years of inactivity, which makes me feel like i’m being choked while drowning in quicksand.

option b: volunteer for Korea/Turkey and gtfoTx.
good: i’d be in  a sweet foreign country, and working at an AFN shop. new culture to learn, bits of a language to pick up, and a whole new job spectrum. AFN does strictly broadcast stuff, so i’d do more news and at a quicker pace than ever before; aaaaand i would get to learn how to be a radio dj = sweet.
bad: leaving Nona and Charlie for a year with someone (maybe Noozi). living in barracks for a year. real broadcasters have strict standards, and i’ve never worked for a legit broadcaster (not to mention never gone to school for it) so i’d be the jackass making all the mistakes. one hand i’d learn a ton, on the other, i hate being an idiot.

great thing – after that long year, i’d have my choice of bases.. and i’m thinking that Italy or Portugal is sounding damn skippy!

option c: volunteering for Combat Camera in San Antonio.
good: ComCam is cool; they fly to sweet places and film interesting things. San Antonio is a beautiful city with great weather. i like the idea of going to a unit thats just starting up; be getting a chance to affect history. if i bought a house in SA and got out at the end of this enlistment (5 more fucking years) then i’d already be established in a great city with lots of job ops. not to mention almost owning a home outright before i was 30.
bad: ComCam guarantees a deployment just about every year. the money would be good, but ew constant deployments. i’d need a roommate fo’ sho.

it would be nice to live somewhere i liked.

eh. who knows.

and now, off to a photo date with some brass!

xx

For the NYC peeps up in WDC!  DJ Clark Kent is continuing his creative streak with these new high-top AF1’s.

DJ Clark Kent has created a fictitious basketball team for Nike sportswear called the EAST Warriors to be part of his own collection for the brand.  The EAST Warriors collection will be unveiled at Nike Sportswear at 21 Mercer this Wednesday the 25th of November, where DJ Clark Kent will be playing some tunes. There will also be a limited edition shoebox and NYC chenille patch inspired by the footwear and apparel from the collection. You can get you hands on the East Warriors from November 27th at most Nike stockists.

via Hypebeast.

This time last year, I was about 2 months into a 7 month deployment. Thanksgiving day without Buzz was when the reality of that deployment really hit me–I cried all day. In both of the deployments that I have experienced since our marriage, the long drive home after saying goodbye was excruciatingly painful. Each time, K fell asleep on the ride home and I sat outside of our house crying my eyes out–the reality of going into that house without Buzz and knowing it would be over 1/2 a year before he set foot in it again was more than I thought I could handle. But, somehow, each time I did. Once I got myself together and walked through the door, I worked (not always successfully) to keep in mind that every minute that passed was another minute closer to having him home without the constant worry about his safety (and my sanity).

But Thanksgiving last year was rough–very rough. But I had an amazing support system, comprised mostly of other military wives, who got me through. I made it. Looking back, I am still not sure how. The thought of even one more deployment still haunts me. I try to enjoy this time we have without that huge threat (though the possibility is still there even at this duty station). But I always know in the back of my head that someone else is living that reality right now–people I love. I am pretty sure not much in life is fair, but we still have to move on.

So, this year, I am really working on being thankful. I am thankful for my family and that our core is together for the holidays–happy and healthy. I am thankful for my friends who got me through all of the ups and downs–no matter how much distance is between us. I am thankful for all of the blessings in my life.

I can’t say enough how happy I am that Buzz is here with us again for the holidays. I have never been a big fan of the holiday season. Ever since I can remember, it depressed me. I don’t know why–maybe the stress, the cold? But I am working on turning that attitude around. I hope I can make K a big fan of the holidays and teach her to be thankful for all the blessings in her life. I hope the three of us have 100 more happy, healthy Thanksgivings together (which would make me 129 years old, so if someone in the biological sciences could please help me out with that, that would be amazing).

Happy Thanksgiving!

P.S. Another thing I am thankful for…we have renewed interest in a book!  So share your stories (in all of our topics)!  What are military families thankful for this year?

Doodle 283 - First 6 Logo

A few months ago I posted about our local First 6 association holding a design contest for a new logo.  This was one of the ideas I submitted though I removed the base name from the bottom of this version.  Today I found out that this submission was chosen and I even won a prize!  I’ll find out what the prize is tomorrow.

after further perusal, i’ve come up with a couple additional favorites:

everyone else loves this one the mostest

effing amazing, i am.

I like this one the best because of all the crazy emotion going on - his face, Gary's face in the corner, the crowd exploding. it's beautiful

you can see the rest.. all eighty million.. on DVIDS of course.

freaking sweet. here’s my initial take on the gazillion pictures i took:

November 22, 2009

Today I woke up to a terrible rushing sound outside of my window. It sounded like a plane flying low and I thought that was pretty strange. I looked out the window and the sound got louder and louder. It sounded like a hurricane but there was no wind. The leaves on the trees didn’t move, my house didn’t shake yet the sound kept getting louder. Then I saw four planes disappearing into the horizon. The sound continued long after they were out of sight. Then it was quiet. They appeared again about ten minutes later. I realized they were fighter jets as they passed overhead. They came from the NorthWest and headed NorthEast I wondered if something was going on in the city. This happened about five or six times and then it stopped. There was nothing on the news so maybe it was just a test flight? I don’t know but it was pretty weird.

I did a quick Google search and found an article from April. Apparently this happened over Jersey City and people panicked and evacuated the office buildings along the Hudson. Turned out it was just a photo shoot. I don’t think that’s what this was. I asked my friend Keith who is a Marine Vet and he said he had no idea.

If anyone from the North Jersey area has any idea what was going on or has any other stories of this event please let me know.

I’m guessing they’ll be an article in the newspaper about this tomorrow.

***Update: I just found a forum discussing this event *apparently* they were doing a flyover over Giants Stadium. They were circling on standby. This makes absolute sense to me because it started around 12PM and ended around 1PM. Also they were headed towards Rutherford which is where the Meadowlands is. Is this a regular event? I’ve never heard of this happening before.

It seems to me that the majority of American’s are asking themselves “What happened to our country?” We no longer recognize our country as we once did. America use to be considered the most powerful country across the globe, its president the most powerful man in the world regardless of which party he represented. Not any longer.

Our president is known world wide as a blundering weakling and apologist for the once powerful and proud. This character weakness has not been accepted by any foreign country as anything but sissy weak. Imagine the fear it strikes in the heart of our allies to see the once great nation of America with all its historical might and military strength collapse under the religion of political correctness under the guard of its high priest Obama. Do our allies feel safe with Obama as Commander and Chief when the majority of Americans do not? If our level of confidence in Obama has plummeted along with the peaceful leaders around the world, what must our enemies think? I would suggest that their confidence has never been higher.

We have witnessed president Obama’s handling of the war in Afghanistan from strong criticism as a candidate, stern direction and decision of what his plans will be, to complete and total indecision almost to the point of ignoring the Afghan war altogether. It is as clear as the ring of a bell the message he is sending to our fighting men and women and our enemy alike that he is concerned above all else what the radical left of his party thinks than what his own hand picked field General believes we need in order to win this war. President Obama is more concerned with winning political battles than the battles against our enemy.

On the home front he suspends the investigation of the Fort Hood terrorist attack to further other political goals. Was he afraid of what the investigation would reveal such as a real and present danger on American soil of further terrorist attacks? I believe so. Whatever the reason we may ponder it is crystal clear he does not want the American public to know. There are more important issues in his opinion such as this disaster of a health care plan he has staked his political career on. As the blunders of this president and his incompetent administration continue to pour in on a daily basis, we Americans are far less safe than we were before he took office.

This venerable and much honored WW II vet is well known in Hawaii for his seventy-plus years of service to patriotic organizations and causes all over the country. A humble man without a political bone in his body, he has never spoken out before about a government official, until now. He dictated this letter to a friend, signed it and mailed it to the president.

Dear President Obama,

My name is Harold Estes, approaching 95 on December 13 of this year. People meeting me for the first time don’t believe my age because I remain wrinkle free and pretty much mentally alert.

I enlisted in the U.S. Navy in 1934 and served proudly before, during and after WW II, retiring as a Master Chief Bos’n Mate. Now I live in a “rest home” located on the western end of Pearl Harbor allowing me to keep alive the memories of 23 years of service to my country.

One of the benefits of my age, perhaps the only one, is to speak my mind, blunt and direct even to the head man.

So here goes.

I am amazed, angry and determined not to see my country die before I do but you seem hell bent not to grant me that wish.

I can’t figure out what country you are the president of.

You fly around the world telling our friends and enemies despicable lies like:

“We’re no longer a Christian nation” and “America is arrogant” - (Your wife even announced to the world, “America is mean-spirited.” Please tell her to try preaching that nonsense to 23 generations of our war dead buried all over the globe who died for no other reason than to free a whole lot of strangers from tyranny and hopelessness.)

I’d say shame on the both of you, but I don’t think you like America nor do I see an ounce of gratefulness in anything you do for the obvious gifts this country has given you. To be without shame or gratefulness is a dangerous thing for a man sitting in the White House.

After 9/11 you said, “America hasn’t lived up to her ideals.”

Which ones did you mean? Was it the notion of personal liberty that 11,000 farmers and shopkeepers died for to win independence from the British? Or maybe the ideal that no man should be a slave to another man that 500,000 men died for in the Civil War? I hope you didn’t mean the ideal 470,000 fathers, brothers, husbands, and a lot of fellas I knew personally died for in WWII, because we felt real strongly about not letting any nation push us around because we stand for freedom.

I don’t think you mean the ideal that says equality is better than discrimination. You know the one that a whole lot of white people understood when they helped to get you elected.

Take a little advice from a very old geezer, young man.

Shape up and start acting like an American. If you don’t, I’ll do what I can to see you get shipped out of that fancy rental on Pennsylvania Avenue. You were elected to lead not to bow, apologize and kiss the hands of murderers and corrupt leaders who still treat their people like slaves.

And just who do you think you are telling the American people not to jump to conclusions and condemn that Muslim major who killed 13 of his fellow soldiers and wounded dozens more. You mean you don’t want us to do what you did when that white cop used force to subdue that black college professor in Massachusetts who was putting up a fight? You don’t mind offending the police calling them stupid but you don’t want us to offend Muslim fanatics by calling them what they are, terrorists.

One more thing… I realize you never served in the military and never had to defend your country with your life but you’re the Commander-in-Chief now, son. Do your job.  When your battle-hardened field General asks you for 40,000 more troops to complete the mission, give them to him. But if you’re not in this fight to win, then get out. The life of one American soldier is not worth the best political strategy you’re thinking of.

You could be our greatest president because you face the greatest challenge ever presented to any president.

You’re not going to restore American greatness by bringing back our bloated economy. That’s not our greatest threat. Losing the heart and soul of who we are as Americans is our big fight now. And I sure as hell don’t want to think my president is the enemy in this final battle.

Sincerely,

Harold B. Estes

——————-

When a 95 year old hero of the “Greatest Generation” stands up and speaks out like this, everyone listens!!

We invest nearly Rs.11 crores  on training a fighter pilot.  And the investment is recovered over nearly 14 years,  according Vice-Chief-of-Air Staff Air Marahal P K Barbora.  Viewed in this perspective,  he reckons,  it is not feasible to keep women fighter pilots  in service once they get married.

As he would put it, constraints crop up the moment they get into the family way.  Besides, there are concerns about what could happen,  if women officers were taken POWs  during combat operations.

Air Vice-chief’s plain speaking hasn’t apparently found favour with the government top brass.  A newspaper report citing highly placed  sources said,  ‘the stated policy of the government -  IAF’s doors are  open for induction of women in non-combat operations -  requires  no further elaboration’.

That the officially stated position doesn’t contradict what the air  marshal said is not the point.  It is that a high-ranking Air Force officer sought to explain to the media  something he need not have done.  In so doing ,  Air Marshal Barbora violated the most important of  policy guidelines, which reads,  ‘don’t ask,  don’t tell’.  There are certain issues media wouldn’t raise;  and the government doesn’t feel obliged to explain.

A couple words off of this recent write-up on the subject.  Comments welcome.

Is recruiting for the military through video games the right way to go?

Well, video games unrealistically portray warfare to be a glorious and passionate exercise.  Though there may be much of both, the central directive is far from “kill the most bad guys,” and instead is fight for your God and country.

The theme of honor and the moral decision involved in fighting is rarely seen in video games.  Especially with being able to have “infinite continues” and just restart a level video games don’t do the realy military justice.

Though, we’re not sending kids into combat fresh from their Xboxes, so video games garner interest; that’s all.  That’s all they should do also, training is needed and the army is in need of interest and the training will happen after.

The logo for the U.S. Army's offical Video Game

iwanttogohome.ifeelsobrokeupiwanttogohome.